Japan Airlines has arranged with Boeing to replace its fleet of 10 MD-11s with two newly ordered 767-300ERs and eight 777-200ERs in 2002-04, but the carrier did not disclose terms of the agreement. Five MD-11s are to be replaced in 2002 by two -300ERs and three -200ERs. The remaining five are to be replaced by new -200ERs, two in 2003 and three in 2004.
Buenos Aires International Airport has completed the installation of a network of common use terminals enabling shared check-in across the airport's new terminal. The network's 119 workstations--to be complemented soon by 24 more in the VIP lounges--will add automated ticket and boarding capability and enable the facility to cope with an expected 25% rise in traffic, to 7.5 million passengers, next year.
Michael Zellner has been appointed vice president-finance/chief financial officer of Wind River Systems Inc., Alameda, Calif. He was senior director of finance. Zellner succeeds Richard Kraber, who will continue as a vice president until he retires next year.
Robert J. Naglieri has been appointed senior vice president/chief financial officer of Teledyne Technologies of Los Angeles. He held the same posts in the agri- culture business unit of CNH Global.
EarthWatch Inc.'s QuickBird 1 imaging satellite was destroyed in a launch accident involving its Cosmos-3 booster. The launch took place from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia on Nov. 20 at 6 p.m. EST. The 1-meter panchromatic resolution (4-meter multispectral) imaging system was insured. A second satellite, QuickBird 2, is under construction and slated to be launched next year. Last week's launch failure represents the second loss of a satellite for EarthWatch. In 1997, its EarlyBird 1 spacecraft failed.
United Technology's Pratt&Whitney and Hamilton Sundstrand are joining to form a single business unit responsible for aircraft powerplant controls, accessories, gearboxes and external components. Under plans outlined last week, Pratt's Electronic&Mechanical Systems Module Center will be combined with Hamilton Sundstrand's Engine Systems group at the beginning of the new year. The merged organization will retain the Engine Systems name.
A group of 10 investigators probing the Oct. 31 crash of Singapore Airlines Flight SQ006 this week plans to travel to the carrier's home base and join Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore officials in scrutinizing SIA's training and safety operations, according to SQ006 chief investigator Kay Yong, who is also managing director of the Taiwan Aviation Safety Council.
It could rightly be called the ``bottom feeder'' among the dozens of aerospace electronic marketplaces that have sprung up in the past year. Aerospace Hardware Exchange (AHX), the brainchild of a group of former Fairchild Fastener employees, was incorporated in June and is to enter beta (field) testing in December.
The U.S. Air Force is quickly upgrading its Europe-based fighter aircraft to ensure they can continue operating in bad weather despite emerging restrictions on instrument landings. The service faces a deadline of Dec. 31 to modify its aircraft or else risk having flight restrictions imposed by civil aviation authorities.
The Greek government has postponed plans to sell a 49% stake in state-owned Hellenic Aerospace Industries (HAI) because offers it has received are too low. Officials said they would revisit the sale next year. Bids were submitted by two consortia--one consisting of Eurofighter partners BAE Systems, European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., and Alenia. The other was Dassault Aviation, Thomson-CSF and Snecma. The officials said the sale has been disconnected from contract negotiations pertaining to an order for 60 Eurofighters.
London City Airport is seeking planning approval for five additional parking stands and a larger runway holding point to enable three aircraft to await takeoff. The work, expected to be completed by 2004, will allow the airport to increase traffic toward its new limit of 73,000 aircraft movements per year. The projects are part of a general plan to increase annual passenger capacity at the airport from 1.6 million to 3.5-4 million by 2010.
Lee Baldwin (see photo) has been promoted to manager of technical operations from supervisor of technical support for SimuFlite Training International, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport.
Few today would question that we have a problem in our skies and at our airports. Americans are reminded of these problems during peak travel times and when computer and radar outages result in tens of thousands of passengers being stranded or delayed.
The U.K.'s Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) has completed field trials in Kosovo of a prototype of an ultrawideband synthetic aperture radar being developed to detect mines and unexploded ordnance.
During the Cold War, U.S. airborne spies didn't all fly fast, stripped-down bombers or exotic reconnaissance aircraft such as the U-2 and SR-71. Many were packed into cramped compartments tucked into converted transport aircraft.
The nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle limped into home port in the southern French city of Toulon last week to replace a damaged propeller. The Nov. 10 failure cut short final ship trials that were due to take the ship to Norfolk, Va., and other overseas stops prior to commissioning at year-end. The incident is expected to lay the carrier up for three months or more, adding to a long list of equipment failures that have plagued it since it first took to sea in January 1999.
British R&D consultancy Roke Manor Research is proposing employing transmissions from mobile telephone base stations with height monitoring sensors to detect stealthy aircraft. Company officials said the system would act as a bi-static radar with the transmitter and receiver separated by a long distance. The concept is similar to Lockheed Martin's ``Silent Sentry'' system that relies on energy from TV and FM radio broadcasts to track air targets (AW&ST Nov. 30, 1998, p. 70).
Using the Internet to communicate with employees has been receiving more attention lately. Ford is even buying them computers to make sure they're Web-connected. Boeing's Executive Council met earlier this month and said it is as interested in establishing an employee portal as it is in putting separate portals in place to service customers and suppliers, Chief Information Officer Scott Griffin told Aviation Week's recent Aerospace Exposition 2000 conference.
Allan P. Slattery has been named president/chief operating officer of Aero Pro- pulsion Support Inc. of Cincinnati. He was general manager and has been succeeded by Jack Lane.
Avolo, the Seattle-based privately held online aerospace marketplace, is working with San Jose-based 2netFX to bring HDTV to inflight entertainment. 2netFX uses multicast streaming to put high-definition TV over ordinary networks and now wants to reach the aviation market, Vice President William Reed said. Avolo Chief Executive Andrew Fedak said his company has held talks with several airlines about offering cabin HDTV programming. He also sees growth potential for applying streaming high-definition media to the surveillance and reconnaissance communities.
America's fleet of newer aircraft (B-2, F-22 and JSF) are shifting from radar-reflecting coatings to radar-absorbing materials (RAM) that will allow the service to abandon the time-consuming use of tape and putty to produce a smooth, stealthy exterior. Radar energy flows like water over an aircraft's skin, so when it gets to a gap or seam, it disrupts the flow and produces a radar reflection. Radar-reflecting material keeps the flow intact, but maintaining smooth surfaces on the F-117 and B-2 was demanding.
David G. Nord has become vice president/controller of the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He was assistant controller and later acting controller.
