FAA Administrator Jane Garvey envisions the formation of an interdisciplinary team within the agency to speed up the process of certificating new technologies such as Automatic Dependent Surveillance (ADS-B), which last week underwent its second operations evaluation at OpEval2.
The Intersputnik board has approved a small/medium satellite project that will enable the international organization to develop unoccupied orbital positions more efficiently and at less cost than standard telecom spacecraft, and moved to restructure a joint venture with Lockheed Martin.
Former astronaut Guion S. Bluford, Jr., who is now vice president/general manager of the Federal Data Corp. and program manager of the NASA Glenn Research Center's Microgravity Research, Development and Operations Contract, and Lou Dobbs, chairman/CEO of Space. com, have been named to the board of directors of the Space Foundation of Colorado Springs.
French space agency CNES has opened a new office in Japan. The office is meant to support expanded cooperation between CNES and the two Japanese space organizations, NASDA and ISAS. In February 1999, CNES and NASDA agreed to devise an action plan to improve understanding of natural disasters using satellite data. NASDA also asked CNES to coordinate distribution of data from its ALOS Earth observation spacecraft in Europe and Africa, in conjunction with ESA. Most recently, CNES agreed to work with Japan on its Hope-X spaceplane project.
South African Airways (SAA) has moved into the second stage of its dramatic turnaround with the plan to strengthen its intra-African market, bolster international service and refurbish the fleet with next-generation twinjets.
U.K. aircrews were woefully ill-equipped for their missions in NATO operations in Kosovo, according to a House of Commons Defense Committee report, especially in terms of precision-guided munitions, an area now receiving special attention.
Airbus Industrie's A3XX mega transport could help forge closer links between the major European airlines' maintenance, repair and overhaul units. A3XX launch customers could wind up sharing the 555-seat aircraft's maintenance and overhaul tasks, reminiscent of the Boeing 747's early days, according to analysts. In the 1970s, European carriers formed two cross-border MRO partnerships, dubbed Atlas and KSSU, to jointly overhaul long-range high-capacity transports.
Information and psychological warfare conducted by the U.S. during the Kosovo air campaign had mixed results, an outcome that is pushing both the Navy and Air Force to develop new technologies for future conflicts. The discrepancy involves the performance of the EC-130E Commando Solo television and radio broadcast aircraft and the EC-130H Compass Call communications jammer. Commando Solo did not perform well in the war, raising questions about whether there is a mission for that type of propaganda tool.
Lockheed Martin Corp., including one-time items, posted a net loss of $704 million for the third quarter ended Sept. 30. Sales for the period reached about $6 billion, just below the prior year's level of $6.2 billion. The company earned $115 million during the third quarter compared to $183 million one year earlier.
Mining space rocks may seem like a movie plot dreamed up in Hollywood, but SpaceDev, a Poway, Calif.-based startup, is quite serious about extracting vast wealth from near-Earth asteroids someday. But laying claim to and mining heavenly bodies will pose unique challenges, and Jim Benson--SpaceDev's founder, chairman and CEO--admits it's ``a step-by step process,'' and all the pieces aren't in place--yet.
To acquire Honeywell International Inc., General Electric Co. will have to pay the equivalent of $56 a share, which some industry observers consider ``a great deal'' for stakeholders. Is it?
AirNewco, an airline-led business-to-business initiative, last week joined forces with MyAircraft, which is spearheaded by three of the aerospace industry's largest suppliers, to form an e-commerce exchange unparalleled in scope within aviation.
Lonnie D. Bane has been named senior vice president-human resources of America West Airlines. He was director of human resources for Corporate Express.
Marcus C. Hansen, president of Lockheed Martin Management and Data Systems, King of Prussia, Pa., has received the Outstanding Science Alumni Award from Pennsylvania State University's Eberly College of Science. He is Lockheed Martin corporate liaison to Penn State and serves on the advisory board for its School of Information Sciences and Technology.
Kenneth Sowa has been named director of aircraft sales of Rifton Aviation Services, Newburgh, N.Y. He was vice president-aircraft sales for the Flight Services Group.
Irish charter and wet-lease specialist TransAer has filed for liquidation after failing to win financial backing from potential investors. Established in 1992 under the name Translift, the carrier has a fleet of nine Airbus A320s and four A300s, and employs more than 500 people. Clients include Air France and Libyan Arab Airlines, both of which have wet-leased two A320s from the Dublin-based carrier. This month TransAer received a contract to assist in the startup of an airline in Kosovo--AirKosova.
UAL Corp. has formed United NewVentures, a company designed to seek out emerging business opportunities for United Airlines, including e-businesses and frequent-flier partnerships. Doug Hacker, executive vice president and chief financial officer of United Airlines, also will serve as president of United NewVentures.
Bruno Matheu has become board chairman of Regional Airlines, an Air France subsidiary. He succeeds Jean-Paul Dubreuil, who has retired. Matheu will remain senior vice president-network management of Air France.
Olivier Boulart (see photo) has been appointed director of e-services for Thomson-CSF Sextant In-Flight Systems, Irvine, Calif. He was vice president-information systems at Thomson-CSF in France.
Northrop Grumman is entering the space launcher business under a teaming agreement with Orbital Sciences Corp. Northrop Grumman will provide systems integration and composite structures for Orbital on projects related to NASA's next-generation reusable launch vehicle and other space systems.
Longstanding frictions between Turkey and Greece regarding territorial issues in the Aegean Sea erupted once again during a NATO military exercise in the region.
Criticism is eddying all around schemes for a sea-based missile defense in response to the George W. Bush presidential campaign's endorsement of a broader system that would not depend solely on 100 or so ground-based interceptors, as the Pentagon's current plan does.
Swiss regional carrier Crossair is looking at dropping loss-producing routes in the next few months and selling 5-10 aircraft as part of a plan to regain profitability.
United Airlines is taking daily advantage of the shorter distance over the North Pole for its Chicago to Hong Kong flight and plans to start daily nonstop flights to Delhi on Apr. 1. Although revenue flights, these are technically operating on a ``demonstration'' basis, approved by Russia monthly, pending a revision of the U.S./Russian bilateral aviation agreements. The new routes result from a joint study by Nav Canada and the Federal Aviation Authority of Russia which concluded that flights over the pole were feasible (AW&ST Oct. 16, p. 25).
