Inside the Air Force, fans of Daryl L. Jones, not just his critics, are breathing a sigh of relief that his nomination as service secretary was shot down. With a 9-9 vote, the Armed Services Committee declined to forward to the full Senate the nomination of Jones--a Florida state senator, Air Force Academy graduate and former F-4 and F-16 pilot. Various clouds of dispute and doubt hung over Jones' flying record in the reserves, business dealings and attention to detail in answering the senators' questions. He told the lawmakers he had 2,000 hr.
United Technologies Corp. (UTC) last week posted a 21% jump in earnings per share for the second quarter, while Lockheed Martin reported a relatively modest 7% rise. UTC's earnings were $1.44, versus $1.19 in the second quarter of 1997. Net income increased 18%, to $360 million. Pratt&Whitney's operating profit also rose by 18% on a 2% increase in revenues. Flight Systems' operating profit rose 4% on 10% higher revenues. Lockheed Martin's earnings per share totaled $1.52, versus $1.42 in the same period last year.
The Forbidden Diary: A B-24 Navigator Remembers is John L. Stewart's account of his World War 2 experience in Europe. Stewart secretly kept a diary of his 31 missions, complete with maps and charts, from December, 1944, through April, 1945. The book also contains many black and white photos of Stewart's comrades, their aircraft and targets, as well as illustrations of aircraft equipment and descriptions of navigation during that period. McGraw-Hill, 11 W. 19th St., New York, N.Y. 10011.
Japan Air Commuter, a Japan Air System subsidiary, has banned smoking on domestic flights. Japan Airlines and All Nippon Airways are expected to follow suit in September and October, respectively. Japan is one of the last bastions of smoking-permitted flights. More than 60% of Japanese are smokers, and passengers often resist nonsmoking efforts. But as most Japanese domestic flights are less than 2-hr.
German Aerospace Industries Assn. has decided to designate the first three days of ILA 2000 as trade days. The industry and flying display show runs June 5-12, 2000, at the Berlin Brandenberg Airport. Hans Eberhard Birke, the organizer of ILA, says that ILA '98 was the biggest in the 89-year history of the show, with attendance of 230,000, including 82,000 trade visitors.
George L. Ward has been named vice president-switch products/division manager of Dow-Key Microwave, Ventura, Calif. He was assistant vice president/manager of offshore operations for Hughes Network Systems.
Software slow-ups with the Iridium project have forced the U.S. Air Force's Space Battlelab to defer a planned military evaluation of Iridium communications during a major exercise in South Korea next month. Motorola, the prime contractor for Iridium, had agreed to loan handsets for military use during this year's Ulchi Focus Lens joint exercise. But delays in the development of final Iridium software have slowed testing of Motorola and Kyocera handsets, precluding availability to the military.
This servohydraulic test system is designed for conducting long-life fatigue testing on materials used in jet aircraft engines at frequencies of up to 1,000 Hz. The system can perform a 1-billion-cycle test in 11 days. The uniaxial system maintains high wave form fidelity while running at high frequency. It allows highly accurate control with a static load capacity of 25 kilonewtons. The system also can be used in an environmental chamber to evaluate the effect of extreme temperatures. MTS Systems Corp., 14000 Technology Drive, Eden Prairie, Minn. 55344-2290.
Jeanne Mordarski has been appointed sales manager for telecommunications products for LightPath Technologies Inc., Albuquerque, N.M. She was an account manager in the Advanced Optics Div. of Corning Inc.
Comsat Laboratories has received a contract worth $5 million to provide communications networking services for Sky Station International. Comsat will develop the communications equipment for a system of geostationary helium-filled platforms that will provide high-speed data transmission service.
British Airways said it will begin operating daily London-Denver flights on Sept. 1, following approval by U.S. Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater. The U.K. government had designated that British Airways operate the route but approval by the U.S. had been held up because of a US Airways complaint that it was not able to obtain competitive takeoff and landing slots at London Gatwick Airport for its flights from Charlotte, N.C.
John R. Damron (see photo) has been appointed vice president-electronic warfare and sensors directorate of Litton Amecom of Washington. He was director of federal liaison.
