As we close another ``summer of discontent'' in the U.S. airline industry, the question remains: Would everyone--passengers, employees and investors--have been better off had United Airlines' Air Line Pilots Assn. (ALPA) and International Assn. of Machinists (IAM) contracts been settled sooner? The obvious answer is yes.
Concorde had multiple failures that put it in a performance ``coffin corner'' from which recovery was likely impossible, had there been no fire at all. The fire may have melted the aluminum honeycomb control surfaces in a matter of minutes, but performance issues alone can probably explain the accident, an examination of the French BEA accident investigation bureau's preliminary report shows.
The Army needs more work to meet its goals of trimming the force to be more easily deployable, but progress is being made. After years of coming under fire for being too heavy to get to a conflict quickly, Army officials have set out on a program to make it easier to move troops and equipment. The goal is to be able to deploy one brigade within 96 hr. During the 1991 Persian Gulf war, those timelines ran up to 30 days.
The U.S. Marine Corps has grounded 22 of 45 AV-8B Harriers, which only recently returned to flying status. The action was taken after an inspection found damage to a No. 3 engine bearing. Problems with the bearing in July caused 107 Harriers powered by Rolls-Royce F402-RR-408A/B engines to be grounded. Only 23 Harriers with the -408A/B engine remain cleared for flight. Repairs are being conducted at a rate of 10 engines a month.
Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) has become an early user of the Future Flight Central full-fidelity air traffic control simulator at NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, Calif. (AW&ST Jan. 10, p. 38). The $485,000 joint study is aimed at improving procedures to reduce the possibility of runway incursions. Last year, LAX reported 16 runway incursions out of 779,000 movements. They were attributed to air traffic control, pilot or airline personnel errors.
Enigma Inc. and SpaceWorks Inc. have formed a strategic marketing alliance aimed at leveraging joint activities and expanding their client base within the global manufacturing sector. The alliance includes collaboration in trade show exhibitions and creation of Web-based seminars designed to educate executives about the benefits of e-commerce solutions. GE Engines represents the first mutual client, according to Enigma.
An article in the Aug. 7 issue (pp. 58-59) misidentified the developer of the Snapdragon bus intended for an L-band satellite to be used in the German-British TerraSAR radar imaging system. The bus was designed by Astrium, which also developed the Flexibus earmarked for TerraSAR's X-band spacecraft.
C. Robin Stringer has been appointed vice president/chief financial officer of Vancouver-based Avcorp Industries Inc. He was vice president-finance and business development of MDS Metro Laboratory Services.
Planners in charge of Europe's proposed Galileo global navigation satellite system are looking into liability guarantees as a potential added-value feature that could entice customers like airlines or truck operators to pay for higher integrity, higher accuracy versions of the service. European officials are keeping a close eye on next-generation GPS requirements, which are due to be made public this month. But they don't think liability assurance provisions will be among them.
National Reconnaissance Office Director Keith Hall wants to restore a credo of risk-taking to the agency that builds U.S. intelligence-gathering satellites, a mind-set that has been lost in recent years. ``We have an outstanding record of delivering capability better than what we were [asked] to do,'' Hall stressed. In the past, program managers were told to ``err on the side of best performance,'' rather than cost or schedule.
Rolls-Royce has successfully completed initial flight testing of its Trent 500 engine and is on target for certification by December. The engine, set to power Airbus Industrie's new A340-500/600 aircraft, underwent 29 flight tests, totaling 47 flying hours, on an A340-300 testbed. The first Trent 500s have been delivered to Airbus for installation on the initial A340-600 which will be used in the joint aircraft/engine certification process.
EIGHT BUSINESS AVIATION ORGANIZATIONS have filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles to block the city from imposing a non-addition rule aimed at evicting older, Stage 2 business jets from Van Nuys Airport. The rule, which became effective in June, prohibits aircraft not based at the airport during 1999 from being parked, tied down or hangared for more than 30 days. The National Business Aviation Assn., in concert with the National Air Transportation Assn., General Aviation Manufacturers Assn.
Wesgo Metals, a division of Morgan Advanced Ceramics and a pioneer of brazing techniques for aero-engine repairs, offers its PreSintered Preform (PSP). This is an aircraft engine repair solution that combines super alloy and braze powders. PSP is specifically designed to refurbish the cold section compressors and super alloy hot section components of aircraft engines. It brings distorted and worn airfoil contours back to their original shape, according to the company, at a fraction of the cost of a new part.
