Steve Burrin and Larry Greenberg (see photos) have been named vice presidents of The Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles. Burrin is vice president-space program operations for the Space Systems Group. He succeeds Joe Straus, who is now group senior vice president. Burrin was general manager of the Military Satellite Communications Div. and has been succeeded by Wanda Austin, who was general manager of the Electric Sytems Div. of the Engineering and Technology Group.
E-commerce has come to aviation spares as PartsBase.com hits the 13,000 mark in membership in more than 119 countries. The Web site uses a proprietary search technology to locate parts in its 37-million line item marketplace by part number or using a master cross-reference function. The Web-based service lowers overhead and increases productivity as well as allows just-in-time inventory management, according to Mark Eglington, vice president of business development. Services in the offing include auction, shipping management and employment listings.
Arianespace orbited a Loral telecom satellite, Orion 2, on Oct. 18, marking the 48th straight successful Ariane 4 launch and the fourth since it resumed operations in August. Arianespace also contracted to orbit New Skies' NSS-7 and SES' Astra 2D, giving it 11 launch awards for the year.
Radiant Aviation Services Inc. of Orchard Park, N.Y., and Continental Airlines have signed an agreement for the installation and operation of an InfraTek Radiant Aviation Deicing System at Continental Airlines' major hub at Newark (N.J.) International Airport. Boeing Capital Corp. will provide financing for the construction and installation of the Deicing Service Center under existing financial arrangements between Radiant Aviation and Boeing Capital.
Following completion of a new runway next spring, Japan's Ministry of Transport expects to increase runway capacity at Tokyo's Haneda airport, Japan's most important domestic hub and the busiest airport in Asia. Airlines have clamored for years for more slots. Haneda's capacity is to rise from the current annual rate of 240,000 aircraft movements (320/day) to 320,000 (351/day) by next July and 340,000 (377/day) by July 2002. Allocation of additional slots is to be made next spring. The ministry said it will not raise Haneda's capacity beyond these numbers.
The indictment of Boeing by a federal grand jury over alleged export control violations by McDonnell Douglas threatens to limit Boeing's ability to export some of its product. At the least, it exposes the pitfalls U.S. aerospace companies face in dealing with China.
British Aerospace is expanding its efforts to get its Broach penetrator warhead in U.S. inventory with a pitch to the Army. Broach already is being considered by the Air Force for use on conventional air-launched cruise missiles, as well as by the Navy on Tomahawk cruise missiles and penetrator versions of the Joint Standoff Weapon. The presentation to the Army, made only recently, covered integrating Broach in the Army Tactical Missile System. ATACMS so far carries either bomblets or BAT (Brilliant Anti-Tank) antiarmor submunitions.
Judging from passenger complaints, not since the invention of the electric chair has any piece of furniture visited more punishment upon an individual--the economy-class airline seat. Life for first- and business-class passengers is a proverbial bed of roses, with fully reclining seats and free-flowing champagne, while life ``in the back'' has been likened to a bed of nails, with an optimum number of 17-in.- wide shoulder-to-shoulder seats installed in the optimum number of rows set 28-31 in. apart.
Karen M. Weldon (see photo) has been appointed director of management information systems for Lockheed Martin Michoud Space Systems in New Orleans. She was director of technical oprations for Lockheed Martin Information Support Services, also in New Orleans.
Scott Griffin has been appointed chief information officer of the Boeing Co. He also is vice president of E-commerce for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.
A 50-ft. magnetic levitation track has been installed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center to demonstrate technologies that could reduce the cost of gaining access to space. Demonstrations of the maglev track will be used by NASA to learn more about aerodynamics, magnetic fields and energy storage devices associated with maglev technology. The track, installed by Marshall and PRT Advanced Maglev Systems, is an advanced linear induction motor with a carrier that contains a 30-lb. spacecraft model.
ICO Global Communications has assembled a rescue plan that would generate more than $700 million via a reduced global satellite telephone system and the recruitment of new investors. Although the plan represents less than half of the amount ICO needs to complete its $4.7-billion system, implementation would boost efforts to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Robert O. McBrayer has been appointed director of the Systems Management Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. He was manager of the first International Microgravity Laboratory Spacelab mission.
Francois Maroquene has been appointed vice president-sales of Starsem. He succeeds Jean-Charles Vincent, who has been named manager of Arianespace's Kourou, French Guiana, facilities.
People who study the air traffic system often look at it as a series of connected queues, each with finite capacity. When the queues start filling up, some before others, interesting things happen. The first thing one notices is that the response is nonlinear. You can keep adding work to the system without ill effect until the queues near capacity. Then ill effects quickly arise, spread to other areas, and pretty soon the whole system is gridlocked if the load doesn't ease. It's the proverbial ``straw that broke the camel's back.''
Alexandre de Gunten has become CEO of RepWorld Holdings Ltd. of Miami. He was international vice president-North and Central America, Caribbean and Asia for LanChile Airlines.
NASA is preparing for a midyear demonstration of its Aircraft Vortex Spacing System at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. If successful, AVOSS could help air traffic controllers safely reduce spacing between arriving aircraft during most weather conditions, thus increasing airport capacity. The goal of the program is to provide dynamic aircraft wake vortex spacing criteria with enough lead time for controllers to better schedule aircraft arrivals. AVOSS is part of NASA's Terminal Area Productivity Program (AW&ST Feb. 14, 1994, p. 32).
The airlines and the air traffic controllers union are at odds over what is causing the air traffic delay problem and how to fix it. The outcome of their debate holds huge stakes for both sides as air traffic growth outstrips the capacity of the national airspace system.
Fighting with Pakistan last summer along 150 km. (90 mi.) of inhospitable battlefield in the Kargil region cost India about $1.2 billion and will require a special budget allocation, according to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha. The cost estimates keep rising; they were $250-350 million earlier. By another estimate, the per-day cost of maintaining 20,000 troops in Kargil during the winter will add another $600 million to the operation's total cost.
Airline officials, pilots union leaders and some government officials were scrambling late last week to reverse provisions of a draft FAA policy that threaten to scuttle several state-of-the-art collaborative flight safety programs and embarrass FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey and the Clinton Administration.
Overall, weapons procurement funding would rise by 8.3% in Fiscal 2000, or 2.1% above what the Administration sought, if the defense appropriations bill weathers a veto threat. The increase starts from a shrunken base, however; defense procurement experienced a decade and a half of real decline following the Reagan defense buildup of the 1980s and the end of the Cold War in 1991.
America West has committed to take 77 Airbus A320-family aircraft. The Phoenix-based airline signed firm orders for 15 A318s and 12 A320s, to be delivered beginning in August 2000, and secured options and purchase rights for 50 additional aircraft.
Aerospatiale Matra, DaimlerChrysler Aerospace and Marconi Electronic Systems have agreed to merge their space activities into a new company, putting an end to two years of discussion and financial and legal wrangling.
Hiroshi Shibata (see photos), a senior engineering specialist in the Electro-Mechanical Dept. of The Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles, has received the company's highest honor, the Trustees' Distinguished Achievement Award. He was recognized for leadership in returning a disabled National Reconnaissance Office satellite to operability. Eberhardt Rechtin, former president of The Aerospace Corp., has won the Pioneer Award from the International Council on Systems Engineering.
