Tom Imrich, a FAA national resource specialist, will be the 2000 recipient of the the Flight Safety Foundation's Adm. Luis de Florez Award. Imrich will be cited for his contribution to aviation safety through initiation, development and implementation of enhanced operational procedures, inflight operations and related flight crew training requirements. Imrich has provided technical leadership in the development and implementation of low visibility operations, airborne collision avoid- ance systems, crew qualification criteria and required navigation performance.
U.S. scientists are in a worldwide race to the technology frontier, seeking the understanding and tools to create materials with new capabilities by building structures atom by atom. The potential rewards from the new area of nanotechnology are enormous. The goal is to manipulate matter at the atomic or nanometer (10-9 meters) level to create large structures with fundamentally new molecular organizations. The results could change the way materials and devices are produced in the future and could offer large economic benefits.
American Airlines is completing construction of a $10-million maintenance and servicing facility designed specifically for Boeing 777s used by the carrier for long-distance flights. The Uni-Dock, which is being built inside American's hangar bay at Alliance Airport north of Fort Worth, stands 60 ft. high and allows mechanics easy access to the exterior of the airplane for repairs and scheduled inspections. The airline operates 23 777s and plans to acquire an additional aircraft.
BAE Systems Canada Inc. is pursuing radar- and infrared-based enhanced vision systems as a major growth opportunity, with plans initially to field an IR system within a year. Enhanced vision systems (EVS) could go a long way toward improving both revenues and income at BAE Systems Canada, formerly known as Canadian Marconi. The company recently reported a drop in operating income due to eroding profit margins in several product lines.
John L. Seubert of Golden, Colo., a retired research program manager for the U.S. Agriculture Dept. and expert on bird migrations and airport bird management, has received the James Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award of the Bird Strike Committee-USA.
International Lease Finance Corp. has become the first potential customer for the as yet unlaunched A3XX mega-transport to specify a powerplant for their aircraft. Last week the aircraft leasing company picked the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine for their A3XXs, an engine which also remains formally unlaunched until market conditions are right for it and the aircraft it will power.
In the Aug. 21 issue, the Market Focus column incorrectly stated that Banc of America Securities had a year-end price target of $36 a share for Orbital Sciences Corp. That target price is for the end of 2001. A diagram on p. S8 of the July 3 issue mislabeled AeroAstro Inc., a microsatellite technology company.
Sweden's Saab AB has joined Sikorsky Aircraft in offering the S-92 for the Nordic Standard Helicopter Program, a joint effort by Finland, Sweden, Norway and Denmark to procure more than 70 helicopters for a variety of search-and-rescue, transport, maritime support and naval missions. Under the agreement, Saab would help design, develop, test and integrate S-92 helicopter and mission systems for the S-92/NSH effort.
U.S Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center has selected Jarvis Airfoil Inc. to manufacture a set of 350 compressor rotor blades for the center's Propulsion Wind Tunnel, under a $150,238 contract.
A $1-billion National Reconnaissance Office advanced KH-11 electro-optical spacecraft launched in 1992 has been deorbited after ending its useful service life. The mission operations for such spacecraft are highly secret and new data indicate the destructive reentry occurred in June. This particular reconnaissance satellite flew an unusual mission in a higher orbit and different inclination than normal KH-11 type missions. Two of the standard KH-11 type spacecraft remain aloft.
Leaps in bio-technology and genetic engineering are unlocking the secrets to much more advanced biological weapons. The extreme lethality and fiendish psychological impact of ``super-diseases'' could transform the very nature of post-modern, information-age warfare.
To maintain a ``long arm'' for the military, especially when a foe can strike with ballistic missiles from up to 4,000 km. (2,500 mi.) away, planners in the Israeli government and its aerospace industry want to field a combination of manned and unmanned aircraft that are tightly integrated with a new generation of reconnaissance satellites.
Australia's discount carrier Impulse Airlines' Aug. 28 inaugural flight from Brisbane to Sydney wasn't budging. The delay was caused not by air traffic control congestion or weather, but by musicians. The captain grounded the flight, which was scheduled to depart at 7:30 a.m., until four unruly passengers were escorted from the aircraft. The Australian rock group, The Screaming Jets, allegedly had been abusive to cabin crew and fellow passengers. And an airline spokesman was quoted as saying alcohol had been confiscated from the group.