Ken Brundle has become executive vice president-operations for Bombardier Aerospace at its facilities in Montreal; Toronto; Belfast, Northern Ireland; and Wichita, Kan. He was vice president/general manager for operations at the Belfast facility. Brundle succeeds Michal Baril, who has been named executive vice president of Bombardier Transportation. Michael Ryan has succeeded Brundle in Belfast and was general manager for procurement in Montreal.
Profile 50 is an automatic non-contact measuring machine for checking length, angle, radii and threads on precision-turned components. It has a measuring capacity of 50 mm. in diameter and 272 mm. in length and a maximum component weight of 1,000 kg. Its video processing system can take data from the part at up to 12,000 points/sec. so that every external dimension of a typical part with 30 features to measure takes 10 sec. It uses Pro-Measure for Windows NT software and machines can be interfaced into existing shop floor data collection systems.
Congressional Republicans are hoping to rally Texas Gov. George W. Bush to immediately reverse the Administration's deferral of national missile defense deployment if he succeeds President Clinton in January. Republican lawmakers are intent on salvaging the initial 2005 deployment deadline for a limited NMD system of 20 ground-based interceptors, eventually expanding to 100, in Alaska. That schedule is in jeopardy in the wake of Clinton's long-awaited decision on Sept. 1 to leave the NMD deployment go-ahead to the next President.
The Superseder III aircraft battery charger/analyzer is capable of discharging batteries with a 1-hr. rating up to 60 amps. This enables it to service all nickel cadmium batteries used in business and commercial aviation exactly as the battery manufacturers recommend. The improved analyzer retains all of the previous features including three modes of charging, dual-rate charging, two-battery capability, single-cell capability, battery over-temperature protection and true constant current and solid-state construction.
Delta Shuttle is to inaugurate Boeing 737-800 service this week with hourly departures from New York LaGuardia Airport to Boston Logan International and Washington Reagan National airports. The -800 offers a 50% quieter cabin and a new inflight entertainment program. As before, no reservations are required and a seat is guaranteed. Tickets may be purchased either online or at airport kiosks.
Composite Optics Inc. of San Diego has completed fabrication of a lightweight, dimensionally stable, all-composite mirror that will serve as a prototype for the European Space Agency's (ESA) Far InfraRed and Submillimeter Telescope (First). The 2-meter-dia. (7-ft.) mirror, developed in partnership with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, is constructed from carbon fiber reinforced polymer and weighs 77 lb., according to the company.
Dunlop Aviation Braking Systems has completed a three-year construction program including high-output machining and turning centers for their brake chassis manufacturing unit in Coventry. In the hub and flange manufacturing unit, throughput has been increased by more than 40% while many components which were previously out-sourced have now been brought in-house. Lead times have been reduced and the capability for one-off production and rapid prototyping has been enhanced.
The National Reconnaissance Office and National Security Agency have decided not to invest in a new generation of signals intelligence gathering satellite and instead stick with the satellite designs now in use.
American, Delta and United have been granted authority to operate new flights to Paris from the U.S., according to the Transportation Dept. Delta and American will add seven weekly flights each with Delta serving New York or Atlanta and American serving Chicago and San Jose, Calif. United will board passengers in New York for its partners Lufthansa and British Midland.
A Proton booster successfully orbited the second of Sirius Satellite Radio's planned constellation of three spacecraft. Sirius-2 was launched at 5:43 a.m. EDT Sept. 5 from Baikonur Cosmodrome. A communications link with the satellite and solar panel deployment were achieved later that day. The company's third satellite, Sirius-3, has been scheduled for launch in October, but that date could slip to November owing to other Proton launch requirements. The satellites, which will use S-band for delivery of audio content, are built by Space Systems/Loral.
Air France and British Airways do not anticipate restarting supersonic operations until next spring even if national authorities reinstate Concorde's airworthiness certificate. The Franco-British team formed to devise technical modifications that would prevent a tire blowout from initiating a catastrophic chain of events--the prerequisite for gaining back the airworthiness certificate--hopes to complete its task by early November. The team's meeting held here on Sept. 7 remained inconclusive.
