The FAA's Aviation Weather Research Program is devising new ways to display weather, and is unveiling some of its experimental products on the Aviation Digital Data Service Web page (http://adds.awc-kc.noaa.gov) to gather pilot feedback. The new flight path tool can zoom in on an area of the U.S., and then display various weather data at altitude slices controlled by a slider. The pilot uses the mouse to draw a route on the map, and can see a vertical profile of terrain elevation and different types of weather along the route.
A Tupolev Tu-204-120 freighter will be available for inspection at the Hudson General facility at Salt Lake City International Airport on Nov. 15-17. The visit will include technical briefings for qualified attendees by Oleg Alasheev, chief designer for Russia's Tupolev Bureau, as well as top officials from the Tu-204's manufacturer, Aviastar. Also represented will be Russian national export board Aviaexport and Russian avionics and aircraft certification authorities.
Airline and pilots' union representatives are to meet this week with FAA officials in a bid to settle, by Thanksgiving, differences that have stymied the expansion of data-sharing partnerships for years.
F/A-18s from U.S. Marine Corps Air Wing 4 provided cover during this year's Bright Star exercise in Egypt. The F/A-18s, and KC-130 that also participated, belong to reserve units VMFA-321 based at Andrews AFB, Md., and VMFA-112 and VMGR-234 based in Fort Worth. The 11-nation exercise was the largest in which U.S. forces will fly this year. Because of the air war against Yugoslavia last spring, Pentagon planners scaled back the number of exercises in which U.S. forces would participate.
The Antonov/Air Foyle partnership has acquired two additional An-124 jumbo freighters and is angling to beat archrival VolgaDnepr to a third, according to executives at Air Foyle, which acts as worldwide general sales agent for the Ukrainian designer/operator.
Airports Council International reports 78% of the world's major airports are Y2K-ready. The Geneva-based organization, which represents more than 1,200 large airports in 150 countries, is confident more than 90% of its members will have updated their computers and computer-based airport systems to eliminate or work around potential problems caused when the two-digit year indicator in older software rolls from 99 to 00 on Jan. 1.
The global broadband satellite project Astrolink took a big step forward with a preliminary agreement from Liberty Media Corp. of Englewood, Colo., to take a $425-million stake in the project. The investment, expected to be finalized within 30 days, would bring Astrolink to within $100 million of its $1.4-billion equity target. Lockheed Martin, TRW and Telespazio previously had committed $900 million. The first of Astrolink's four Lockheed Martin-built geosynchronous satellites is scheduled for launch in January 2002.
The dramatic change of leadership in Indonesia is sending mixed signals to PT. Industri Pesawat Terbang Nusantara (IPTN), the state-owned aircraft factory founded by former Indonesia President B.J. Habibie, as it seeks foreign partners to jump-start its stalled aircraft programs.
A Boeing report on the May 4 failure of its large new Delta III launch vehicle cites ``poor manufacturing process control'' and ``improper'' quality oversight at Pratt&Whitney as major factors in the rupture of the Pratt RL10B engine that caused loss of the mission. Pratt&Whitney told Aviation Week&Space Technology that it accepts Boeing's findings on the process and quality control problems cited on an engine joint brazing process. The Delta III is expected to be returned to flight status during the first quarter of 2000.
The next Titan IV launch is going to get especially close scrutiny as a result of what the Air Force has learned during its presidentially ordered review of space launches. The review was prompted by a spate of launch accidents earlier this year. The final report is due at the White House this month. But the Air Force has decided to make some changes even before then. ``We are going to have a senior executive final review for the launch of the next Titan IV'' that will coincide with the flight readiness review, said Lawrence Delaney, the Air Force's acquisition czar.
Die-hard Yankees fans at the New York Tracon jumped chain of command and e-mailed a proposed baseball playoff wager directly to FAA Administrator and Bostonian Jane Garvey. Should the Red Sox make it to the World Series, the controllers would wear Bosox caps for a week. If the Bronx Bombers were victorious, she would have to sport a Yankees hat. Garvey agreed--with one stipulation. Having worked on the 1988 presidential campaign of Michael Dukakis, she said she developed a deep aversion to headgear of all sorts.
