John Shaw, chief scientist for Advanced Rotorcraft Systems at the Boeing Co. in Philadelphia, recently received the Hammer Award from then-Vice President Al Gore for his role in developing the National Rotorcraft Technology Center, an industry consortium that is working to cut the cost of developing rotorcraft technology. The award recognizes ``teams of government employees and their partners for helping to create a government that works better and costs less.''
The Applied Technology Div. at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center is managing a new, eight-year research program aimed at developing a Mach 8-15 hypersonic wind tunnel. The concept calls for increasing flow energy by using an electron beam and a magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) accelerator. An ultra high-pressure air supply would be connected to a supersonic nozzle, into which energy is added by the electron beam to achieve Mach 8-12. Speeds up to Mach 15 would be obtained through augmentation by the MHD accelerator.
William R. Craven has become president/CEO of Paravant Inc., Morristown, N.J. He was president/chief operating officer. Kris Joshi, who had been chairman/CEO, will now be nonexecutive chairman.
Problems with the V-22 tiltrotor and the ensuing delays from multiple reviews are threatening to disrupt the Pentagon's force structure plans as gaps in military capability emerge. The grounding of all V-22s in the wake of the Dec. 11 crash that killed four Marines and the claims of falsified maintenance records have caused the program to largely grind to a stop. As a result, the Marines have already had to delay the projected in-service date for the tiltrotor one month until April, and further slips are possible.
The Transportation Dept. supports legislative action to improve some areas of airline customer service, but advises lawmakers against trying to micromanage how passengers are treated. Asked at a Senate hearing last week about the efficacy of congressional intervention, Kenneth M. Mead, the department's inspector general, said it was important that the legislature send airlines a message that customer service ``is of enormous importance to the Congress, and that there are some ground floor expectations that need to be met.''
With the long political battle for approval now behind it, Vega is now poised to begin full-scale development. The light booster, designed to launch 1.5 metric tons into polar orbit, was approved in December and is to make its maiden flight in 2005 (AW&ST Oct. 25, 2000, p. 25). Prime contractor FiatAvio expects to receive authorization to proceed with phase C/D from the European Space Agency by the end of March.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE is modifying its C/KC-135 fleet to be able to carry VOR/ILS receivers that meet European requirements for protection against interference from powerful commercial FM radio stations. The entire 568-aircraft fleet is being modified to accept Rockwell Collins FM Immune receivers. Aircraft modifications begin this month and are slated for completion in August. USAF is buying only 140 shipsets, which will be swapped into any of those aircraft flying to Europe.
The SAirGroup's external growth strategy is evolving into a financial psychodrama. SAirGroup, parent of Swissair, and the Belgian government agreed in principle over a week ago to share the burden of a $232.5-billion capital injection for troubled Sabena Belgian World Airlines, which last year posted losses of around $137 million. But the agreement is contingent upon a far-reaching, cost-cutting plan that calls for job cuts and early retirements of ground workers and cockpit crews--steps the unions representing those workers oppose.
Shelly Snyder Simi has become vice president-communications, Walter Desrosier director of maintenance and engineering and Megan Curry manager of communications and aviation education at the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn.
Thomas Grunwald (see photo) has been promoted to vice president/general manager from vice president-flight support services/director of field service of Wood Group Aero, East Windsor, Conn.
NASA will use a Delta II booster to launch a NOAA satellite in early 2003. The space agency has exercised a launch service contract option for the Delta II, which will be used to place NOAA-N in polar orbit from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
SYMETRICS INDUSTRIES PRISM-IDM performed what it believes was the first technical demonstration of unmanned aerial vehicle to fighter imagery relay (UFIR). Multinational and multiservice aircraft were involved in the test, which was conducted at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, Calif.
Industry experts regard the regulatory wrangling over DHL Airways' U.S. citizenship as an opening shot in a battle shaping up globally as mail delivery and the parcel express integrate. In a recent development, the DHL companies asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. to dismiss complaints filed by rivals FedEx and UPS that accused DHL of noncompliance with U.S. laws on foreign ownership. DHL Airways of San Francisco called the allegations groundless and released plans for a restructuring and refinancing of Airways, the U.S. subsidiary of DHL International.
Arianespace concluded an agreement with the European Space Agency to launch the Advanced Research and Technology Mission (Artemis) spacecraft next year with an Ariane 5 booster. Artemis, an experimental telecommunications satellite developed by Alenia Spazio, will be located on a geostationary orbit at 21.5 E. Long. over Central Africa.
Europe suffered its second worst year for airport delays in 2000, with 25.5% of all intra-European departures delayed by more than 15 min., according to the Assn. of European Airlines (AEA). The result was an improvement over 1999 when 30.3% of all flights were delayed. But an estimated third of the delays that year were attributed to the conflict in Kosovo. Eight of 27 major airports experienced annual delay rates of more than 30% in 2000.
Rolls-Royce and Snecma have formed a joint venture to investigate advanced military aircraft engine technologies under programs supported by the French and British governments. The new company, called Rolls-Royce Snecma Ltd., will take over responsibility for work on the Anglo-French Advanced Military Engine Technology (AMET) project and collaborative propulsion studies related to the Future Offensive Air System program.
The U.S. Navy has selected Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems division to provide AN/ALQ-162 systems for Egyptian Air Force AH-64D Apache helicopters under a $15-million work order.
Brian Cornell has become OEM account manager for the Business and General Aviation Group of the BFGoodrich Co., Charlotte, N.C. He was manager of Divergent Inc., Wilmington, Del.
Paul Thomas has been appointed vice president-data products and services for New York-based Globalstar. He was vice president-global marketing and distribution for Orbcomm International Partners.
Singapore Airlines has turned to a familiar face in its fleet, the 777, for an unusual role--to replace the much smaller A310-300 on regional routes. The carrier, which already holds Asia's largest number of 777 orders, said last week it will add 10 777-200s to its fleet beginning in 2003. It also took 10 options. If it exercises all of its outstanding options, its -200/300 fleet will reach 81 aircraft in service by 2009.
Saab has completed flight tests aimed at integrating a helmet-mounted display (HMD) with avionics systems on the Gripen multirole aircraft. The successful tests involved the Guardian HMD system developed by Pilkington Optronics in conjunction with Denel's Cumulus division and Kentron of South Africa. Guardian is being integrated on Gripen for the South African air force, which is acquiring 28 aircraft. The HMD also is being optimized for use with the IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile that is being adopted by the Swedish air force.
Controllers had said it was a 1-in-100 shot. But the NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft managed not only to survive the landing it was not designed to do, it maintained communications with Earth and its systems remained healthy. And with that, NEAR won a reprieve from NASA and began limited science operations on the surface of the asteroid Eros late last week.
