Noreen Halvorsen, a regional sales manager for Aerospace Products International, has received the FAA Flight Safety Award. She was recognized for founding the annual Northern California FAA Aviation Maintenance and Safety Symposium in San Jose.
Pieter Gaele Winters has been named director of technical and operational support of the European Space Agency. He was chief executive of Fokker Space.
Among the documents allegedly sold to the Russians by FBI counterintelligence agent Robert Philip Hanssen were measurements and signature intelligence, or ``masint'' collection schedules. Infrared, radar and multispectral sensors used for masint are carried on classified U.S. ships, aircraft and satellites. Among those affected would have been RC-135 Cobra Ball and U-2S aircraft and Cobra Judy ships that carry advanced sensors and computer systems to observe foreign missile tests from long range, see through camouflage and analyze factory smokestack discharges.
NASA Ames Research Center is looking for commercial partners to develop its Traject automated traffic management system. Traject was developed as an airport surface movement adviser, but Ames says it can also be used to schedule the movement of boats, trucks and railroad cars. The system can use real-time information from a range of sources to optimize movements; for example, in the airport application it takes data from the control tower, ramp control, and airline operations and flight schedules.
Joseph Gullion has become vice president-strategic planning and acquisitions of AAR, Wood Dale, Ill. He was president of Boeing Airplane Services in Seattle.
Southwest Airlines has stopped offering its flights on the Travelocity.com Web site after some passengers thought they had confirmed seats when in fact they did not. Travelocity did not use Southwest's active inventory of seats because of the nature of the agreement between the airline and Sabre Holdings, the owner of Travelocity. Southwest sells 30% of its tickets through its
The FAA this week is to issue new safety rules aimed at preventing fuel tank explosions in existing and future air transport aircraft. The rules are expected to affect 7,000 U.S. in-service aircraft with 30 seats or more. They are based on the FAA's October 1999 rule-making proposal that followed the release of the National Transportation Safety Board's final recommendations related to TWA Flight 800 (AW&ST Aug. 28, 2000, p. 52).
Deft at self-deprecating humor and dexterous at harmonizing outsized egos, John J. Hamre, former U.S. deputy Defense secretary, is among the most popular as well as the most respected figures in U.S. national security. He started his Washington career at the Congressional Budget Office. Prior to that, Hamre had received his Ph.D. from the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University.
A new interactive flight deck for the Dassault Aviation Falcon business jet line is expected to advance the trend toward PC-like cockpits. The Enhanced Avionics System (EASy) combines features of Honeywell's Primus Epic electronic flight instrumentation system and Dassault's single-engine combat aircraft in an integrated Windows environment. The cockpit is the result of a five-year joint development effort.
The Egyptian Civil Aviation Authority, facing rapidly increasing traffic, has picked Sita's ``Airport in a Box'' set of integrated operational and business software to help run six airports in the country. The basic Airport in a Box package includes Sita's AirportCentral operations and management database, the AirportVision information display system, and the AirportResource Manager to schedule key equipment.
Hardware and procedural problems are emerging as key culprits in the NASA, Honeywell and Boeing investigation into the command and control (C&C) computer problems that temporarily crippled International Space Station operations. The events will accelerate NASA work on computer test equipment that can be sent to the ISS and on planning for the use of solid-state memory devices in place of hard drives in critical ISS computers. The situation could also delay the next ISS assembly flight by the shuttle currently set for launch June 14.
BAE Systems has snagged a $11.7-million contract to fit its Broach hard-target penetrating warhead on 3,000 of the U.S. Navy's air-launched joint standoff weapon (JSOW). Production of the Broach-armed, glide bombs is scheduled to begin in Fiscal 2003. The design puts a penetrating, shaped charge against the target first, with a conventional warhead immediately following for added penetration. The new warhead will be integrated into the JSOW-C that is designed with a large, unitary warhead rather than the submunitions used in earlier versions of the weapon.
The U.S. trade representative and Boeing executives are expected to scrutinize information supplied by the European Commission on funding of the newly launched Airbus A380. EC officials stress that loans to Airbus' partners from various governments fully honor the U.S.-European Union accord of July 1992 covering 100-seat-plus commercial transports.
Former U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater has become a partner and head of the transportation practice group at the Washington law firm of Patton Boggs.
Klaus Zeh has been named senior vice president-European operations of the Frederick, Md.-based International Council of the Aircraft Owner and Pilot Assns.
The U.S. Air Force is scheduled to receive the first T-6A Texan II JPATS trainer May 7 at Moody AFB, Ga. The turboprop-powered airplane will be operated by the Third Flying Training Sqdn. that was activated at Moody on Apr. 3. Plans call for the squadron to receive 15 airplanes and attain initial operating capability in June, followed by the first class of pilots in October. Moody eventually will receive 40 Texan IIs by early 2002 and will train about 200 pilots annually.
America West Airlines has asked the National Mediation Board (NMB) to step in on contract negotiations between the carrier and its 1,800 pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA). CEO William Franke said help from the NMB is necessary because it is ``clear that an agreement cannot be reached through the current negotiation process.'' Capt. Roger Cox of the ALPA's Master Executive Council said mediation ``will do little to further progress.'' The two parties have been in negotiations since February 2000.
It's heartening to know that innovative startups still populate the commercial space industry, assmall, entrepreneurial companies historically have been the wellspring of some of the most exciting developments in aerospace. Unfortunately, the chances of most of these fledgling enterprises surviving--let alone becoming major players--has dimmed considerably in the last six months, according to some market professionals.
This year's Outstanding Cadets are: U.S. Air Force Academy: Cadet First Class Christopher Moeller U.S. Coast Guard Academy: Lt. jg. Maurice Murphy U.S. Military Academy: Cadet First Class Joseph Minor U.S. Naval Academy: Midshipman First Class Benjamin Malay
John H. Dasburg (center) accepts the Commercial Air Transport Laureate award from Kenneth E. Gazzola, AW&ST executive vice president/publisher (left), and David M. North, editor-in-chief.
The New Technology Zeppelin has been certified by the German aviation authority. The airship, which was developed by Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik (ZLT) in Friedrichshafen on Lake Constance, had its first flight in September 1997 and has undergone an extensive 1,000-hr. flight test program. ZLT plans to operate the airship on sightseeing tours around Lake Constance through its Deutsche Zeppelin Reederei subsidiary. ZLT said it expects the program to be profitable if 20-25 aircraft can be sold. The Zeppelin NT is one of the world's largest airships at 246 ft. long and 64 ft.
