All Nippon Airways and its subsidiary, Air Nippon, will increase domestic capacity slightly while decreasing it on international routes in their fiscal 2000 plan that begins Apr. 1.
Developments in China in the coming months could be unpredictable following events last year that put Beijing ``ill-at-east,'' CIA Director George J. Tenet tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Those events included the emergence of the Falung Gong movement and statements by Taiwanese President Lee Teng-hui renouncing the ``one China'' policy. ``We expect to see an uncertain Chinese leadership launching the nation deeper into the uncharted waters of economic reform while trying to retain tight political control,'' he said.
Honeywell has filled in the last few missing areas in the worldwide terrain database used by its Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS). Previously, areas such as northern Greenland and remote portions of the Andes were represented by a purple color on the EGPWS display to indicate the lack of detailed terrain elevation data. Other no-charge software updates include the addition of a geometric altitude capability across its EGPWS product line.
Starsem has successfully launched its eighth consecutive commercial Soyuz booster, and the second using the company's new Fregat upper stage. The payload was an instrumented dummy satellite representative of the European Space Agency's Cluster II, four scientific satellites to be launched in two batches on June 15 and July 13. The flight confirmed Fregat's reignition and orbital maneuvering capabilities, demonstrated during the maiden flight of the upper stage last month (AW&ST Feb. 28, p. 44).
Two additional prototypes of the Eurocopter EC 145 are set to join the flight test program. One of the helicopters will be flown by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Eurocopter's partner in the BK117 stretch project. The EC 145, known as the BK117 C2 in Japan, will carry nine passengers plus the pilot in standard configuration, compared to 7+1 for the BK117 C1. The EC 145 will have a takeoff weight of 3,500 kg. (7,700 lb.) an increase of 150 kg. from the C1, a top speed of 255 kph. (160 mph.) and a range of 700 km. (435 mi.). The first prototype flew in June 1999.
Michael Becker has been promoted to vice president-international from managing director of human resources and Tom Kennedy to vice president-financial planning and analysis from managing director of corporate planning, at Northwest Airlines.
The U.S. Air Force is applying a Boeing-developed coating to the F-22 to reduce its infrared signature. The topcoat should provide protection against infrared detection systems operating at different wavelengths, Boeing said. Development of the paint started early in the F-22 program. It was applied for the first time last week on Raptor 4002 at Edwards AFB, Calif. The heat-dissipating coating currently is being applied by hand, but that process will be automated.
The T-6A Texan II built by Raytheon Aircraft Co. for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System (JPATS) is scheduled to begin Multi-Service Operational Test&Evaluation with the U.S. Air Force and Navy next month at Randolph AFB, Tex.
Meanwhile, the SNCF acknowledged that discussions with airline alliances are taking much longer and proving more complex than initially envisioned. Potential traffic volume, frequent-flier programs, information technology system links and value-added services are among the matters that must be settled before an agreement can be concluded, passenger services manager Guillaume Pepy said.
The Chandra X-ray Observatory, Hubble Space Telescope and James Clerk Maxwell submillimeter telescope in Hawaii have been used to detect what a team of astronomers believes is evidence of a Type 2 quasar, a rare type of black hole (see Chandra image of quasar on left; Hubble optical image of same object on right). Team members from England and France reported they have discovered a powerful source of X-rays that appears to be a large black hole hidden from the view of optical telescopes.
James Goodwin, chairman and CEO of United Airlines, predicted a wild ride ahead for airlines as they embrace the Internet to meet rapidly rising customer demand for better, faster and more interactive information (p. 52). The dot.com airline is becoming a reality, he told a Wings Club audience in New York, but air carriers face formidable obstacles. Among them: threats of crippling regulations and taxation; obstructionists who want no change in the ticket distribution system; balancing risk and return; and dealing with the sheer pace of change.
An advanced helmet cueing system now being tested by the U.S. Air Force and Navy has demonstrated that it can significantly reduce the time it takes a pilot to acquire and attack targets. Recent flight tests in F-15 fighters indicate that the helmet system, in combination with the high off-boresight AIM-9X missile, can increase the lethality of the F-15 by a factor of two or three, according to a USAF pilot who has experience with the weapons.
