The Eurofighter consortium sees the potential for further delays in the Joint Strike Fighter program as a window of opportunity for additional export sales and is already trying to convince the Netherlands to join the four-nation program.
Boeing last week rolled out what it claims to be the longest 737 ever built. The -900 is 8.5 ft. longer than the -800 version and can seat up to 189 in a single-class, all-economy configuration. First delivery to launch customer Alaska Airlines is scheduled for April 2001, and first flight is planned for next month. Continental, Korean and KLM also have ordered the version. Boeing is predicting the 737-900 will be the most fuel-efficient, single-aisle transport on the market today, including the 757-300 and Airbus A321.
German and Austrian investigators released an interim report on the crash landing of the Hapag-Lloyd Airbus A310-304 in Vienna on July 12 (AW&ST July 24, p. 88). According to the preliminary report, about 130 kg. (59 lb.) of unusable fuel was found in the aircraft's tanks and all relevant instruments were operating properly. Initially, Austrian investigators said the aircraft was probably out of fuel. The pilots stated in an inquiry that they had calculated fuel consumption with the flight management system (FMS).
South Africa has signed a contract with EADS for Exocet MM40 antiship missiles to equip its four new MEKO A-200 corvettes. The contract also provides for technical exchanges with South African companies Kentron and Somchen.
Lockheed Martin is leading a team of nine companies that has joined to bid on a theater ballistic missile defense feasibility study that NATO plans to fund next year. Other team members are Aerospatiale Matra Missiles, Alenia Marconi Systems, Astrium, BAE Systems, EADS, Fokker, LFK, Matra BAe Dynamics and TRW.
British Airways subsidiary Deutsche BA expects to replace its aging Boeing fleet with Airbus A320-series aircraft. The carrier wants to pick up some of the options BA had placed with its own Airbus narrow-body aircraft order. Deutsche BA's Chief Executive Adrian Hunt said the A320's passenger appeal, coupled with problems Deutsche BA has experienced with its current fleet of Boeing 737s, had influenced the decision to switch to Airbus.
Growing regional instability and larger weapons buys by Southeast Asian countries are putting the Australian government under significant pressure to increase defense spending. Australia has but half the A$110 billion ($65 billion) required for new equipment over the next 15 years. To meet that shortfall, the government is considering cutting several of the 145 defense projects now scheduled.
Saab Bofors Dynamics will begin serial production of the RBS 23 Bamse air defense missile system for the Swedish army. Under the $112-million order, deliveries of firing units and missiles will begin in early 2003.
John A. (Drew) Bedson has been promoted to senior vice president-air operations from vice president-flight operations and Dan Waters to vice president-flight operations from director of pilot training of Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
The crash of Air France Flight 4590 was 4590 the first fatal accident involving the Concorde, which has been in service since 1976. The supersonic aircraft, however, has been involved in several incidents in its 20-year-plus history, including a series of tire blowouts on takeoff that led to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) making operating procedure recommendations to French aviation authorities.
The captain's overcontrol of the aircraft during landing and failure to execute a go-around from a destabilized flare were determined as the probable causes of the July 31, 1997, crash of a FedEx MD-11 at Newark (N.J.) International Airport, in an NTSB determination that was released last week.
All Nippon Airways last week said it will add the Boeing 777-300LR twin-engine jet to its fleet. The carrier converted an existing order for four 777s and added two new orders, with deliveries to begin in fiscal 2005, which begins in April 2004, through fiscal 2007. ANA currently has 20 777 aircraft in its fleet. General Electric 90-115B will power the 300LRs, which will have 305 seats in a three-class configuration, 12 in first class, 56 in business and 237 in economy.
James B. Moody, a satellite designer and systems engineer for Vipac Engineers and Scientists, Melbourne, Australia, has won the Young Engineer of the Year Award from The Institution of Engineers Australia. He has been supporting the system design and integration of the satellite bus for the Australian FedSat, which is being built in England.
