SABENA BELGIAN WORLD AIRLINES and Virgin Express plan to inaugurate on May 17 a Brussels-Stansted route they will operate under a code-sharing agreement. The two carriers jointly operate 13 flights per day linking Brussels, Heathrow and Gatwick.
Deborah Roche Lee has been appointed vice president-international operations and Scott Seligman director of public relations, both in Washington, for the United Technologies Corp. Lee was assistant Defense secretary for reserve affairs, and Seligman was senior vice president/ director of public affairs in China for Burson-Marsteller.
MANAGEMENT OF U.S. AIR FORCE fighter and bomber programs is going to see major changes. Lt. Gen. George Muellner, the Air Force's top acquisition official, is expected to retire in August. He pushed JSF from a concept to a program and also moved the E-8 Joint-STARS ground surveillance aircraft into operational use during Desert Storm. Possible replacements include Lt. Gen. Ronald Kadish, commander of electronic systems center, and Maj. Gen. Ronald Marcotte, J-5 (plans and policy) for U.S. Strategic Command, who was the first B-2 wing commander. Maj. Gen.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has logged the first sale of its first indigenous commercial helicopter and has begun work on components for three production units. Final assembly of the MH-2000 is slated to begin this summer, with initial deliveries in December. The company plans to monitor initial domestic operations in order to integrate product improvements rapidly.
Despite several attempts by Lockheed Martin to assuage government concerns about its proposed acquisition of Northrop Grumman, the Defense Dept.--which is backing the Justice Dept. in blocking the transaction--continues to claim its uncompromising opposition represents no fundamental shift in attitude toward U.S. industry consolidation. They could have fooled us.
Facing a shortage of gates at Dallas' Love Field, start-up business carrier Legend Airlines plans to construct an executive terminal of its own at the downtown airport. Legend President and CEO T. Allan McArtor said the terminal would include six gates, ticket counters, a passenger waiting section, business/conference center and a private parking garage. Legend has applied for Transportation Dept. approval to operate a small fleet of DC-9-32s to major business destinations on the East and West Coasts.
The first titanium matrix composite (TMC) components developed for aircraft applications should begin test runs on a fully assembled Pratt&Whitney F119 engine later this year, according to an official at Atlantic Research Corp. (ARC), which manufactured the 12-in.-long piston.
Superconducting integrated circuits will allow future space-based infrared (IR) imaging systems to detect cooler objects and will make them cheaper to build, according to TRW.
The Model XF-35 inflatable vest for commercial aircraft weighs 1.1 lb. without packaging. The unit's cells are sewn together at five points along the neck openings, making incorrect donning impossible. The white buckle is easy to identify against the black belt webbing and yellow vest material and is simple to buckle. The vest, designed for users weighing 35 lb. or more, offers 35 lb. of buoyancy. Its meets FAA TSO-13f. Eastern Aero Marine, 3850 N.W. 25th St., Miami, Fla. 33142.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE IS TESTING TWO SETS of thermoplastic composite early warning radar radomes on F-16A/Bs configured to Block 25 standards. The radomes are installed for flight testing and demonstration on two F-16s operated by the 188th Fighter Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard, based at Fort Smith.
Boeing's next-generation 737 program is both one of the most successful aircraft projects the company has ever undertaken and, paradoxically, one of the most financially troubled. As Boeing engineers continue configuration development on the latest next-generation 737, the -900 version, managers and workers at the manufacturer's Renton, Wash., narrow-body factory are battling to get production on schedule and parts deliveries and costs back under control.
Comair, the largest operator of Canadair Regional Jets, with more than 50 aircraft, served as a beta site for testing SpotLight, Atlantis Aerospace's troubleshooting software. SpotLight uses an artificial intelligence technique called case-based reasoning to help aircraft maintenance technicians quickly identify the source of problems (AW&ST June 16, 1997, p. 218).
