Electronic Data Systems Corp. (EDS) announced it will buy airline data centers and information technology from Fort Worth-based Sabre Holdings Corp., a large computer reservation system. As part of the deal, Sabre gave EDS a 10-year, $2.2-billion service contract. Sabre has been indicating a desire to sell its slow-growing information technology business.
Lockheed Martin's unsolicited proposal to substitute its own system for Raytheon's Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (Stars) drew little interest or support from expert witnesses at a congressional hearing.
A trio of bills to augment airline competition, bolster customer service and raise the pilot retirement age limit to 63 was completed late last week by the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. The competition bill would prohibit major carriers from hoarding slots, gates and other facilities at the nation's 35 largest airports. The ``passenger rights'' bill would increase compensation to involuntarily bumped passengers and require carriers to reduce their chronically delayed flights.
A Peruvian MiG-29 crashed during a flight demonstration before congressional investigators on Mar. 13. They are questioning whether the purchase of 18 of the fighters and 18 Su-25s in 1996, for more than $250 million, involved kickbacks to members of the government of then-President Alberto Fujimori.
Thomas Delaney has been appointed quality assurance director of the Environmental Tectonics Corp., Southampton, Pa. He was senior quality assurance engineer for the Microcom Div. of L-3 Communications, Warminster, Pa.
Globalization is making it much harder to forecast the emergence and course of military threats. America's highest ranking intelligence officials find conflicting security trends everywhere they turn in the information age. Attempts to peer into the military future are increasingly liable to error, they say, because globalization accentuates evanescence in nearly every strategic dimension, from technology, economics and politics to energy, demography and natural resources.
Jim Compton has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president-pricing and revenue management and Glen Hauenstein to senior vice president-scheduling from staff vice president-market planning for Continental Airlines.
The Nightsun II searchlight has been upgraded by a more aerodynamic design, making it more energy efficient and lighter in weight. A key feature is it works with the other aircraft systems. Formerly, the searchlight and other onboard aircraft systems were operated as separate components. The Nightsun II system weighs approximately 25% less than the SX-16 Nightsun. The searchlight head is noticeably smaller and the system allows one controller to handle the units together as a linked system or as two separate units. Spectrolab Inc., 12500 Gladstone Ave., Sylmar, Calif.
A second NASA advisory panel, this one headed by former Lockheed Martin Executive Vice President Thomas Young, has urged NASA to recognize that the space shuttle fleet probably will fly well after its current 2012 retirement date and should be upgraded accordingly for safety even if it costs more than the $1.6 billion currently budgeted for shuttle upgrades.
The U.S. Air Force is considering initiating development of a multi-role satellite system that would provide both navigation and communications functions. The Global Multimission Service Platform (GMSP) would operate in medium Earth orbit to provide GPS capability as well as narrow and wideband communication linkages, said Maj. Gen. Brian Arnold, director of Air Force space and nuclear deterrence projects. Details of the idea are still sketchy, although the service plans to start working with industry soon to develop the concept that so far is unfunded.
Until recently, it was fuel prices that had airlines on the defensive. But that added expense, though substantial in the last year, almost pales in comparison with what carriers are having to face now--the weak economy, exacerbated by a stock market that can't seem to find a bottom floor.
Jerry Simpson has become program manager of the Expendable Materials Group of Chicago-based AirLiance Materials. He was operations manager for Pratt&Whitney for its regional service center and parts distribution center warehouses.
Unapproved and bogus spare parts for CFM56 series turbofans are being used increasingly by repair and overhaul shops, according to CFMI top executives.
The European Commission has invited additional comments from British Midland, Lufthansa and SAS on a proposed cooperation agreement among the airlines before it makes a decision on the tripartite agreement. The proposal has been under review since Mar. 1, 2000, when the airlines filed an exemption from antitrust rules. Under EC law, a decision on whether to oppose the agreement must now be issued within 90 days.
Interviews began late last week in the investigation of a night-training accident on a Kuwaiti aerial bombing range in which five Americans and a New Zealander were killed. A Navy F/A-18C dropped three unguided 500-lb. Mk.82 bombs from 5,000 ft. onto an observation point. The U.S. Air Force tactical air controller directing the mission was wounded, as were two others. Forward air controllers and pilots use a standard nine-line format to specifically describe location of a target. The exchange is repeated until both agree the message is understood.
Susan J. Hanson has been appointed director of marketing for Socata Aircraft Inc., Pembroke Pines, Fla. She held a similar position at The New Piper Aircraft Inc., Vero Beach, Fla.
The Navy becomes the second military service to turn its back on the V-22. The Army abandoned the project long ago. The Navy was nominally a junior partner, with plans to buy 48 HV-22s for search and rescue, fleet logistics and special operations missions. However, a service official says the Navy has informed the Marine Corps it no longer expects to go that route. Navy officials now believe they are better served using H-60 Black Hawk helicopters for medium lift.
The Cryo-Tracker is a flexible, ultra-lightweight temperature and liquid level sensing probe. Mass gauging problems in aerospace fuel tanks, launch vehicle, cryogenic research facilities and process industries could be solved with the new technology that provides high accuracy, quick response and ultra light weight, according to the company. Designed to measure liquid level and temperature simultaneously, it has multiple sensing elements, solderless connections and has been tested in liquid oxygen up to 300 psia. Sierra Lobo Inc., 426 Croghan St., Fremont, Ohio 43420.
Prof. Ian Halliday has been reappointed to a four-year term as chief executive/deputy chairman of the U.K.'s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council.
Techniques to reduce engine inlet and exhaust radar signature have been evolving during the last 40 years, from an add-on approach that leaves the engine untouched to a more integrated design where the fan may be altered to be part of a radar-foiling system. Representative designs would be the SR-71 circa 1960, the F-117/Have Blue circa 1975, the F-22 and F/A-18E/F circa 1990 and the Joint Strike Fighter circa 2000.
Boeing has laid out the workshares it is currently discussing with three Japanese companies for production of major structural components for the planned 747X aircraft. Walter B. Gillette, Boeing 747X program manager, said the company is talking with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries about workshare on the wings, while talks with Fuji Heavy Industries involve the wing center section.
The transformation of Airbus into an integrated company signals dramatic progress in the European aerospace industry's quest for greater efficiency and competitiveness. The emergence of Airbus as a single corporate entity, by far Europe's biggest cross-border industrial integration, is also expected to become an innovative economic model that could be adopted by other segments of the industry.
A line of Type 27 depressed center wheels for blending welds on stainless steel in one step and leaving a satin finish that is ready for grain-in is available. The GFX blending wheels are available in 36, 54 and 80 grit sizes and in 4, 4.5, 5, 7 and 9 in. dia. These wheels substantially cut down on chatter and vibration and feature multiple layers of reinforced nonwoven cotton fiber and abrasive grains, pressed and bonded into uniformly impregnated disks. The wheels constantly reveal fresh abrasives as they work to assure consistent metal removal.
