John White has been promoted to vice president-corporate information officer from director of worldwide business systems of the Parker Hannifin Corp. of Cleveland.
John F. Farris has been named senior vice president-express services for AirNet Systems Inc., Columbus, Ohio. He was head of Strategic Consulting Alliances.
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways reported its first-half 2001 profits were down 40% and revenues off 1.9%, which Chairman James Hughes-Hallett said was attributed to slow growth in the U.S., Japan and Asia and was predictable. The company reported revenues of HK$15.8 billion ($2 billion), with profits of HK$1.32 billion.
Cheryl Hutchinson has been appointed to the corporate travel advisory board of Frontier Airlines. She is the global travel manager for American Management Systems.
Lockheed Martin X-35 chief test pilot Tom Morgenfeld flew the X-35B Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator back to the company's Palmdale, Calif., factory on Aug. 6, completing the test program on the short takeoff/vertical landing aircraft (AW&ST Aug. 6, p. 26). The 3.7-hr. flight in conventional mode included accelerations from Mach 0.8-1.2 and increased the total time on the X-35B to 22 hr., satisfying a government desire to have 20 hr. on the demonstrator.
A terrorist germ attack on U.S. soil would mock all past defense strategies, says former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn, who was ``President'' in a recent bio-warfare simulation of a smallpox crisis that began in Oklahoma City. At a recent congressional hearing, he summarized lessons learned from the simulation, called ``Dark Winter.'' We have effectively only 12 million doses of smallpox vaccine in America to protect a population of 275 million that is not highly vaccinated and is therefore highly vulnerable.
EchoStar has entered an unsolicited, $32-billion bid for Hughes Electronics Corp. that could give terrestrial cable and broadcast operators a run for their money in the U.S. market. Rebuffed by Hughes and DirecTV management, EchoStar chairman and CEO Charles Ergen has proposed an 18% premium for Hughes shareholders in EchoStar shares, with each Hughes share exchanged for .75 shares of EchoStar. The resulting company would have access to nearly100 million households in the U.S. with television sets.
Florida Army National Guard Adjutant General Ronald O. Harrison says the board he convened to investigate the Mar. 3 crash of a C-23B Sherpa near Unadilla, Ga., was ``unsuccessful in recognizing the causal factor and all of the contributing factors'' that may have led to the breakup of the aircraft on a flight from Florida to Virginia Beach, Va. Killed in the crash were 21 guard members from Virginia and Florida units.
Savvy business travelers have known for years that flying to a ``hidden'' destination can save them big money. Case in point: a Los Angeles-based passenger bound for Chicago can save about $286 by booking a flight to Dubuque, Iowa, and debarking at a hub stop in Chicago. The routine is called hidden-city ticketing and it's a hot item in Washington, along with a companion scheme called ``back-to-back'' ticketing. Though both are prohibited by airlines, lawmakers continue to push for legislation that would force carriers to turn the other cheek.
Anaren Microwave introduced the surface mount, Xinger-brand quadrifilar helix feed network (quadfeed) component for satellite radio receivers. Developed in cooperation with Washington-based XM Satellite Radio Holdings, the miniature 2.320-2.345-GHz. quadfeed combines four signals from a quadrifilar helix antenna into one coherent output signal for amplification to the radio receiver. The new Xinger quadfeed is designed to be compatible with both the XM and Sirius networks, as the two companies plan to operate on a single standard in next-generation systems.
The Pentagon is putting new emphasis on boost-phase intercept technology that many see as the most effective way to counter enemy ballistic missiles. The renaissance of several concepts that had faded is part of the Defense Dept.'s larger strategy to broaden research and development in ballistic missile defense (BMD).
Data Device Corp. announces the further proliferation of the DD-42916C1 mezzanine card with the DD-4291613, which interfaces with Arinc 429 PCI data buses. The DD-4291613 implements an Arinc 429 interface and is designed to analyze and simulate data to and from electronic equipment and systems in commercial airlines and military avionics via the PCI format. In ground support and on-board data acquisition applications, operators don't necessarily know beforehand how many transmit/receive channels will be needed.
One thing was apparent at AirVenture 2001--the technology boundary between general aviation and the military and commercial transport markets is fading fast.
Tufram surface coating from General Magnaplate was first developed to solve critical wear and performance problems affecting aluminum parts on NASA space vehicles. This family of coatings combines the hardness of aluminum oxide ceramic with the properties of certain proprietary polymers, providing aluminum parts with better hardness, wear and corrosion resistance, plus permanent lubricity. Corrosion resistance is also greater than conventional hard anodizing, particularly for common chemicals.
Grady Sherman Jobe has become associate program manager for the Lockheed Martin Consolidated Space Operations Contract at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. Jobe was corporate vice president for bd Systems in Huntsville.
Aviation regulators in the U.S. and Europe, soon to be immersed in the biggest transatlantic antitrust immunity applications in more than four years, will find that the competition issues on which such proposals turn are more complicated than ever. When U.S. Transportation Dept. executives and European Union competition officials return from their summer vacations, they will find proposals from:
In the first half of 2001, EADS secured orders valued at 42.8 billion euros ($37.6 billion), raising the company's backlog on June 30 to a robust $162.8 billion. Revenues increased 33% to $12.3 billion, including $8.8 billion generated by Airbus commercial transports.
Wilbrecht Electronics' metal foil resistor, Type MAQ, was designed to handle external mechanical stresses by the lead movement and vibration occurring in aerospace, aviation and military applications. The Type MAQ's two-wire lead construction provides increased stability against vibration and abates mechanical stress from external forces and pulsation. Also, the resistor incorporates a high-purity, alumina ceramic substrate and proprietary Ni-Cr alloy foil system for ultra-low TCR. It is approved for both MIL-PRF-55182/RNC90Y (R level) and NASA specification S-311-P-813.
Boeing is assembling a team to design the flight control system for NASA's proposed Blended Wing Body Low-Speed Vehicle following Dryden Flight Research Center's decision to withdraw from the program.
Pinpoint Laser Systems has introduced an adjustable MicroShim for precision machine leveling, positioning and mounting applications. The shim design provides many height positions in increments of 0.001 in. over a range of 1.0 in. for supporting machinery and equipment while providing high load-bearing capacity. The MicroShim consists of a pair of overlapping wedge plates with machined surfaces that permit the plates to slide parallel to one another.
Ken Jackson (see photos) has been named director of program development and John Jellicorse director of flight systems for Spacehab in Huntsville, Ala. Jackson was capture manager and Jellicorse was technical lead for Spacehab's Microgravity Alliance program at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center.
NavTech Inc. has signed a five-year flight-planning contract with Air Jamaica under which NavTech's DispatchPro/Aurora system will replace the British Airways systems now being used by the airline.
The two planned derivatives of the Boeing 777--which will bring the total models to five--are approaching milestones that will fix the wide-body transport on a new course to becoming one of Boeing's most successful niche aircraft. In the explorations during the design phase, the 777-200LR (longer range) and the 777-300ER (extended range) are coming in below the specification operating empty weight, promising either greater than originally planned range or improved payload capability for each aircraft, said Lars Andersen, program manager.
Acting National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Carol Carmody voiced disappointment at an FAA committee finding that the costs of implementing fuel tank inerting systems would outweigh the safety gains. After TWA 800's catastrophic fuel tank explosion in 1996, the board urged carriers to begin injecting nonflammable gases into fuel tanks to prevent vapors from igniting when exposed to heat sources or electrical problems. Since then, two other large passenger jets have been destroyed by fuel tank explosions.
