This company offers precision welding and micro-hole drilling services using an Nd:YAG four-axis, pulsed-laser system featuring fiber-assisted optic lenses to achieve close tolerances. It can produce holes 0.008-in. in diameter and weld depths of up to 0.030 in., depending on material thickness. Typical parts produed through these precision welding and micro-hole drilling processes include electronic connectors and strainers for jet aircraft engines. Small components made from stainless steels, beryllium, titanium, steel or nickel alloys, and inconel can be processed.
The FAA approved a request by the Air Transport Assn. and the Regional Airline Assn. for a 10-day extension, through Jan. 17, of the deadline for comments on its rule requiring airport and aircraft operators to conduct fingerprint-based criminal history record checks of all personnel who have unescorted access to secure areas at airports. The FAA issued the rule Dec. 6 without prior notice, but said it might amend it if the after-publication comments warrant a change. The trade associations asked for more time to assess practical and legal issues.
AS OF DEC. 31, 2001, Raytheon Aircraft Corp. had flown the production prototype Hawker Horizon on 69 flights totaling 93 hr. since the airplane first flew in August 2001. Chief test pilot Tom Carr said the Horizon is flying up to three sorties each day, seven days a week, and that the flight envelope has been expanded to Mach 0.7 (350 KIAS) at altitudes up to 45,000 ft. and takeoff weights as high as 36,000 lb.
These wrench-operated collet chucks require no drawbar, cylinder or collet closer. They feature universal flat back design, and can be used in applications such as workholding on lathes, mills and grinders. They can be operated manually with a standard chuck key. Concentricity is adjustable for accuracy, and the chucks can be used on hybrid CNC/manual lathes. They are available in types 5C, 16C, 3J and 22J, with respective workpiece capacities of 11/16 in., 15/8 in., 13/4 in. and 21/4 in. Lexair, 2025 Mercer Road, Lexington, Ky. 40511.
The Dust-Hog Supra-Blast is a single-or double-filter configuration unit designed to remove dust, fumes and other industrial pollutants from the air. The unit is designed to remove dust along the entire length of each filter. The cartridge filters offer 310 sq. ft. of media, which the company says is 22% more than the former industry standard. The unit was designed to minimize maintenance time by eliminating standard turn-knob filter access doors.
Searchers have rushed to the hills around Shamsi, a civilian airport in Pakistan about 35 mi. from the Afghanistan border, to examine the site of a Marine Corps KC-130 tanker crash. The airfield, just across the border from Kandahar and on a main escape route from Afghanistan, is being used as a U.S. helicopter base. KC-130s, because of their slow speed, are used as tanker aircraft for long-range, special ops helicopters. U.S. Central Command said they did not yet know if any of the seven crewmen had survived the Jan. 9 crash. The aircraft went down about 8 p.m.
Global Internet exchange Exostar has named Donald E. Bielinski as president and chief executive officer. He is a 29-year veteran of North American maintenance supplier W.W. Grainger Inc., where he held a number of senior management positions, including chief financial officer. Since 1995 he has overseen Grainger's Internet-related initiatives and guided its digital strategy.
The FAA has released its first book dedicated to balloon flying. It is written for student pilots learning to fly balloons, certificated pilots preparing for additional balloon ratings or who desire to improve their flying proficiency and aeronautical knowledge, commercial balloon pilots who are teaching students, and prospective students seeking information on the sport. Beginning with a brief history of balloon flight, the book provides information and guidance to pilots in the performance of maneuvers and procedures.
John H. Marberger, 3rd, director of President Bush's Office of Science and Technology Policy, may have inadvertently revealed the stakes incoming NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is facing as he wrestles with cost overruns on the International Space Station (see p. 410). ``We remain committed to the success of the project, but we've got a problem that we have to address forcefully right now,'' Marberger told a press conference.
Burt Edelson, a top-ranking scientist at NASA headquarters who laid the groundwork for one of the most productive instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope, died of a heart attack Jan. 6 in New York. He was 75. A 1947 Naval Academy graduate, Edelson specialized in satellite communications at the Naval Research Laboratory and later Comsat Corp. Named associate NASA administrator for space science and applications in 1982, he approved the second Wide-Field/Planetary Camera and pushed the space-based Earth science programs that later became known as Mission to Planet Earth.
Cathay Pacific Airways has offered to carry Pakistan International Airlines passengers to Hong Kong, Bangkok and Singapore following India's refusal to allow PIA to transit its airspace. The agreement is to be valid until June. PIA's 12 weekly flights were severely affected by the ban because it was forced to fly over China and Sri Lanka, making the operations unprofitable. Following a Sept. 28 suspension, Cathay resumed flights to Karachi last week, routing its three weekly services through Bangkok.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe wants to initiate much closer cooperation between his agency and the Pentagon, with a possible resumption of classified space shuttle flights on military missions and perhaps a new White House space policy that orders joint NASA/Pentagon efforts across the board.
