Plans to sell a 46% stake in the U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services to the private sector were approved by the House of Lords last week on the third attempt, but only after the government agreed to a three-month delay.
American Airlines admits to negligence that makes it liable for compensatory damages arising from the crash of a Boeing MD-82 at Little Rock, Ark., in June 1999 that killed 11 people. The nation's second-largest carrier, however, vowed to fight allegations that it is responsible for punitive or exemplary damages, and stated that the admission of negligence does not affect American's right to recover damages from other parties that may have contributed to the cause of the crash.
The big pig probe has ended. The FAA last week found US Airways not guilty of safety and sanitation violations for allowing an unruly porcine passenger on board an Oct. 17 Philadelphia-Seattle flight. Passenger Maria Tirotta Andrews said ``Charlotte,'' a Vietnamese potbellied porker whom she claimed weighed 13 lb., was a service animal--specifically a ``therapeutic companion pet.'' The airline approved Charlotte's boarding, even though at check-in it was obvious she was a little overweight. She remained relatively quiet in the first-class cabin until landing.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is close to a firm commitment for six Airbus A3XXs and options for another six of the huge jetliners, airline Chairman Richard Branson told Aviation Daily. ``We are in the final throes of negotiations,'' Branson said in an interview. Virgin first expressed interest in both the A3XX and Boeing 747X last summer, but Branson believes an announcement for the A3XX could come before year-end.
UHL Research Associates and Odetics have devised a family of inexpensive flight data recorders intended for flight instruction, logging maintenance data, accident investigation and monitoring of rental aircraft. The AeroView Flight Reconstruction System records GPS position and processed engine sounds, and with ground software reconstructs aircraft attitudes and flight paths. This Aviation Week&Space Technology editor tested the recorder in a light aircraft and observed the maneuvers as they were reproduced on the ground with good fidelity.
THE EUROPEAN JOINT AVIATION AUTHORITIES (JAA) HAVE ADOPTED a new rule governing Extended Twin-Engine Operations (ETOPS) on routes across the North Atlantic. The directive, which will amend JAR OPS 1.245 in February, will apply to commercial ETOPS flown by business jets and allow operators to continue flying direct routes between Europe and North America, within 180 min. of an alternate airport. A JAA proposal issued in 1996 would have prevented twin-engine jets from flying routes that were more than 120 min. away from an airport.
After more than a year of prodding by the Pentagon and wrangling between Raytheon and Northrop Grumman, the two companies have reached a teaming agreement to split the work of developing a Joint-STARS follow-on ground-surveillance radar and of integrating it into new U.S. and NATO reconnaissance aircraft.
Boeing Co.'s Rocketdyne Technical Services office in Albuquerque, N.M., will provide equipment and technical support for the Air Force Research Laboratory Directed Energy Directorate's Starfire Optical Range under a $32.4-million, five-year contract.
David Kennedy has been named government affairs specialist for the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Assn. He was director of government affairs for the Air Transport Assn.
The opening of the International Terminal at San Francisco International Airport on Dec. 10 should bring an end to at least some of the frustrations associated with flying from this overworked gateway to the Pacific Rim.
An American Airlines MD-80 and AirTran DC-9 made emergency landings last week due to smoke in their cabins. The MD-80 had departed Reagan National Airport en route to Dallas and was climbing through 15,000 ft. when smoke was seen in the overhead areas of the cabin. The pilot made an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport and 61 passengers and five crewmembers were evacuated without injury, according to American Airlines' officials. No immediate cause for the smoke was determined.
Larry Edelman has become vice president-planning and development for the TRW Systems&Information Technology Group, Reston, Va. He was director of corporate planning and strategic development for TRW Inc.
Saab Ericsson Space is acquiring 65% of Fokker Space of the Netherlands; the remainder will be bought by Stork, the Dutch aerospace and engineering company. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed, but the transaction is scheduled to be completed early next year. With annual sales of 100 million euros ($85 million), Fokker Space is a supplier of solar arrays and robotics technology as well as other structural components. The company will be renamed Dutch Space Industry BV, and current President/CEO Pieter G.
Richard M. Oster has been named senior vice president-administration/chief financial officer and Craig D. Rumler director of risk management of Pegasus Aviation Inc. of San Francisco. Oster was senior vice president/CFO of the Crowley Maritime Corp., and Rumler was a vice president at GE Capital.
Gerald Soffen, who led the Viking science team that in 1976 performed the first experiments on the surface of Mars, died Nov. 22 in Washington of a heart ailment. He was 74. Soffen was a driving force in NASA's search for life elsewhere in the universe and was instrumental in the establishment of the agency's Astrobiology Institute. Born in Cleveland and a graduate of Princeton University, Soffen worked for NASA for 30 years, beginning at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and serving most recently at the Goddard Space Flight Center.
Bombardier Aerospace, the leading maker of regional jets, has abandoned plans to build the 108-115-seat BRJ-X regional airliner and will concentrate instead on its other offerings. Bombardier Aerospace President Michael Graff said from London that the BRJ-X had been put on ``indefinite hold'' and the company would focus on its family of 50-, 70- and 90-seat CRJs.
The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. has unveiled a procurement strategy that will reshape the company's relationship with its suppliers and is likely to trigger further consolidation in this segment within Europe.
Virgin Atlantic Airways' sleeper seat is the focal point of the carrier's $100-million product and services improvement of its Upper Class or business class. The 22.5-in.-wide seat, which made its Virgin debut last year, was designed by the U.K.'s Renard Aviation (AW&ST June 14, 1999, p. 104). It ``floats'' out from a rigid outer seat back that does not recline, so there is no intrusion into another passenger's territory. Head, leg and foot positions may be adjusted electronically through a wide range of motion to provide a
The European Southern Observatory has taken delivery of a key system for its Very Large Telescope, now nearing completion on Mount Paranal in Chile. The item, dubbed Vinci (VLT Interferometer Commissioning Instrument), will transmit and combine infrared signals from the four 27-ft. main telescopes and three mobile 6-ft. telescopes that comprise the ESO facility, enhancing signal resolution by a factor of 10. Designed by the Space Research Dept.
During the first half of fiscal 2000-01, Air France's revenues increased a healthy 19.1% to $5.21 billion and net profit raised 38.4% to $364.6 million. The French flag carrier's seat-load factor further increased to a record 80.7%. According to Chairman/CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta, the Concorde fleet's grounding since the July 25 accident has cost the airline an estimated $68 million. He added that he is increasingly confident that operations could restart in the next few months.
The space shuttle Endeavour launched safely from the Kennedy Space Center at 10:06 p.m. EST Nov. 30 on a mission to the International Space Station to add a new source of electrical power to the orbital base. The Mission 97 crew was scheduled to erect the Boeing-built P6 photovoltaic module and deploy solar arrays spanning 240 ft. Three extravehicular activities (EVAs) were planned to deploy and wire the arrays into the ISS electrical system.
After several years of trying to launch their new airborne early warning platform, Boeing and Northrop Grumman appear to have maneuvered the 737-based system onto solid ground with a key win in Turkey and an imminent decision by Australia on how many of the aircraft to purchase.
