Legend Airlines and National Airlines have filed for bankruptcy protection while both startup carriers scramble to secure additional financing and construct new business plans.
Jerome J. Gaspar has become vice president-engineering and technology of Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was vice president of the Collins Displays Center of Excellence.
China Southern Airlines was scheduled to launch Boeing 777 service last week from Guangzhou, China, to Melbourne and Sydney, Australia. The airline plans twice-weekly service from its Baiyun International Airport hub to Melbourne, with continuing service to Sydney, and one direct flight weekly from Guangzhou to Sydney. China Southern President Wang Chang Shun said the new service will create an ``air bridge'' between the two countries upon which to build ``economic, trade and cultural exchanges.''
Labor and aerospace executives are struggling to find a middle way in their bitter dispute over aviation trade offsets, but both sides remain dug in as a White House commission begins the search for a durable compromise. At the commission's first hearing last week, labor demanded primacy for domestic job preservation. Industry insisted that its competitiveness in the international aviation market must take priority.
The U.S. Defense Dept. has awarded Iridium Satellite a $72-million contract for 24 months of satellite communications services. The contract includes options which, if exercised, would bring the cumulative value of the contract to $252 million through 2007. Iridium Satellite is purchasing the operating assets of Iridium and its subsidiaries following a ruling last month by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.
Bridge funding for the F-22 remains hung up in the lame duck Congress, as the Republican leadership continues its two-month struggle with the White House to complete Fiscal 2001 appropriations. Congressional-White House talks were at such a delicate point last week that lawmakers refused to disclose the particulars of the F-22 language. But Rep.
Delta Air Lines last week failed to a obtain temporary restraining order against the Delta Air Line Pilots Assn., but plans to eliminate 100-125 flights from its schedule to minimize service disruptions caused by pilots' refusal to accept overtime flying.
Despite a predilection for funding near-term military readiness over weapons modernization, Adm. Vernon Clark, the chief of naval operations, makes an exception for the Joint Strike Fighter. JSF, he contends, will help solve his most onerous problem--soaring maintenance costs. ``My air force is too old,'' he moans. Moreover, Clark proclaims, the JSF improves ``jointness.'' Translation: if the military services jointly buy similar airplanes, there are economies of scale that further cut costs. Says Clark, ``I am about as joint a guy as we have in the U.S.
Air Seychelles has signed an eight-year lease with the International Lease Finance Corp. for a Boeing 737-700. The aircraft will be powered by CFM56-7B22 engines and is scheduld for delivery next November.
The first conforming prototype Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 business jet made its inaugural flight Nov. 30 from the company's facilities at San Antonio International Airport. Test pilot Carroll Beeler and flight engineer Mitch Soth flew the airplane for 45 min. Test restrictions limited maximum airspeed to 150 kt. at an altitude of 7,500 ft. The landing gear remained extended for the flight, and the cabin was not pressurized.
Frederic Denise has been promoted to vice president sales and marketing for Barfield Inc. of Miami from area sales director for the parent Sogerma Maintenance Group based at Barfield and John Rogers has been promoted to vice president-customer support from director of sales and marketing.
Allen Pierce has become a principal aviation architect for the HNTB Corp. and will be based at the Terminal D project office at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Databox is a portable data collection system for its Synergy 2000 Statistical Process Control software. The Databox provides an efficient offline method for capturing process information and eliminating redundant data entry and input errors. Using a standard Palm computer, workers can collect measurements remotely and later synchronize that data with desktop PCs for in-depth analysis and reporting with Synergy 2000. A run chart displays individual readings on the Palm computer screen with audible alarms for out-of-specification conditions.
The U.S. and its European partners are preparing to mount an ambitious campaign of Mars missions, including a critical 2007 launch opportunity that could serve as a trial run for a sample return flight in 2011.
Sir Michael Knight, a former air chief marshal of the Royal Air Force and currently chairman of Cobham plc, has been appointed chairman of Cranfield Aerospace Ltd., which is affiliated with the U.K.'s Cranfield College of Aeronautics.
NASA is going back to the drawing board to develop a series of ``second-generation'' Mars landers and rovers intended to provide safer and more accurate landings and the capability to cover far greater distances over the surface of the planet. The work is aimed at providing future technology options for planners, beginning with a proposed validation mission during the 2007 Mars launch opportunity intended to prove some of the new designs.
This magnetic sensor has an analog output designed for use in a variety of motion control applications. With a mechanical rotation range of 80 deg., the MDRM sensor generates a linear voltage signal at its output. It is magnetically controlled by a small rotor positioned in front of the active sensing face, operating with a supply voltage of 5 vdc. IP 67 protected, the MDRM sensor is suited for use in harsh industrial environments with temperatures from -20 to +85C.
This new metal, wide-angle dual-axes electrolytic test sensor, the MCL Sensor for general applications, represents a different direction in tilt sensor technology. Its metal containment construction provides surpassing durability as well as exacting dimensional tolerances for excellent sensor-to-sensor electrical performance, according to the company. It is adaptable to tape and reel automated placement. Specifications include 0.410-in. (10.4-mm.) height with a diameter of 0.325 in. (8.3 mm.) and an operating range of 75 deg.
It's hard to find software programmers fluent in Jovial and Ada these days, but many aerospace products use these languages. Cleanscape Software International (cleanscape.net) and ITCN (itcninc.com) want to establish an alliance of companies to develop or upgrade aerospace computing systems, starting with tools to program the ubiquitous Mil-Std-1750A radiation-hardened processor in the widely used C language. Cleanscape makes software development environments, and ITCN makes test equipment for embedded systems.
Specially modified U.S. Air Force F-15Cs are being shifted to forward bases in Alaska after Russian air force Tu-95 Bear Hs deployed to Siberian bases. The Russians sent two Tu-95s to Anadyr AB near the Bering Sea and three Bears to Tiksi on the Laptev Sea (see p. 42). The U.S. responded with Operation Northern Denial that moved fighters to inactive Cold War facilities such as the small airfields at Galena and King Salmon which have been in ``warm storage'' since the early 1990s.
Aeroflot plans to issue Global Depository Receipts (GDRs) on international markets early this month worth about 20% of the airline's charter capital of 1.11 billion rubles ($40.04 million). Foreign investors already holding Russian shares will be allowed to swap them for GDRs. The carrier, 51% owned by the Russian government, had initially planned to issue American Depository Receipts equal to 5% of its charter capital in 1997, but abandoned the plan due to the financial crisis which hit the country at the time.
France, Italy and several other European countries are angling to play an important part in the sample return missions, and the demonstration flight that will precede them, in line with their growing participation in Martian exploration.
