The VRS-5910 Remote Airborne Voice Relay System is designed to provide operators of unmanned aerial vehicles with a turnkey solution for maintaining a frequency agile, two-way voice link with air traffic controllers. The repeater system features remote frequency control through a ground-based computer, full VHF commercial band coverage and 20 watts of transmission power. UHF coverage is optional. It is compatible with Mil-Std 1553 and Arinc 429 data buses. Aero Telemetry, 7471 Talbert Ave., P.O. Box 2047, Huntington Beach, Calif. 92648.
Tiny Macau International Airport is another Asian flu trend fighter. It recorded its highest ever passenger and cargo traffic in July and August, with growth particularly strong on routes from Taiwan and China. The marred debut of the nearby Hong Kong International Airport helped the three-year-old Macau's performance in cargo. Macau's total air freight tonnage soared by 124% to 16,000 metric tons over 1997 levels. Overall, in the first eight months of this year, the airport has seen aircraft movements up by 27%, passenger growth up 11% and cargo up 57%.
The Equomatic hardness tester can determine the hardness of metallic workpieces within 0.5% in seconds. The measuring head also can be integrated in a processing or assembly line. Complying with Equotip standard ASTM A 956-96, the hardness value L is derived from the impact velocity and rebound velocity of an impact device striking the workpiece. Results are displayed numerically and in graphical form. Proceq SA, Riesbachstrasse 57, CH-8034, Zurich, Switzerland.
Stephen Orth has become international sales manager and Fred Haas national sales manager of Burleigh Instruments, Fishers, N.Y. They were Western and Eastern U.S. sales managers, respectively.
The second F-22A Raptor prototype has been flown to Edwards AFB, Calif., to accelerate the pace of flight testing and meet schedule demands made by the Air Force chief of staff. F-22 program officials are being pushed to complete about 120 flight test hours in the next three months to clear the way for the purchase of the first of a projected 339 stealth fighters. That number of additional hours is needed to complete 4% of the flight test program.
And, Joseph A. Schetz, J. Byron Maupin professor of aerospace engineering at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute, the Air Breathing Propulsion Award; Janos Miklos Beer, professor emeritus of chemical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Energy Systems Award; and Stephen D. Fulton, technical pilot for Alaska Airlines, the Aircraft Operations Award. Robert S. Michael, general manager of Louisville (Ky.) International Airport, will receive the Jay Hollingsworth Speas Airport Award, which is sponsored by the AIAA, American Assn.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators are reviewing the structural strength of the MD-11's wing box as part of its probe of the July 31, 1997, crash of a FedEx freighter at Newark International Airport.
Testify is a simulation tool for developing mixed-signal board and system-level test program sets. It guides test engineers through the process of inserting faults in a unit under test and determining how well a test program will detect faults. The technology in Testify was developed in cooperation with Tinker AFB and the B-2 Bomber Depot repair project. The tool uses the Saber mixed-signal simulator and MAST hardware description language, along with Analogy's InSpecs Pro advanced analysis tools. Analogy Inc., 9205 S.W. Gemini Drive, Beaverton, Ore. 97008-7156.
THE ISRAELI ARMAMENT DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY, Rafael, teamed with Northrop Grumman Corp., will supply Litening target sensor pods for U.S. Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard F-16s. Rafael developed the pod, to which Northrop Grumman has added a third-generation 3-5 micron Flir. Litening also has a charged-coupled device TV for longer-range day images, and a laser spot range finder and tracker. The pod installs on F-16s without any structural modifications, and is electrically compatible with any F-16 wired for Lantirn pods.
Juan D. Morales has been named corporate director of human resources for Amerijet International Inc., Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was vice president-human resources for Title Loans of America Inc.
Unexpected complications, particularly with hydrazine thawing operations, are delaying recovery of the European Space Agency/NASA Soho solar observation spacecraft, but officials are still optimistic that the effort will be successful. Francis Vandenbussche, the ESA official in charge of recovery activities, said he was confident attitude control would be restored within a few weeks, and that the spacecraft would be back in normal operation within two months.
Gary Hobbs has been appointed president of DynCorp Information and Engineering Technology, Fairfax, Va. He was president of Northrop Grumman Technical Services Inc.
