Washington State is threatening to withhold thousands of dollars in state transportation monies and suspend the authority of The City of Des Moines to levy real estate excise taxes as the city continues to resist planned expansion of adjacent Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. The city has refused an order to properly amend its comprehensive plan, according to a state growth management board. The plan still is aimed at preventing, not mitigating, the impact of airport expansion, the board said.
President Clinton defended the licensing of U.S. commercial satellite launches on Chinese rockets. It furthers efforts ``to stop the spread of missile technology by providing China with incentives to observe nonproliferation agreements,'' the President said in a pre-U.S./China summit speech. ``This policy clearly has served our interests'' by persuading China to end exports of nuclear assistance and antiship cruise missiles to Iran, he said. Clinton also averred that U.S.-built satcoms encourage freedom of information in the world's most populous state.
Japan Airlines says it is the first carrier to issue sunglasses-like audio-visual entertainment systems to passengers. Starting this month, first-class passengers on the carrier's long-haul 747-400 flights can request the glasses, which weigh about 4 oz. and unlike seat-back and arm-mounted screens allow the wearer to comfortably view video while fully reclined on 180-deg. sleeper seats. Called the Eye-Trek Face-Mounted Display unit, the entertainment devices are produced by Olympus and are expected to sell for about $500 each.
Steve Masse has been appointed vice president-finance/treasurer of British Aerospace North America Inc. Phillip Perotta has been named senior legal adviser for British Aerospace Asset Management. He succeeds Paul Briggs, who has become general counsel to Abu Dhabi-based Oasis International Leasing Co.
A revised accord between Air France management and pilot unions has brought an end to a 10-day-long walkout. Late last week, the French carrier was gradually restoring normal operations on its domestic and international route system. The draft agreement, signed in the wake of tense negotiations, is scheduled to be finalized no later than Aug. 31. Detailed arrangements on specifics and still unresolved difficulties are expected to be discussed in the next few days. Air France was expected to resume normal operations by June 15.
Despite a sharp decline in production volumes, to roughly 20% of the levels achieved in 1990, there has been little progress toward restructuring Russia's aircraft engine manufacturing industry. ``Integration is the only correct solution under the market conditions,'' said Victor Chuiko, president of the Aircraft Engine Manufacturers Assn. (ASSAD). There are now 11 engine manufacturing plants in Russia, six design bureaus and five plant-based design bureaus. Some facilities are only operating at 8% of their 1990 level.
The U.S. and South Korea have signed an open skies accord and agreed to press for a resumption of four-party talks aimed at easing security tensions with North Korea. President Clinton and recently-elected South Korean President Kim Dae Jung announced the accord on unrestricted air services between and beyond the two countries, following Kim's state visit here last week. The open skies pact was signed in the wake of a major purchase of Boeing aircraft by Korean Air (AW&ST June 8, p. 18).
Japan's National Polar Region Research Institute, scientists and construction companies are to test construction techniques at Rikubetu on Hokkaido Island for a 2,000-meter (6,500-ft.) runway for Antarctica. Japan has a short strip at its Showa base, but it is suitable for only light aircraft and helicopters. Without the capability of landing full-size cargo aircraft, Japanese scientists must use ships for transport, which take about a month. The Hokkaido tests, scheduled to run three years, involve numerous techniques for working in packed snow.
Ishikawajima Harima Heavy Industries (IHI) and Nissan Motors are talking with Lockheed Martin Astronautics about bidding to replace Japan's J-1 launch vehicle. Meanwhile, competitor Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has been talking with Boeing about teaming on a separate bid for the work. The goal of Japan's NASDA is to have a replacement ready by fiscal 2000 that will cost about $14.5 million each. The Nissan J-1, which launches 1,000-kg. payloads into low-Earth orbits, is regarded as too expensive (AW&ST May 11, p. 41).
Jacques Roussarie has become vice president-total quality, Robert F. Clossin director of interior engineering and Robert Smith director of commercial completions, all at the Little Rock (Ark.) Completion Center of the Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. Roussarie headed quality assurance at the Merignac, France, plant. Clossin succeeds the late Loy Carroll and was chief of interior engineering for Learjet Inc., Wichita, Kan. Smith was director of operations for American Eurocopter in Dallas.
