Richard J. Surratt has become senior vice president-finance/treasurer/chief financial officer of Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings Inc. He was director of the Mergers and Acquisitions Group of Mobil. Surratt succeeds Paul Tate, who has resigned.
Aviation Week&Space Technology presents its 43rd annual Aerospace Laurels selections, honoring individuals and teams who made significant contributions to the global field of aerospace in 1999. Honorees were nominated by Aviation Week editors in the categories of Commercial Air Transport, Aeronautics/Propulsion, Government/Military, Electronics, Space, Operations and Lifetime Achievement. This year, an additional Laureate is being given for Special Achievement.
BAE SYSTEMS NORTH AMERICA HAS BEEN TAPPED by Boeing to provide elements of the mission avionics suite for its new, 737-based airborne early warning and control system aircraft recently selected by the Royal Australian Air Force. The company will provide cockpit tactical mission displays, command and control consoles and mission computers.
Honeywell's 7,000-lb.-thrust AS900 series turbofan has made its first flight, mounted on the forward fuselage of a Boeing 720 testbed aircraft. The engine, which has been selected for Bombardier's Continental business jet and BAE Systems' RJX transport, was used to conduct performance calibrations and generate windmill data during the 2-hr.-long first flight. The Jan. 29 test was staged out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and was flown by Honeywell pilot Steve Crow and copilot Chad Haring.
To meet its near-term target needs, the U.S. Navy has ordered 34 more Russian X-31-based supersonic sea-skimming target systems from Boeing. Under terms of the $18.8-million contract, Moscow-based manufacturer Zvezda-Strela will remove each X-31's warhead and other military components in Russia. Boeing will integrate flight termination, range tracking beacons and telemetry systems at its St. Louis facility.
The Sea Launch organization is evaluating the possibility of conducting launches from Baikonur Cosmodrome as well as from its usual floating launch platform stationed on the equator southeast of Hawaii, the location for geosynchronous transfer orbit missions. The organization is studying the feasibility of such a move as well as evaluating the potential market. Meanwhile, the launch platform and command ship are preparing to depart for the equator on Feb. 27 or 28 for launch of an ICO Global Communications spacecraft.
Members of Boeing's engineers and technical workers union rejected a second Boeing contract offer last week but delayed a planned strike. Instead, both Boeing and the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) agreed to attend federally mediated meetings this week. About 51% of the Boeing engineers voting rejected the contract offer as did 62% of the technicians. The union represents 21,000 Boeing workers although only about 60% are members.
A third discount carrier says it is ready to fly in Japan, but its business plan is a mystery. Called Skynet Asia Airlines, the Fukuoka-based carrier asked for three daily slots out of the country's busiest airport, Tokyo's Haneda, to begin services in the summer of 2001. Flights would connect Fukuoka with Miyazaki, both medium-sized cities on Kyushu island, and Tokyo with Miyazaki. Slots at Haneda are the most difficult to get in Japan; slots at outlying cities are not. Asia Airlines has not said what kind of aircraft it will use.
Lockheed Martin, emboldened by better-than-expected results in 1999, has adopted a much more aggressive cost-savings target tied to the company's ``LM21'' productivity initiative. By 2002, the defense contractor believes it can achieve sustained savings of $4 billion tied directly to LM21, said Michael Joyce, who heads up the initiative. The prior goal was $2.6 billion. LM21 stands for top management's vision for Lockheed Martin in the 21st century.
Margaret G. Finarelli has become vice president-North American operations of the France-based International Space University. She was deputy director of the Globe environmental project.
Royal Air Maroc has taken a controlling 51% stake in Air Senegal as part of a privatization move. The Senegalese government, which retained 49% of the airline, is expected to offer a 5% stake to employees. The Moroccan carrier, itself moving toward privatization, paid $10 million for the African carrier which operates domestic and international flights from its Dakar hub.
Look for airlines to continue shifting the navigation burden to on-board systems and away from ground-based navaids. Horizon Airlines has been FAA approved to perform approaches and takeoffs to its 33 U.S. destinations when certain ground-based navigation aids are inoperative. The Terminal Navaid Substitution Procedure applies only to Horizon's fleet of 28 deHavilland Dash 8 Q200 twin turboprops, which are equipped with Universal Avionics UNS-1C dual flight management systems.
