Otto Goetz, former chief engineer of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project, is one of six new members of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. The others are: Sid Guttierrez, former astronaut and now manager of the Physical Sciences Dept. at the Sandia National Laboratories; Shirley McCarty, former principal director of software engineering at The Aerospace Corp.; USN Adm. (ret.) Paul Reason, former commander-in-chief of the U.S.
Outsourcing of maintenance work by air cargo carriers is accelerating as they seek ``one-stop shops'' to streamline operations while urging MRO providers to prepare for coping with a myriad of aging aircraft issues that lie ahead.
The MiG Russian Aircraft Corp. is proposing to lease MiG-AT trainers to the Russian air force in the hope of enticing the service to acquire a trainer years earlier than is currently foreseen. The unusual financing scheme marks the latest step in MiG's aggressive marketing efforts for the aircraft. It underscores the importance the company attributes to the success of the project.
David J. Gorney (see photo) has been promoted to corporate chief architect-engineer from principal director of the Meteorological Satellite Systems Directorate of The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif.
Singapore has ordered 12 more AH-64D Apache Longbows. The buy adds to eight of the Boeing-made attack helicopters Singapore bought previously. The deal is estimated to be worth in excess of $600 million. It would include spare T700-GE-701C engines, Hellfire II launchers and missiles, and other gear.
U.S. Air Force officials hope they will be able to build more than the 295 F-22s the Pentagon has initially authorized by beating new cost estimates previously agreed to between the service and an independent estimating group.
While there is doubt now about the Sonic Cruiser being used to haul loads of large cargo pallets as a conventional freighter, Boeing is beginning to explore whether such a high-speed aircraft could play a role as a dedicated express package carrier. John Roundhill, vice president of marketing for the new aircraft at Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said some observers believe that once a freighter aircraft hauling conventional cargo has taken off, it really doesn't matter if it can arrive 20% sooner than other freighters.
The World Trade Organization ruled Aug. 20 that a U.S. tax incentive to encourage exports violates WTO rules. The U.S. program, which gives tax breaks to exporters that establish offshore units to handle foreign sales, is a boon to companies like Boeing. Failure to make the ``wholesale changes'' in the program the WTO called for could result in multibillion-dollar sanctions being imposed on the U.S. by the European Union. The Brussels-based WTO was acting on a complaint brought by the EU and endorsed by Japan, Canada and several other nations. Washington has until Oct.
Aer Lingus Chairman Bernie Cahill died Aug. 17 in an apparent boating accident in County Cork, Ireland. He was 71. Authorities concluded that Cahill slipped and fell off a pier in the harbor of Schull, near his home, as he tried to secure his vessel. Cahill was appointed chairman in August 1991. Aer Lingus' acting CEO, John O'Donovan, said that during the 1990s, Cahill achieved ``record results through some of the most difficult times in the company's history.'' Cahill also was prominent in the Irish food industry.
If you figured that the big transatlantic antitrust-immunity applications at the Transportation Dept. were too big for the executive branch alone, you were right. Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ernest Hollings (D-S.C.) and ranking Republican John McCain (Ariz.) have asked the General Accounting Office (GAO) to assess the impact on competition of the American Airlines/British Airways, Delta/AirFrance/Alitalia/CSA Czech, and United/British Midland alliance plans.
A helicopter drops water on a fire flare-up along Icicle Ridge near Leavenworth, Wash., last week. More than 80 helicopters supported firefighting crews in the Western U.S. last week fighting 28 large blazes covering 295,000 acres. Some 40-50 fixed-wing tankers are also under contract to be used in fighting the blazes as well as eight Air National Guard and USAF Reserve C-130s fitted with a modular airborne fire fighting system (MAFFS). Two battalions of U.S. military troops are being trained to reinforce the 26,600 civilian firefighters already on the fire lines.
A malfunctioning pressure control valve in the second-stage liquid oxygen tank prompted Japan's National Space Development Agency to postpone the Aug. 25 launch of the first prototype H-IIA medium-lift launch vehicle to no earlier than Aug. 28. The situation was complicated by a typhoon that threatened NASDA's Tanegashima launch facility and prompted a delay in removal and inspection of the suspect valve.
