Air New Zealand has rejected revived claims by Ansett Australia's administrators that it stripped Ansett of assets before the ANZ subsidiary collapsed (AW&ST Mar. 18, p. 49). In a report to creditors last week, Ansett said they are still investigating potential claims against ANZ that include inappropriate fuel charges and operating costs. However, Air New Zealand Chief Executive Ralph Norris said a $180-million settlement was reached with the administrators last year on all claims.
David Brock of the small-business division and Emil Posey of the procurement division, both at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and Grigory Adamovsky of the technical division at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, have received NASA's Exceptional Achievement Medal at the agency's annual minority business advocates award ceremony.
Airbus is building its corporate electronic portal and plans to have the pilot phase going by the end of spring, with availability for up to 5,000 employees. Ultimately there should be about 80,000 users, including suppliers, customers and other outsiders. They will be able to share information and operate programs via the portal. Airbus is using Plumtree Corporate Portal and Interwoven's Content Infrastructure software to make the portal work. The system is to let users collaborate and create material without requiring help from the infotech department. . . .
Australia has decided to fix its Boeing 707 tankers, and abandoned plans to park the aircraft and pursue an interim aerial refueling capability. Military planners thought it would be too expensive to stick with the 707s until a replacement is fielded later this decade. Now, Australia will fix the aircraft and deploy them to support the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.
One of the new tools in Green Hills' Multi integrated development environment is G-Cover, which checks to make sure all elements of the code have been tested. It helps to provide the thoroughness needed for DO-178B Level A certification by automating the code coverage analysis given by a DO-178B specification. Sometimes compilers will produce object code that is not traceable to the original source code, but G-Cover will catch even these branches, according to Green Hills.
The dearth of financial support the U.S. government extends to some of its closest neighbors could impair the Pentagon's influence in Latin America and the Caribbean, senior military officials warn.
Techspace Aero, a Belgium-based Snecma subsidiary, has signed an agreement with Pratt&Whiney to participate in the Engine Alliance GP7000 turbofan. Engine Alliance is a joint venture of General Electric and Pratt. Under terms of the partnership, Techspace Aero is scheduled to develop and produce the GP7000's low-pressure compressor.
An experimental cryocooler that astronauts installed on the Hubble Space Telescope this month is working after suffering a temporary shutdown a few hours after it was started for the first time on Mar. 16. Turbomachinery in the new cooler for the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (Nicmos) experienced an unexplained loss of speed sufficient to send it into a safe mode. The device, installed during the just-completed Hubble servicing mission (AW&ST Mar. 18, p. 34), was restarted on Mar. 18, and at week's end was working well.
Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp. has begun production of the first SJ30-2 at facilities in Martinsburg, W. Va. The fuselage and wing are scheduled for completion this fall, and another two fuselage/wing sets will be built before Dec. 31, according to the company. The empennage also will be built at the facility. FAA certification is tentatively set for late this year with initial deliveries due to begin in the third quarter of 2003. San Antonio-based Sino Swearingen reports orders for more than 150 airplanes.
A MICRO-ELECTROMECHANICAL SYSTEMS (MEMS) FLYWHEEL, levitated by high-temperature superconductor (HTS) magnetic bearings, could provide energy storage as well as a power and attitude control system for a low-Earth orbit nano satellite. The dual functions would further reduce the mass of the spacecraft. The high angular momentum of an HTS flywheel can store approximately 45 watt-hr./kg., according to Eunjeong Lee, an assistant professor in the Dept.
Quashing Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority's long-standing arguments that mechanical failure downed EgyptAir Flight 990, the National Transportation Safety Board's final draft report issued last week cited relief crew first officer Gameel el-Batouty as the ``probable cause'' of the Oct. 31, 1999, crash that killed 217 people.
Seeking to stem the confusion over what military transformation is in practical terms, Pentagon officials say the building blocks are operational prototypes and realistic experimentation. Prototypes are original models that allow military personnel to work directly, hands on, with systems that hold promise of new combat capabilities. Prototypes enable weapon manufacturers to make more informed decisions about whether to go ahead with initial low-rate production.
The assembly of Boeing's C-17 Globemaster III airlifter is increasingly becoming an international affair. Efforts to further cut production costs have led to the selection of additional suppliers and vendors, including European participants such as Messier-Bugatti. The French company, a newly selected first-level C-17 supplier, is delivering wheels and carbon brakes to Long Beach, Calif.
Bell Helicopter Textron will essentially stop work on the BA609 civil tiltrotor program until flight tests of the military V-22 prove that tiltrotor technology is safe, and lay a foundation for introduction of a commercial version.
As in past years, the FAA projects steady increases in average seats per commercial aircraft during the coming decade, and many aviation industry executives can't figure out why. In its 2002 forecast (AW&ST Mar. 18, p. 44), the agency sees an increase to 146 in 2013 from about 136 seats per airplane this year, even as the regional jet fleet increases to 2,900 from about 700. The buildup will be in aircraft with 40-70 seats.
Giovanni Bisignani, former CEO of Alitalia and now CEO of Opodo, the airline-owned European travel Web site, was appointed International Air Transport Assn. director general and CEO by the IATA board of directors. The appointment is subject to confirmation at the IATA annual general meeting on June 3-4 in Shanghai. Bisignani will succeeds Pierre Jeanniot, who is retiring.
Jake Warren has been named vice president-sales and marketing for the Western U.S. for Qatar Airways. Three other vice presidents-sales and marketing have been appointed: Joe Luciano, Central U.S.; Ed Hunter, Eastern U.S.; and Janet Rivers, Canada.
U.S. domestic airfares tabulated by the Air Transport Assn. rallied slightly in February. Average first- and business-class fares were 11.4% less than those of February 2001, and coach fares were down 14.3%. Both of these year-over-year shortfalls remain substantial but are the lowest since last August and the almost continuous post-Sept. 11 fare sales. Average international fares were down 12.4%, less than the December-January drop but more than that of September-November.
Harris Belman has become vice president-homeland security for BAE Systems North America, Rockville, Md. He was vice president-business development for the company's Information and Electronic Systems Integration Sector.
NASA's financial management systems grew creaky under former Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, and consensus in the federal accounting community is that that situation contributed mightily to the $4.8-billion shortfall in the International Space Station program. With each field center using home-grown methods to track the taxpayers' money, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) couldn't get enough documentation to issue an opinion on the agency's books for Fiscal 2001, its first year as NASA's auditor. That never bothered NASA's old auditor, Arthur Andersen, leading Rep.
Fairchild Dornier has rolled out its 70-seat 728 regional jet, but has delayed the maiden flight from May until at least mid-year. Certification is expected 11-14 months after the first flight, according to Chief Operating Officer John Wolf. The first 728-100 was scheduled to be delivered to Lufthansa CityLine in early summer 2003 but will enter service in the fourth quarter. Wolf said the delay resulted from changes in wiring and secondary structure. In the meantime, the company's quest for an industrial partner and additional investors has become increasingly urgent.
Helicopter pioneer Frank N. Piasecki, who flew his first rotorcraft in 1943, has received the Helicopter Foundation International's Hall of Fame Award and honorary life membership in the Helicopter Assn. International.
Robert Sadler has been named director of marketing and licensor relations and Syed Husain director of quality for Ontic Engineering and Manufacturing Inc., Chatsworth, Calif.
Robert M. Hanisee and Robert J. Hermann have been appointed to the board of directors of the Orbital Sciences Corp., Dulles, Va. Hanisee is managing director/chief investment officer of the Private Client Group at Trust Co. of the West in Los Angeles. Hermann is a senior partner of Global Technology Partners of Boston.