A new Russian Globus military communications spacecraft designated Cosmos 2,372 was launched into geosynchronous orbit Aug. 28 by a heavy Proton booster launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The flight was the ninth for the Proton this year. A commercial International Launch Services Proton is to launch the second Sirius radio broadcast satellite from Baikonur on Sept. 5.
A German lawyer who says he will try to have U.S. courts determine compensation for victims of the Concorde crash in Paris on July 25 faces an uphill battle, according to several aviation law specialists.
Lockheed Martin Corp. has completed required propulsion system testing of the Pratt&Whitney JSF 119-611 engine installed in the company's X-35A Joint Strike Fighter, in preparation for the maiden flight of the conventional takeoff and landing version late this month or early in October.
Frequent fliers for the first time will soon be able to convert their miles and points into a new online currency--MilePoint Money--that can be used toward the purchase of goods and services, thanks to a program launched last week by MilePoint.com. AmericaWest, Continental, Delta, Northwest and US Airways, along with Hilton, plan to participate. MilePoint is working in association with Amazon.com, which will allow MilePoint Money to be used to purchase Amazon gift certificates on the MilePoint site, and SkyMall, with its more than 100 retailers.
Honeywell is developing a next-generation CAS 100 traffic-alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS) that will provide a 100-naut.-mi. range and a reliability rate of 30,000 hr. mean time between failures. Including an integral Mode S transponder, the system's TPL100A processor will be up to 60% smaller and 30% lighter than the typical surveillance system flying today, according to Honeywell. Current TCAS systems are limited to 40-naut.-mi. range.
LinuxWorks Inc. of San Jose, Calif., has released version 3.0 of its BlueCat Linux system to support embedded microprocessing architectures from ARM Inc. of Los Gatos, Calif., including ARM's Thumb extensions, StrongArm and Hitachi SuperH. . . . Maptech of Greenland, N.H., (www.maptech.com) has released the Mapserver database for free access to NOAA digital charts and USGS topographic maps. Mapserver allows users to view, print and e-mail topographic maps and nautical charts.
Arianespace has rescheduled the next Ariane 5 mission--flight 506 carrying the telecommunications satellites Astra 2B and GE 7--for Sept. 14. The mission, initially set for July 25, was postponed to allow an anomaly on the Ariane 5's attitude control system to be verified (AW&ST July 24, p. 80). Flight 506 will be sandwiched between two Ariane 4 missions--flight 132 (Eutelsat W1), set for Sept. 6, and flight 133 (payload unspecified), to fly in late September.
About 3,000 unionized employees of Raytheon Co. remained on strike late last week after rejecting a new contract proposal by the defense company. No new negotiations were scheduled. A strike vote by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union Local 1505 came on Sunday, Aug. 27. All of the union members work at Raytheon's Andover, Mass., facility. It produces Aegis, Hawk and Patriot missiles, as well as ground-based radar.
The $100-million Hughes HS 601 Solidaridad 1 satellite has been declared a total loss after its backup control processor failed in orbit Aug. 27 and the spacecraft's battery power was consumed two days later. Launched in 1994, the satellite operated for less than half of its design life. It was insured for $250 million, which includes $100 million for the spacecraft, $100 million for the launcher and $50 million for insurance. The Satelites Mexicanos (Satmex) satellite had lost its primary control processor in April of last year.
Pentagon missile defense officials believe it is time to refocus on research and development activities to sow the seeds for future weapon systems. This follows several years in which the procurement of hardware such as the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) and other missile defenses have taken center stage.
Peter Swerling, who devised a series of radar target models bearing his name, died Aug. 25 in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 71. Swerling also contributed to the development of stealth technology and was a top theoretical and applied radar expert. He started college at the California Institute of Technology at age 15 and received several degrees, including a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles. After working 13 years at the Rand Corp., he founded Technical Service Corp. in 1966 and Swerling, Manasse&Smith in 1982.
