The U.K.'s transport agency refused to confirm or deny late last week that the long-delayed construction of Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport would be postponed again--a development that would touch off a storm of protest in the House of Commons by aviation advocates. An agency official did affirm, however, that a decision will be made by Nov. 22. The Terminal 5 planning application has been at the Dept. of Transport, Local Government and the Regions since 1993, the official acknowledged.
Stephanie Reese has been appointed director of communications for American Eurocopter, Grand Prairie, Tex. She was director of marketing for Matrix Telecom.
Two months after the airline industry's descent into full-blown crisis, no one can be accused of looking at this vital sector of the U.S. economy through rose-colored glasses, least of all Wall Street. The majority of leading analysts believe most, but not all, mainline carriers will survive their ordeal. But those that do emerge will remain for an extended period highly susceptible to minor setbacks whose effects will be magnified because of their weakened condition--much as a weak immune system leaves people susceptible to infections.
The skyscrapers of Dallas and Fort Worth are within eye range of one another. The two important U.S. airlines based in these North Texas cities are, in contrast, a galaxy apart in operating philosophies. In Fort Worth, American Airlines, an international player, manages an operation of some 1,100 aircraft. Southwest, based in Dallas, is the avatar of a domestic, low-cost, point-to-point airline. Each airline faces a critical test in coming months in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Stephen E. Gorman has been named to the board of directors of the Aviation Sales Co., Miramar, Fla. He is president for North America of Krispy Kreme Doughnuts Inc. and former executive vice president-technical operations and flight operations for Northwest Airlines.
Brian E. Barents has been named to the board of directors of the Eclipse Aviation Corp., Albuquerque, N.M. He was president/CEO of the Galaxy Aerospace Corp. Sam Williams, chairman/CEO of Williams International, has resigned from the board.
BAE Regional Aircraft has begun its high-elevation and system trials for the RJX-85 at Toluca Airport in Mexico (see photo). The airport is 8,448 ft. above sea level and has a 13,780-ft. runway. The tests will be of particular interest to the RJX-85's launch customer, Druk Air (Royal Bhutan Airlines), which operates in the Himalayas. The aircraft recently completed hot-weather trials at the Phoenix Williams Gateway Airport. Powered by Honeywell AS977 engines, the RJX-85 is to be certified next April.
Sharp traffic declines have left many airports in a holding pattern, cutting back on operations spending and trying to gauge the long-term impact on capital programs that seemed so urgent before the terrorist attacks.
U.S. Navy EA-6B Prowler crews supporting the air campaign against Afghanistan have established an enhanced communications jamming role for themselves to become part of an integrated information warfare system and to support special operations units.
Arinc Inc. executive Roy T. Oishi has been named chairman of the Airlines Electronic Engineering Committee, which is one of four aviation industry committees sponsored by the Annapolis, Md.-based company. Two other Arinc executives, Michael P. Russo and Michael D. Rockwell, have been appointed vice chairman and secretary, respectively.
In the last major hurdle in the construction of the first SparrowHawk sailplane, the wing spar molds are completed. Since high-temperature carbon fiber pre-preg materials are used for all parts of the craft, the first wing spars were finished within hours of completing the molds. With only the wing structure to finish, completion is expected by year-end. Concurrent to making molds, assembly jigs for all components have been built so the first SparrowHawk is also a production example.
United Airlines plans to equip its entire fleet of aircraft with Taser weapons as a precaution against hijacking. The Tasers would be stored in boxes adjacent to the pilots, sealed with electronically coded locks, but easily accessible if needed to defend the cockpit. Tasers are nonlethal weapons that disable a person at ranges out to 15 ft. with a 50,000-volt electric impulse. United will install the Tasers as soon as it receives FAA approval for a fleet-wide test program.
A site has been chosen for an off-shore runway for Okinawa-based U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab. The selection committee comprised representatives of Japan's central government as well as representatives from Okinawa and Nago, a nearby city. Schwab has been seeking a runway for CH-46, CH-53 and AH-1 helicopter operations (AW&ST July 9, p. 68). They are now based on the Marines' Futema facility elsewhere on the island. Three concepts were proposed, all involving offshore locations.
