BAE Systems Aviation Services has signed an $18-million, three-year contract for base maintenance with TNT Airways of Belgium and Pan Air, based in Madrid. BAE will support the airlines' five A300B4 passenger-to-freighter conversions. The Filton, England-based operation has also been selected by Airbus as one of its preferred maintenance and repair organizations.
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has imaged a globular-like star cluster called NGC 1850, the brightest star cluster in the neighboring Large Magellanic Cloud (see photo). The image, made by Hubble's Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, shows two relatively young components--the main cluster in the center and smaller cluster in the lower right portion of the image. Diffuse gas surrounds the double cluster. Scientists believe the pattern formed when massive stars in the main cluster exploded as supernovas.
A celebration of the 75th anniversary of Russian naval aviation was marred by a fatal accident involving a Sukhoi Su-33 naval fighter. The July 17 accident occurred during an air show at the Naval Aviation Pilot Combat Training Center in Ostrov. The pilot, Maj. Gen. Timur Apakidze, deputy commander of Russian Naval Aviation, was killed in the crash which occurred on approach after the completion of an aerobatic display. He was the first Russian military pilot to conduct a carrier landing with the Su-27K, later dubbed the Su-33, and had more than 3,500 flight hours.
British Airways could resume Concorde passenger services in September following the first of a series of verification flight tests of safety modifications to the supersonic aircraft.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld is not giving an inch on B-1 bomber cuts, vowing to turn ``waste into weapons,'' close 20-25% more bases and trim Pentagon overhead at least 5%.
Lawmakers usually growl at cost overruns, but congressional reaction to a multibillion- dollar F-22 budget spike is subdued. ``I do know that we have a problem there, we've anticipated it for some time,'' Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Appropriations defense panel, told us. There's no threat of a get-tough policy, like his F-22 crackdown in 1999 (AW&ST Oct. 18, 1999, p. 25). But Lewis says the overrun does present a serious difficulty because it makes it harder for his panel to fund the Air Force's other pressing needs, particularly airlift.
Spanish national carrier Iberia could be in line for four years' respite from its continuing labor difficulties following an arbitrator's binding ruling on a new pay scheme for the airline's pilots.
AirTran Airways is preparing to bring low-fare competition to the Cincinnati-Atlanta market now dominated by Delta Air Lines, which operates a hub in each city. AirTran hopes to gain a place in the market where round-trip coach fares run as high as $1,305. AirTran officials have briefed operators of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport on plans for 4-6 flights a day starting in the fall.
A strategic agreement between Russia and China threatens to resurrect a security alliance created in the Stalin-Mao era to serve as a counterweight to U.S. foreign policy ambitions. The pact, signed on July 16 during a visit of Chinese President Jiang Zemin to Moscow, strengthened decade-long military cooperation with Russia--already China's main weapons supplier--and affirmed Russian support for Chinese sovereignty of Taiwan, while formalizing the opposition to U.S. missile defense plans.
Engineers are attempting to identify remedies that would permit the recovery of vital payloads stranded in useless orbit after a failed Ariane 5 launch, and to return the new heavy-lift booster to service as quickly as possible.
Eurocontrol has set next Jan. 24 for introducing reduced vertical separation minima rules, a Single Sky air traffic management enhancement plan key element; one the U.S. is not expected to implement before 2004. RVSM will enable aircraft equipped with high-accuracy altimeters to operate in upper airspace with vertical separations of 1,000 ft., compared to 2,000 ft. now. This will result in six more flight levels between 29,000-41,000 ft., increasing en route capacity an estimated 20%.
Alan M. Title (see photo), principal scientist at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Advanced Technology Center, Palo Alto, Calif., and principal investigator for the focal plane instrument package on the Japanese Solar-B mission, has received the Hale Prize from the American Astronomical Society. He was cited for ``leadership in developing multiple high-resolution telescopes and interpreting their data to advance our understanding of the Sun, and for his generous public service on behalf of the solar and solar terrestrial communities.''