Space Systems/Loral has authorization to proceed with MBSAT from Mobile Broadcasting Corp. of Japan, a standard FS 1300 configured for digital broadband services including audio, MPEG-4 video and data for mobile users. A 2003 launch is anticipated, with service to begin in 2004. A launcher has not been selected, but SS/L has standing reservations on Japan's H-IIA and that vehicle would be a candidate. Transmissions will be in S-band.
Tenzing Communications Inc. has completed installation of its first inflight e-mail and Internet access system in a Cathay Pacific Airways' Airbus A330-300. Tenzing's previous installations in Singapore Airlines and Air Canada's fleets have involved servers that use the aircraft's on-board telephone system as a local area network (LAN). Cathay uses General Dynamics (Primex Aerospace) server and distribution technology, which goes to all first class and business class seats as well as subsets in economy class.
The U.S. Army is initiating the competitive design of a new ballistic missile defense target needed to support the Pentagon's expanded missile-shield development plans. The Enhanced Target Delivery System is supposed to allow launches from land, ships and aircraft. The Army hopes to demonstrate ``a reliable, highly flexible'' system by mid-2003. Initially, the Army plans to award 3-4 study contracts worth about $300,000 each. Following the four-month design work, it will pick a competitor to develop and build the target.
Significant U.S. and Russian computer upgrades are part of the International Space Station Expedition 3 mission operations just getting underway and extending through November. Two Honeywell solid state memory units were launched to the ISS by the shuttle Discovery this month for integration into the station's Honeywell command and control (C&C) computers. They will first be checked out on board with a payload computer and then used to replace troublesome mechanical hard drives in the C&Cs.
Boeing's Phantom Works research and development unit is launching an aggressive thrust to acquire new technologies from outside the aerospace giant, while also stimulating innovation inside.
Knowledge and attitude are two of the key ingredients every pilot needs to fly safely. Both of these were in strong evidence during Bombardier Aerospace's Safety Stand-Down in Wichita, Kan., this month. The seminar started six years ago, after Bombardier realized the accident rate for corporate aviation was remaining basically the same year to year, while aircraft and systems were becoming more reliable.
Thales revenues for the first half of 2001 soared 31.5% to 4.33 billion euros ($3.94 billion), a jump resulting from the acquisition of Racal Electronics and Avimo, an optronics producer. Exclusive of external growth initiatives, French defense electronics group revenues increased 7.2%.
The Moscow air show gave Russia's ailing civil air transport sector few concrete indicators that its 10-year decline is over, but the industry nevertheless is planning for new aircraft and upgrades in case fortunes improve.
Freight is growing more rapidly than passenger traffic in a long-term trend that Airbus executives say should sustain the future of the all-cargo A380F. The A380-800F, which is scheduled to enter service in the second quarter of 2008, will be, by far, the biggest all-cargo commercial transport. It will carry up to 158 metric tons (348,000 lb.) of freight 5,620 naut. mi. Three early A380 customers--FedEx, International Lease Finance Corp. and Dubai-based Emirates--have concluded orders for a combined 17 all-cargo Dash 800Fs.
U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard pilots have surpassed 1 million hr. of training in F-16 flight simulators built by Link Simulation and Training, Arlington, Tex. Since 1996 the company has delivered 68 of the Unit Training Devices (UTD) to the Air Force and Air National Guard (ANG). The UTDs have been built in Block 25, 30, 40, 42, 50 and 60 configurations to match different versions of the single-engine fighter built by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth.
Sumiko Oshima has joined Aviation Week&Space Technology's news team in Japan as a correspondent. She holds an M.S. degree from the University of Chiba and has been a Fulbright Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Oshima has specialized in science reporting at The Japan Times and is a frequent contributor to other Japanese publications.
Frederick A. Tarantino has become president/general manager of Bechtel Nevada, the management and operating contractor for the U.S. Energy Dept.'s National Nuclear Security Administration/ Nevada Operations Office. He was principal vice president-environmental, space and defense project management.
Thomas J. Renville, who has been general manager of customer service in Denver for United Airlines, will be managing director for Hawaii. He will succeed Norman F. Reeder, who will retire.
