The online travel agency that was founded by five U.S. major airlines, and is slated for debut later this year, now has a name on its birth certificate--Orbitz.com. Alex Zoghlin, the Web site's chief technology officer, said consumer testing indicated the name Orbitz best fit the business mission of the site--to expand choices for consumers as they buy air transportation and select hotels, rental cars, tours and cruises. One rejected name was Escape.com.
Orbital Sciences Corp. has been selected by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) for spacecraft systems support services in a contract valued at $16 million the first year. Under the agreement, Orbital will conduct prototype spacecraft system and subsystem research, analysis and development, as well as integration, testing and data processing activities.
Propulsion specialists in the Defense Dept., NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) are charting a long-term propulsion technology road map that will challenge today's most basic views of how turbine engine technology is conceived, nurtured and developed.
Studies are underway on block changes and future derivatives of the Eurofighter, including a stealthier version with an internal weapons bay. This would meet the U.K.'s requirement for a Future Offensive Air System to replace Tornados used for deep strike missions. The under-fuselage weapons bay would take the place of a center fuel tank. Conformal fuel tanks would be added to the upper fuselage to compensate. A ``wet,'' or fuel-carrying, vertical stabilizer also is being considered to provide additional fuel volume.
A software flaw has forced the U.S. Navy to delay flight testing of the interceptor for the Area Wide ballistic missile defense system. It is the second test delay for the Standard Missile SM-2 Block IV-A. Navy officials hope the missile software can be fixed in a few weeks.
Perfect Image of Kirkland, Wash., has the first of two Kongsberg KartoScan FB 3 digital flatbed scanners up and running. The equipment precisely converts nondimensioned aircraft and engine component drawings and circuit board diagrams made on stable media, such as Mylar, into a digital format for manufacturing or archiving. The digital scanning system can scan drawings up to 60 in. wide, is laser-calibrated and has been independently certified to a 0.002-in. repeatable accuracy.
Raven Industries earlier this month conducted a successful flight test of a scaled-down ``super pressure'' Ultra Long Duration Balloon (ULDB). The second prototype, only 10% the size of the planned research balloon, stayed aloft 27 hr. A previous attempt in October reached high altitude but ruptured. A full-scale ULDB engineering test version is scheduled to be launched next year and is being designed to stay aloft at altitudes up to 115,000 ft. for as long as 100 days, and to carry more than a ton of scientific instruments.
Gary Kenmir has been named vice president of the Wolverhampton, England-based Aerospace Europe business of the Timken Co., Canton, Ohio. Other recent appointments were: James R. (Ron) Menning vice president of the Lebanon, N.H.-based aerospace sector; Thomas J. Uhlig vice president of the Keene, N.H.-based super precision sector; John D. Breen controller and Robert M. Rooney director of organizational development for the aerospace and super precision sectors; and Richard A. Knepper director of technology.
A photo caption in the May 29 issue (p. 54) erroneously identified Mikhail Simonov as the former general designer at Sukhoi. He is still the general designer at the Sukhoi Design Bureau.
Egyptian-led investigators of the EgyptAir Flight 990 accident have produced a scenario for mechanical failure of the Boeing 767 elevator control and note that such a failure occurred on another 767 on the ground. Meanwhile, some of the evidence originally cited by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board as pointing to a suicide theory is now being downplayed.
Jay Wurts has been appointed president/CEO of the OuterLink Corp., Concord, Mass., formerly known as Newcomb Communications Inc. He succeeds Joseph Simmons, who has resigned. Wurts was president/CEO of the GreatWay Technology Corp.
The U.S. and Canada committed to the further enhancement of air safety between the two countries in an agreement signed last week by U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater and Canadian Transport Minister David Collenette at the Millennium Transportation Conference in Toronto.
