Aviation and transportation leaders from 120 countries will gather here in October to discuss infrastructure issues worldwide and how to improve the air transportation system overall. Among topics at the first-of-a-kind International Transportation Symposium: improving flow control, bilateral and multilateral relationships, open skies, environmental concerns, air traffic management, aviation security and structuring intermodal facilities to enable passengers to move easily from airlines to rail, to road networks.
Hong Kong Air Cargo, which operates Asia's largest air freight facility, is turning to trucks to improve long-haul shipping into southern China. It has formed Hong Kong Air Cargo Industry Services Ltd. to run a high-speed trucking line between Hong Kong International Airport and Baiyun Airport in Guangzhou, southern China's largest industrial city. Although a part of China, Hong Kong is a separate economic zone.
THE U.S. NAVY IS CONTINUING to equip its CVN 68 Nimitz-class aircraft carriers, LHD 1 class helicopter assault ships and a number of guided-missile ships with Lockheed Martin Sanders' AIMS ATC/IFF system. Unlike conventional IFF systems with rotating antennas, AIMS uses 64 radiating elements, arrayed in a circle, and steers the beam electronically. The beam could scan at a rate up to 90 rpm., but a big advantage for IFF is quick repositioning to targets of interest, which could also be useful to ATC for precision runway monitoring.
SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES is studying the corrosion of copper, widely used in electronic devices, by conducting multiple experiments on a single silicon wafer. An electron-beam etched away a copper film, leaving 16 meandering lines on the wafer, which were then ion-implanted with various impurities such as indium, oxygen, deuterium and aluminum. As the wafer was exposed to an environment of less than one part per million of hydrogen sulfide, researchers calculated the thickness of the copper sulfide corrosion layer from the change in resistance of the copper lines.
General Electric's CF6-80C2 turbofan has been selected by Lockheed Martin as the powerplant that will be used to reengine the U.S. Air Force's 126 C-5 Galaxy transports.
Revenues from Air Methods' community-based aeromedical transportation programs exceeded revenue from its hospital-based programs for the first time during the three months that ended June 30. The Denver-based company is establishing community-based air medical services in select North American markets and in-tends to aggressively expand these regional hubs into surrounding areas, according to George Belsey, chairman and CEO.
Jack Pouchet (see photo) has been appointed marketing director of Racal Instruments, Irvine, Calif. He was director of sales and marketing for Switching Systems International.
Aaron Penkacik, who has been vice president-advanced systems and technology for Lockheed Martin Sanders, Nashua, N.H., is now also chief technical officer.
Scientists at the National Center for Atmospheric Research have identified tornado-like horizontal vortices that can be triggered by complex jet stream processes or high winds over mountainous terrain. One of these ``horizontal vortex tubes'' almost certainly ripped an engine and 19 ft. from the left wing of a DC-8 cargo aircraft in 1992.
Upgrades to Flight Dynamics' Head-up Guidance System (HGS) could boost pilot situational awareness during taxi or high-speed exit operations, increasing safety and capacity at busy airports, especially during night and limited visibility conditions.
Hansel E. Tookes has been named chairman of the Raytheon Aircraft Co. (RAC), Wichita, Kan. Tookes was a Raytheon Co. executive vice president and president/ CEO of RAC. He succeeds Arthur E. Wegner, who has retired.
Russia's military shakeup and putative shift toward conventional modernization is receiving mixed assessments. U.S. strategic experts variously interpret the upheaval as a classic power struggle, a potential loss to nuclear arms control, a boost to nuclear security or a straightforward injection of younger officers into aging ex-Soviet ranks. Russian analysts say the explanation is much simpler: the civilian leadership is determined once and for all to stem the military's independence, which knew few bounds during the Cold War.
Greg Brown has been named 2000 Industry/FAA Flight Instructor of the Year by Aviation Suppliers and Academic Inc., Newcastle, Wash. Brown has written about his more than 20 years of flying, teaching and marketing in ``The Savvy Flight Instructor: Secrets of the Succecssful CFI.''
Ken Greene, president/CEO of Stanley Aviation, Aurora, Colo., has received the University of Colorado College of Engineering and Applied Science Silver Star. He was cited for his contribution of the Stanley Aviation Rapid Prototype Development Lab.
BASE Airlines, a member of the European Regions Airline Assn. (ERA), posted the largest increase in passengers carried during the first quarter of this year with 105% growth, or 15,054 passengers. According to ERA, Spain's Air Nostrum reported the second largest increase, 53.1% or 586,410 people. Lufthansa CityLine's traffic, however, increased to 1.63 million passengers during the period. ERA includes 28 regional carriers.
The NASA Interim Control Module (ICM) spacecraft under development at the Naval Research Laboratory near Washington has been shifted to a new mission from initially being a ready backup for the Russian Zvezda Service Module. In late July, the ISS successfully docked with the Zvezda. The ICM is actually not a module, but rather a propulsion system for attitude control and orbit reboost. The ICM team had been pressing to prepare the vehicle for launch to the ISS as early as this spring had the Zvezda mission failed.
Lisa E. Koppel has been appointed director of marketing of the International Space Business Council, Arlington, Va. She was manager of public relations for Loral CyberStar.
While pilots, cabin crews and passengers obviously want the National Center for Atmospheric Research and other agencies to unlock the secrets of clear air turbulence in order to improve flight safety, several aircraft manufacturers, airlines and insurers appear to be disinterested. Despite multiple briefings to these communities, NCAR has not found anybody willing to participate in or underwrite additional research on horizontal vortex tubes (HVT) and other CAT phenomena.
Engineers at the U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tullahoma, Tenn., have completed a second round of experiments aimed at certifying the B-1B bomber to carry the service's AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Stand-off Missile (JASSM). The weapon, which would possess stealth characteristics, is being developed by the Air Force to destroy antiaircraft missile sites, command-and-control facilities, and other tactical target sets in a high-threat environment.
Sino Swearingen Aircraft Co. has rolled out the first SJ30-2 that conforms to production configuration in preparation for maiden flight by the end of the third quarter.
Several more countries have expressed interest in joining the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program, an initiative to train NATO and other military pilots at 15 Wing Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan. Officially opened on July 6, NFTC already is training the first pilots from among five participating countries--Canada, Denmark, Great Britain, Singapore and Italy--using a variant of the Raytheon/Pilatus T-6A Texan II now flown by the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy (photo).
John Heiser (see photo) has been appointed director of in-house services for General Electric CJ610 and CF700 engines for Intercontinental Jet, Tulsa, Okla. He was managing director of the Honeywell TFE731 program at Bizjet International, also in Tulsa.
