The U.S. Customs Service wants to replace the 16 UH-60 Black Hawks it has on loan from the U.S. Army with its own helicopters. They would be used for intercepting aircraft or vessels suspected of smuggling. The helicopters also could be used for protection of dignitaries or making arrests in remote locations. The Customs Service expects to buy 22 multiengine civil helicopters, although it doesn't have the money yet to pay for them. Performance requirements include single-engine climb of 200 fpm.; 130-kt. cruise speed; a 1,500-lb.
MD HELICOPTERS INC. is scheduled to deliver a twin-engine MD Explorer to Japanese newspaper publisher Asahi Shimbun Press this autumn. The aircraft will be certified for single-pilot IFR operations, and feature GPS navigation, a moving map display as well as e-mail and datafax capability. Reporters will use the helicopter to transmit copy and photographs in near real-time for breaking news stories.
DASSAULT FALCON JET CORP. President John Rosanvallon said the company sold 72 new business jets in 1999 in addition to the 173 airplanes sold during 1997-98, bringing to more than 240 the number of aircraft on order. The backlog is valued at nearly $3 billion. Rosanvallon estimates Dassault's share of the worldwide, large-cabin business jet market to be between 40-50%. Falcon Jet Corp.'s best selling model is the twin-engine Falcon 2000, of which it has 54 orders, including a batch for the NetJets fractional ownership program operating in the U.S.
Sea Launch has received a firm order from PanAmSat for the launch of Galaxy IIIC during the second quarter of 2001, as well as options for the launch of up to four additional satellites. The Galaxy IIIC, built by Hughes Space and Communications Co., is an HS 702 model spacecraft intended to provide video, Internet and telecommunications services in the U.S. and Latin America. The options for four additional PanAmSat missions on the Sea Launch system would be for launch opportunities through 2003.
Despite U.S. efforts to stem aid from Russia and China to countries seeking to develop ballistic missiles and weapons of mass destruction, the two countries remain key supporters of those programs, according to CIA assessments. ``The assistance from Russia and China is significant,'' Robert D. Walpole, the national intelligence officer for strategic and nuclear programs, told a Senate subcommittee last week. Support includes transferring know-how and components, he noted.
Don't expect any big moves in Raytheon Co.'s share price in the near-term, but for the first time in many months industry analysts are genuinely encouraged that the company has identified the sources of its most serious problems and taken appropriate steps to resolve them. ``They seem to have found all the skeletons,'' BT Alex. Brown analyst Christopher Mecray said.
British Airways posted a third-quarter pretax loss of 60 million pounds ($96.6 million), but the airline found solace in a 3.2% increase in passenger yields, the first rise in nearly two years. Operating losses were less than expected, but fuel costs were 28% higher than for the previous quarter. First- and business-class traffic was up 6.8%, leading the airline to believe it is on the right track by cutting capacity and focusing on higher-paying premium passengers.
Continental Airlines and representatives of the International Assn. of Machinists have hammered out a tentative contract agreement for the airline's 8,500 flight attendants. The pact would be for 54 months and includes ``major changes, including significant improvements in retirement, work rules, vacation and pay,'' according to the airline.
GERMANY'S DEUTSCHE FLUGSICHERUNG GmbH (DFS) has declared the new P1 Air Traffic Control Automation System fully operational at the Langen Area Control Center near Frankfurt, one of the busiest air corridors in the world. P1/ATCAS provides multiradar tracking, smoothing the aircraft track display with software that reduces the effects of radar errors and noise, and automates work previously handled manually by controllers. The backbone of the system is a high-speed, secure, fiber-optic local area network with open system configuration.
Communication has been established with two picosatellites, each measuring 4 X 3 X 1 in. and weighing less than half a pound. The satellites were designed and built by Aerospace Corp. with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The recently launched satellites were released by the Orbiting Picosat Automated launcher (Opal) developed at Stanford University.
David Quancard has been named deputy vice president-industrial affairs of Arianespace. He was vice president-commerce and programs of SNPL Propulsion Div.
Raymond Deque has received the French air and space academy's Grand Prix, for achievement in heading the Aerospatiale engineering staff that developed Airbus Industrie's fly-by-wire control systems.
Divers recovered the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) of Kenya Airways' Airbus A310-300 that plunged into the ocean on Jan. 30, off the Ivory Coast (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 43). Late last week, however, the DFDR had not been been read, and probable causes for the accident had not been determined. Divers are still looking for the cockpit voice recorder. A Kenyan navy diver died while searching the wreckage.
GKN Westland Aerospace is opening a new icing research wind tunnel at London Luton Airport that can accommodate small components and structures. The facility, built by GKN subsidiary Aerospace Composite Technologies (ACT), will be capable of producing ice crystals as well as supercooled liquid water droplets to simulate a wide variety of icing conditions in static air temperatures as low as -30C.
Despite an adequate supply of pilots retiring from Israel's air force, Arkia Israeli Airlines is having difficulty filling some cockpit positions. Israel's younger generation is looking for different careers such as the fast-moving, high-technology computer field, according to Israel Borovich, president and CEO. The airline provides domestic scheduled service and international charters. Although in past years, overseas travel opportunities were valued, they now are considered ordinary, he said.
Rolls-Royce Turbomeca has signed a five-year contract valued at up to $49 million for repair of RTM332 engines and modules for the U.K.'s Defense Helicopter Support Agency.
The FAA is close to clearing obstacles that have blocked it from tapping nearly $1 billion in President Clinton's budget for the agency for each of the last three fiscal years. Clinton's proposed $11.22-billion FAA budget for Fiscal 2001, which starts Oct. 1, calls for the agency to collect $965 million in user fees. Last year, his budget projected bringing in $1.5 billion in fees collected from those who use FAA services to certify and operate aircraft.
United Airlines has fundamentally changed and streamlined its pilot hiring process following years of record industry hiring that has thinned the pool of qualified applicants. The Chicago-based carrier has lowered vision requirements to the ``correctable to 20/20'' stipulated by Federal Aviation Regulations, dropped its $50 application fee and cut the period rejected applicants must wait to reapply from 12 months to six.
As Russia intensifies its efforts to end the fighting in Chechnya, its air force appears to be applying lessons learned from the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in conducting its second offensive against rebel forces in Chechnya.
Airbus Industrie plans to replace the A300/A310 twinjets, its original twin-aisle aircraft developed in the 1970s, with a shortened-fuselage derivative of the A330. No schedule has been determined for the program, which would use the A330's fuselage (including its fly-by-wire control systems and glass cockpit) and retain the A300-600 wing's basic design.
Marc Boonen has been named general manager of North American operations for Belgium-based LMS International. He was international sales and marketing manager.
British and American defense secretaries signed an agreement last week during a security policy conference in Munich pledging to improve industrial and defense equipment cooperation between the countries. They hope the declaration of principles will lead to specific, legally binding agreements on issues ranging from military requirements to export policies. Pentagon officials said talks for similar agreements were underway with Germany, Australia, the Netherlands and France, with Sweden soon to follow.