THE GALAXY SUPER MIDSIZE business jet has attained its maximum Mach operating speed of Mach 0.85 at an altitude of 42,000 ft., and has been flown at its maximum operating altitude of 45,000 ft. The production prototype has completed more than 24 flights and accumulated 81 hr. A second airplane is scheduled to make its first flight this quarter and join the flight test program. Galaxy Aerospace officials expect the airplane to receive Israeli certification by the end of this year.
Arthur Ruff has become vice president-manufacturing of Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures Inc., Long Beach, Calif. He was director of manufacturing for the Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan.
Rick Bedard has become assistant manager of the West Palm Beach (Fla.) Learning Center and Marsha Bell product marketing director of FlightSafety International.
THE U.S. GOVERNMENT'S court case that has blocked Lockheed Martin's proposed acquisition of Northrop Grumman probably will drag out until the closing weeks of 1998, when a federal judge expects to decide which side will prevail. The Justice Dept. on Mar. 23 filed suit against the companies to prevent them from merging.
Galaxy Scientific of Egg Harbor Township, N.J., is extending the integration of differential GPS and geographical information system technologies used in its NTV-2000 Driver's Enhanced Vision System (DEVS) for airport rescue and firefighting (ARFF) vehicles. The result is a line of products called Airport Trak that is designed to meet the needs of other airport ground vehicles while also providing for centralized tracking of their movements, said Michele Engelhart, a Galaxy vice president.
The EL2 and EL3 are serial-input, 100-watt controlled electronic loads. The devices have a standard serial input pin, as well as inputs for clock, latch data and chip select. Applications include power supply test and characterization, battery capacity testing and real-time load simulation. The EL2 has a loading voltage of 2.5-50 volts, while the EL3's maximum is 100 volts. The devices use external heatsinking. Eltest, 26 Oxford Road, Mansfield, Mass. 02048-1127.
Harold Don Smith, vice president-electronic product engineering for Raytheon Systems Co., Greenville, Tex., has been named Black Engineer of the Year for professional achievement, at the Black Engineer of the Year 1998 Awards Conference in Baltimore.
THE BRAZILIAN GOVERNMENT has ordered five Reims Aviation F406 Caravan 2 twin turboprops valued at $25.6 million. They will be delivered in 1999-2001. One of the aircraft will be equipped with a surveillance radar and Flir for patrol missions. In addition, the British Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Foods ordered a maritime patrol F406 equipped with a Bendix RDR1500B radar.
The Memrecam Ci/RX-2 is a high-speed video system designed for crash and flight tests and other high-acceleration, high-vibration environments. The 11-lb. system's seperable camera head weighs less than 1.5 lb. and measures 2.4 X 2.2 X 4 in. The camera can fit easily into confined spaces such as engine compartments. It's high g rating also allows it to be mounted on an aircraft wing. The camera has been tested to more than 1,000 cycles at 150g. It records digital images at 500 frames per sec. with a resolution of 510 X 484 pixels.
Production of the Boeing MD-80 twinjet could be extended up to a half-year longer than currently planned as a result of negotiations with Trans World Airlines for acquisition of up to 24 of the narrow-body aircraft. Boeing officials previously said they planned to end MD-80 production in mid-1999 when orders were expected to run out. Last week, they said manufacturing could continue up to five or six additional months at the company's Douglas Products Div. if the 24 new aircraft were acquired by the carrier.
Early next year, Raytheon Systems Co. is scheduled to install its upgraded AN/APS-137B(V)5 inverse synthetic aperture radar in a U.S. Navy S-3B to demonstrate the system's improved imaging, multiple-threat tracking and precision targeting capabilities.
ONTARIO'S MINISTRY OF Natural Resources has ordered nine Canadair 415 turboprop firefighting airplanes with deliveries scheduled to begin this month and conclude in December. Manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace will buy back nine piston-powered CL-215s operated by the ministry for resale or lease. Plans call for relocating final assembly of the Canadair 415 to Ontario.
Elise Kopczick (see photo, p. 12) has become vice president-people and processes of Hydro-Aire Inc., Burbank, Calif. She was director of human resources.