Beset by severe budget limitations, space leaders in Europe are seeking to develop a family of mass produced minisatellite platforms in the 100-500-kg. range that can serve a wide range of applications more cheaply and more efficiently than the bigger purpose-built models.
Crew resource management (CRM) training is to become compulsory for all Japanese air carriers, beginning in April 2000. Japan's three major carriers--Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System--already provide their own CRM training. Its inclusion in the training syllabi of new independent carriers, such as Sky Mark and Hokkaido International, prompted the Ministry of Transport to require CRM for all carriers.
HY Aerospace Inc. is offering an Internet-based Private Pilot Ground School on its Web site at http://www.AV8RGS.com. Upon completion of the six-week class, a student will receive a certificate that allows him to take the FAA Knowledge Exam. Students will have access to the classroom 24 hr. a day, seven days a week. Assignments are delivered via e-mail. Exams are administered over the Internet. When students sign up on line, they receive a password and decide which supply package to purchase. HY Aerospace Inc., P.O. Box 72805, Roselle, Ill. 60172-8041.
John A. Montgomery, superintendent of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Tactical Warfare Div., has received the NRL's 1998 Arthur E. Bisson Prize for Naval Technology Achievement.
An official of American Airlines, which recently graduated its 1,000th flight attendant to complete training this year, said the profile of people choosing this career is becoming increasingly more diverse. He said 18% of students are over 40, 24% male and 40% bilingual or multilingual. By the end of this year, nearly 50% of attendants hired in 1998 will be bilingual, according to the official. In addition, work backgrounds of applicants also are highly diverse. They include former doctors, lawyers, teachers and police officers.
Lockheed Martin engineers are assessing design options for a Joint Strike Fighter cockpit that could greatly simplify combat mission tasks and day-to-day flight operations.
OAG MAX is a decision support tool designed for analysts in the air transport industry. Data are presented in five categories--flights, aircraft, geography, airlines and time period--through dropdown menus. Its Internet browser-style interface is designed for users without database or information technology knowledge. The program features data from more than 800 airlines, including bus, truck and train movements that operate under flight numbers. For code shares, the operating flight is separated from the nonoperating flight.
Flight Dynamics and Dassault Falcon Jet have completed development testing for a head-up guidance system (HGS) in the Falcon 900EX business jet. The certification, expected by year-end, will allow pilots of the trijet to conduct approaches in Category 2 weather. Certification to Cat. 3A standards is scheduled to be completed in mid-1999. The twin-engine Falcon 2000 already has Cat. 3A approval and, when using its Flight Dynamics HGS, can land in visibility as low as 700 ft. runway visual range. Customers have ordered more than 60 HGS-equipped Falcons.
The Model 350B02 shock accelerometer features 0.1 mV/g sensitivity for measurement of shock events of up to 50,000g at frequencies of 4-15,000 Hz. (1 dB.). The device can withstand shocks as high as 150,000g. Mechanical and electrical filtering reduce high-frequency ringing and suppress element resonance. Case isolation prevents electrical ground loops from corrupting data. The hermetically sealed unit features a titanium housing, a 10-ft. cable and 1/4-28 mounting stud. PCB Piezotronics Inc., 3425 Walden Ave., Depew, N.Y. 14043-2495.
Joseph M. Malinowski has been named head of the aviation finance and leasing practice of the New York-based law firm of Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler. He was a partner in the Los Angeles office of Cadwalader, Wickersham and Taft.
HONEYWELL AIR TRANSPORT SYSTEMS and Virtual Prototypes of Montreal are collaborating on a joint project for the rapid development of avionics and software. Virtual Prototypes brings its VAPS family of tools, which automate the development of graphical human-machine interfaces and applications. In addition to speeding new products, the companies expect that code generation tools optimized for Honeywell's avionics produce cost savings by permitting greater reuse of previously developed software code.
This true continuous wave laser tube is designed for original equipment manufacturer and industrial use. It offers power outputs over a range of 10-200 watts. Its continuous round beam offers cleaner cuts than oblong beams. It provides peak powers of 9-10 times its rated c.w. rated power. The tube is d.c. excited, which requires no impedance matching between power supply and tube. The Industrial Laser Source Inc., 7 Fitzgerald Drive, Hopedale, Mass. 01747.
