EMS Technologies Inc.'s Satcom Div. has received a contract valued at $2.5 million from the Thailand Aviation Dept. for ground-based equipment to support search-and-rescue operations over the Cospas-Sarsat satellite system.
Teledesic LLC has selected two companies with experience building low-Earth-orbit communications satellites as finalists in the competition to supply the spacecraft for its proposed ``Internet in the Sky'' broadband LEO satellite network. Italy's Alenia Spazio and Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems will vie for the contract with Bellevue, Wash.-based Teledesic, which vows to continue its plans for a LEO system ``despite the current financial markets'' and to pick a winner this fall.
FedEx operations under its U.S. Postal Service contract, which reached full rate on Aug. 28, more than double the company's daytime flight tempo at Memphis International Airport and reflect scheduling collaboration with Northwest Airlines that would be illegal if FedEx were a passenger carrier.
Until a foolproof way is found to predict who will be a good fighter pilot, the Royal Australian Air Force's ability to train more F/A-18 crews may be limited. Currently, about 40% of pilot candidates are eliminated or drop out of F/A-18 training, consuming RAAF resources and contributing to a now-chronic shortage of qualified line pilots.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes has extended its MyBoeingFleet.com Web portal for maintenance, repair and overhaul activities in commercial aircraft to include warranty claims. The intent is to eliminate the need for airline MRO shops to use the phone, fax, mail or e-mail to submit claims. The process covers only Boeing-designed items, not products supplied by vendors.
To ``remain competitive'' with other major North American airlines, Air Canada has drastically slashed travel agent commission caps. For tickets purchased in the U.S. to all destinations in Canada, the maximum commission, effective Aug. 28, is $20 for round-trip travel and $10 for one-way travel. They had been $50 and $25, respectively. For tickets purchased in Canada to all destinations in the U.S. and Canada, the maximum commission, effective Sept. 24, is C$28 ($18) for round-trip travel and C$14 for one-way travel.
NASA's Ames Research Center has begun testing design modifications on a 26%-scale model of a Boeing 777 in its 40 X 80-ft. subsonic wind tunnel (shown). The tests, which run through September, are aimed at reducing noise generated by deployment of the aircraft's landing gear, wing flaps and slats during takeoffs and landings. Ames and NASA's Langley Research Center have been working for eight years on individual design modifications for these airframe components.
Runway incursions spawned by air traffic controllers' blunders are increasing. The trend hasn't escaped FAA Administrator Jane Garvey's notice. ``We absolutely must get the numbers down,'' she proclaimed. Speaking to FAA, military and airline industry officials gathered to discuss air traffic issues unique to the mid-Atlantic and New England regions, Garvey called on controllers to become ``very, very'' involved in finding solutions to the incursion problem, especially at the local level.
Japan's medium-lift launch program has resumed operations after a two-year rebuilding effort with the successful launch of the prototype H-IIA liquid-fueled booster from the Tanegashima Space Center off Kyushu Island.
American Airlines' regional subsidiary, American Eagle, has taken delivery of its 100th Embraer regional jet, a 44-seat ERJ-140, and will accept another 14 of the aircraft by year-end. Eagle is launch customer for the ERJ-140. Plans called for the jet to enter service at Chicago O'Hare International Airport late last month.
Thales has landed a 360-million-euro ($330-million) award from the British Ministry of Defense for optronics systems for light armored vehicles. The award, made under the U.K.'s Battle Group Thermal Imaging program, partially compensates for failure to win the Bowman radio program contract last July. Thales has invested heavily in the U.K. to position itself as a major domestic competitor to BAE Systems.
Jim Grothusen has become principal/senior airports engineer of the Phoenix office of Atkins Benham. He was manager of the Quad City Airport, Moline, Ill.
Bombardier Aerospace pilots have logged more than 11 hr. of certification testing in the company's first Continental business jet since its maiden flight on Aug. 14 (AW&ST Aug. 20, p. 50). According to Bombardier, the airplane has attained an altitude of 35,000 ft. and speeds up to Mach 0.70. Plans call for five airplanes to complete a 1,500-hr. test program leading to certification late in 2002 under FAA FAR Part 25, Transport Canada 525 and European JAR 25 rules. Four additional jets are scheduled to join the test fleet this year.
Beverly A. Grear has become vice president-customer service for Sun Country Airlines. She was senior vice president-customer service and operations for Spirit Airlines.
U.S. military planners and policy makers should prepare to confront new types of conflicts as a result of shifts underway in the global arms market, a National Intelligence Council report contends.
Boeing and Lockheed Martin are unveiling an upgrade to the AH-64D Longbow Apache helicopter to make the system more lethal at extended ranges. But the upgrade wasn't enough to convince Australia it should select the Apache in its hotly contested reconnaissance attack helicopter competition.
Students in the current Fighter Combat Instructors course, which began here last month, will learn not only the fine points of employing Australian F/A-18s in both air-to-air and air-to-ground roles, but will develop new tactics that take advantage of the latest Hornet upgrades. The FCI course is a 20-week program to train 6-8 Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) mid-rank fighter pilots to be weapons experts and instructors. A new class begins about every 18 months, and is hosted by No. 2 Operational Conversion Unit (2OCU) at RAAF Base Williamtown.
Air Canada and IBM recently entered a $909-million (C$1.4-billion) strategic partnership with two goals: to ``e-enable'' the carrier and to pursue business opportunities focused on customer service and information technology-based travel-industry solutions that will benefit not only Air Canada but other carriers. The agreement, concluded in late July, is closely aligned with Air Canada's enhanced profitability initiatives announced last month. These were part of an aggressive action plan launched late December to cut costs and generate new revenues.
The Japanese Defense Agency has selected the Boeing AH-64D Apache helicopter to fill the army's attack helicopter role as a replacement for the 88 Bell/Fuji AH-1S helicopters now in service.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is asking the services for deep sacrifices. The latest budget guidance calls for the services to trim 15% of their total budget by 2007. The first cuts would come in 2004, with a 5% reduction, followed by another 5% the next year and 2.5% in each of the following two years. The money is supposed to finance Rumsfeld's ``transformation,'' with which he hopes to change the structure of the military and prepare it for the future.
Resurrecting a name, Qantas said last week it will launch a low-cost carrier called Australian Airlines to fly secondary Asian routes from six Australian cities that the mother carrier plans to abandon in the next six months.
Sam Gilliland has been appointed group president of the Airline Solutions unit of the Sabre Holdings Corp. of Fort Worth. He will continue as chief marketing officer of Sabre.