U.S. and Egyptian investigators are still sparring over the need to search further for causes of the crash of an EgyptAir 767, even as salvage teams are renewing efforts to recover wreckage from the aircraft in the waters off Massachusetts.
Airlines and security companies don't pay enough to keep skilled, experienced screening personnel on the job, according to the General Accounting Office. The FAA's top security official agrees. The GAO's Gerald L. Dillingham told a House hearing recently that most large U.S. airports have a complete turnover every year of the workers who check passengers and luggage on departing flights. One airport lost the equivalent of its entire screener workforce more than four times in a single year.
Aviation in Hong Kong has long been a cramped affair. The old one-runway Kai Tak airport was squeezed between high-rises in one of the most densely populated areas of the world.
Four industrial-academic teams have been selected by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to design a mission called Terrestrial Planet Finder, which has the aim of looking for possible life-supporting planets around other stars. The teams will be led by Ball Aerospace, Lockheed Martin Space Systems, TRW and SVS of Albuquerque, N.M.
A small explorer spacecraft was damaged at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) on Mar. 21 when the satellite was inadvertently vibration tested at 20g instead of the planned 2g. Initial indications were that the solar panels of the High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager spacecraft were damaged and will probably have to be replaced. The spacecraft had not been opened up for further inspection the day after the incident, which occurred in a clean room in JPL's environmental test facility.
Tensions have eased on the Korean peninsula, but North Korea has done more in the last 12 months to improve its military capability and arrest a decline in combat readiness than in the last five years combined, according to U.S. theater commanders. Despite the North Korean economy's now 10-year-old plunge, Pyongyang continues its production and deployment of medium-range No Dong missiles, capable of striking U.S. bases in Japan.
The U.S. Air Force is planning to lease up to 10 aircraft to support transport requirements of regional commanders-in-chief and to replace the District of Columbia Air National Guard's C-22s (Boeing 727-100s). As many as six aircraft would be assigned to CINC support, operating out of Hickam AFB, Hawaii, and MacDill AFB, Fla. The aircraft would have to deliver a 5,000-naut.-mi. range while carrying 12 passengers and five crew. The C-22 replacement will be required to transport 40 passengers and seven crew nonstop from Andrews AFB to Moscow.
Plans by Societe Europeenne des Satellites to expand its flourishing television and multimedia activities around the world received a boost last week when the company reported a spectacular increase in its financial performance. Last year, SES registered a 40% jump in revenues, to 725 million euros ($696 million) and a 46% leap in operating earnings, to 407 million euros. Net profit rose 14%, to 201 million euros--corresponding to an enviable net margin on sales of nearly 28%--while net cash flow more than doubled, to 633 million euros.
The European Commission will speed up assistance for the construction of cargo facilities at Gaza International Airport and temporary facilities will be completed next year. ``Without independent access to the outside world, Palestinian economic development is severely curtailed. As the peace talks advance, the early completion of Gaza airport's cargo facilities becomes ever more urgent,'' EC Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten said last week.
Wolfgang Warburg (see photo), former deputy chairman of the managing board of the German Public Service and Transport Workers Union, has become board member in charge of personnel for Lufthansa Technik. August-Wilhelm Henningsen (see photo) will be in charge of products and services. He was general manager of Ameco Beijing. Walter Heerdt (see photo) will succeed Henningsen. Heerdt has been head of the Lufthansa Technik engine division in Hamburg. He will be succeeded by Gerald Korbler, who has been head of planning and control, finances and accounting.
The C-17 Special Program Office is working with the High-Performance Computer Center at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, to determine the feasibility of using ``data mining'' techniques on existing USAF logistics databases. The SPO wants a way to quickly analyze multiple C-17 databases to gauge the health of the C-17 fleet plus identify other trends and causality relationships that traditional, labor-intensive analysis methods and tools may miss.