Pentagon officials say the new government of Chile, faced with a Jan. 7 deadline to sign the deal for 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/Ds, two KC-135 tankers, spares and training, has asked for and received a 30-day extension. That will allow the incoming administration of President Ricardo Labos to get its feet on the ground and familiarize itself with the $700-million deal. It would be the largest U.S. arms sale to Latin America since the 1983 sale of 22 F-16s to Venezuela.
Singapore police said last week that they had arrested 15 people in December from a clandestine organization called Jeemah Islamiah. Several others are said to have fled the country. They were detained under Singapore's Internal Security Act, which empowers police to hold them for at least 60 days. Malaysia has a similar law. Police said they seized detailed information on bomb-making as well as photographs and video surveillance of potential U.S. establishments, including the U.S. embassy. Jeemah Islamiah's activities include fund raising for terrorist groups.
SINCE THE EARLY 1980s, operators flying under FAR Part 135 in Alaska have had the highest number of accidents involving controlled flight into terrain (CFIT). According to the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, about 30% of accidents involving Part 135 operations in the 50 states occur in Alaska. An informal survey found that pilots are often under extreme pressure to fly in marginal weather conditions.
Wilson LT is a polypropylene-based material used to create lightweight shipping cases. Construction is nondirectional, without the directional grain that can lead to weak spots. The material is reinforced with talc for rigidity. It is moisture resistant, UV tolerant and chemically inert, making it suitable for transport and storage of all types of equipment. The light weight also helps to reduce shipping costs. The cases are constructed with heavy-duty locks, reinforcements and hardware similar to that used on standard plywood cases. The material can be recycled.
London-Luton based low-cost carrier EasyJet is touting a major fleet expansion plan, with up to a further 75 aircraft to be acquired by 2007. If an order for 75 aircraft is concluded, it is estimated to be worth around $3 billion and would more than double the size of the EasyJet fleet. The airline is in discussions with Boeing and Airbus, with the 737-700 and the A319, respectively, the two types under consideration. EasyJet presently operates an all-Boeing fleet of 18 737-300 and nine 737-700 aircraft.
In a swirl of legislation and Pentagon memos that included at least two major misunderstandings, a $1-billion effort to build a joint-service family of signals intelligence systems that could be plugged into a range of aircraft has foundered. But U.S. Air Force officials promise they soon will resurrect the program.
The DGx high-resolution digital recording system captures, compresses and stores images up to 1280 X 1024 pixels. Computer, radar, video and audio acquisition, time code and even markers are supported by this system. Designed for applications in simulation and training, command and control, and monitoring, the unit accepts up to four image sources for recording to digital tape or disk. Inputs may be computer, radar and other high-scan-rate video signals. Each image's original resolution is preserved.
THE EUROPEAN JOINT VENTURE COMPANY, Sostar GmbH., will develop the new European all-weather ground surveillance system for the governments of France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain. The stand-off surveillance and target acquisition radar (Sostar) will use an active electronically-scanned array for manned or unmanned surveillance of large areas, for crisis and conflict management. The goal is to detect and track slow-moving targets and to provide high-resolution imaging and classification of fixed targets.
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force are nearing a deal for 60 more C-17s, but a move to augment that force with a commercially operated version of the airlifter has slowed. Negotiations for the next multiyear C-17 contract are about 90% complete, said Col. Ted F. Bowlds, program executive officer for airlift and trainers. The deal, estimated at more than $9 billion, will maintain the C-17s current production rate at 15 aircraft per year until the service has bought 180 transports--the existing contract will bring USAF's inventory to 120 aircraft.
The $5 Billion Misunderstanding, The Collapse of the Navy's A-12 Stealth Bomber Program, by James Stevenson, recounts the events that eventually led to the stealth bomber's cancellation. Stevenson cites many examples of the mismatch between perception and reality experienced by Navy program managers, the Defense Dept., Congress and the contractors.
GEORGIA TECH RESEARCHERS have demonstrated the first circular atom storage ring--a step that could lead to much more accurate gyros and navigation systems for aerospace. The concept is analogous to fiber optic gyros, but would detect changes in motion using atom instead of optical interferometry. Improved performance would result because the sensitivity of any given-size interferometric gyro is proportional to the mass of the particles, and the mass of an atom is about 10 orders of magnitude larger than a photon.
The Model BS-112 miniature linear gage sensor can measure dimension, thickness, curvature, eccentricity, displacement, height, depth, flatness, run-out, roundness, distortion, deflection and position. It produces measurements of 0.00004 in. with a range of 0-10 mm. The sensor was built to fit extremely tight quarters where conventional sensors are impractical, and can be mounted inside of machinery with limited access space. The sensor has a waterproof seal, and a dust bellow is included for additional protection in harsh environments. Included is a 6-ft.
A tracker can be useful for three-dimensional pointing, simulation, computer-aided design and other aerospace tasks. Ascension Technology (www.ascension-tech.com) has come out with pciBIRD, a six-degree-of-freedom magnetic tracker with a processor card that plugs into a PCI slot in a personal computer. The sensor works within a 3-ft. radius from a magnetic transmitter base station, and provides real-time position and angle information at up to 105 measurements per second. Resolution is 0.02 in. and 0.1 deg., and absolute accuracy is 0.07 in. and 0.5 deg.