CLUSTERS OF LOW-COST PERSONAL COMPUTERS can be linked to attain low-end supercomputer capabilities, according to Penn State University Prof. Lyle Long and NASA Langley researcher Kenneth Brentner. Scientists and engineers who do not need the full parallel power of 200 or more processors may find these ``Beowulf clusters'' to be a faster alternative than waiting for supercomputer time and much cheaper to buy, they say.
Boeing's new 717 transport is achieving dispatch reliability in the high 98% range during initial operations with AirTran Airways. The Orlando, Fla.-based carrier began revenue service with the 717-200 in mid-October and has built to a fleet of nine. AirTran, then a much smaller airline called ValuJet, was the launch customer for the 717 in October 1995, placing a firm order for 50 and optioning another 50. The carrier is scheduled to take another eight deliveries this year and 16 in 2001.
The Oneworld airline alliance is creating a central management company to run its customer service, marketing, information technology and finance activities. Peter Beucking, sales and marketing director for Oneworld member Cathay Pacific Airways, will head the new central management team, which will be based in Vancouver starting in April. Beucking is recruiting a small group of executives to join the team, which is expected to be fully up and running by mid-year.
James Manchisi has been named vice president/general manager of the Government Intelligence Market Segment of Eastman Kodak Commercial&Government Systems (C&GS), Rochester, N.Y. Manchisi was general manager of the Barnes Div. of the EDO Corp. Sandra Thompson has been promoted to finance director from controller of C&GS.
The primary reason for developing a new generation of radar is to significantly improve the ability of U.S. forces to search areas for important but elusive targets, a job most easily conducted from the air or space.
Aviation Week&Space Technology's editorial team has selected the following individuals and teams from those who have earned 1999 Laurel citations to be 1999 Laureates. Recipients also have been selected for the Lifetime and Special Achievement Awards. Each winner will receive the Laureate Trophy at ceremonies in Washington on Apr. 12 at the National Air and Space Museum. The accomplishments of the 1999 Laureate recipients will be recounted in the Apr. 10 issue. COMMERCIAL AIR TRANSPORT Sir Richard Branson,
Martin Stein has been appointed vice president-business development of Innovative Concepts Inc., McLean, Va. A former NASA deputy administrator, Stein was a consultant on aerospace matters with Kelly, Anderson&Associates.
Kawasaki Heavy Industries has delivered the first OH-1 light helicopter from its Gifu plant near Nagoya to Japan's army. The 3,500-kg. (7,700-lb.) helicopter is powered by two 800 shaft hp. Mitsubishi TS-1 engines. The army ordered eight of the 12-meter-(40-ft.)-long aircraft in the current fiscal year at a unit price of 1.5 billion yen ($14 million). Four more are to be delivered in fiscal 2000, which begins on Apr. 1. In all, the army is expected to buy 190 OH-1s to replace 193 McDonnell Douglas OH-6Ds built by Kawasaki under license.
Airbus Industrie officials have told investors and securities analysts in New York that this year's annual Wall Street briefing probably was the last by Airbus as a partnership. As now envisioned, Airbus will become a division of the European Aeronautic, Defence and Space Co. (EADS), according to John J. Leahy, senior vice president-commercial. ``Eighty percent of [Airbus] is transitioning into EADS, and discussions with BAE Systems are underway,'' he said last week.
Ivory Coast civil aviation authorities are seeking to determine why a Kenya Airways Airbus A310-300 twinjet plunged into the ocean shortly after takeoff from Houphouet Boigny airport, near Abidjan. Flight 431 crashed on Jan. 30, at 9:08 p.m. GMT, about 1 min. after takeoff, killing 170 passengers and crewmembers. Nine persons survived. The accident site is 1.2 mi. east of the airport, off the coastline.
The Turkish government has replaced the chief of the Defense Industry Undersecretariat, who plays a major role in procurement, just weeks before an expected decision of the winner in the country's $3.5-billion attack helicopter competition. Yalcn Burcak was succeeded by Dursun Ali Ercan, a nuclear scientist and advisor to the Turkish defense minister.
Under terms of last year's expanded U.S.-China air services agreement, China Southern Airlines will open the country's first dedicated cargo service into the U.S. beginning on Mar. 29. The flight from Shenzhen (near Hong Kong) to Chicago will use a wet-leased 747-200 freighter from Denver-based Atlas Air.
