This is the 11th annual Aviation Week&Space Technology photo issue, and the inaugural edition for our Aerospace Art Awards. While our photo issue has matured each year with an increasingly wider range of aviation and space-related photographs, we realized that we were missing the portrayal of aviation scenes that would be nearly impossible to capture by camera because of their historic elements or the inability of having a photographer at the scene. So, we turned to well-known aviation artist Keith Ferris for help and advice.
The National Mediation Board (NMB) has recessed talks between United Airlines and the International Assn. of Machinists, which represents the carrier's 15,000 mechanics, to allow time for both sides to assess their positions. United is alleging that the mechanics are engaged in an illegal work slowdown. A temporary restraining order was lifted last week by U.S. District Court Judge William Hibbler in order not to further hinder contract talks.
The crash of a V-22 that killed all four crewmembers last week has left the fleet of tiltrotors grounded and sparked questions about program maturity. But even more bad news may be in the offing, officials believe.
Aviation Week&Space Technology is pleased to join the American Society of Aviation Artists in presenting the art seen in this special issue. These selections are the magazine's choices for the ``Best in Show'' and the ``Best of the Best'' among entries in the five categories: Commercial, Military, Civil, Space and General Aviation, as selected from ASAA's juried Annual International Aviation Art Exhibition 2000, which opened at the American Airlines C. R. Smith Museum in Fort Worth, in July.
Alaska Airlines, carrying the specter of nearly $1 million in FAA-proposed fines for maintenance violations, came under more intense scrutiny last week at the opening of the NTSB's hearing on the Jan. 31 crash of the carrier's Flight 261 off California (AW&ST Feb. 21, p. 52; Feb. 14, p. 22).
United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA), continue to press for mid-term contract wage adjustment. The union-imposed deadline of Nov. 4 passed without management providing any wage proposals to the flight attendants, according to the union. As such, the flight attendants have promised to create CHAOS--creating havoc around our system--informational picketing in this case, at airports over the busy holiday period of Dec. 14-24.
Alaska Airlines faces proposed fines totaling $988,500 for alleged maintenance and operations violations. According to the FAA, in April an MD-80 was returned to service after heavy maintenance with several discrepancies that were either not resolved or improperly deferred. An audit later found 21 other aircraft that were returned to service with incomplete maintenance records.
With a Red Team acting as an over-the-shoulder review panel, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. say they are on target for an Apr. 7 launch of the space agency's next mission to the red planet.
Australia's leadership has released a defense white paper calling for an additional $255.5 million in spending for 2001-02 followed by another $511 million the following year, making it the biggest military spending increase in two decades. The added outlays are expected to permit a start on buying 4-7 airborne early warning and control aircraft, up to 30 combat helicopters and 100 replacement aircraft for its early model F/A-18s and F-111s. During the next decade, total spending is to increase by $11.9 billion.
Boeing's X-32A Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator has completed low-speed aircraft carrier approach demonstrations in its flight test program at Edwards AFB, Calif. During the tests, the X-32A made 97 approaches and 74 touchdowns on a runway outlined to simulate a carrier deck.
Renewed inspections of Iraqi weapons and missile sites are just around the corner, believes Hans Blix, the U.N.'s new Baghdad monitoring honcho. Here last week, he said, Saddam Hussein may come to realize that Iraq makes $1-2 billion per year in illegal oil sales, but with sanctions lifted could make $18-20 billion. UNMOVIC, as the latest inspector group is called, will have credibility, Blix avers, because it will accept raw intelligence from any country, but will do its own analysis and won't supply intelligence in return.
For all the talk about the Internet being the great leveler for international commerce, the view from the floor of aerospace trading exchanges is different. ``Asians want to do business with Asians,'' Partsbase Chief Operating Officer Andy Plyler says. His company has created a shared database with E-Turtle Co.'s Chinese subsidiary, AeroChina.com, to accomplish just that. Together, they provide a Chinese (aerochina.com) and English (partsbase.com) interface for buyers and sellers and will share revenues.
