At the urging of the U.S., and particularly the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the World Trade Organization (WTO) Agreement on basic telecommunications included satellite services. With the world's largest private satellite fleet, U.S. industry expected to benefit greatly from the opening of domestic satellite markets to competition from around the world. And it has. But the inclusion of satellite services in the WTO has had consequences that do not seem to have been fully anticipated--or fully accepted--by the FCC and some U.S. satellite operators.
A moving aircraft assembly line modeled after the Toyota production system is about to begin preliminary operations at Boeing's 717 assembly facility in Long Beach, Calif. Michael E. Graziano, lean enterprise director at Boeing's Long Beach Div., said six 717-200s will be mounted on rolling support stands guided by rails down the 1,140-ft. assembly line. The line is moved by two large chain drive systems installed under the floor of the 600,000-sq.-ft. factory (AW&ST June 19, p. 43).
Sir Richard Branson, founder/chairman of Virgin Atlantic Airways, has received the 2000 Tony Jannus Award, which is sponsored by the Greater Tampa (Fla.) and St. Petersburg Area Chambers of Commerce. The award recognizes contributions within the commercial aviation industry. Jannus was the pilot of the sole aircraft belonging to the first scheduled airline, which began service on Jan. 1, 1914. The aircraft, a Benoist airboat, flew daily round-trips between Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Thomson-CSF Sextant has delivered the first Quasar 3000 next-generation inertial guidance system for the Ariane 5 heavy-lift launch vehicle. The system is derived from Thomson's Pixyz 22--a 22-cm.(8.6-in.), three-axis ring laser gyro that offers weight, volume and cost savings while increasing reliability and performance. The initial unit will be used to qualify a new Vehicle Equipment Bay being developed by Astrium under the Ariane 5 cost-reduction initiative. The first production system is scheduled for a mission early in 2002.
Just six years after its total privatization, LanChile has emerged as Latin America's leading airline, both financially and in service quality. While most carriers in the region have struggled, lost money and market share to their larger U.S. rivals, and others have been bankrupted, LanChile has endured without a scratch. In fact, the small Chilean carrier has strengthened during a two-year period during which time the best term to describe Latin American airline operations is ``consistently chaotic.''
Bombardier Aerospace is previewing a customer e-business site with selected customers that it intends to launch in the first quarter of 2001. Rob Gillespie, president of Bombardier Aerospace Business Aircraft, said that besides delivering basic information, the site will serve as an application service provider to make aircraft-management software tools available to customers.
Telemedicine is coming back down to Earth. A few years ago, anyone talking about telemedicine was probably talking about mostly satellite-based transmission of complex medical data, moving video images, radiology films and the like. It was sci-fi--live consultations, across continents, with the top surgical experts in the world watching a TV screen to see images of a surgery taking place and medical colleagues doing the work.
Jeffrey R. Probst has been named director of North American marketing, Gary G. Adkins director of federal sales for North America, Howard J. Klayman director of the customer service center in Lanham, Md., Todd F. Anderson director of international sales and marketing and Charles F. Visser director of international operations, all for Space Imaging, Thornton, Colo. Probst was vice president of marketing and business development of Mark VII Equipment Inc.
Matra BAe Dynamics has unveiled the Tetral naval air defense surface-to-air system that is tentatively set to enter service in late 2002. European and Asian navies have expressed interest, and launch orders could be concluded soon, according to a company executive.
NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) mission came closer than any spacecraft has been to an asteroid when it passed just 5.3 km. (3.3 mi.) above the surface of 433 Eros on Oct. 26. The pass produced images with three times better resolution than anything seen to date. The spacecraft has been raised to a 125-mi.-high parking orbit. Its next big test comes Feb. 12 when it will undergo a controlled descent onto Eros' surface. Scientists hope to get images with 12-times higher resolution in the final moments of that operation.
The U.S. Army is turning to leasing surveillance assets to augment its intelligence-gathering capability in the Balkans region due to a shortage of available surveillance aircraft. The Army has contracted with Titusville, Fla.-based AirScan to conduct at least six months of surveillance operations in Europe, said one official for the U.S. Army in Europe. While the Army is being tight lipped about the program, it did say missions would be flown out of either Tuzla in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Taszar, Hungary or Skopje, Macedonia.
Ian Morgan has been named San Francisco-based vice president-North America and Mexico for Cargolux Airlines. He succeeds Sigmar Sigurdsson, who has become head of business development at the carrier's headquarters in Luxembourg.
The House decision to retreat from a genocide resolution against the Ottoman Empire's mass killing of Armenians in the early 20th century drew a corporate sigh of relief from Bell Helicopter Textron. President Clinton opposed the nonbinding House initiative on grounds it might jeopardize relations with Turkey, a strategically located NATO ally.
Michael L. Knaebel (see photo) has been appointed vice president/general manager of operations for Carco Electronics, Menlo Park, Calif. He was senior director of worldwide operations at S3 Inc., Santa Clara, Calif.
Boeing's X-32A Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator aircraft had to make an unexpected landing on a dry lakebed runway at Edwards AFB, Calif., last week as a result of a brake system problem, according to program officials. The aircraft had touched down at Edwards after its third test flight on Oct. 24 when Boeing pilot Dennis O'Donoghue determined the aircraft ``didn't have brake power'' and aborted the landing, according to Boeing officials.
General Electric Co.'s successful counterbid for Honeywell International Inc. is sending tremors through the aerospace/defense industry. It may even touch off a new wave of consolidation among a handful of large and medium-size suppliers that have been steadily expanding their franchises through relatively small acquisitions.
John Moore has been appointed president of ATR Support Inc. of Washington. He succeeds Jean-Daniel Leroy, who has returned to ATR headquarters in Toulouse, France, in a senior management position.
Airbus operations provided the bulk of the revenues for the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS) which announced its six-month results last week. EADS reported earnings before interest and taxes of 553 million euros ($459 billion) for the first six months of 2000, based on sales of 10.6 billion euros. The figures have been calculated on a pro forma basis since EADS was only created on July 10. The Airbus division contributed around 70% of total revenues with 516 million euros in earnings before interest and taxes.
Initial testing in the flight demonstration phase of the Joint Strike Fighter program is now fully underway with first flight of Lockheed Martin's X-35A conventional takeoff and landing (CTOL) aircraft. The company's contender successfully completed an initial 22-min. flight Oct. 24 that began at Air Force Plant 42 at Palmdale, Calif., at 9:06 a.m. PDT and ended with a landing at Edwards AFB, about 30 mi. from Palmdale.
John Mazach (see photo) has become vice president/integrated product team leader for aircraft product support and services within Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Airborne Early Warning and Electronic Warfare Systems, Bethpage, N.Y. He was deputy director of field support services.
August-Wilhelm Henningsen is scheduled to become executive board chairman of Lufthansa Technik on Jan. 1. He will succeed Wolfgang Mayrhuber, who will head Lufthansa German Airlines' passenger division. Henningsen was general manager of Beijing-based Ameco.
