The Elliott Aviation sound management system, featuring UltraQuiet active noise control coupled with Elliott's passive system, has been evaluated and proven to be a very effective method of dealing with cabin noise. Reductions as much as 70% have been measured, enhancing productivity and significantly reducing fatigue for passengers and crew. A demo installation for King Air operators in their own aircraft is offered at no charge. The system fits easily into King Air 200, 300 or 350 cabins. Elliot Aviation, Att. Janice Allison, P.O. Box 100, Moline, Ill. 61266-0100.
The FAA gets $12 billion, a chunky 25% increase from last year, in the $58-billion Transportation Appropriations bill that congressional conferees wrapped up for Fiscal 2001 last week. Airport improvement funding is up big time, pegged at $3.2 billion, an impressive 64% ($1.25 billion) higher than Fiscal 2000. And airport improvement monies are authorized for runway accident prevention systems. The spending measure contains nearly $7 billion for FAA operations, almost $2.5 billion for facilities and equipment and close to $2 billion for grants-in-aid to airports.
Computers Take Flight: A History of NASA's Pioneering Digital Fly-By-Wire Project by James E. Toamyko details the history of the digital fly-by-wire system that operated without mechanical back-up on an F-8C. It gave industry the confidence to develop similar digital systems on a number of aircraft including the F-16, F-18 and Boeing 777. The program contributed a base of techniques as well as evidence that such a system not only could fly successfully but also would enable designers to develop and pilots to fly configurations not possible without digital technology.
NASA Ames Research Center engineer Gary Haith has developed prototype robotic snakes--Snakebots--as an especially flexible way to explore uneven terrain on planetary bodies. His prototype was devised in less than a day thanks to ideas generated in other labs, particularly the ``polybot'' developed by Mark Yim of the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center near Ames in Silicon Valley. Haith's prototype has 16 2.5-in. segments that propel themselves like an inchworm. ``Our first test robot does what we tell it to do, no matter what the results are,'' Haith said.
Wings for the first production Eurofighter have been delivered to BAE Systems from Italy's Alenia Aerospazio and European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co.'s CASA of Spain. Alenia has design and manufacturing responsibility for the left wing, and CASA is responsible for the right wing. First flight of the airplane is tentatively scheduled for September 2001.
The House aviation subcommittee strolled down memory lane, regretfully recalling that the need for new runways and reduced noise pollution was the subject of hearings 10 years ago. The horror stories the panel heard testimony about last week reached back much further. Boston's Logan airport has been trying to build a new runway for 30 years. At Memphis, it took 16 years to enhance capacity. The massive stretchouts are traced in part to lack of political compromise among federal and state agencies, and community and environmental groups.
Flying the Pentagon's and NASA's growing fleet of unmanned aircraft through airspace shared with airliners scares both the military and the FAA. But researchers at a Canadian aerospace firm think they have an answer to U.S. concerns with a low-cost system originally built to aid helicopters operating in the rough winter weather of the northwestern U.S. and Canada.
These titanium alloy strips in foil gauges for honeycomb construction are tailored to the needs of fabricators who create a crimp pattern in the strip and resistance weld it layer by layer. Strips are processed through rolling mills down to gauges of 0.002-0.004 in., creating a uniform thickness throughout the coil. This is followed by precision slitting to narrow widths. Nickel alloys, stainless steel and pure titanium strips are also processed. Ulbrich Stainless Steels&Special Metals Inc., 57 Dodge Ave., North Haven, Conn. 06473-1191.
A problem has been detected within the communications link between the Huygens probe and the Cassini spacecraft which--under current mission plans--would not allow the spacecraft to obtain all probe science data on its critical descent to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. It appears an error occurred in construction of a digital circuit within an application specific integrated circuit, which led to a condition in which the frequency bandwidth of the receiver is less than the design had stipulated.
Plans for a new generation of Ka-band satellites and a new spacecraft for its AsiaSat affiliate will help SES/Astra meet growing demand for broadband services. In contrast to SES/Astra's existing primarily Ku-band fleet, the new-generation spacecraft will be all Ka-band, a spectrum that can handle much greater amounts of data. As recently as early September, company officials had been talking in terms of additional mixed Ku-/Ka-band satellites like Astra 1H, launched in August 1999, and Astra 1K, to be orbited late next year.
Environmental Air atmospheric control units for installation inside antenna radomes or other enclosed structures were originally designed for installation inside the satellite antenna radomes on cruise ships. The air-cooled systems are available in either self-contained or split-gas configurations. Their lightweight construction allows for easy installation. The 16,000-BTU units run on 115 or 230 volts AC power.