Mark Seidel (see photo) has been named general manager of the Aircraft Wheel and Brake Div. of Parker Aerospace, Avon, Ohio. He was fuel team business leader for Parker's Airborne Div.
Capt. F.C. (Rick) Dubinsky has been elected chairman of the United Airlines MEC and the pilot member of the United board of directors. Capt. Paul Whiteford was elected vice chairman and Capt. Jeffrey Barath secretary/treasurer. Dubinsky will succeed Capt. Mike Glawe.
Robert T. Elrod (see photo) has become president of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, Calif. He was executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems in Fort Worth and succeeds Jack S. Gordon, who has retired.
Impulse Airlines is expected to buy at least four Boeing 717s for use on shuttle flights between Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne, Australia's most frequently traveled air corridor. The regional carrier operates a mixed fleet of 19 seaters that includes Fairchild Metros and Raytheon Beech 1900s.
Capt. Mark McClain has been elected chairman of the Northwest Airlines Master Executive Council (MEC) of the Air Line Pilots Assn. Capt. Scott Donaldson was elected vice chairman and First Officer Don Burnham secretary/treasurer. McClain will succeed Capt. Steve Zoller.
The days of insatiable demand for launch services are coming to an end, says a senior Boeing official. Setbacks to low- and medium-Earth-orbit telecommunications ventures have eroded projections for launch demand, and industry revenues are headed for a downturn, Richard D. Stephens, the vice president and general manager of Boeing Reusable Space Systems, told the House space subcommittee.
France's aircraft components and systems producers continue to implement a far-reaching domestic consolidation policy as Zodiac late last week acquired a controlling majority in Intertechnique. In a two-fold agreement, Zodiac agreed to buy for $319 million 31.2% of Intertechnique's shares owned by Dassault and a 32.2% stake owned by French investors such as the Bollore group. After completing the consolidation move, Zodiac's annual sales will grow to an estimated $1.3 billion, company officials said.
This summer's scuffle between House appropriators and the Air Force over the F-22 has left the service scrambling to fill a half-billion-dollar budget hole in the program; however, it is not enough to require a major restructure of the effort. After managing to avoid a gutting of its F-22 program, the Air Force had to accept a $500-million total funding cut and the rearrangement of program funds. ``We know that the change of money will create a bill in [Fiscal] 2001 and 2002,'' said Lawrence Delaney, the Air Force's acquisition chief.
Russia is offering leases of three Ilyushin A-50 ``Mainstay'' airborne early warning aircraft to the Indian air force. The first could be delivered before the end of the year. Reports of the deal follow a visit to Delhi in early October by Col. Gen. Anatoly Kornukuv, commander in chief of the Russian air force, to celebrate the anniversary of the Indian air force. Senior officials in India also indicate that Russia is offering the lease of a squadron of Tupolev Tu-22M-3 Backfire-C strategic bombers.
Loyola de Palacio, the new vice president and transport commissioner for the European Commission, has urged cutbacks in the amount of airspace blocked off for military use in Europe to help alleviate mounting air traffic control problems. She also wants industry to take the lead in developing a strategy to deal with consumer rights issues.
As it records a bumper year elsewhere, Airbus Industrie is making surprising sales gains in China as that country's leaders vent an anti-U.S. trade sentiment. The Chinese awards came Oct. 23 during a visit to France by Chinese Premier Jiang Zemin. French President Jacques Chirac said China had committed to firm buys and options for 28 aircraft valued at $1.8 billion from the European consortium, including eight A340s and 20 A318s and A319s.
Luxembourg-based carrier Cargolux is scheduled to take delivery of its 10th Boeing 747-400F this month and one more each year in 2001 and 2002. The carrier received its ninth in late September. The November delivery will be of an aircraft to replace a leased Atlas Air 747-400F. Cargolux's growth pattern indicates 1-1.5 new 747-size transports should be added to its fleet each year, according to President and CEO Heiner Wilkens.
The Frankfurt Airport Co. and Brambles Holding Europe have agreed to jointly acquire Belgium-based TCR International, a ground-handling equipment maintenance provider.
