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.
The UTS-4050 Auto-Recognition Portable Torque Analyzer is designed for testing the torque of joints and tools. It can be set up in minutes and can be used in either a one-button or automatic mode. Its autorecognition feature spots any transducer change without operator intervention. The unit can operate for up to 10 hr. continuously on its rechargeable batteries. Cooper Power Tools, Apex Operation, P.O. Box 952, Dayton, Ohio 45401-0952.
Major upkeep for NASA's Kennedy Space Center and the U.S. Air Force's Cape Canaveral Air Station and Patrick AFB are being consolidated under a single contract awarded to the new Space Gateway Support consortium of Herndon, Va. The consortium is led by Northrop Grumman Technical Services and includes ICF Kaiser Defense Programs and Wackenhut Services. The Joint Base Operations Contract has a potential value of $2.2 billion over 10 years and will eventually combine work now carried out under 18 separate NASA and USAF contracts.
The NASA-Japanese Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft captured dramatic radar images of a towering storm cloud rising from the eye of Hurricane Bonnie. The 59,000-ft. (18,000-meter) cloud--twice the height of Mt. Everest--can be seen in blue, green and red in a compilation of TRMM precipitation radar images (right) taken on Aug. 22 as Bonnie approached the East Coast of the U.S. The skyscraper-like radar representations are draped over photo imagery from a U.S. Goes weather satellite.
An improved manufacturing process developed by IDD Aerospace for controlling the dying of phosphors used in electroluminescent lamps and displays allows creation of virtually any color without having to reduce brightness. The company controls the EL lamp-making process from raw phosphors to finished display. IDD Aerospace Corp., P.O. Box 907056, 18225 N.E. 76th St., Redmond, Wash. 98073-0387.
A six-year survey of galaxy clusters using the Hubble Space Telescope has found what may be some of the most distant clusters ever seen. The Medium Deep Survey observed 10-20 clusters of galaxies that could be over 7-billion light-years away, meaning they would have been assembled early in the history of the universe. The survey, led by astronomers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, estimated distances based on the colors of galaxies in each cluster.
Vice Adm. Brent M. Bennitt (USN, Ret.) has become vice president of Veridian, Alexandria, Va. He was commander of the Naval Air Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet.
The heightened security alert following last month's U.S. military strikes against suspected terrorist bases abroad found the FAA considerably along in its plan to equip the nation's airports with the latest-technology aviation security equipment.
A new test piece simulator for the Woodpecker WP 632 tap tester measures the contact time of the hammer head, presenting results on a digital display. The simulator uses a diaphragm that can be adjusted with a thumb wheel to vary contact time and a sensor. During testing the contact time output of the Woodpecker is compared with an internally generated window to ensure correct calibration. The simulator can operate for more than 20 hr. on its four AA alkaline batteries. The device fits in an aluminum case.
Steve Lee has been promoted to vice president-business development from regional vice president and Jeffrey P. Hartman to vice president-finance from director of operations accounting of Signature Flight Support. Paul Shira has been named general manager of the Chicago O'Hare International Airport facility. He was operations manager at the Chicago Midway Airport facility.
An FAA official said a Delta Air Lines L-1011 and an Alaska Airlines MD-80 came within 2.5 mi. of each other on Aug. 31 at an altitude of 25,000 ft. about 30 mi. southeast of Julian, Calif. Controllers directed the pilots of both aircraft to maneuver and a potential collision was avoided. The Alaska pilots had been warned of the L-1011's presence by their TCAS, and were preparing to maneuver. The agency blamed the incident on an operational error due to high workload at the Los Angeles Air Route Traffic Control Center at Palmdale.