The Boeing Co. last week posted a 27% jump in second-quarter earnings on 4% higher revenues, while General Dynamics Corp. reported an 11% increase in earnings per share on 13% higher revenues.
Alenia Marconi Systems and Boeing have teamed to offer a derivative of the U.S. company's Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) for the U.K.'s precision guided bomb program. The deal is part of a wider cooperative agreement, signed last week, to jointly market the weapon and derivatives worldwide.
Fred A. Breidenbach has been named to the board of directors of the EFTC Corp. of Phoenix. He is a former president/chief operating officer of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. and is principal of FA Breidenbach&Associates.
John Murphey, president of Bell Helicopter Textron Inc., has been elected chairman of the Alexandria, Va.-based American Helicopter Society International for the next year. Other officers are: president, Gilles Ouimet, president/CEO of Pratt&Whitney Canada; and secretary/ treasurer, Robert G. Loewy, a professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The FAA has issued an emergency airworthiness directive against Bell Helicopter Textron Model 427, 407 and 206L-4 aircraft for inspection of the engine-to-transmission driveshaft for cracks. Transport Canada notified the FAA after the driveshaft failed in a Model 407, leading to engine shutdown and a forced landing. Bell Helicopter Textron Canada Alert Service Bulletin 407-01-03 is the basis for the directive.
NASA has acquired a Cirrus Design Corp. SR22 (left), Lancair Columbia 300 (right) and a Cessna Aircraft Co. 206H Stationair to conduct studies applicable to the agency's Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) and Aviation Safety Program initiatives. The SR22 and Columbia 300 incorporate specific technologies developed at NASA/Langley Research Center where the airplanes are based.
The staple fuel of light aviation--100-octane low-lead gasoline--may be phased out for economic reasons in 5-10 years, according to several fuel experts. Without a substitute, many thousands of aircraft could be grounded. But leaded aviation gasoline has beaten back several threats over the last two decades (AW&ST Mar. 25, 1991, p. 9). Cessna Aircraft expects the fuel to be available until at least 2010. Why worry now?
This 18.1-in. 3D LCD display has four user-selectable stereo modes for compatibility with virtually all stereo sources, selectable resolution to 1,280 X 1,024, 16.7 million display colors and analog RGB input. The display includes NTSC/PAL and S-video inputs as standard. It can also be switched to conventional 2D at push of a button. It incorporates eyeQ technology, a visual cue that allows the user to position himself correctly for maximum 3D effect. Designated Model 2018XLQ, it is priced at $6,999 and replaces the previous version that sold for $11,499.
Lockheed Martin's X-35B demonstrator made the first vertical landing from wingborne flight last week, which along with a lift fan-augmented short takeoff completed all the flights required by the Joint Strike Fighter competition.
Japan's defense strategists are paying more attention to the Chinese military because it has increased intelligence-gathering patrols off Japan's shores, acquired more ballistic missiles and is expected to boost spending by 17% this year.
Comair is restoring service to its network in waves of 10 aircraft a week, with the year-end objective of reaching customers in all 95 cities it had served from its Cincinnati base prior to the 90-day pilots' strike. The Delta Connection carrier was operating 30 Bombardier CRJ200s last week, each of which were tested with four landings and four takeoffs. All mechanics were kept on the job during the now-concluded strike to maintain aircraft.
President Bush has some convincing to do in his own party on missile defense, if an early scouting report on Bush's pick to be White House science adviser is any indication. ``I don't think he's a shill for national missile defense, unlike some past science advisers to the President,'' House Science Committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.) told reporters. ``This guy is for real.
Engine icing is being investigated as the cause for the loss of a Pilatus PC-12 off the east coast of Russia's Sakhalin Island in the Okhotsk Sea on July 8. All four persons on board--an American pilot and three Japanese pilots--were rescued without injury by a Russian freighter after a distress call was apparently relayed by a commercial airliner. The single-engine transport/freighter had been chartered by a Japanese owner-pilot association from a Boise, Idaho-based company for a round-the-world flight.