Helical machined springs enable designers to integrate multiple features and functions into single-piece components. These unique springs can be designed specifically to address requirements for rate, reactions at desired deflections, combined rates, modal properties, weight and inertial limits, plus other customer performance needs. The ability of machined springs to incorporate more than one spring coil set (multiple starts) in a given part provides a broad range of spring rates and functionality with a given size (envelope). Helical Products Co. Inc., P.O.
MD Helicopters Inc. has qualified three weapon systems for installation on commercial versions of its MD Explorer. Firing tests of a General Dynamics GAU-19/A .50-cal. Gatling gun, 2.75-in. (70-mm.) rockets, and a pod-mounted M2, .50-cal. machine gun have been conducted at Ft. Bliss, Tex. The GAU-19/A fires up to 1,300 rounds per minute, and the aircraft can carry seven rockets. Weapons are mounted on two independent stations using standard NATO bomb racks, and the aircraft can be converted in 20 min. to armed configuration, according to a company official.
The Arctic booster pack is a cost effective inlet preheater for plural component equipment. Its internal temperature probe and solid-state controllers complement existing primary heaters on most Gusmer spray units. The ABP provides added heat when needed for better mix and spray pattern control and has shown the ability to double the capacity of the primary heater for spraying high-temperature chemicals, such as polyureas, depending on flow rate. It has individual temperature controls for A and B chemicals.
The FAA's stopgap measure reallocating 159 slots to 13 carriers at LaGuardia Airport through a lottery may provide a short-term fix to ease congestion and delays. But what long-term solution will the agency offer once the slot exemptions expire on Sept. 15? The temporary fix takes effect on Jan. 31, 2001.
European Union foreign and defense ministers have approved the creation of three permanent high-level bodies to support a planned rapid reaction force, amidst renewed U.S. misgivings about the shape the force will take and its relationship to NATO.
Sue Birley and Paolo Scaroni have been named nonexecutive directors of BAE Systems, Farnborough, England. Birley is professor of entrepreneurship at Imperial College in London, while Scaroni is group chief executive of Pilkington plc.
Airbus Military Co. has selected the TP400 turboprop, combining the core of the Snecma M88 turbojet and Rolls-Royce three-shaft technology, to power the A400M airlifter. Although the selection was no surprise--the proposal resulted from the forced merger of competing Snecma/Rolls designs--it marked a milestone in the A400M program as it moves close to launch.
GE Aircraft Engines chief W. James McNerney, Jr., will become chairman and CEO of Minnesota Mining&Manufacturing Co., effective Jan. 1, when 3M's current head is scheduled to retire. That company's stock price surged 11% last week on news of McNerney's appointment. At GE, McNerney was replaced by David L. Calhoun, effective immediately. He had been executive vice president and chief operating officer since June. Analysts expect few, if any changes, in GEAC's business strategy.
Airports Council International reports steady growth in passenger and cargo traffic in most of the world's regions for August compared to the same month in 1999. Worldwide passenger traffic increased 4%, cargo 9% and aircraft movements 1%. August passenger traffic in the Middle East rose 6%; Europe 6%; Asia-Pacific 5%; Africa 4%, and North America 3%. Only the Latin America region showed a decrease--1%--for the month. In the January-August period, passenger traffic increased 6%, cargo 7% and aircraft movements 1% compared to the same eight-month period last year.
Heightened awareness of the runway incursion safety problem has resulted in better reporting of such events industry-wide, according to the FAA--and explains the increase from 321 incursions in 1999 to 398 this year (through Dec. 7).
A service which calibrates light measurement instruments in a certified NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology) laboratory is being offered by International Light Inc. This company performs radiometric and photometric calibrations in accordance with the provisions of ANSI Z.540-1, ISO.10012-1 and meets ISO/IEC 17025. Featuring fully characterized primary standard detectors from NIST, the lab specializes in calibrating instruments which have been exposed to high UV light levels and other harsh environments to help them remain ISO compliant.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada, discovering safety deficiencies in the detection and management of inflight fires in its ongoing investigation of Swissair Flight 111, issued a third set of recommendations related to the 1998 accident--this time pressuring industry to swiftly improve firefighting capability.
