Applying crew resource management techniques--possibly even joint training classes--could improve pilot-mechanic interaction in maintenance discrepancy reporting. About 85% of all pilots and maintenance technicians believe miscommunication occurs between them at least half the time when reporting or attempting to resolve maintenance log entries, according to an interdisciplinary survey conducted by students and faculty at Purdue University, including some from the school's Dept. of Aviation Technology.
Pentagon officials still have worries about the growth of weight requirements imposed on the Pratt&Whitney F119 derivative engines that power the advanced short takeoff and vertical landing versions of the Joint Strike Fighter.
The biennial FIDAE International Air and Space Fair was held Mar. 27-Apr. 2 in Santiago, Chile. Exhibitors at this year's show totaled 300 companies and organizations from 26 countries. The number of companies was less than at the show two years ago, but organizers attributed the decline to the amount of consolidation in the global aerospace industry since 1998. Aircraft on static display included those from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, several European countries and the U.S. Flying displays each day included military, commercial and general aviation aircraft.
Trans World Airlines chief Gerald Gitner had some advice at FIDAE for his CEO colleagues at Latin American airlines. ``If you want to spot trends, keep your eye on the U.S.,'' he said. What did he have in mind specifically? Basically, it was that these carriers should brace themselves for more consumer complaints and a spreading of the passenger rights movement. ``Where will it all stop? Not at the borders of the United States,'' he said. ``If you are in, or plan to be in, an alliance with U.S. carriers, be prepared to meet U.S.
The European airline industry's robust growth and Air France's turnaround are reinvigorating debate about the need for an all-new major airport in the Paris area.
An analysis of 68 hubs by Solomon Smith Barney shows major differences in the role they play by continent. U.S. hubs, by far the most dominant, may have peaked in their importance. Growth for hub-and-spoke airlines was strongest in non-hub markets in 1999 (up 15%), while the percentage of seats flown out of hubs by hub airlines fell 0.5 points to 55.3%. In Europe, hub competition is drawn along alliance lines--and the Star Alliance is gaining relative to Oneworld.
As Latin American airlines struggle to turn a profit in an era of deregulation, many have been suffering in silence with steeply rising fees for second-rate aviation infrastructure. No more, the air carriers say.
Kollsman Inc. has won a two-year $2.8-million service contract from the U.S. Army to develop the Switchable Eyesafe Laser Rangefinder Designator for the Apache AH-64A and AH-64D Longbow attack helicopters.
To boost its ability to detect weapons proliferation, the Los Alamos National Laboratory wants to use reconfigurable gate array processors for more powerful signal processing on future satellite sensors. The lab is working with Xilinx Inc., which is making specially-processed radiation-hardened versions of its Virtex field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs).
If you are a farmer, water is everything. If it does not rain, crops will die. The grass will turn brown, and animals will have nothing to eat. All will be lost. The satellite industry is not much different. Spectrum is as important to the satellite industry as water is to the farmer. Without spectrum, the industry can die. Thus those with responsibility for protecting the spectrum must do so wisely.
India adamantly disputes the charge that foreign investment in its economic expansion is threatened by a nuclear arms race with Pakistan. No such race is in the offing for the simple reason that neither country can afford a nuclear arsenal, and both New Delhi and Islamabad have pledged to adhere to a policy of ``minimal nuclear deterrence,'' subcontinent authorities insist.
James H. Zrust has been named vice president-tax for the Boeing Co. He held the same position at Honeywell Inc. in Minneapolis. Zrust succeeds Denny Crispin, vice president-insurance and taxes, who has retired. Theodore Austell, 3rd, has become Washington, D.C.-based vice president-international policy. He was vice president-government relations for Tenneco. Frederick W. Sine has been appointed vice president of Boeing Airplane Services. He was vice president-line maintenance for US Airways.
Francis J-P Latapie has been named vice president-government and regulatory affairs at Astrolink, Bethesda, Md. He was vice president-government affairs at Iridium.
Lockheed Martin Federal Systems has been awarded a $13.6-million contract from the U.S. Navy for an acoustic processor subsystem to be used in four prototype SH-60R Multimission Helicopters.
The U.S. Army's Space and Missile Defense Battlelab is literally bringing space-based resources down to the individual soldier, who eventually will be able to convert a wealth of information to ``steel-on-target.''
Many U.S. major and regional airlines are uncertain about how to use psychological testing as a tool to help determine the type of pilots they want to hire, according to Los Angeles-based Demos Research Associates, which specializes in development of the pilot selection process. Diane Demos, president, said the airline industry tends to have a short corporate memory about procedures because such tests have gone ``in and out of vogue'' since the 1960s. Most U.S.
Startup carrier Legend Airlines, which is scheduled to receive FAA certification this week to begin long-haul flights from Love Field, also plans to expand service in September to Chicago and New York if it can obtain landing slots at O'Hare and LaGuardia airports. T. Allan McArtor, Legend's president and CEO, said the carrier initially will use two DC-9s to serve Los Angeles and Washington Dulles International Airport. Another two airplanes are scheduled to be added early next month.
The European Space Agency is readying a new orbital X-ray observatory for operation that is designed to explore faint sources in the ``hidden universe''--gamma-ray bursts, black holes and pulsars--emitting only in X-ray wavelengths.
Ad hoc cargo operators show a disproportionately high accident rate--6.85 accidents per million flights--compared with other aviation sectors, according to researchers in the Netherlands. Ad hoc operators are characterized as those cargo carriers conducting a high percentage of unscheduled flights typically on routes not served by major cargo carriers. They usually have fewer and older aircraft in their fleets, according to the study, which was presented at the Flight Safety Foundation's European Aviation Safety Seminar in Amsterdam in March.
The Israeli Ministry of Defense has selected Barringer Technologies Inc. in a $6.2-million work order. The contract includes purchasing IONSCAN detectors, program startup, training and a multi-year equipment support agreement.
