Russia's Mir space station returned safely to Earth in the Pacific on Mar. 23 after a textbook series of three deorbit burns. For downrange safety, controllers commanded the station's engines to burn until all of their fuel was depleted, and as a result the station fell a little short of its target.
The CompactCore 119 single board computer combines the performance and power ratio of the PowerPC processor with the industry standard 3U CompactPCI form factor. This provides a high-density, flexible-fit commercial off-the-shelf processing solution with the most MIPS per sq. in. of any open architecture conduction-cooled single board computer (SBC), according to the manufacturer. Measuring 100 X 160 mm., the 3U form factor is intended for space and weight constrained uses.
Matra BAe Dynamics has completed a series of firing tests of the Asraam missile from an F/A-18 aircraft. The tests, to validate aircraft-missile separation, were conducted at the U.S. Navy's warfare center at Patuxent River, Md., in support of the Royal Australian Air Force, which has ordered the air-to-air missile to equip its F/A-18s.
Air France Industries' (AFI) new skills-transfer agreements with Vietnam and China Eastern airlines will allow the carriers to perform their own heavy maintenance checks on Airbus A320/A340s beginning this year. AFI services CFM56-5C engines for China Eastern and provides component support for 10 A320s operated by Vietnam Airlines.
Responding to the growing trend in the aerospace industry toward using long, monolithic airframe parts in place of fabricated multicomponent assemblies, the V5-3000 5-axis vertical machining center has a large 130 X 30.1-in. worktable, riding on four widely space Y-axis linear ways that support more than 2 tons of parts and fixtures. The machine's five-axis capability allows it to process multiple surfaces, interior and exterior, without refixturing.
BUSBox is a new family of portable, self-contained interfaces from Ballard Technology that link avionics databuses to the universal serial bus (USB). For the first time, any computer with a USB or a standard RS-232C serial port can communicate with a variety of avionics databuses, according to Ballard. Typical applications include avionics development, production and acceptance testing, system simulation, maintenance, flight test and any situation where a computer needs to interact with an avionics databus. These small portable units need no internal PC card slot.
Boeing's decision to scale back on the 747X development program and focus instead on a high-speed, mid-size aircraft design has, at least temporarily, given Airbus Industrie a clear run at the top-end of the commercial transport market. But that redirection, announced last week by Boeing, could also provide the company with an innovative competitive edge in a design that ultimately could be applied across multiple product lines, according to analysts.
Boeing began flying its X-32B Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator on Mar. 29 with a 50-min. mission at Edwards AFB, Calif. The prototype is configured to allow short take-off and vertical landing, but only flew in conventional mode last week. Boeing is betting on a direct-lift approach in which it closes the rear exhaust nozzle and redirects thrust downward through two lift nozzles. Its competitor, Lockheed Martin, is using a lift-fan design. The Mar. 29 mission reached 10,000 ft. and 200 kt. speed.
John C. Ferney (see photo) has been named vice president-customer support for the Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan. He was director of enterprise resource planning.
Richard M. Carlson, a longtime aeronautical engineer at several U.S. aerospace companies and later a rotorcraft research director for the U.S. Army, is scheduled to deliver the American Helicopter Society's Alexander A. Nikolsky Lecture.
The FAA has released new Practical Test Standards (PTS) for the Airline Transport Pilot airplane certificate. Last updated in 1998, the new standards became effective Feb. 1, and include a Change 1 revision which became effective on Feb. 7. The PTS guides students, instructors and FAA-designated examiners through checkrides. Every PTS details the skill and knowledge that must be demonstrated before an examiner can issue a certificate or rating to an applicant. Written by the FAA, these books list the knowledge and experience prerequisites.
Brian Trubshaw, who flew the first British-built Concorde supersonic transport, died on Mar. 25. He was 77. Trubshaw had a long and accomplished career in aviation that began in 1942, when he joined the RAF and flew Stirling and Lancaster bombers during World War II. After the war, he was an instructor at the Empire Flying School and RAF Flying College. Trubshaw joined Vickers-Armstrong in 1950 as a test pilot. He became chief test pilot in 1960 and director of test flights in 1966.
This new hardware system enhances air-to-ground communications by allowing two independent telephone lines to use a single antenna. The MCC-2X multichannel combiner from AirCell doubles the functionality of AirCell cellular phone systems by giving users the ability to add a second phone line to an aircraft without having to install a second antenna. The system lets users dedicate one line to data functions such as fax, e-mail and Internet, and the other line to voice.
A year after it began a quiet search for software partners, Boeing is ready to catapult itself into position as a major provider of enterprise-wide management systems for airline maintenance, repair and overhaul services. The company's goals take it a step beyond a general effort by the industry's leaders to wean their customers from paper and microfilm record-keeping that has been underway since the late-1990s. The drive to give Boeing a digital branding identity has a much broader target.
Former Defense Secretary William J. Perry and former CIA director John M. Deutch have been appointed to the board of directors of the iNetWorks Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif., a subsidiary of Irvine Sensors Corp. Perry is now a professor at Stanford University, while Deutch is an institute professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Electroforming uses chemical electroplating to ``grow'' a metal part over a mandrel. When the electroformed part is completed the mandrel is removed. Electroforming is suited to making exotic shapes that often can't be made in any other way and is used in a number of sophisticated IR countermeasure devices. The LaserGold coating, with an infrared reflectance of 99+% in both the near and far IR, makes these countermeasure devices particularly efficient and effective.
The $297-million Mars Odyssey mission, crucial for NASA's recovery from back-to-back Mars flight losses, is set for liftoff this week on a ``do-or-die'' mission to validate reforms in the wake of the failures. The Odyssey orbiter will search for ``Martian oases'' as targets for future U.S./European landers.
James S. Waugh, vice president-marketing of FSI, has been named vice chairman of the Associate Member Advisory Council of the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. Jon D. Ellis, manager of the Sprint Corp.'s Flight Operations Dept., has been appointed to the NBAA board of directors. He succeeds Allan Lane, who has retired.
Charles D. Walker has been promoted to Washington-based director of Rocketdyne, International Space Station and space and communications services for Boeing's Government Relations Office from senior manager.
Airbus tentatively plans to launch the all-cargo A330-200F twinjet in June after securing orders from at least two major airlines. It will carry a payload of up to 60 metric tons (132,000 lb.) 4,250 naut. mi. on routes that cannot be flown efficiently by the significantly larger Boeing 747F and A380F, Marketing Director Didier Lenormand said. According to Airbus' predictions, cargo operators and courier companies in the next 18 years will take delivery of nearly 300 aircraft in the A330-200F category. The 767-300ERF is the only competitor in production, Lenormand said.
Canada 3000, which just won government approval to acquire Royal Aviation Inc., will buy seven-month-old CanJet Airlines in an all-stock deal worth nearly C$7 million.
The strike by 1,350 Comair pilots grew increasingly bitter last week as both sides played a high-stakes game that will have a huge impact on the regional airline industry. The central issue in the walkout is a clash of values: Revenue flow versus pilot equality.
European satellite builders have concluded a spate of deals for telecom satellites and hardware in China and Russia, continuing an aggressive drive into export markets and providing further impetus for loosening U.S. export controls. Last week, Astrium confirmed it would supply a Ku-band satellite to Intelsat in order to meet heavy demand in China for telecom and broadcasting services. The spacecraft, APR-3, will be a modified ``whitetail,'' KTV, originally ordered by New Skies, a Dutch-based commercial spinoff of Intelsat.
