Under a contract from the FAA, Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector has delivered an ASR-9 airport surveillance radar for the Palm Springs, Calif., International Airport that is expected to be operational this month.
The space shuttle Atlantis was to be rolled back to Launch Pad 39A on Jan. 26 for launch on Feb. 7 after checks of its solid rocket booster wiring showed no problems. The Atlantis launch carrying the Destiny laboratory to the International Space Station had to be delayed three weeks from mid-January when some SRB wiring in the ground parts inventory showed malfunctions (AW&ST Jan. 22, p. 36).
Raytheon Aircraft Co. has mated the wing and fuselage of RC-1, the first production Hawker Horizon business jet, at its facilities in Wichita, Kan. Company officials said the mating process required less than 30 min.
Boeing has defined the basic configuration for longer range versions of the 777-200 and 777-300 transports in preparation for the start of final assembly in June of next year. The Longer Range 777-200 and 777-300 programs, launched about one year ago, completed the initial development phase on Jan. 15 as the program transitioned to what Boeing calls the integrated definition and schedule (Idas) phase.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) has applied to the Japanese authorities for permission to begin nonstop Boeing 777 ER service between Tokyo and Ho Chi Minh City on Mar. 27 with code-share partner Vietnam Airlines. Vietnam's increasing role as an economic partner of Japan prompted ANA to expand a relationship with Vietnam Airlines that began in March 1999, said ANA President and CEO Kichisaburo Nomura. Total traffic between Japan and Vietnam exceeded 100,000 passengers in 2000 and has been growing of late.
Boeing Satellite Systems will build an additional UHF Follow-On satellite for the U.S. Navy. Part of an existing contract valued at $1.9 billion, the satellite will be the 11th in a series built by BSS for the armed forces.
Medical, legal and airline industry groups are heeding a call to action by travelers whose concerns about the risks of DVT or deep vein thrombosis are mounting.
Lynn Cockrum (see photo) has become vice president-chief financial officer and Nina Oddo director of human resources of FlightSafety Boeing Training International of Seattle.
Southwest Airlines is experimenting with a dual boarding bridge to determine whether it will help to maintain its 20-25-min. standard turnaround time as the average passenger load factor grows.
David M. Tait, executive vice president for Virgin Atlantic Airways in its North American headquarters in Norwalk, Conn., has been awarded an O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II in the 2001 New Year's Honors List. He was honored for ``services to British aviation interests in the U.S.''
Hispasat has approved a new satellite project that will take the Spanish satellite telecommunications operator into the increasingly competitive Brazilian satcom market. The Hispasat board of directors last week approved the purchase of a new spacecraft, Amazonas 1, to be placed at 61 deg. W. Long. Amazonas 1 will be operated through a Brazil-based subsidiary, Hispamar, in partnership with Telemar, a local telecom operator. Telemar has a C-band operating license that complements a Ku-band license obtained by Hispasat in September.
Southwest Airlines is scheduled to terminate service to San Francisco International Airport on Mar. 5 as a result of flight delays and a lack of profitability. The airline will shift flights to other major airports in the region. The top U.S. low-cost airline will operate eight flights daily from Oakland International Airport and two from Sacramento International Airport, with one each operating from Orange County, Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. Herbert D.
A futuristic concept Boeing is looking at as a design option under a study effort is a 250-seat transport which resembles the Concorde and could cruise at Mach 0.95, according to The Wall Street Journal. The overall study, designated P-2, is part of the company's ongoing effort to evaluate advanced designs and new technology in areas such as materials, production techniques and high-performance propulsion systems.
A French air force pilot was killed when his Mirage F1CR crashed during a training mission near Prince Sultan air base, 50 miles south of the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, on Jan. 24. The aircraft was on a deployment from an air base in Reims. While France no longer participates in ``no-fly'' zone patrols over southern Iraq, its pilots continue to train in the area.
Elizabeth Young has been named general manager for aircraft services at Washington-based SITA. She has succeeded Jean-Philippe Lallement, who is now vice president/general manager for airline application services. Young was first vice president-aeronautical services at Comsat.
Based on the results of a classified study completed late last year, the U.S. has quietly launched a broad technology effort to field a family of common-design, high-definition, X-band radars that can be put into satellites or aircraft for tasks as diverse as space-based surveillance, ballistic missile defense or combat reconnaissance.
Boeing has selected ST Aviation Services Co. (SASCO), a subsidiary of Singapore Technologies Aerospace, to convert 13 Boeing MD-11 transports to freighter configuration. The MD-11s are being acquired by UPS, which holds options for another 22 of the aircraft. UPS also has chosen Singapore-based SASCO to maintain the airplanes. Plans call for conversion work to begin in the second quarter of 2001 and end in 2004. Although the MD-11 conversions will be a first for SASCO, the company modified a DC-10 to freighter configuration last year.
Kaman Corp. has signed a $21-million contract for delivery of five K-Max external-lift helicopters with the U.S. State Dept. The contract includes supplying equipment and spare parts.
With its XMM-Newton orbital X-ray observatory now fully operational, European Space Agency scientists are already thinking about a successor project to provide further insights into the structure and origins of the universe.
Collaborative engineering projects can present some hurry-up-and-wait challenges with regard to team members gaining quick access to working versions and updated release versions of the same document. Hamilton Sundstrand Program Manager Pauletta Jordan says her company finds that ActiveProject from Framework Technologies Corp. of Burlington, Mass., is saving time by allowing designers to have real-time interactive viewing, interrogation, markup and sharing of engineering models, drawings and supporting information.
With sales and earnings skyrocketing, demand straining capacity and privatization around the corner, Eutelsat is poised for another round of expansion, focused primarily on broadband applications.
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta spares no candor as he lays out a recovery program for the ills afflicting commercial aviation. ``The only sure remedy for air traffic control congestion in the near-term would be a recession, which would suppress demand,'' the new secretary declared bluntly at his Senate confirmation hearing last week. ``Who among us wants to advocate that to the American people or to the President, as our alternative to expanding capacity?''
United Airlines claims it will soon become the first airline to tap new Internet-based technology to buy jet fuel. To reduce its fuel bill, United has selected the American Petroleum Exchange's neutral e-marketplace to host a 140-million-gal. jet fuel auction in early February. Fuel purchased through the exchange will flow into more than a dozen airport storage terminals, including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and Miami, beginning on Mar. 1.
