Capt. Charles S. Giambusso has been reelected chairman of the Delta Air Lines pilots' Master Executive Council. Capt. Mark Moore was elected vice chairman, and First Officer Jim Icenhour was reelected secretary-treasurer.
Adroit Systems Inc. is beginning its third year of testing a simple and economical pulse detonation rocket engine technology that has a wide range of potential applications which include providing thrust for boost, orbital transfer and upper stages, powering returnable launch vehicles and acting as satellite microthrusters.
Following weeks of desultory debate, the Senate belatedly but overwhelmingly approved a $300-billion-plus defense authorization bill for next year that would speed up reviews of high-performance computer exports. A bipartisan amendment attached to the budget bill would shorten the congressional review period for such exports to 60 days from 180 days. The same provision was included in the House version of the Fiscal 2001 defense budget blueprint. The respective bills now go to a joint conference committee, which will have to settle relatively minor differences.
Ernie Briel, chairman of BRPH Companies Inc., Melbourne, Fla., has received the Debus Award from the National Space Club at Cape Canaveral, for his 35 years of contributions to manned and unmanned space operations and the communities around the Cape and Kennedy Space Center.
U.S. Army Gen. John Tilelli, Jr., (Ret.) has been appointed to the board of trustees of The Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles. Tilelli is head of the USO.
Hans Bakker, former managing director of Schiphol International BV at Amsterdam Airport, has been appointed commercial director of Hong Kong International Airport.
United Airlines has trimmed 4,800 flights from its summer schedule as a major step to improving performance reliability in the face of increasing pilot job actions and rough weather. Storms that have been sweeping through the Midwest recently have caused havoc with operations. In addition to the weather factor, the United pilots' cold shoulder toward overtime has slimmed down the roster of available pilots and aggravated the carrier's performance problems.
Boeing is surveying airline interest in a longer range 757-200, called the 757-200ERX. The aircraft would have extra fuel tanks and strengthened wings, according to 757 brand manager Joe Platner. Range would allow flights from the Midwest U.S. to Western Europe, or from Eastern U.S. cities to Hawaii.
It is said human beings are governed less by facts than by sensations. Certainly that proposition is true of the impassioned dispute over a U.S. national missile defense. The fact is, no one knows (yet) whether any NMD system can be made to work. Neither advocates nor critics possess conclusive evidence, or anything approaching it. Too few tests have been carried out; results remain sketchy. Yet proponents and opponents sally forth with evangelical zeal.
Carl O'Berry has been appointed vice president/general manager of the Boeing Space and Communications Group, Seal Beach, Calif. He was vice president/director of planning and information technology for the Motorola Space and Systems Technology Group.
The Senate defeated an amendment to beef up the testing of the Administration's proposed national missile defense (NMD), despite another failure just days before the vote (see p. 31). The narrow 52-48 tally against, largely along partisan lines, touched off criticism of the Republican majority for ignoring the military's firm backing of the initiative. Pentagon testing chief Philip E. Coyle praised the measure for its ``commitment to both ground-based and open-air flight tests,'' a perennial sore point (AW&ST Feb. 24, 1997, p. 57).
The FAA has issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making that would require airlines to modify nacelle strut and wing structures on Pratt&Whitney-powered Boeing 767s to prevent fatigue cracking of primary strut structures. The proposed Airworthiness Directive was prompted by ``numerous reports'' of fatigue cracking in those areas. The AD, which formalizes seven Boeing service bulletins, affects 233 aircraft, including 76 of U.S. registry. The agency estimates it will cost $51,500 per airplane to accomplish the work.
Polar Air Cargo has contracted with FlightSafety Boeing Training International for initial pilot ground school and flight training for Polar's three soon-to-arrive 747-400F freighters. By year-end Polar expects to have a staff of about 325 pilots, all of whom will have attended FSB for training on either the -400F or earlier ``classic'' 747 freighter versions. Polar is assigning 90 crewmembers, made up of 30 captains and 60 first officers, to its 747-400 fleet. First -400 delivery to Polar is planned for October.
To end U.S. Air Force dithering on upgrades to the E-8 Joint-STARS ground surveillance aircraft, senior Pentagon civilians will soon present service leaders with an ultimatum. Within 30 days, Pentagon acquisition chief Jacques Gansler is expected to order Air Force officials to decide on a course of action by year's end. To spur the process, a panel of radar experts will be established to study the available technologies and report on alternatives by October to both Gansler and the Air Force leadership.
Bridgestone Aircraft Tire, a Miami-based subsidiary of the Japanese tire manufacturer, said it will partner with Tradeair.com, one of the industry's new independent Internet parts exchanges, to offer new and retread aircraft tires over the Internet to customers in the U.S. and Caribbean.
Greatland Laser of Anchorage has demonstrated laser ``stop bar'' and ``hold-short'' lines for airports as a low-cost way to reduce runway incursions. The system, similar to the price scanner in a supermarket check-out line, uses a plano-convex cylindrical lens to shape its scanning laser beam. This creates a ``virtual curtain of light'' representing the stop bar or hold-short line when there is particulate matter such as rain, fog, snow or smoke in the air, according to company President Jim O'Meara. The laser helps illuminate the line in clear weather, he said.
Virgin Atlantic has introduced a service allowing people to receive and make calls through their mobile cellular phone networks while in flight. Participating mobile phone operators will provide customers with a card which they can swipe through the handset to register for the service.
To cut costs, Japan Airlines and Japan Air System will share passenger handling services at key off-airport sites for domestic flights beginning next spring, and introduce joint gate boarding card processing machines in 2002. Starting in September, JAL will provide ramp handling and cargo support services for JAS at Kansai International Airport for international and domestic flights.
Worldwide adoption of data-protected Flight Operations Quality Assurance programs, use of cockpit safety audits and installation of enhanced ground proximity warning systems in all jet transports are important safety tools needed to maintain a downward trend in airline accidents, according to safety officials.
Although the Marines and the Army love the idea of a C-130-size tiltrotor transport, the Air Force is less enchanted. The main problem is vulnerability to antiaircraft weapons. ``The tiltrotor has a radar cross-section like the Empire State Building and a heat signature like two C-130s,'' remarked one skeptic. ``They need a completely benign [antiaircraft] environment to land, even though they want to take them behind enemy lines.'' That requires either perfect intelligence about air defenses or air strikes to clear the way.
The newly incorporated European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS) made a weak debut during its first days of trading on stock exchanges at Paris, Frankfurt and Madrid. Retail and institutional investors oversubscribed EADS' initial public offering of 166.5 million shares, at a premium price of 18-19 euros ($17.1-18.05). EADS stock, however, began trading at 19 euros, closed at 17.6 euros and, late last week, was slowly returning to its initial value.
Michael G. Pollack has been appointed vice president-sales and marketing for Pilkington Aerospace, Garden Grove, Calif. He was director of sales and marketing for the Americas and had held the same position for Europe.
U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigators have supervised disassembly of the engines and propellers of a BAE 3101 Jetstream that crashed on May 21 near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., but have been unable to determine why both powerplants failed in flight.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. has placed a full-scale model of its Joint Strike Fighter atop a 40-ft.-high tower as part of a high-fidelity sensor integration facility designed to test subsystems for the JSF avionic package.
