Jan King has become vice president-space engineering for SpaceDev of San Diego. He was Schreiver Chair professor in the Astronautics Dept. at the U.S. Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs.
France's Spot Image is opening a new affiliate in Beijing to sell commercial imagery products and services to the Chinese marketplace. The affiliate, Beijing Spot Image Co., is a joint venture between Spot Image and China Remote Sensing Ground Station, a unit of China's Academy of Sciences. Spot Image also has affiliates in Singapore, Australia and the U.S. Among the priorities of the Chinese venture will be the provision of up-to-date geographic data for mapping, rural and urban development, agriculture and the environment.
Bonnie Peat has been named pneumatics business unit manager for the Air and Fuel Div. of Parker Aerospace, Irvine, Calif. She was team leader for the pneumatic engine business.
Richard G. Higgins (see photo) has become vice president-maintenance engineering and publishing for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group of Seattle. He was director of technical data products and services.
SMITHS INDUSTRIES IS EXPANDING its Health&Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) with the acquisition of the Signal Processing Systems (SPS) division of Global Associates Ltd. Primarily used in helicopters, HUMS continually checks the performance of safety critical components to give advance warning of potential equipment failures, and to gather data for routine maintenance. HUMS has been selected by the U.K. Ministry of Defence for its RAF helicopters (AW&ST July 1, 1996, p. 64).
John Dyster has become director of commercial and international programs for Spectrum Astro Inc., Gilbert, Ariz. He was chief engineer for commercial programs.
An FAA advisory panel charged with finding ways to prevent fuel-tank explosions was unable to study in detail the cost and benefit of individual countermeasures or the gains to be had by combining them to lower the risk of an inflight blast, according to panel members and officials familiar with their work. With a six-month deadline imposed by the FAA, these panel members and officials said, the group could only estimate roughly the countermeasures' costs and benefits.
Your Flight Questions Answered By a Jetliner Pilot covers issues ranging from the physics of why an aircraft flies to how pets and luggage are handled. The book was written by John Cronin, a Boeing 737 first officer at a major U.S. airline. It is intended to answer the types of questions that passengers typically raise. Cronin provides technically correct answers in an easy-to-understand manner. Plymouth Press Ltd., 101 Panton Road, Vergennes, Vt. 04591.
Air Canada's 2,100 pilots went on strike last week demanding higher pay and fewer flying hours, forcing the airline to cancel most of its flights. Pilots, represented by Air Canada Pilots Assn. (ACPA), are seeking a 12% increase in salary over two years and a reduction in flying hours to 75-78 per month from an average of 78-85 per month. ACPA had sought a 20% raise in pay. Pilots earn $20,500-128,200, with the average wage being $64,100.
A screen technology developed by The Lee Co. that relies on laser-drilled holes in a one-piece blank is winning acceptance in hydraulics, fuel and lubrication applications. Lee's Hy-Bar one-piece safety screen is an alternative to traditional wire mesh or sintered screens, which are subject to failure as they become clogged and pressures build up. The standard Hy-Bar screens are rated at pressure differentials of 7,500 psi. and allow for bidirectional flow.
Missile technology is running on both evolutionary and revolutionary tracks. Evolution will be the path for the near to mid-term, but revolutionary changes in high-speed propulsion could emerge in a decade if tests in the next several years prove successful.
The design, development and production of new weapon systems, ranging from combat aircraft to avionics and armament, are now being driven by ``affordability''--a parameter that, until recently, was always secondary to performance.
Senior Hughes executives are confident they'll win government licenses for a controversial pair of mobile telephone satellites the company is building for a Chinese/Singaporean consortium. Approval for the Asia Pacific Mobile Telecommunications (APMT) satellites has been held up by the furor in Congress over alleged transfers of American launch and satellite technologies to China. The APMT satellites carry powerful 40-ft.-dia. antennas and could be utilized by the Chinese military. Hughes needs a State Dept.
London Luton Airport has signed a public/private partnership agreement with an Anglo-American consortium to develop and manage the airport. The consortium includes Barclays Private Equity (32.5%); Barclays U.K. Infrastructure Fund (32.5%); Airport Group International, which is partly owned by Lockheed Martin (25%), and Bechtel Enterprises (10%). Under a 100-million pound ($164-million) deal, Luton Borough Council will continue to own the airport located north of London in Bedfordshire.
Hong Kong's Air Cargo Terminals Ltd. (HACTL) has at last begun handling all air cargo (an estimated 4,000 metric tons per day) through its new $1-billion Super-Terminal 1 (ST1) facilities at Hong Kong's new international airport at Chek Lap Kok. The ST1 facility which officially opened on July 6th had been in only partial use since opening due to a massive failure of its automated box storage system. Lufthansa Cargo alone has estimated losses from the fiasco will run into the millions of dollars.
Spectrum Astro, a small Arizona-based company with 270 employees, is taking on the likes of Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW in a bid to become a finalist to build a U.S. Air Force satellite network that will track ballistic missiles from low-Earth orbit. Northrop Grumman has signed up with Spectrum Astro to compete against a Lockheed Martin/Boeing/Aerojet team and a TRW/Raytheon team to build an estimated two dozen satellites for SBIRS-Low, the low-Earth orbit component of the Air Force's Space-Based Infrared missile warning system.
Joe Gullion has been appointed president of The Canaan Group Ltd., a division of AlliedSignal Inc., Torrance, Calif. He was vice president-global sales for AlliedSignal Aerospace Marketing, Sales and Service. Gullion succeeds George H. Ebbs, Jr., who has been named president of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.
Allegations of Sudanese use of chemical weapons date as far back as the mid-1980s, and allegations that Sudan was producing chemical weapons with Iranian or Iraqi assistance arose at least as early as 1995, according to Western, Arab and African sources.
Revenues of the SAirGroup, Swissair's parent company, during the first half increased a healthy 11.3% to $3.5 billion, despite the impact of the Asian economic crisis. Net profit increased to $84.6 million, up from $70.6 million during 1997's first half. SAirLines, which comprises Swissair, Crossair, Balair and CTA, achieved results ``well beyond expectations,'' according to company officials. The trend, along with Swissair's 70.7% seat load factor, is generating optimism for a strong 1998.