Rick Phillips (see photos) has been promoted to interior modifications manager from interior shop coordinator and David Williams to project manager from director of aircraft interiors for West Star Aviation, Grand Junction, Colo. Larry McNutt also has been appointed a project manager. He was general manager-director of maintenance at the Mesa (Ariz.) Air Center.
The United Airlines pilots' union has activated a strike preparedness committee and mulled ways to integrate a seniority list with US Airways' pilots, but the Master Executive Council has not yet changed its position toward the proposed merger of the two carriers. The Air Line Pilots Assn. unit's merger committee reported last week on United's offers that would protect the seniority of United pilots or compensate for the loss of seniority if the seniority lists were integrated.
NASA Langley Research Center and Delta Air Lines are studying the effects of personal electronic devices (PEDS) on airline transports, and especially anomalies in navigation and communications (nav/com) systems. The three-year initiative will measure electronic signals within the passenger cabin to estimate radio frequency coupling with nav/com equipment and to determine the cause of excessive antenna-to-receiver path losses.
Singapore plans to order 20 new F-16C/D Block 52 aircraft from Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in late 2003. The transaction marks the fourth purchase of F-16s by Singapore, which began operating the airplane in the 1980s. Previous orders were placed in 1994 and 1997, according to Lockheed Martin. In addition to Singapore, the Fort Worth-based company has orders for F-16s from Bahrain, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Israel and Greece, and plans to continue producing the single-engine fighter into 2010.
The new 116-ft.-long International Space Station configuration is completing a major computer and data system reconfiguration this week following a flawless automatic docking between the ISS and the Russian Zvezda Service Module. The 35-ton ISS FGB/Node-1 stack docked with the 21-ton Service Module (SM) at 8:45 p.m. EDT July 25 as the two vehicles flew 229 mi. over Kazakhstan. The $300-million SM is the key to enabling permanent ISS crew operations and ongoing assembly (AW&ST July 10, p. 28).
China Southern Airlines last week signed a code-share agreement with Vietnam Airlines, the national carrier of that country, marking the first time China's largest carrier entered a joint cooperation with a Southeast Asian airline. The code-share involves the Guangzhou-Ho Chi Minh route, on which China Southern currently offers three weekly services, and Vietnam, two weekly flights.
Hamilton Standard plans to work with Derco Aerospace of Milwaukee to develop an environmental control system (ECS) for all models of the Northrop F-5 and T-38 aircraft to meet cooling requirements of advanced avionics systems. An enhanced version of the F-5 ECS is already available. Upgraded refrigeration packs for the F-5 A/B/E and T-38 will be available later this year.
It's too early to assess whether Lockheed Martin's decision to sell its Sanders affiliate to pay down its indebtedness from its prior acquisitions and the decision of Britain's BAE Systems to bid $1.67 billion will prove beneficial to both in the near-term and beyond. But the combination of Sanders with the earlier acquisition of Tracor, via BAE Systems' acquisition of Marconi Electronics which purchased Tracor two years ago, will give the British company the broadest spectrum of advanced electronic warfare technology of any company in the world.
Airport Systems International Inc. attributes the increase in sales of conventional navigation aids to slower-than-expected development of local and wide area augmentation systems, which are required for Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation. Pent-up demand in Asia, now in strong recovery from the economic slump, also has helped drive sales of equipment including ILS, VOR, DME, airfield lighting and signs, said company President and CEO Keith Cowan.
Bearing Inspection Inc. of Los Alamitos, Calif., has developed a new version of its precision Bearing Analyzer. The model BA-96-1 uses computer technology to measure mechanical vibration that result in bearing noise. When a bearing is operational, it generates a noise signal that is compared with established criteria. The condition of the bearing, its working surfaces and the degree of wear can then be evaluated.
Chris Finnoff has been appointed vice president-sales and Jack Harrington vice president-business affairs of the Eclipse Aviation Corp., Scottsdale, Ariz. Finnoff was president/CEO of Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd., and Harrington was an aviation lawyer in private practice.
