ARINC will install its Data Link Delivery of Expected Taxi Clearances product at the Washington Dulles International Airport under a $1.5-million contract.
GKN Westland Helicopters has delivered the first WAH-64 Apache attack helicopter to the British Army. Eight more are scheduled to be handed over before the planned in-service date at year-end. The aircraft, a derivative of the U.S. Army's AH-64D Apache Longbow, is one of eight built by Boeing at Mesa, Ariz., and shipped to Yeovil, England, for final assembly and test by Westland. The U.K. manufacturer will produce the remaining 59 aircraft in the $3.2-billion program. The army will receive all 67 WAH-64s by 2003.
The new Adelok is designed to aid in the assembly of clamped components by holding itself closed and in place during installation. The heel lock technology promotes ease of installation by allowing workers to install several clamps at one time on a single attach point, creating easy clamping in hard-to-reach areas. The clamp has received TSO approval for airline use and meets all current industry performance specifications including MS21919 and PWA 36453. Clamps are available to handle payloads from 0.062-3.50 in.
Rocket propulsion pioneer Cordant Technologies will cease operating as an independent entity soon and become part of a much larger organization, but its new parent won't be a company dedicated to aerospace. Cordant's board of directors last week accepted an all-cash offer of $57 a share--nearly double the Mar. 13 closing price--from giant aluminum producer Alcoa. The whole transaction, which includes the assumption of Cordant's $685-million worth of debt, is valued at $2.9 billion. The deal is expected to close by May 1.
Tom Quinly (see photo) has been named vice president-business systems/chief financial officer for DY 4 Systems Inc., Kanata, Ontario. He will remain general manager of subsidiary Ixthos Inc., Leesburg, Va.
Jean-Luc Engerand (see photo) has become chairman/CEO of Hispano-Suiza. He succeeds Marc Ventre, who has been appointed chairman/CEO of Snecma Services. Engerand was vice president of the Messier-Bugatti Wheels and Braking Div. Pierre Fabre (see photo) has been appointed head of that division. He was vice president of CFM International.
Brown&Sharpe's Microxcel PFX 454 is available with Reflex. This low-cost intuitive software brings manual CMM simplicity to high-speed, direct computer control measurement and inspection operations less expensively than the traditional DCC CMMs. It can be switched between manual and fully automated DCC operation while running the same software. A machine-mounted controller with built-in VGA monitor and highly intuitive Reflex graphics user interface allows users to perform 1-, 2- and 3-dimensional measurement without the need of an expensive computer system.
Amistco custom manufactures a wide range of compressed wire knitted mesh seals and gaskets to solve problems in applications subject to extreme temperature, corrosion and vibration. The wire is available in most metal, composite, alloy and plastic material. The knitting process creates a strong yet stretchable matrix or uniform interlocking loops. Materials can be combined and knit into single-piece tubes in a wide variety of sizes. The tubes are then compressed to various degrees to create a wide range of sealing characteristics.
One of the ``lessons learned'' in the failure of Mars Climate Orbiter is the importance of establishing a fully staffed systems engineering team at the start of each space science project, according to a follow-up by the MCO Mishap Investigation Board. Last week, the board filed its latest report on project management in NASA as a broader look at issues involved in the MCO case and other space science projects in the agency's faster-better-cheaper (FBC) operating environment. The panel included officials from field centers and NASA headquarters.
The Heli-Tube Spirally Cut Teflon applies like tape around hydraulic hoses to add a layer of protection against chafing. The abrasion protector is nonflammable, chemically inert, and can be used in environments from -450F to +500F. The product is UL recognized and meets a variety of MIL, AMS and ASTM specifications. It's available in 1/16-1-in. O.D. sizes for hoses and bundles up to 5 in. in diameter. M.M. Newman Corp., 24 Tioga Way, P.O. Box 615, Marblehead, Mass. 01945.
Air France has confirmed that it will seek to acquire Air Liberte, British Airways' French subsidiary. Swissair parent SAirGroup is expected to make a rival offer. Long-troubled Air Liberte, which operates 24 aircraft on domestic routes, had $554 million in revenues in 1999 and is expected to announce massive losses soon.
Sabre Holdings Corp. is linking the 350 corporate travel offices that use its Sabre Business Travel Solutions with a new ``Private Seats'' online registry of corporate jets called flightserve.com. The idea is to offer an executive jet alternative to regular business-class seats. Flightserve.com is to begin offering private flights from Teter- boro (N.J.) Airport and Atlanta's DeKalb-Peachtree Airport on Apr. 17. It expects to offer 100 connections by year-end.
