Boeing Commercial Airplane honcho Alan Mulally is bullish on ETOPS. ``I see unlimited operation for all aircraft,'' he forecast to the Aero Club here, ``and ETOPS will go away as a specific condition.'' But he's bearish about a next-generation supersonic transport. The issue is not whether it can be built, he said, the issue is that it costs 87 cents to fly one passenger one mile on the Concorde--and 13 cents on a Boeing 777.
Technicians prepare to install the first flight-qualified Pratt&Whitney F119-614 engine into Boeing's X-32A Joint Strike Fighter concept demonstrator at Palmdale, Calif. After being mated with the aircraft, the engine was powered up eight times during a six-day period and run at all throttle settings from idle power to maximum afterburner to verify system integrity. No anomalies were experienced.
The space shuttle Atlantis will be rescheduled for launch as early as May 3-4 or as late as May 17-18 after an unprecedented three back-to-back scrubbed countdowns for its maintenance mission to the International Space Station. The challenge of launching STS-101 is likely to be an indicator of things to come on short space station launch windows, given the dynamics of Florida weather and the increasingly busy pace of Cape Canaveral's Eastern Range.
British Midland Airways, which posted a 22.3% rise in pre-tax profits for 1999, to 13.7 million pounds ($21.6 million), said initial figures for the first quarter of 2000 indicated passenger traffic is up 12.4% over the same period last year. Revenues rose 9.8%, to 613.3 million pounds, while the total number of passengers carried during 1999 was up 9.6% to 6.5 million. The carrier, which will soon join the Star Alliance, wants to begin transatlantic services for London Heathrow Airport next year, pending an agreement between the U.S. and the U.K.
Rockwell Collins has announced its intent to acquire Sony Trans Com, a major producer of inflight entertainment systems. Sony Trans Com, located in Irvine, Calif., is a subsidiary of Sony Corp. of America. The acquisition will broaden the capabilities and product line of Rockwell's Passenger Systems business.
Capt. Hank Appleby has been promoted to chief pilot from captain/line check airman for Frontier Airlines. He succeeds Horace Herrington, who has joined the airline's Airbus Transition Team. Mike Mary has been named to the airline's corporate travel advisory board. He is director of travel services for Adidas International, Portland, Ore.
New features of the U.S. government's highly-classified Groom Lake, Nev., test base were revealed in detailed Russian and U.S. satellite photos that became available last month.
Kitty Hawk Inc., parent of two cargo units, continued operations last week under the shadow of a management shakeup, a warning of financial setbacks and a sharp decline of its share prices.
Fairchild Aerospace has delivered the first 328JET to Atlantic Coast Jet. Another large U.S. regional carrier, Mesa Airlines, also took delivery of its first regional jet, a 50-passenger Embraer ERJ-145. Dulles, Va.-based Atlantic Coast Jet, known as ACJet, said it will use the 32-passenger 328JET to support Delta Air Lines' regional feeder system. In September, ACJet's parent company, Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings, ordered 25 firm 328JETs and placed options for 30 more. ACJet is scheduled to take delivery of 14 328JETs this year.
As part of Northrop Grumman's strategy aimed at recentering itself around cutting-edge defense technologies, the company is evaluating transatlantic partnerships with DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and planning divestiture of its civil aerostructures business.
George B. Peterson has been named chief financial officer of InterSense, Bur- lington, Mass. He was acting president/ CEO of Remote Video International.
As it prepares for what is likely to be a years-long battle to expand its runways, San Francisco International Airport is seeking some temporary relief for weather-related congestion by trying to force United Airlines to decrease flight frequencies and increase the size of its aircraft.
Leonard M. Greene of the Safe Flight Instrument Corp. has won the AlliedSignal Bendix Trophy for Aviation Safety. He was honored for his invention of numerous safety devices--such as the stall warning indicator; aids for aircraft pitch, speed and lift during takoffs and landings; and a wind shear warning system--during his more than 50 years' work in aerodynamics and test piloting
The Viper 4040 combines all the tools needed for vibrational analysis, rotor track and balancing and cabin noise analysis in a compact, lightweight instrument. With the ChartBuilder function, influence and adjustment criteria can be entered, allowing raw data acquired to be translated into easy-to-follow mechanical adjustments. Users can load electronic polar charts provided by ACES Systems or create their own. Charts can be configured to learn and refine the balancing process based on observed reactions to previous mechanical adjustments.
Despite rapid expansion, there seems to be no shortage of pilots applying for regional airline cockpit positions--just a shortage of experienced pilots. This increases airline training requirements and slows upgrades to the captain's position. With U.S. major carriers hiring 5,000 pilots last year and expected to hire a similar number this year, regional airlines are having to work harder to obtain and keep qualified pilots, according to Kit Darby, president of Air Inc., an Atlanta-based pilot career services firm.
The services have come up with a collegial division of labor in their spat over leadership of the Single Integrated Air Picture, which would enable the Pentagon to watch air campaigns as they happen. A program office would be established with the Army as acquisition lead, a Navy flag officer as systems engineer and an Air Force officer as the latter's deputy. The office's first task would be fixing the Link-16 high-volume communications pipeline, to ensure the services' different versions of the data are fully compatible, says USAF Lt. Gen.
Topping the list of military capabilities in need of repair is intelligence collecting, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), says Adm. Harold W. Gehman, Jr., commander-in-chief of Joint Forces Command. Despite assurances otherwise, he says, a disproportionate amount of intelligence still goes inside the Washington Beltway and not to the field. ISR may need an entirely different investment strategy in which tactical units generate their own real-time intelligence, with their own unmanned aerial vehicles, electronic intelligence and battlefield systems, he said.
Custom fabricated battery insulation made from a wide range of non-metallic materials, with or without pressure sensitive adhesives, is available in many configurations and comes supplied on reels or in card form. Punched or rotary cut with 0.005 in. tolerances, the insulation can be produced with or without pressure-sensitive adhesives on one or two sides. In sizes 1/8 in. sq. to 8 X 24 in., the product is priced according to material, complexity and quantity. Universal Products Inc., 224 N. Montello St., Brockton, Mass. 02301-3998.
FAA and Northrop Grumman officials are investigating why the antenna of an air traffic control radar in Boston failed Apr. 22, leading to three days of delays for flights serving the Northeast U.S.
With Congress getting ready to mark up the Pentagon's Fiscal 2001 budget request, USAF officials fear the F-22 program will be trimmed. Service officials are bracing for two aircraft to be taken out of the program, reducing next year's buy to 8 aircraft from 10. Furthermore, Congress again is likely to bar the F-22 from starting low-rate production, instead requiring any aircraft purchased to be designated test vehicles.
Zetec Inc.'s new dual-frequency MIZ-21A/DF offers a wide frequency range--50Hz.-8MHz.--and excellent signal-to-noise ratio for a wide variety of tests on aircraft structures, engines components and wheels. The unit is designed to detect surface and subsurface fatigue cracking, corrosion, heat damage or to determine material type. Inspections are fast and easy with a high-speed CPU, long battery life and a large, high-contrast, quick-updating LCD display. Zetec Inc., 1370 NW Mall St., P.O. Box 140, Issaquah, Wash. 98027-0140.
As expected, Singapore Airlines (SIA) last week took the next step in its investment into Air New Zealand (ANZ) by raising its stake to a total 25% (AW&ST Apr. 17, p. 78). By buying an additional 16.7%, the maximum allowed under New Zealand law by a single foreign carrier, SIA is the second-largest ANZ shareholder after Brierley Investments, which owns 47%. SIA paid S$240 million ($141 million), or the equivalent of NZ$3 per B share.
