Honeywell has established a Web site specifically to sell new and used avionics. Benefits include lower transaction costs, quicker deliveries, lower search time and reduced inventory costs for airlines. The site can be found at www.AvionicsZone.com. New avionics carry the normal Honeywell warranty, while used avionics--which can be any make--are sold with a Honeywell warranty of up to 12 months, according to Stephen Barkley, director of business operations.
The FAA's accounting for $10.8 billion in property, facilities and equipment for Fiscal 1999 is ``fair and reasonable,'' the Transportation Dept.'s Inspector General has concluded. With that mundane language proferred last week, the IG handed the FAA a victory in one of the agency's highest-priority efforts of the past year. From June-November 1999, employees, managers and contractors worked overtime to get the agency's financial books in order for the first time in the FAA's 41-year history.
In a joint venture with the Center for Aviation and Space Technology/Industrial Research Institute, Honeywell has sold a SCAT 1 Satellite Landing System ground station to the Taiwan Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) could use a backdoor investment to acquire a major share in Air New Zealand (ANZ) and Ansett Australia. The deal would involve SIA's majority shareholder, government-owned Tamasek Holdings, acquiring a majority, and possibly controlling, interest in Singapore-based Brierley Investments. Brierley owns 47% of ANZ. Tamasek already holds 6% and one board seat of ANZ. The move is expected to begin by Tamasek buying the 20% share of Brierley held by Malaysia-based Camerlin Holdings.
The U.S. Army has grounded a large number of UH-1H and AH-1F helicopters because of safety concerns surrounding the T53 engine's impeller and other high-stress, life-limited rotating parts.
Paula J. Patineau has become vice president/senior financial officer of Alliant Techsystems of Minneapolis. She was vice president/controller. Patineau has been succeeded by John S. Picek, who was director of corporate finance. Frances D. Cook, a former U.S. ambassador to Oman, Cameroon and Burundi, has been named a director.
As part of its e-business plans (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 17), United Airlines has bought part of On2.com Inc., which is working to deliver TV-quality video over broadband Internet connections and offer programming on its ``On2Network.'' On2.com and United will develop and comarket travel e-commerce and content, such as travel videos.
Douglas Products Div. of Boeing A story in the Feb. 28 issue (p. 35) should have said the Douglas Products Div. of Boeing has a goal of reducing production costs of the entire 717 program by 30% by the 300th aircraft produced.
General Dynamics Corp. has chosen DRS Technologies to provide additional Explorer MP rugged portable multiplatform computers, under a $13-million agreement.
U.K. Science Minister Lord Sainsbury has launched a three-year, 9 million-pound ($14 million) program to help British companies exploit opportunities in the satellite communications industry. The program is designed to assist U.K. companies to develop strategic partnerships with satellite manufacturers, operators and users to explore opportunities in satellite communications and navigation, multimedia and broadband technology and other applications.
Like administrators before her, Jane F. Garvey must deal with a host of long-term problems and non-stop daily crises. From the moment she was sworn in on Aug. 4, 1997, as the first FAA head with a fixed, five-year term, however, Garvey has faced one basic problem. How can she regain the credibility the FAA needs to win congressional and industry support for efforts to reform the agency.
British Midland plans to launch four-times-a-day services from London Heathrow Airport to Rome, Milan and Madrid starting May 2. The move is seen as a stepping-stone for British Midland's aspirations to use Heathrow, where it is the second largest operator, as a feeder airport for transatlantic services to the U.S. for which it is seeking approval. At the same time, British Midland plans to drop services to Frankfurt, Prague and Warsaw.
Walter David has been named president/CEO of the Pan Am International Flight Academy in Miami. He was executive vice president of the academy and president of SimCom International, its general aviation division. Patrick McSweeney has been named vice president-pilot development and Mark Johnson vice president-technical services and simulation development of the academy in Atlanta.
A Boeing-led team has been selected by the U.S. Navy to develop training systems, modify or upgrade existing systems and provide ancillary services under a contract valued at up to $325 million.
Robert P. DeRodes has been appointed chief information officer of Delta Air Lines and head of Delta Technology Inc. He succeeds Charles Feld, who is now leader of e-business activities. DeRodes was senior technology officer of Citibank for its Card Products Group.
SupplyView.com is an electronic parts e-business Web site with a database of more than 825 distributor inventories, and wants to expand into carrying aviation parts. It is offering a 60-day free trial membership to sellers of aviation parts and free ongoing service to qualified buyers including OEM and contract manufacturing companies. The site (www.supplyview.com) does not charge transaction fees or act as a middleman, but lets buyer and seller negotiate directly.
Orders for Honeywell Aerospace's enhanced ground proximity warning system are approaching 10,000, with about 6,000 units already delivered. The Phoenix-based company is aware of at least 11 aircraft ``saves'' to date based on airline feedback and related data analysis, according to Brian Pulk, director of EGPWS products. There may have been as many as 20. During the past year, 13 upgrades have been implemented and certificated in the latest version of the EGPWS used in air transports and business jets, including a geometric altitude feature.
Peter Edwards has been appointed executive vice president-sales of Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace Business Aircraft, succeeding John Lawson, who has retired but will remain senior adviser to the president. Edwards was senior vice president-international sales.
Accidents and incidents that occurred in the last few weeks in Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Ivory Coast are expected to revive concerns about flight safety in Africa. In Tanzania, an investigation team headed by the Transport Ministry's accident investigation branch seeks to determine why a Boeing 707-320C last month made a water landing on Lake Victoria, about 4 km. from Mwanza airport runway's threshold, injuring five crewmembers on board.
Arnold Galloway, a satellite systems engineer and project manager for TRW's Space&Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, Calif., and Norma Clayton, vice president-lean manufacturing and quality at the Boeing Military Aircraft and Missile Systems Group in St. Louis, have received Black Engineer of the Year Awards. Galloway manages the Concurrent Engineering Center, an engineering data facility that supports TRW's systems engineering efforts on the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) Low program.
The Galileo spacecraft recovered from a ``safe mode'' entered on Feb. 24 (AW&ST Feb. 28, p. 24). Engineers were able to revive Galileo after about 17 hr. and resume playback of data from the Feb. 22 Io encounter.
Lockheed Martin's Joint Strike Fighter program will experience ``a few weeks'' delay. Its Rolls-Royce vertical lift fan No. 2B was damaged during flight control tests in early February. Word is that a bracket holding an internal bearing in place broke, starting a cascade of problems resulting in engine shutdown and necessitating its replacement. Lockheed officials said they suspected a problem was unfolding when they started finding metal filings in the engine oil samples and sensors picked up increased vibration. But, since the engine had already completed 67 hr.
Dassault Aviation has delivered the first Falcon 50M maritime surveillance aircraft to the French navy. The Falcon 50M is equipped with a Thomson Detexis Ocean Master 100(V) radar capable of spotting a life raft 30 km. (18 mi.) away, along with a Thomson Chlio infrared detector, inertial navigation system and GPS receivers. Three additional aircraft will join naval units by 2001.
Startup company Eclipse Aviation Corp., in conjunction with Williams International, is developing the Eclipse 500 that would provide on-demand, point-to-point air transportation service and significantly reduce the acquisition and direct operating costs of small business jets.
