Yet another launch failure has led to talk of consolidating Japan's two major space agencies, the National Space Development Agency and the Institute for Space and Astronautical Science. Japan's space establishment has been hit by one after another launch or in-orbit satellite failure for the last six years. The latest blow came Feb. 10 when an ISAS M-5 launcher's first-stage exhaust nozzle apparently suffered a burn-through due to a failure of its carbon graphite fiber lining.
Safety investigators plan to scrutinize U.S. airline maintenance programs and the production records of Boeing and its suppliers in a bid to understand why a critical flight control mechanism apparently wore out to the point of failure on an Alaska Airlines MD-83 that crashed in the Pacific last month.
Scandinavian Airlines System has selected the International Aero Engines V2500-A5 powerplant for the 12 Airbus Industrie A321 aircraft the carrier has on order plus the additional 10 it has on option. The value of the order for the 30,000-lb.-thrust engine is about $265 million, according to IAE. The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in the fall of 2001. SAS uses the same engine on its MD-90.
The Spaceport Florida Authority, a state government organization, will finance $300 million in launch infrastructure at Cape Canaveral to support Lockheed Martin Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle operations. Under the unprecedented plan, the authority will own massive Launch Complex 41 and adjacent facilities and lease them back to Lockheed Martin for Atlas V missions.
Galaxy Scientific's Atlanta office is conducting a detailed physiological measurement of the aircraft maintenance work environment and technician rest periods. The goal is to characterize work conditions and rest patterns of maintenance personnel around the clock and identify error-prone situations, according to Bill Johnson, chief technology officer for Galaxy. Equipment includes a workplace environment monitor that records temperature, light and sound levels.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE IS TESTING THE AVIATION Weather Information (AWIN) program in a C-135C Speckled Trout aircraft. AWIN is designed to give both military and civil pilots a real-time look at current weather conditions all over the globe. Boeing is leading the AWIN development in cooperation with NASA, USAF and industry suppliers of real-time graphic weather. The C-135 flight follows earlier tests conducted in a USAF NC-21 last October and in a Federal Express MD-11 in November.
Boeing is considering upgrades to the second stage of its planned Delta IV launch vehicle in order to keep pace with anticipated payload weight increases. The program would bring in Japanese industry as a major player in development of the Boeing Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle for launch of commercial and U.S. military payloads. Central to that decision would be a new 60,000-lb.-thrust cryogenic engine that is being developed by the company's Rocketdyne division in partnership with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.
BAE Systems has lost a key executive with the decision of Peter Gershon to become head of the U.K.'s new Office of Government Commerce. Gershon, previously a senior executive at Marconi Electronic Systems, was one of two chief operating officers in BAE Systems' new management structure. He will be succeeded by Steve Mogford, who was group managing director for programs and Eurofighter.
Kimberly C. Miller (see photo, p. 26) has become regional sales and support director for AirLiance Materials of Chicago. She was vice president-sales and marketing for the AAR Corp., Wood Dale, Ill.
Munich-based RapidEye AG has signed an agreement with Surrey Satellite Technology to provide spacecraft platform supplies for the $100-million RapidEye constellation of four Earth observation mini-satellites.
Tom W. McClelland (see photo) has been promoted to manager of the QuickTurn division of SimuFlite Training International Inc. from Cessna Citation instructor pilot.
Boeing reports that it has the fifth largest e-commerce site, in terms of sales volume, on the World Wide Web. The Seattle-based aerospace manufacturer logs more than $1 million in Internet-based sales every 24 hr., according to Dave Swain, senior vice president for engineering and technology. Most orders are for aircraft spare parts.
Thierry Aucoc has become director general-southern Africa of the Alitalia/ KLM Royal Dutch Airlines joint venture. He was director-general for France and Belgium for Alitalia. Aucoc is succeeded by Marmix H. Fruitema, who is now Alitalia/KLM director-general for France, Spain and Portugal.
Comptek Research has demonstrated improvements to the Joint Defensive Planner (JDP) that allow people at different locations to share information at the database level. The JDP translates a theater commander's strategy into antiair and antimissile warfare plans, and is managed by the USAF Research Laboratory. JDP tools derive the commander's objectives from the operations plan, develop and analyze defense designs, and then automatically produce the air defense plan and related standard-formatted messages.
The Royal Australian Air Force is starting to upgrade cockpit video recording equipment on most of its F/A-18 fighters to better track and evaluate pilot performance after each mission.
In a dose of reality, Peters laid out some of the challenges the service faces, including continued recruitment problems that threaten to leave the Air Force 1,700 recruits short. Furthermore, 30% of Air Force scientists and engineers are eligible for retirement soon, while only 2% of those slots are staffed by personnel under the age of 30. Says Peters, ``We have downsized some of our most promising scientists.''
Chris A. Davis, executive vice president/chief financial and administrative officer of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga., has received the 1999 CFO Excellence Award from CFO Magazine and Arthur Andersen. She was cited for leadership in multiple, diverse growth initiatives including the G-V.
The Ectron T/CMate Series 200 thermocouple cold-junction compensator allows almost any instrumentation amplifier to be used as a thermocouple amplifier with the thermocouple input, according to the company. It accepts thermocouple signals, provides precision cold-junction compensation to copper wires and adapts the signal for amplification. A jumper allows selection of the appropriate compensation for four thermocouple types. The optical isolator provides power for compensation circuitry from any 5-15 VDC power source, eliminating the need for batteries.
The NTSB dispatched a seven-member team late last week to investigate the Feb. 16 crash of a DC-8-71 freighter in Sacramento, Calif. The Emery Worldwide aircraft had departed Mather Field for Dayton, Ohio, when the pilot reported difficulty controlling the airplane, possibly because the cargo had shifted. The pilot was attempting to return for landing when the aircraft struck a used car lot about 1 mi. from the airport and burst into flames. Both pilots and the flight engineer were killed.
The European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., to be formed in June, is gradually emerging as Europe's most complex cross-border industrial undertaking. Last week, Aerospatiale Matra, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace (DASA) and Construcciones Aeronauticas (CASA) named the unified group's top executives and defined its ``lean organization.'' EADS' designated executives also confirmed they are seeking an agreement with Finmeccanica/Alenia Aerospazio to form a defense-oriented joint venture. BAE Systems has submitted a rival offering to Italy.
Several of the U.S.' most acclaimed weapons used during the Kosovo air war still have technical problems, a report from the Defense Dept.'s top official in charge of weapons testing shows. Among the systems generally credited with good performance during the war but still found lacking in some areas are the B-2, B-1B, Joint Direct Attack Munition and Joint Standoff Weapon. In his annual report to Congress, Philip E. Coyle, the Pentagon's director of operational test and evaluation, included accounts of the systems' performance during the war.
Dustoff, the Memoir of an Army Aviator by Michael J. Novosel is the story of an extraordinary man who served his country for more than 40 years, and won the Medal of Honor for his exploits as a medical evacuation pilot in Vietnam. The author flew B-29 combat missions against Japan in WW II, left the Air Force in the early '50s and joined the Army as a helicopter pilot in the '60s. His tours in Vietnam included flying missions with his son as copilot, and actually rescuing him. With 2,038 hr.