Ernest Schweizer, co-founder of Schweizer Aircraft, died on June 11 in Elmira, N.Y. He was 88. His first project was the design and building of a primary glider, in 1930. Elmira-based Schweizer Air-craft was incorporated in 1939, and has built a total of 5,700 sailplanes, agricultural and reconnaissance aircraft and light helicopters during the past 60 years.
Kirk Rowe (see photo) has been appointed executive vice president/chief operating officer of the Innotech-Execaire Aviation Group of Montreal. Rowe was vice president-commercial services. Rowe succeeds Dave Miller, who is now an executive at the GE/Garrett Jet Center, Santa Barbara, Calif.
Kevin Cavanaugh (see photo) has been named chief operating officer of Qualtech Systems, Wethersfield, Conn. He was an associate technical fellow at Boeing.
THE FAA HAS COMPLETED ABOUT 90% of its certification rules for tiltrotor aircraft, such as the Bell/Agusta BA-609, tentatively scheduled to make its first flight next year (AW&ST June 5, p. 52). The agency is combining sections from FAR Part 29 airworthiness standards for Transport Category Rotorcraft with selected paragraphs from FAR Part 25, governing the airworthiness of Transport Category Airplanes. In addition, the FAA has made major changes to FAR Part 61 regarding training and experience requirements to certify tiltrotor pilots.
Boeing, a 40% partner in Sea Launch, has endorsed the White House decision to eliminate commercial space launch quotas with Ukraine. ``Ukraine has been a solid business partner in our Sea Launch program, and we look forward to continuing our commercial collaboration,'' according to Jim Albaugh, Boeing Space&Communications group president. Ukraine provides the two-stage Zenit booster for Sea Launch. Administration officials said the move was made as a result of Ukraine's good record on nonproliferation, especially regarding missile technology.
Marshall Greenspan, director of technology/system architect/senior technical staff member at the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Norden Systems, Norwalk, Conn., is the first recipient of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' Warren D. White Award for Excellence in Radar Engineering. The award recognizes Greenspan ``for significantly advancing the art in ground moving target indication airborne tactical radars through the implementation of multiple phase center interferometric processing.''
Wendy Burt and Jennifer Bagdade, who were public information officers for the Metropolitan Airports Commission of Minneapolis/St. Paul, have formed B2 Public Relations Inc.
Nonstop train services between downtown Paris and Roissy/ Charles de Gaulle airport (CDG) are tentatively scheduled to start in 2006. Trains operating every 15 min. between Gare de l'Est and CDG are to carry an estimated 5-6 million passengers per year. In preparation for the long-waited initiative, ADP Paris airports authority, SNCF French railways and RFF--which owns the French track system--last week formed a joint venture, dubbed CDG Express, to invest an estimated $570 million in the new train line. A one-way ticket for the 20-min. journey will cost about $14.
Strong opposition from Italy and Germany threatens to sink two propulsion projects that are scheduled to be decided this week by the European Space Agency Council.
Horizon Air increased its firm orders for 70-seat Bombardier CRJ700 Series regional jets to 30 from 25 last week. The five aircraft are worth approximately $130 million (U.S.) at list price. High fuel prices also prompted the Seattle-based carrier to accelerate its CRJ700 delivery schedule. It now will receive 14 of the jets between December 2000 and October 2001, simultaneously phasing out its 69-passenger Fokker F28 fleet.
Martin Halliwell has been appointed director of communications technology and a member of the management committee of Societe Europeenne des Satellites. He was general manager of Global Multimedia Networks.
The congressional auditors also chide the FAA for failing to comply with its own computer security guidelines. The GAO says the agency has yet to figure out who among its contractors' employees with access to computers in the ATC system needs a background check. House Science Committee honchos F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Ralph Hall (D-Tex.) say the culture at the FAA is not sufficiently attentive to the possibility of cyber-terrorist strikes.
Leading members of Congress are convinced the merger of United Airlines and US Airways would sap competition, jack up fares, blight service and culminate in a triple-megacarrier imperium that would span 85% or more of domestic air travel.