The GoBook MAX portable notebook PC meets Mil-Spec-810E standards for ruggedization, including shock, drop, vibration, extreme operating temperature, water intrusion, condensing humidity and dust. Designed for aerospace flightline and hazmat operating environments, it is powered by an Intel Pentium III processor, and features a common radio module architecture field-upgradable radio modem. The die-cast magnesium case, including keyboard and screen, can resist direct exposure to 4 in. of blowing rain per hour. The 6-lb. 2-in.
The Laser Guided Star Facility being developed by the European Southern Observatory for its 34-in. Yepun unit telescope at the Paranal Observatory in Chile will use a high-power beam delivery system. When commissioned in 2003, the LGSF will enable observers to create a precise reference point in the sky on which to lock the telescope. The LGSF will generate an artificial star high in the atmosphere in areas where there is not enough brightness, enabling observers to establish a reference point anywhere in the universe.
Delta Air Lines Chairman Leo F. Mullin told a gathering of aviation industry professionals last week that he expects the U.S. airline industry to shrink by two or three operators within the next 12 months because they probably won't be able to survive financially.
This head-up display camera has a variable field of view that makes it compatible with most HUDs. The RSC-384-XXI is a two-piece unit consisting of a camera head with a lens and an electronic unit (EU). A flat cable up to 36 in. long connects the EU to the camera head. It is equipped with a motorized iris to compensate for changing light conditions during flight. The camera can be readjusted if the aircraft is upgraded with a new HUD, meaning less non-recurrent engineering required for the new application, and it can operate at altitudes from sea level to 200,000 ft.
CMC Electronics completed a further series of developmental flight trials of its Infrared Enhanced Vision System (IR-EVS) for aircraft equipped with head-up displays in genav, military and air transport markets. When installed in the aircraft's radome, the IR sensor can detect thermal gradients of the terrain ahead. CMC has conducted more than 30 approaches and ground movement operations in various weather conditions: one-quarter-mi. visibility and a 300-ft. ceiling, fog, rain, mist and haze, in both day and night operations.
The worsening aviation market has prompted Qantas to cut 1,500-2,000 jobs by year-end. CEO Geoff Dixon said the cuts will be achieved by layoffs, attrition and not filling vacancies. He said significant staff numbers will be shifted from Qantas' international to domestic operations, which are being expanded following the collapse of Ansett Australia. To fill that void, Qantas has ordered 15 white-tail 737-800s from American Airlines and two Bombardier Dash 8-400s, with deliveries to begin in January. Employee wages will be frozen for 12-18 months.
The one-two punch of the traffic declines that followed the events of Sept. 11, coupled with the ongoing economic downturn, has left Europe's major air carriers reeling. The situation is aggravated by the European airline industry's fragmentation. However, no consolidation plan is in sight and the wake-up calls of Sabena Belgian World Airlines' bankruptcy and Swissair's collapse remain largely ignored.
Indomitable Belgian officials have created a task force to come up with a plan for a new national carrier in the wake of the demise of Sabena Belgian World Airlines. It would succeed Sabena, which ceased operations on Nov. 7, but retain a more limited scope with a focus on European routes.
U.S. Transportation Dept. consideration of antitrust immunity for American Airlines and British Airways should be consolidated with the United Airlines-British Midland immunity application, Northwest has proposed. Many of the issues are the same and each application affects the other, Northwest said with support from Virgin Atlantic, and each depends on negotiation of an open-skies aviation agreement by the U.S. and the U.K.
The U.S. and the European Commission ``may only be at the beginning of our disagreements'' on antitrust policy if this year's GE-Honeywell merger clash reflects ``a fundamentally different view about the comparative ability of markets versus government regulators to get it right,'' Deputy Assistant Attorney General William Kolasky told a George Mason University symposium. The U.S. approved the merger as pro-consumer while the EC vetoed it as anticompetitive. ``In the U.S., we have much greater faith in markets than we do in regulators,'' Kolasky said.
To simulate process conditions, the CLF-II calibrator can be connected to loop-powered transmitter inputs, for performance tests on system software. For transmitter calibration, the unit has an integral 24 Vdc power supply and loop-current read-out. Transmitter readings can be scaled into engineering units like psi, pascal and bar. Readings in percent (%) on 4-20 mA ranges can be obtained by pressing the ``%/mA'' key; useful when testing or adjusting alarm settings. Signal outputs and measurement inputs are electrically isolated to read output and input simultaneously.
