Ad Opt Technologies has seen its airline scheduling software business blossom in the last year. TWA is the latest client for the Montreal-based firm, following earlier wins with FedEx, Northwest, Delta Express, UPS, Sabena and Air Canada. Air Canada provided Ad Opt's entree into the airline industry by adopting its Preferential Bidding System (PBS) software four years ago. More recently, the rest of the industry has begun to discover that scheduling tools can help control costs, boost flexibility and improve efficiency.
Los Angeles County Sheriff's Aero Bureau has acquired four former U.S. Navy SH-3H Sea King helicopters to replace its fleet of heavy-lift Sikorsky S-58Ts. Despite their key search and rescue role, parts and maintenance costs for the aging S-58Ts have become a problem. Known as the CH-3 or HH-3 in the Air Force and S-61 in a civilian version, the Sea King has greater range, speed and payload than the S-58T.
JOHN MURPHEY, executive vice president of Bell Helicopter Textron, said last week the company is actively addressing ``misinformation'' circulating among more than 3,000 owner/operators of Boeing 500/600-series helicopters that Bell would use its proposed acquisition of the light helicopters as a ``method to kill off these product lines.'' He said Bell is assuring operators the company is ``anxious and excited to serve that customer base,'' and ``we are going to continue to build and aggressively market and sell'' those helicopters worldwide.
A top official at the International Civil Aviation Organization is floating the idea of an aviation development bank, comparable in mission to the World Bank, for financing aviation infrastructure projects. By 2010, some $250 billion will be needed for investment in airport and air navigation services. Obtaining financing for these projects through traditional sources is difficult due to their high cost and indirect return, according to Chris Lyle, deputy director of the Air Transport Bureau at ICAO headquarters in Montreal.
With more than 10,000 sec. of test-run time completed, Russian RD-180 rocket engines are delivering slightly more ISP than expected, and proving to be extremely robust, according to Lockheed Martin Astronautics officials. The engine's high thrust also has allowed reliability-enhancing design features to be incorporated into Lockheed Martin's new Atlas 3 and the company's version of the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). Both will be powered by the RD-180 (AW&ST Apr. 13, p. 34).
THE GERMAN BUNDESTAG has approved DM4.6 billion ($2.5 billion) for 80 Tiger attack helicopters. The sum does not cover weaponry and ancillary equipment, which will cost an additional DM1.1 billion. The move, announced at an important Franco-German summit opened in Avignon, France, paves the way for signature of an initial-series production contract for the Tiger, expected to be announced at the ILA air show in Berlin next week. France earlier okayed a budget that foresees the purchase of a similar number of rotorcraft (AW&ST Apr. 20, p. 62).
The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization faces a $4.5-billion funding shortfall between 2000-05. Air Force Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, the BMDO director, blames cost overruns on the Army's Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) and THAAD, the Theater High-Altitude Area Defense interceptor--along with fu-ture funding demands from other programs. Lyles has chided the military services for lobbying for their own anti-missile programs, rather than supporting a joint, Pentagon-wide approach to determining the best investment strategy for missile defense.
Three years after its start, the Boeing On-Line Data (BOLD) global information retrieval system is a work in progress that will take another 2-3 years to reach its goal of digitizing any piece of data an airline or maintenance shop needs to maintain or operate a Boeing aircraft.
Inside the Washington Beltway, the buzz word for last week was ``acquisition reform.'' This was one of the main topics during panels at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference Global Air&Space '98 in Arlington, Va. The U.S. Defense Dept. even cooperated independently by declaring last week ``Acquisition Reform Week.''
IRIDIUM PLANS A MAY 15 launch from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., of five satellites on board a Delta 2 after rescheduling from last week. But a May 2 launch of two of the Lockheed Martin-built satellites by a Long March 2C/SD launcher from China's Taiyuan launch center was successful. It was the third straight Long March success for the Iridium program. Success from the Delta launch will put 68 working spacecraft in orbit out of 72 launched. The constellation is based on 66 working spacecraft and six orbital spares, so the Delta mission will complete the basic constellation.
Less than a year after it was created, the Air and Space Command and Control Agency (ASC2A) may be expanded to oversee U.S. Air Force intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) functions. The agency was established last summer to consolidate USAF command and control (C2) activities by eliminating duplication of effort, spurring commonality, integrating air and space C2, and developing a modernization strategy and future investment plan. In essence, the reorganization was supposed to allow the service's C2 to be managed as a weapon system.
Pilots' unions at Air France continue to resist management demands for a 15% reduction in wages in return for a 10% stake in the airline. The unions have been backing their refusal by referring to a report issued last month by the U.S. Air Line Pilots Assn., in which Air France pilot salaries were found to be lower than those at archrival British Airways. However, last week, company executives released a new version of the report, commissioned by the French union SNPL, reversing these findings.
After completing its first extensive review of Japan's space activities, a national watchdog agency has said it is time for a thorough cost-scrubbing, starting with the National Space Development Agency's little-used Nissan J-1 launcher.
The third and final qualification flight for the Ariane 5 booster is now slated for mid-September, provided a paying customer is found for the mission's second payload. Europe's ARD atmospheric reentry demonstrator, weighing 2,716 kg. (5,975 lb.), is already on the flight 503 launch manifest. This leaves space for a commercial satellite not exceeding 2,790 kg. (6,138 lb.), which is said to have complicated the customer search.
The Sino-American summit next month in Beijing is expected to be a lightning rod for fierce partisan warfare between Congress and the White House over U.S. missile technology exports to China. Controversy over Washington's central role in Southeast Asia's recent financial bailout also will form the summit's backdrop.
KENT DISPLAYS INC. HAS DEVELOPED a flat panel that continues to display the image when power is turned off. The Kent, Ohio-based company's technology--Cholesteric Liquid Crystal Displays (ChLCD)--is reflective for good sunlight visibility. Bi-stability allows the image retention with the power off. One laboratory image has lasted four years without power, so far, according to the company. Update rate is slow, making the display unsuitable for video.
A BOEING 737-200 OPERATED by the Peruvian air force crashed at night on May 5, 3 mi. north of the runway near an Occidental Petroleum Corp. base camp at Andoas, Peru. Peruvian officials said 13 of the 87 occupants survived, but all eight crewmembers died. The jet was on final approach when it crashed and burned in a swampy area. Light rain was falling at the time of the accident. The 737 was chartered by Occidental from the Peruvian air force to transport oil workers. It departed Iquitos, Peru, for the 190-mi.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE was awarded its certificate of airworthiness for the Learjet 45 from the FAA on May 6 (AW&ST May 4, p. 18). Deliveries of the nine-place corporate jet began last week. The Learjet 45 made its first international appearance at the recent Aerospace Africa industry exhibition in Pretoria, South Africa.
Adding power connections to airline seats so travelers can plug in their laptops will be a big hit with the traveling public, but may pose problems for flight crews. Whether there will be any adverse effects on flight safety remains to be seen. The concerns are primarily over radio-frequency and electromagnetic interference (RFI/EMI) that may be generated from a new range of electronic gadgets passengers will bring on board, knowing they don't have to rely on battery power (AW&ST Sept. 9, 1996, p. 82).
European nations are at a critical juncture in their search to meet future airlift requirements. The proposed Future Large Aircraft is under threat from a German-backed proposal for a cooperative program with Russia and Ukraine on the Antonv An-70, while U.S. firms are offering their own alternatives for the short and long term.
