Deployment of the 66-satellite Iridium constellation has been completed with the launch of five spacecraft from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., setting the stage for commercial operations scheduled to begin in four months. Motorola's launch of the five spacecraft May 17 on a Boeing Delta 2 booster caps an intense launch program for Iridium, which included a total of 15 launches using Delta, Proton and Long March boosters beginning at Vandenberg on May 5, 1997.
The days of semiconductor design databooks may be numbered. Engineers can now access a complete database of technical information about Enhanced Memory Systems Inc.'s enhanced dynamic random access memory (EDRAM) and enhanced synchronous DRAM (ESDRAM) products on a new CD-ROM. The disk also includes product summaries, sales contacts, a frequently asked questions guide, news briefs and a home page. A standard HTML interface allows navigating the database like any World Wide Web site, and information updates can be accessed through a hotlink to Enhanced's Web site.
Stephen M. Wolf has stepped down as chief executive officer of US Airways to focus more time on the strategic direction of the already-turned-around company and on government relations, both in the U.S. and abroad.
Heading off Pakistan's first nuclear test and averting India's deployment of nuclear-tipped missiles should be White House priorities now that New Delhi has resumed nuclear testing, arms experts say.
Recession or not, Japan's seven major domestic carriers scored well in the traditional spring holiday period of Apr. 25-May 5. Their domestic services transported 2.59 million passengers, up 5.9% over the previous year--when the banking crisis that has stymied the Japanese economy had not yet hit. Foreign flights were up 11.9% to 210,000 passengers for the holiday period. The biggest winner was Japan Airlines' Honolulu services, which were up 45%.
Russian engineers have determined the cause of a recent heavy booster failure following launch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The use by the Russian Energomash company of RD-170 turbomachinery that had been stressed beyond specification during ground tests was found to be the cause of the Zenit accident in May 1997 during the launch of a military electronic intelligence satellite. Energomash initially did not want to take blame for the low-altitude explosion, pointing instead to faulty Ukrainian hardware. U.S.
Implementation of a global system for air traffic management was deliberated here last week at the International Civil Aviation Organization's Communication, Navigation and Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) implementation conference.
AIR FRANCE, JAPAN AIRLINES, Korean Air and Lufthansa German Airlines have begun moving into the new Terminal One at New York's JFK International Airport following its official dedication last week. They expect to be operating out of the terminal by early June. The four airlines had created the Terminal One Group Assn. to develop, finance, design, construct and operate the $434-million project.
A new airborne reconnaissance architecture written by the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office recommends the Pentagon drastically reshape its mix of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) systems in the coming years. The proposal could lead to large-scale consolidation of existing ISR aircraft and launch a new, reconnaissance variant of Lockheed Martin's C-130J, known as the C-130J(R).
AYRES CORP. HAS AGREED to purchase Czech aircraft manufacturer LET, which already is under firm contract to manufacture the wing and empennage for Ayres' new Loadmaster LM200 transport. If the sale is consummated by year-end as planned, Albany, Ga.-based Ayres likely will increase LET's role in Loadmaster production. LET also has been developing the L-610, a 40-seat high-wing utility and regional transport powered by two GE CT7D turboprop engines. The L-610 is scheduled to receive FAA certification late this year, according to Ayres.
GEC-MARCONI HAS RECEIVED a 170-million pound ($278.8-million) contract from British Aerospace to begin the production investment phase of the EURODASS defensive aids sub-system for Eurofighter. GEC-Marconi heads the EURODASS consortium which includes Elettronica of Italy and Indra of Spain. The sub-system includes missile and laser-warning systems, flare and chaff dispensers, wingtip ESM/ ECM pods and a towed-radar decoy which has successfully been deployed at supersonic speeds in development tests.
A restructured Asia Pacific Mobile Telecommunications Satellite Pte. Ltd. has ordered two Hughes HS GEM geomobile communications satellites in a turnkey operation that will challenge Western-led consortiums such as Iridium, Globalstar and ICO.
