Bombardier Aerospace has mated the wing and fuselage of the first super midsize Continental business jet and plans to install the two Honeywell AS907 engines before the end of this year. Each engine is rated at 6,500-lb. static thrust at sea level and flat rated to ISA +15C. Plans call for the aircraft to make its first flight before the middle of next year, according to a company official. Certification is tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2002 followed by initial deliveries in the fourth quarter.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Ronald Fogleman has been named to the board of directors of International Airline Support Group Inc. of Atlanta. He is president/chief operating officer of international aviation consulting firms B Bar J Cattle&Consulting Co. and Durango Aerospace Inc.
Much has happened in the simulation and training business during the last decade. What was once a sleepy engineering-driven niche with modest earnings has been transformed into a production-based, multi-billion-dollar enterprise. Business has never been better for the manufacturers of full-flight simulators and flight training devices (FTDs) and facilities that train thousands of airline pilots annually on equipment that operates up to 24 hr. a day. Demand for new equipment creates a corresponding demand for new pilots and maintenance technicians.
A U.S. federal judge has granted Northwest Airlines' request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. (AMFA), which represents the carrier's 10,000 mechanics and cleaners. Northwest sought the court order after determining that the AMFA was engaged in an illegal work slowdown which resulted in a number of delays and flight cancellations. Days earlier, United Airlines won a TRO against its International Assn. of Machinists-represented mechanics for the same reasons.
The Pentagon is trying to defuse attacks on its use of some munitions after being stung by repeated criticism from humanitarian organizations that the U.S. military's air wars have left battlefields littered with land mine-like objects.
Boulder, Colo., based-Spatial Inc. has completed the spinoff of its Component Software Div. to France's Dassault Systemes and transformed itself into PlanetCad Inc., the better to focus on the Internet market for interoperable design, manufacturing and engineering data. The evolution of Spatial has been underway for more than a year, but has accelerated with the acquisition of some of the industry's leading design quality and distribution software systems.
Michael S. Lilley (see photo) has been promoted to vice president/general manager from vice president-finance of Wood Group Turbopower Inc., Miami Lakes, Fla.
The U.S. Air Force has completed verification flights of its stealthy Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, clearing the way for the start of the cruise missile's critical development test phase. The second of two controlled test flights (CT-2) was conducted successfully earlier this month, validating the redesign of the Lockheed Martin missile and the performance of its engines. Both caused problems early in the development program and led to a restructuring that included a 10-month delay.
NASA Langley will modernize the aft flight deck cockpit of its Boeing 757 Airborne Research Integrated Experimental System flying laboratory with eight Rockwell Collins 8 X 8-in. color, active matrix liquid crystal displays. The 757 is being modified from a passenger-configured revenue aircraft to a research platform, replacing ``Fat Albert,'' NASA's 737 flying laboratory, retired in 1997. Aries will have a conventional 757 front cockpit for the safety pilots, and a reconfigurable aft flight deck for research.
THE U.S. NAVY IS RECEIVING NEW COCKPIT VIDEO recording systems from TEAC that will be a replacement upgrade on about 600 F/A-18 C/D aircraft, and a new installation on F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, under a $10-million contract. The TEAC V-80AB-F9 is an existing, commercial off-the-shelf product, but one designed to military specifications for airborne applications. TEAC has supplied more than 250 of the same recorder to the Navy for combat aircraft, and has demonstrated greater than 2,000 hr. MTBF.
Patheo.com, Faremate's leisure-time travel database, is now available to Sabre Holdings Corp. under a new preferred partnership arrangement. The Faremate database is turn-key automation software that will give airline consolidators access to fares from Patheo's 25 consolidators to 105 airlines and 1,135 destinations worldwide. Patheo, of Torrance, Calif., also gives travel agents access to multiple global distribution systems, through its Patheo agency link (patheo.com).
Competing industry concepts are emerging to meet the Defense Dept.'s requirement for a future heavy-lift vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, although recent steps by the Pentagon have put such a program on a decidedly slow pace.
Matthew Smith has become GPS business development director for North America for Leica Geosystems Inc., Norcross, Ga. He was regional sales manager for Southeast Asia.
Eurocopter has successfully completed a second batch of test flights intended to demonstrate the ability of the Cougar helicopter to refuel inflight. The trials, which ended late last month, served to validate operational aspects of refueling maneuvers. An earlier series of tests that ended in June had focused on aerodynamic factors. Both sets of trials used a Cougar Mark 2 in search-and-rescue configuration and a KC-130 Hercules tanker supplied by the Saudi air force.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. has designated UPS as the fourth U.S. carrier to obtain operating rights between the U.S. and China. UPS won cargo air rights for direct service into Beijing and Shanghai. Six of the 10 available frequencies will go to UPS, with the incumbent carriers splitting the rest, two to United Airlines and one each to FedEx and Northwest Airlines. Four of the UPS flights are to originate from Ontario, Calif., and the other two from Newark, N.J.
Russia's TyumenAviaTrans (TAT) Aviation, in an effort to support its United Nations peacekeeping contract work and fulfill its goal of building strategic partnerships with major international helicopter operators, is opening a New York office. TAT Aviation has provided the U.N. peacekeeping services since 1991, and current contracts worth $27.8 million include Sierra Leone, with two Mil Mi-26 helicopters ($15.7 million); East Timor, with two Mi-8MTVs ($4.1 million); and Eritrea, with three Mi-8MTVs ($8 million).
Lamar Chesney has been named senior vice president-supply chain, Patrick H. Wildenburg, Jr., vice president-global sourcing and e-business, and Patrice Miles vice president-consumer marketing, all for Delta Air Lines. Wildenburg was interim director of purchasing and had been director of accounting. Chesney was chief financial officer of global concentrate supply operations for the Coca-Cola Co., and Miles was Delta's vice president for e-business.
The Transportation Dept. is eyeing a new, more detailed system for determining the on-time departures and arrivals of airlines that could take effect early next year. The Chicago Tribune reported that an interim report by an industry/government task force pushes for establishing more specific rules for determining on-time performance. They would require--for the first time --major airlines to give reasons for flight cancellations and delays.
The first round in what may be a protracted effort has drawn bidders across Asia, the U.S. and Europe for the chance to buy a 40% stake in government-owned Air India. At this stage, the bids are preliminary--``expression of interest''--but they include the Tata Group, one of India's largest multinationals and the promoters, in 1946, of Tata Airlines, which was taken over by the government in 1953 and became Air India. Tata is joined by Singapore Airlines (SIA).
Beidou-1, China's first navigation satellite, is now in a near geostationary orbit at 140 deg. E. Long., according to a British authority on navigation satellites. That longitude is well beyond China's eastern-most region.
Lufthansa Technik has equipped what its claims is the first airplane designed for global reception of live TV, e-mail and onboard Internet access. The privately owned Airbus A340 is fitted with an advanced conformal antenna, reception coder capable of receiving more than 400 TV channels, 42-in. plasma displays, user interfaces and a wireless LAN network, and it is capable of transmission rates in excess of 5 Mbps. The system was developed jointly by Lufthansa Technik, Rockwell Collins and Condor.
French space agency CNES has created an association to promote the use of space products and services in nontraditional applications such as the agricultural, construction, oil and utility industries. The Paris-based association, known as I-Space, will bring together service providers and manufacturers seeking to harness space know-how, as well as existing space firms, agencies and institutes. About 20 members have already signed up, and 50 or so more are expected to join shortly, I-Space officials said.