MicroE Encoder Systems have sensors which feature PurePrecision Optics, a technology that enhances the first orders of diffraction to create a pure signal via a laser light source. Engineered to OEM customer requirements, a variety of rotary and linear grating are offered, along with a choice of three electronic modules. Suitable for densely integrated machines, they can have rotary gratings 1-6-in. O.D, or linear gratings 1/2 in.-1/2 meter long. The system provides broad alignment tolerances. MicroE Systems Corp., 8 Erie Drive, Natick, Mass. 01760.
William Gianopulos, vice president-strategic initiatives for Lockheed Martin Space Electronics and Communications, Manassas, Va., has won the 1999 Information Systems Award of the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Other recent AIAA prize winners are: History Manuscript Award, USAF Lt. Col. William P. Barry, an international political military affairs officer serving at the U.S. European Command, Stuttgart, Germany; Losey Atmospheric Sciences Award, Donald J.
Major aircraft operators and U.S. officials have agreed on a plan for averting a repeat of the major flight delays that plagued the skies last summer. ``As we work to keep air travel as safe as it can be,'' President Clinton said Mar. 10 in unveiling the plan, ``we should also do everything we can to make it as efficient as it can be.''
The U.S. Defense Dept. has awarded Boeing a $162-million contract for production of the Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM), 247 for the U.S. Air Force and 916 for the Navy.
Investigators with Japan's Defense Agency suspect a leak in the fuel regulator system caused an inflight fire and engine failure on a Lockheed T-33A that crashed near Tokyo last Nov. 12, killing both pilots. The pilots reported smoke in the cockpit prior to hitting a transmission line that cut power to more than 800,000 people.
Heavy emphasis on cost and schedule in the application of NASA's ``faster-better-cheaper'' (FBC) management philosophy has too often compromised scientific results of space science missions, according to a National Research Council (NRC) report. It was one of three reports released last week grading the space agency's overall management of space science exploration since the early 1990s and providing a broader look at the failure of the Mars Climate Orbiter mission last year (see next story).
The co-CEOs of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co. (EADS), Philippe Camus and Rainer Hertrich, have made their first joint appearance in Washington. They say transatlantic industrial cooperation should begin on a program-by-program basis, not as a grand philosophical discussion. However, they add, one broad policy area that must be changed is U.S. export controls and regulations on ``technical exchange,'' the term Camus prefers to tech transfer, ``which has a one-way flavor.'' One glimmer of hope for those seeking relaxation of U.S.
British Airways has begun a search for a new chief executive to replace Robert Ayling, 54, who has cut short his own troubled tenure, saying the demands of the job ``have taken their toll.''
American Airlines earlier this month conducted a route-proving flight between Chicago and Hong Kong, using a twin-engine Boeing 777-200. The 15-hr. 13-min. flight passed within 37 mi. of the North Pole, then followed newly authorized airways over Siberia to Mongolia before joining a Chinese airway and heading southwest to Hong Kong. Although 100 naut. mi. longer than traditional North Pacific routes between the two cities, the flight encounters reduced headwinds and can arrive up to 2 hr. sooner, the Dallas-based airline said.
Impending go-aheads for several large weapon system contracts, led by the NH-90 frigate/transport helicopter, promise to fuel new growth in the European aerospace and defense industry, and to mute U.S. criticism over Europe's failure to modernize its armed forces.
Investigators were unable as of late last week to duplicate systems or mechanical failures that led to the Mar. 14 emergency landing of a Delta Air Lines 727-232 at San Francisco International Airport. Flight 1972 departed San Francisco for Salt Lake City at 6:40 p.m. PST, but the right main landing gear failed to retract fully. The flight crew also was unable to fully extend the right gear.
Blue Wave Systems has combined its ComStruct CPCI/C6600 DSP board, its PMC/SB3410 front-end module and development tools to ensure time-efficient building of the next generation of test and measurement systems while minimizing project risk. The PMC/SB3410 is linked to the PXI/C6600 by a high-performance PCI interface. The company's C compiler allows developers to write code in a familiar environment, removing the need for specialized DSP assembly code knowledge. The development package strikes a balance between maximizing performance while minimizing development time.