Larry Myers has become deputy director of the Office of Safety and Mission Assurance at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. He was group leader of the office.
ANSETT AUSTRALIA and Ansett International are expected to implement a range of operational and marketing strategies to enhance their international operations after Australian regulators gave draft approval of their alliance with Air New Zealand and Singapore Airlines (SIA). The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said the alliance is a move to counter dominance of Qantas and British Airways in flights to and from Australia. Ansett, Ansett International, Air New Zealand and SIA are linked to the Star Alliance.
Boeing is focusing on minor upgrades to its transport aircraft and attacking niche markets as ongoing 737, 747, 757 and 767 derivative programs progress toward first-flight status. In addition to a fourth addition to its next-generation 737 family, the -900, and a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) version, the company has committed to producing the 737-700QC ``quick change'' transport, according to Joseph W. Ozimek. He's director of product marketing for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.
It may be months before there is a clear indication of just how hard the Boeing Co. and other aerospace contractors will be hit by the softening in Asia/Pacific air traffic.
It is one of the most baffling of recent developments in U.S. defense technology modernization efforts. While the Joint Chiefs of Staff have been preaching that the military must keep improving ground and air surveillance, the Air Force and Congress have been slashing two high-profile programs that would do just that.
Roy C. McGraw has been named vice president-procurement of the Sino Swear- ingen Aircraft Corp., San Antonio, Tex. He was director of procurement for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga.
Cross-border and transatlantic cooperation were key themes of aerospace executives gathered here for ILA 2000, which saw the debut of the combined European Aeronautic Space and Defense Co. and the first fruit of an agreement to explore cooperative opportunities between one of its founding members and a major U.S. company.
Carol J. Carmody has become the 30th member in NTSB history. Also last week, John J. Goglia began his second five-year term on the board. Carmody recently was an independent consultant to the Air Transport Assn. and had been U.S. representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Turkey again has delayed its final decision on a $4-billion co-production project for 145 attack helicopters. Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said the tenders from the three competing firms--a Russian-Israeli partnership with the Kamov Ka-50-2, Italy's Agusta with the A-129 International and Bell Helicopter Textron with the King Cobra AH-1Z--did not fully meet technical criteria. Ecevit said the decision will be taken after a new series of negotiations between Turkish defense industry officials and the competing companies.
The FAA is considering requiring airlines to pump inert gas such as nitrogen into fuel tanks to reduce the potential for catastrophic explosions similar to one that caused the loss of TWA Flight 800 in July 1996. According to the agency, using nitrogen as part of a ground-inerting process would render fuel vapors incombustible during climbout to cruise altitude, where temperatures inside fuel tanks are much cooler than on the ground.
Oscar Torres has become chief financial officer of Kellstrom Industries Inc., Sunrise, Fla. He was vice president-finance/ corporate controller. Torres succeeds Michael Wallace, who has resigned.
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. and Rada Electronic Industries, of Herzliya, Israel, are considering jointly designing a system that combines Lockheed Martin's software for recording, storing and retrieving flight data with the fatigue-monitoring capabilities Rada developed for F-16 aircraft. The new PC-based system will allow more thorough analysis and prediction of the mechanical and fatigue state of F-16 fighters, improving safety and maintenance. Rada's fatigue-monitoring system, called FACE, is in use by the air forces of the Netherlands and Belgium.
THE ROYAL DANISH AIR FORCE WILL ADD Vision Systems International's Helmet-Mounted Cueing System as part of the midlife upgrade for its F-16 aircraft, the first air force outside the U.S. to do so. VSI is already under contract to provide the HMCS through Boeing for U.S. F-15, F-16, F/A-18 and F-22 aircraft. The company is owned by Kaiser Aerospace&Electronics Co. and EFW, a Dallas subsidiary of Israel's Elbit Systems.
Top Alaska Airlines officials are confident the airline can make the changes and upgrades necessary to avoid a threatened FAA suspension of its heavy maintenance authority next month in the aftermath of the fatal crash of Flight 261.
