DHL Worldwide Express purchased two Boeing 757 freighters from Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services for $50 million. The aircraft will be delivered in January and March 2000 for DHL's European and African networks.
The U.S. Navy has signed an agreement with Hughes Space and Communications Co. for the 11th in a series of UHF Follow-On (UFO) satellites (see rendering). The satellite, scheduled to be launched in 2003, will be built on a Hughes HS 601 bus and carry UHF and EHF payloads to provide global military communications. UHF Follow-On satellites are replacing the Navy's Fleet Satellite Communications (Fltsatcom) spacecraft and Hughes-built Leasat satellites.
NASA/Langley Research Center recently completed impact tests of a prototype Learfan business aircraft to evaluate the effects of energy absorbing materials on airframe structure, occupant survivability and crashworthiness of small aircraft.
Northrop Grumman's Ryan Aeronautical Center is the latest company to reveal its design for an unmanned vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that the U.S. Navy could fly from small helicopter decks on combat ships on real-time reconnaissance missions.
Ellen S. Smith (see photo) has been named senior vice president-commercial business of Pratt&Whitney, East Hartford, Conn., to oversee the company's large commercial aircraft engine programs, advanced engine programs and industrial gas turbine business. She was vice president-sales for GE Energy Services in Atlanta.
Jerome F. Lederer, whose aviation career began in 1926 with the U.S. Air Mail Service and who established the Flight Safety Foundation, has received the 33rd Edward Warner Award from the Council of the Montreal-based International Civil Aviation Organization. Lederer was cited for his role in the development of accident investigation procedures and regulatory standards.
The increasing level of automation in airline cockpits generally has proven beneficial from a safety and efficiency standpoint, but these complex systems continue to create difficulties related to human factors and operational procedures that can lead to accidents, according to an Australian study.
Saab's initiative to acquire Celsius, which will give birth to northern Europe's biggest defense group, is expected to pave the way for broader cross-border alliances, according to Swedish industry executives.
Douglas Kobayashi has been named president/CEO of Dee Howard Aircraft Maintenance, San Antonio, Tex. He was vice president-technical services at Conair Aerospace, Abbotsford, British Columbia.
French air force airlift command DC-8-72CF and A310-300 transports will be maintained and overhauled by Air France Industries under a contract to be completed this month.
KAISER ELECTRONICS IS developing projection cockpit displays as the next step for larger aircraft monitors. The company is using ruggedized commercial off-the-shelf reflective micro LCD devices for the projectors. A single projector design, with slightly folded optics, can be used for displays from 5 in. square to 32 in. diagonal, according to Kaiser. As the commercial market produces higher resolution and more efficient LCDs and lamps, displays could be upgraded by replacing individual components. The first products will be 8 X 8-in.
Boeing will remove, repair and reinstall the fuel tank access doors on all of its in-production Seattle-built aircraft after paint flaking was discovered on one aircraft. The company said it determined a supplier was using an inadequate surface preparation. The defect presents no safety problems, and no in-service incidents have been filed related to the part, Boeing said.
Continental Airlines CEO Gordon Bethune, who has been an outspoken critic of the U.S. air traffic control system, has blasted Congress for failing to approve long-term funding for improvements to the FAA infrastructure and operations (AW&ST Nov. 15, p. 27). Speaking to reporters at a briefing early last week in Seattle, Bethune said air traffic controllers ``do a good job but need the tools that Congress can provide by stopping the budget games.'' He said it is necessary to provide a long-term budget for ATC improvements as would a private company and urged the U.S.
Airbus Industrie and Lufthansa Technical Training concluded an agreement to jointly produce training manuals for United Parcel Service's 30 all-cargo A300-600F twinjets.
The USAF has finalized a contract with Global Ground Support of Olathe, Kan., for up to 241 deicing trucks that use new forced air deicing technology. With options, the purchase could increase to 600 trucks over the next decade, according to the company. The technique uses a 700-mph. windstream to push snow and unattached ice off aircraft. The forced air never exceeds the critical pressure that would damage aircraft skin. USAF spends more than $30 million a year in costs related to traditional glycol deicing of aircraft.
Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (Melco) has built the first industrial satellite testing chamber in Japan, an 11.5-meter-diameter (37.7-ft.) facility at its Kamakura plant south of Tokyo. The $67-million chamber will be used to test satellites up to five metric tons to conditions below -150-deg. C. Until now, Japan's satellite manufacturers have relied on the test chamber at the National Space Development Agency's Tsukuba Space Center north of Tokyo.
Hexcel Corp.'s operating performance during the last several quarters, combined with pricing and other market pressures, offers little hope that the structural materials company will show any meaningful earnings growth in the intermediate term.
Messier-Bugatti has been chosen by Mahan Air of Iran and Nouvelair of Tunisia to supply wheels and carbon brakes for their aircraft. The Mahan Air contract involves two Airbus A300 aircraft, while the Nouvelair agreement will see Messier-Bugatti's new Sepcarb III carbon brakes fitted on six A320s.
Michael K. McDonald (see photo) has been named vice president-government operations for Rockwell Collins in Washington. He was vice president-business development for Rockwell Collins Government Systems.
The Air National Guard wants to increase the amount of self-protection equipment it has for its F-16 Block 25/30 fighters. The Guard has bought 10 ALQ-184(V)9 electronic-countermeasures pods that are equipped with the Raytheon-built ALE-50 towed decoy. Now the service wants to order eight more of the systems to fully equip the Air National Guard squadron in Richmond, Va. So far, however, there are no plans to equip other units. The purchase is expected to cost $8 million. The squadron is slated to have its full set of countermeasures pods by April 2001.
The Netherlands is looking to increase the combat capability of its AH-64D Apache attack helicopter fleet by adding the APG-78 Longbow fire control radar. The Pentagon has issued a letter of offer to the Dutch defense ministry for a $225-million deal that includes the Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman-built radar and associated APR-48 radar frequency interferometer made by Lockheed Martin. It would provide a radar system for each of the 30 Apaches the Royal Netherlands air force has ordered. In a separate deal, the U.S.
All Nippon Airways, Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries and General Electric are to form an engine maintenance company in Japan by next spring. Besides serving ANA and its subsidiary carriers--which have more than 400 GE engines--the firm is to perform third-party work. That should be good news for Skymark and Air Do, Japan's discount carriers. Labor costs are so high in Japan that its major carriers try to farm out much of their routine work, although they do take in third-party component work.
Japan's drive to develop a commercial launch industry has been stalled by the first-stage failure of the high-priced H-2 on its eighth mission. Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi vowed that the loss of the H-2 during a Nov. 15 launch will not impede the nation's drive to develop the H-2A as a less costly derivative. But the National Space Development Agency (NASDA) was expected to announce late last week that the H-2A development program will be suspended pending the outcome of its investigation.
Boeing has completed a $474-million modernization of the Royal Australian Air Force's F-111Cs. The program involved installing digital cockpit displays on the 21 F-111C strike aircraft. Defense Minister Bruce Scott said the avionics update was a cost-effective method of upgrading the F-111 fleet and extending its service life for another 20 years, since there is no comparable aircraft on the market or in development today.
Deutsche Post (DP), Germany's postal services, will acquire the U.S. Air Express International Corp. for approximately $1.14 billion. The transatlantic consolidation initiative will further strengthen DP's European leadership in the courier, mail and parcel market, with 270,000 employees and annual revenues estimated at 28 billion euros ($29.4 billion), according to Board Chairman Klaus Zumwinkel. DP owns 25% of DHL International and recently acquired companies such as Danzas, Royal Nedloyd and Securicor.
