The death of retired Navy Rear Adm. Alan B. Shepard, Jr., one of the seven original Mercury astronauts, the first American to fly in space and one of only 12 humans to land on the Moon, marks the passing of an icon of space exploration. Shepard died of leukemia July 21 at Community Hospital on the Monterey Peninsula of California. He was 74.
ARINC is trying to entice airlines to equip their aircraft with a new high-speed digital data link by offering lower charges for messages transmitted with the system than the existing ACARS. The Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) is a VHF data link the airlines have used for 20 years for air-to-ground business and air traffic service messages.
Patrick Gavin has been appointed chairman/CEO of Eurocopter. He succeeds Jean-Francois Bigay, who has become senior vice president of the Aerospatiale Aircraft Div. Gavin was chief executive of Avions de Transport Regional. He has been succeeded by Antoine Bouvier, who was head of Aerospatiale's ATR business.
Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman--two of the most aggressive players in the U.S. aerospace industry's consolidation--are apt to reinstitute proactive merger-and-acquisition strategies in the wake of their thwarted merger attempt. ``Both companies essentially have reset the clock to the spring of 1997, when they each had a broad menu of strategic options,'' Merrill Lynch analyst Byron Callan said. ``Now those menus are being dusted off.''
The 6600 Series hermetically sealed switch is designed for harsh aircraft environments and a minimum life of 130,000 cycles. The switch incorporates an internal, protected metal bellows. The housing is filled with nitrogen gas and allows the switch to meet Mil-Spec-8805 Category 5 requirements of 1 X 10-8 atmosphere cc/sec. The corrosion-resistant housing is resistant to synthetic hydraulic oils and jet fuels. The switch is designed to function over a range of less than 5 milliamps to 2 amps at 28 volts dc at temperatures of up to 400F.
Garry Print has been named CEO and Peter Stauffer vice president-sales and marketing of the Hermetic Aircraft International Corp., Holtsville, N.Y. Print was vice president-operations and Stauffer commercial director/manager of government programs.
Ongoing efforts to create airborne turbulence sensors are focusing on a variety of technologies. Any solution must be lightweight and affordable, with first introduction to fleet service about two years away. AlliedSignal, long interested in adding a turbulence detection and warning sensor to its line-up of safety-related cockpit systems, is investigating two main approaches.
A Tricept robot has been combined with an Imetric measurement system and Igrip computer simulation software to create a robot system called TI2 that is being used at Boeing to create large fuselage components. The flexible manufacturing system relies on machine vision technology to ensure that the component is positioned correctly. The three-armed, ballscrew-driven robot offers high positional accuracy and a pressing force of up to 15,000 newtons vertically. Neos Robotics AB, Ritarslingan 22A, S-187 61 Taby, Sweden.
In a surprise move, the French government and Lagardere group have agreed to merge Lagardere's Matra Hautes Technologies unit into state-owned Aerospatiale, leading to the latter's de facto privatization and removing a major obstacle to consolidation of the defense sector in Europe.
Corr-Paint CP4000 can protect metals, ceramics and refractories from high-temperature oxidation and corrosion at up to 1,100F. The single-part, water-dispersible, ceramic-silicone-based coating provides thermal, moisture and salt spray resistance. The paint can be applied to a wide range of substrates, including dense ceramics, porous insulation and carbon and stainless steel. Aremco Products Inc., P.O. Box 429, Ossining, N.Y. 10562-0429.
Olaf Mager has been named director of press and public relations for the BDLI German aerospace industries assn. He succeeds Michael Hauger, who has joined Daimler-Benz Aerospace. Mager was German interior ministry spokesman in Saxony.
Hughes engineers believe they have found a probable common cause for the multiple failures of spacecraft control processors on HS 601 satellites, and are replacing the suspect electronic module in spacecraft on the ground. The only delay so far is of JCSat-6, which was to launch July 29 on an Atlas 2. Officials have now requested an Aug. 16 launch to allow changes to the satellite, which has been delivered to Cape Canaveral. The next launch is Astra 2A on a Proton, and that remains Aug. 25. Not all satellites have the suspect module.
Paul W. Wren (see photo) has become vice president-marketing of Projects Unlimited Inc., Dayton, Ohio. He was marketing director for U.S. Air Force programs for the Anteon Corp.