An advanced 6-ton National Reconnaissance Office signal intelligence spacecraft launched over the Western Pacific Ocean on May 8 will help the U.S. secretly monitor government and military communications in India and Pakistan where tensions are growing following the Indian nuclear weapons tests on May 11 and 13. The National Security Agency will be the primary user of the new Orion spacecraft. The NSA along with the CIA and State Dept. will lead the interpretation of communication intercepts obtained over the region from the new satellite.
Good economic times are driving new regional airline services at the nation's airports. As demand continues strong and regional jets enter markets, competition among the carriers is growing keener. In a robust growth mode, regional carriers are expanding services as feeders to the major hubs, adding flights to previously unserved areas and upgrading services. Confident that the regionals' growth will continue, the FAA has forecast a 10% annual growth rate for revenue passenger miles this year, followed by a 7% increase in 1999.
Roger Wilson (see photo) has been appointed vice president-engineering of the Sino Swearingen Aircraft Co., San Antonio, Tex. He was director of Lear 45 development for Learjet Inc.
The FAA is committed to scrapping its current, broken system for checking the safety of major airlines and replacing it with one that would swiftly identify and head off potential problems, top agency officials said last week. ``In the past, we have focused on the symptoms,'' FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said, as she unveiled the Air Transportation Oversight System (ATOS) inspection regime. ``Now we will focus on root causes.''
FRENCH TRANSPORT MINISTER Jean-Claude Gayssot said the French government would provide research and development funding for an all-new engine to replace the CFM 56 if and when CFMI partners General Electric and Snecma agreed to launch such a project. Financing for the engine, whose development would cost an estimated $1.5 billion, would be in the form of reimbursable loans. The two companies are discussing creation of a replacement powerplant in the CFM-6's 18,500-34,000-lb.
AIR NEW ZEALAND has sold its five 747-200s to Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. for $130 million. Air New Zealand will refurbish the aircraft to Virgin Atlantic specifications; they are to be delivered from March 1999-January 2000. Air New Zealand has not announced a replacement order, but observers said it has been made an ``offer too good to refuse'' on five 747-400s whose delivery has been deferred by Asian carriers.
To increase survivability in the event of an accident involving fire, a European Transport Safety Council study recommends that smoke hoods be provided in all commercial aircraft and that water-mist systems be installed in new commercial aircraft types.
Airbus Industrie and the British Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) have completed wake vortex tests that should help determine the final aerodynamic design of the proposed A3XX high-capacity transport. The program's primary goal was to ensure that the A3XX wing design could be optimized to minimize wakes. Wake vortices help determine aircraft horizontal separation during final approach. Their strength is linked to aircraft size. DERA provided a Light Detection and Ranging system (left) that uses a carbon dioxide laser.
Blaine Jones has been appointed chief financial officer of the Mesa Air Group, Farmington, N.M. He had been president of the Mesa Airlines Div. Jones succeeds W. Stephen Jackson, who has resigned.
Brian W. Simpson has become vice president-strategic consulting of the Boyd Group/ASRC Inc., Evergreen, Colo. He was manager of business development for Delta Air Lines.
Jon C. Leverette, an aerospace engineer at the Naval Aviation Depot, Jacksonville, Fla., has received the Claud A. Jones Award from the American Society of Naval Engineers. Leverette was cited for his role in the development of the T-45 Integrated Maintenance Program.
NORTHWEST, CONTINENTAL, America West and Alaska Airlines reached agreement with Air China last week to share frequent-flier programs and cooperate in other areas. The similar agreements between Air China and the four airlines includes code-sharing of flights, linked computer reservation systems and joint marketing, sales and promotion programs.
FAA, Boeing and airline officials are gauging the extent of severe fuel-tank wiring damage on older 737s as a result of new inspections ordered by the aviation agency last week.