The Hammonds Data Acquisition and Communications Systems is designed to automate the monitoring of airport fueling operations. It tracks the amount of fuel dispensed, identifies additives being used and the ratio of additive to fuel as well as billing information. It allows transactions to be completed at the truck and eliminates the need for hand-written and calculated tickets. The system can be installed on fuel trucks, hydrants or at a tank farm. Any Hammonds injector currently in the field can be linked to the system. Hammonds Companies, 15760 W.
This new line of processor-based Arinc 429 test modules is available for both ISA and PCI bus architectures. The boards use field programmable gate array technology. The cards can handle as many as 16 Arinc channels each. Microsoft Windows-based software, including bus analyzers and dynamic link libraries, is available for the boards. A low-cost, battery-powered, hand-held Arinc 429 reader also is available. Pentar Avionics, 16770 N.E. 79th St., Suite 203, Redmond, Wash. 98052.
The FAA plans to order airlines to take steps within about two years to reduce the risk of explosions in Boeing 747 center fuel tanks. The agency on July 23 issued public notice of its intent to issue a rule requiring airlines to inspect the center tanks for damaged, aging or incorrectly installed wiring; to verify the electrical bonding of tank components, and install a flame arrestor in the inlet line for center tank scavenge pumps to preclude sparking from internal pump failures from igniting fuel vapors.
British Aerospace Defense Systems Ltd. has won a 4-million-pound ($6.6-million) contract from the Royal Air Force to provide Phase 1 of a pilot version of the Joint Air Component Headquarters, which will coordinate air power resources of three military services.
Bristol Spaceplanes Ltd. is flight testing a one-fifth-scale remotely piloted version of its ``Ascender'' suborbital spacecraft to evaluate vehicle controllability issues. A full-scale Ascender demonstrator would carry two crewmembers and two passengers to the edge of space for about 2 min. of microgravity experience, possibly initiating a modest space tourism industry (AW&ST Apr. 7, 1997, p. 58). Powered by twin turbojet and hydrogen/oxygen liquid rocket engines, the vehicle would take off and land on a runway.
Hundreds of former shareholders, employees and creditors of Kiwi International Airlines have filed millions of dollars in damage claims with the FAA under the Federal Tort Claims Act. The claims allege FAA officials were negligent in failing to follow FAA rules when they forced Kiwi, by threatening to suspend its operating certificate, to park four of its 15 Boeing 727s and lay off 42 pilots.
The Tacmet 2 is a second-generation, hand-held weather sensor that incorporates a new, low-power sonic anemometer and a capacitive RH sensor, flux-gate compass and on-board microprocessor. The new sensor can detect barometric pressure over a range of 600-1,000 millibars, in addition to wind speed, direction, temperature and relative humidity values that its predecessor monitored. The sensor can be hand held or mounted on a tripod. Climatronics Corp., 140 Wilbur Place, Airport International Plaza, Bohemia, N.Y. 11716.
Executive Jet Inc., business aviation's dominant player in the fractional jet ownership market, will soon become a property of Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. Buffet, who has been an Executive Jet client for several years, will pay $725 million in cash and stock for the privately held aviation concern.
Richard J. Paul has been named president of Spincraft, the aerospace division of Standex International. He was a Standex division vice president/general manager.
The NTSB last week ruled that the Sept. 5, 1996, loss of a FedEx DC-10 in Newburgh, N.Y., began with an inflight cargo fire that led to an emergency landing. The airplane burned for more than an hour after touchdown. The NTSB did not specify a cause of the fire. NTSB leaders and investigators, had earlier proclaimed their confidence that the fire started in medical equipment, a DNA synthesizer, whose volatile chemicals constituted just one of several undeclared shipments of hazardous material on the flight.
The flight control systems of modern jet transports have some features to smooth the ride, but stop well short of full turbulence compensation. More could be done, but it is not clear if it is worth the complexity, certification trials and cost. However, the Lockheed L-1011-500 transport and Northrop Grumman B-2 bomber serve as successful examples of aggressive efforts (see p. 79).