A CIA report to the U.S. Congress said China has strengthened control of its nuclear exports, stopped selling C-801/C-802 anti-ship cruise missiles to Iran and ceased cooperation on a project to supply Iran with a uranium conversion facility. But Chinese firms were the primary suppliers of chemical warfare material to Iran in 1997, and continued--along with Russia and North Korea--to provide missile-related goods and technology to Tehran, according to an unclassified summary of the report that was released by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
A planned transatlantic crossing by the Aerosonde miniature robotic aircraft calls for an early August launch at dawn from a site near St. John's, Newfoundland, and a landing the next day in Ireland (AW&ST July 20, p. 13). A fleet of three Aerosondes is being readied for the 3,000-km. (4,840-mi.) attempt, with launch depending on favorable winds. Since only line-of-sight control is available, much of the transatlantic crossing will use autonomous guidance, according to Tad McGeer, president of The Insitu Group, one of the project's backers.
A system designed to provide general aviation pilots with the ability to send and receive data, including real-time weather information and position reports, for less than $2,000, is scheduled to be introduced at the Experimental Aircraft Assn. show in Oshkosh, Wis., this week.
The EC250 Scara robot is designed for micromanufacturing of delicate equipment such as computer hard drives. The four-axis robot has a horizontal reach of 9.8 in. (250 mm.) and weighs less than 30 lb. It can spin a part at up to 2,000 deg. per sec. and can lift loads of up to 6.6 lb. and has a Z-stroke of 4.72 in. (120 mm.). The EC250 is powered by a single-box, 16-task controller that fits in a 19-in. rack. The controller software is based on the Microsoft Windows 95/NT operating system. Seiko Instruments, 2990 W. Lomita Blvd., Torrance, Calif. 90505.
Simon Murray and Hugh Coble have been named to the board of directors of ICO Global Communications of London. Murray is Asia-Pacific executive chairman of the Deutsche Bank Group. Coble is vice chairman emeritus of the Fluor Corp.
Estonian Air is moving closer to its target of achieving profitability by the end of next year following a 42% increase in revenues, to $36.7 million, in 1997. The carrier, which is investing heavily in new equipment and training, said losses fell 36% from the previous year to $3.9 million. Overall passenger traffic increased by 25% in 1997. Estonian Air, 49% owned by Maersk of Denmark following its partial privatization in 1996, operates two 737-500s and two Fokker 50s.
Carbon-Fiber Reinforced PEEK is a corrosion-resistant thermoplastic with the strength of steel and excellent wear characteristics. The use of carbon fiber gives the material better strength than conventional polyetheretherketone (PEEK) at temperatures as high as 525F. It has one-fifth the weight of steel and exhibits low friction for use with high loads in dynamic applications. It also offers a high coefficient of thermal conductivity. Advanced Products Co. Inc., 33 Defco Park Road, P.O. Box 296, North Haven, Conn. 06473.
Jannus, An American Flier by Thomas Reilly is an account of the life of Tony Jannus, a barnstormer and test pilot who founded the world's first airline, the St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line, in 1914. Reilly, an aviation consultant with 25 years of experience in the airline business, describes Jannus as a man with a magnetic personality whose contemporaries were people such as Glenn Curtiss, Thomas Benoist and Katherine Stinson. University Press of Florida, 15 N.W. 15th St., Gainesville, Fla. 32611-2079.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems will receive $5.3 million for first units of the Navy's AN/UYQ-70(V) Advanced Display System. Total value of the contract, including options for up to seven years of production and associated support services and data, is estimated at $281.6 million.
Robert Webb will become general counsel of British Airways in September. He will succeed Ken Walder, who will be director of operations/chief legal adviser for the British Aviation Insurance Group.
For the first time since 1991, Japan's seven largest carriers have taken fewer reservations in the peak summer period of July 18-Aug. 17. The 0.6% in bookings this year compared to 1997 mirrors the country's recession. Scheduled international departures from the country's two biggest international airports, Tokyo's Narita and Osaka's Kansai, are down 4% and 7.3%, respectively. Asian services are particularly hard hit by the recession, especially flights to Indonesia's tourist centers and Hong Kong.
French aircraft manufacturer Reims Aviation is eyeing North American markets for its F-406 light twin-turboprop transport, formerly known as the Cessna Conquest. Reims, located in the French city of the same name, also license-builds the C-172 and C-182 Cessna single piston-engine models and manufactures components for Aerospatiale, Airbus and Dassault. The F-406, called the Caravan 2 by Reims, has a 4,468-kg. (9,830-lb.) maximum takeoff weight, 246-kt. maximum cruise speed and range of up to 1,153 naut. mi.