Daniel C. Hendrickson of Layton, Utah, has been elected national secretary and Charles A. Nelson of Sioux Falls, S.D., treasurer of the Arlington, Va.-based Air Force Assn. Hendrickson is the chief Minuteman systems engineer for Boeing, while Nelson is a retired major in the South Dakota ANG and managing partner of Nelson and Nelson CPAs.
The first phase of F-22 Raptor static-load ground testing is on-track for completion in November. Critical to clearing the third test aircraft for Block 2 structures flight evaluations, 16 of 19 major airframe tests have been concluded at Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., factory. The latest stressed the fighter's vertical tails and rudders to 1.5 times the highest loads expected during flight. Authorization to proceed with 100% loads flight tests is scheduled for next May.
James T. Porter has been promoted to senior vice president/chief administrative officer from senior vice president-information systems and business services of Morristown, N.J.-based Honeywell Inc.
Dassault Aviation is conducting flight tests of a scale model of a low-observable UAV design, the start of a larger effort aimed at developing a full-scale demonstrator.
An International Launch Services Proton, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Oct. 2, successfully placed Americom Asia-Pacific's Ku-band GE-1A satellite into geostationary orbit (see photo). Americom Asia-Pacific is a joint venture between GE Americom and Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications. Separation of the Lockheed Martin-built A2100AX spacecraft was confirmed 6 hr. 40 min. after liftoff. The satellite, which will be located at 108.2 deg. E. Long., is expected to be fully operational by Nov. 15.
With the size of advanced communications satellites climbing to ``Battlestar Galactica'' proportions, Aerojet is proposing to build a new cryogenic upper-stage engine to loft the big satcoms. But the Sacramento, Calif., propulsion company is hardly alone, suggesting a shakeout to come among developers of large upper-stage engines.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense has awarded study contracts to Raytheon and Lockheed Martin for the first phase of a plan to integrate a cooperative engagement capability on Royal Navy ships. The U.K. agreed this summer to join the U.S. cooperative engagement program which is designed to create an integrated real-time air defense network by fusing targeting data from air, sea- and land-based sensors. A final contractor will be chosen in early 2002.
Syria test launched two Scud-D missiles in late September near production facilities reportedly close to Hamah and Alleppo, according to Middle East intelligence observers. The missile has a range of 700 km. (435 mi.) and is similar to the No Dong-1 developed by North Korea, which is providing technological assistance to Syria. Damascus has some 300 Scud-Bs and Cs, the latter with a range of 500 km. But observers said it is unclear how effective the Scud-D's guidance system is. Syria is looking to develop a new type of Scud equipped with liquid propellant systems.
Japan's NASDA and the European Space Agency agreed to cooperate on two space projects. One, the BepiColombo mission, will send a pair of orbiters and a lander to Mercury in 2009. The other, Earth Care, is a space-based system to analyze the Earth's atmosphere. The joint efforts are part of a plan aimed at expanding cooperation between the agencies.
Stephen A. Kalish has been promoted to president of the Federal Sector Civil Group of the Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif., from vice president of CSC's Transportation Systems Center. He succceeds Michael W. Laphen, who is now president of the European Group. Harry Part has been promoted to succeed Kalish from director of New Jersey operations for the Systems Sciences Div.
Brazil and Argentina have concluded new agreements with China and Italy that will expand their networks of cooperative ties and multiply sources of access to space technology. Both accords involve remote sensing applications, mirroring a strong concern for the environment that was manifested most strongly in the U.N. Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, Tomifumi Godai, president of the International Astronautical Federation, pointed out during the IAF's annual congress here last week.
Emhart Fastening Teknologies POP PowerLink 30 rivet tool kit was developed for use away from the tool crib. It has the ability to set rivets up to 3/16 in. and includes other sized nose pieces as well as the wrench to change them, all stored in the handle which is designed to allow one-hand operation while eliminating pinch points. Santoprene grips cover the contoured handles. Emhart Fastening Teknologies, 510 River Road, P.O. Box 859, Shelton, Conn. 06484.
One cannot expect presidential candidates to spar over mission-capable rates in front of an American public that has only the foggiest notion of defense issues. There is no such thing as a hard-hitting sound bite on aviation spares.
The U.S. Air Force is considering expanding the missions for its future manned ground surveillance radar system, even as it defers until 2002 a decision on what that new intelligence-gathering aircraft should be.
