Price is edging out performance as the primary driver of technological innovation, but companies are still developing new products and processes by focusing on increasing their value. That is the consensus of winners of Aviation Week&Space Technology's Second Annual Technology Innovation Awards, the panel of independent judges who selected them and other industry officials. The 10 winning products or processes are profiled here.
Two major U.S. airlines are close to placing orders for Laser Data Command Inc.'s PassPro System, which can be used to positively identify passengers and match them with their baggage, according to Thomas Saylor, the Eden Prairie, Minn., company's vice president.
The Aircraft Engine History Recorder stores data on abnormal events and also warns crewmembers of engine problems in flight. In addition, the system, designed initially for Cobra AH-1 attack helicopters, can perform pre-flight engine health tests, inflight power tests and displays engine parameters. The system also stores data that can be downloaded to a personal computer by maintenance personnel. The recorder and crew display weighs 4 lb., while the service panel unit weighs an additional 1 lb. Orbit Avionic&Communications Systems Ltd., P.O.
Industry trendsetter Robert Crandall, who will step down as chief of American Airlines on May 20 (see p. 37), will be going out on a high note--a 2-1 stock split last week and first-quarter earnings that far exceeded anything Wall Street had projected.
In 1994, when a veteran Wall Street aerospace analyst forecast that Orbital Sciences Corp.'s stock price would climb to $50 a share within 3-4 years, some industry observers scoffed that his prediction was wildly optimistic.
Michael E. Korens has become vice president-aviation services of APCO Associates of Washington. He was majority counsel to the U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee.
Guenter Rohrmann, president/CEO of Air Express International (AEI), Darien, Conn., has received the 1998 Salzberg Medallion presented by the Syracuse (N.Y.) University School of Management. The award recognizes contributions to the field of logistics and transportation, and Rohr- mann was honored for portraying the field as being an essential and integral part of a company's supply chain management.
Larry Jorash has been appointed general manager of the Hartford, Conn., base of Signature Flight Support. He held the same position at the Smyrna Air Center, Nashville, Tenn.
ANALOG DEVICES HAS DEVELOPED a low-cost single-chip temperature monitor for PCs and other systems that need thermal management. The ADM1021 calculates temperature by measuring the changes in the base emitter voltage of a transistor as two different currents are run through it. Alert signals can be reported over a two-wire serial interface that meets system management bus standards, and can be used to program temperature limits and report alerts. One application could be to maximize processor rate for temperature.
The orbiter Columbia is poised to begin the NASA/international Neurolab mission, a unique $500-million flight to study functions of the human brain and nervous system in space. Columbia and its seven-member crew are to lift off from Pad 39B at 1:19 p.m. EDT Apr. 16. The Mission 90 flight will be devoted to an area with broad application to ground-based medical research. Neurolab will be at the cutting edge on two frontiers--the human brain and space science, said Dr. Mary Anne Frey, program scientist for the mission.
ORIGINALSIM OF MONTREAL HAS DEVELOPED a high-level architecture to develop simulation software faster and less expensively. The object-oriented simulation can also be used to update legacy simulations and can cut more than 60% in development time, cost and life-cycle expense, according to the company. The technology promotes collaborative development through use of Java, by permitting test and implementation over the Internet.
Jim Clough has been named manager of styling and design at Bombardier Business Aircraft and is based at the Bombarier Completion Center in Tucson, Ariz.
Canadian carriers have asked the FAA to refund millions of dollars in fees, plus interest, they paid before a U.S. appeals court threw out the FAA's rule on ``overflight'' charges. Under a 1997 rule, the agency was assessing fees on aircraft flying over, but not taking off or landing in, the U.S. (AW&ST Feb. 16, p.15). The Air Transport Assn. of Canada (ATAC), which represents Canadian airlines, successfully challenged the rule but is complaining that more than two months after the court's decision, the check is still in the mail, so to speak.
Between the B-2 bomber's first flight in July 1989 and completion of the ``baseline'' Engineering Manufacturing Development (EMD) program in June 1997, the U.S. Air Force and contractor B-2 Air Vehicle Test Team conducted an aggressive eight-year flight test program--with no accidents and no major incidents.
An upstart Arizona space company is preparing to challenge some of the Pentagon's giant suppliers for a lucrative contract to build two dozen low-Earth-orbit satellites for the U.S. Air Force's Space Based Infrared (SBIRS) missile warning system. Spectrum Astro Inc. is seeking to pull together partners to bid against a Lockheed Martin/Boeing/Aerojet team and a TRW/Raytheon team for an estimated $3.8-billion contract to build the SBIRS-low system.
The Boeing 777-300, the stretched twinjet tailored for the Asia-Pacific market, is on schedule for certification and delivery next month. The flight tests in the 1,480-hr., four-aircraft program have gone so smoothly that ``the engineers can't keep up,'' Capt. Frank P. Santoni, 777 chief pilot, said. ``We're outflying the test program.'' The company expects to complete basic certification in early May and deliver the first -300, powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 892s, to Cathay Pacific Airways in late May.
Unveiled here last week, the U.S. Space Command's Long Range Plan is not only the military's first comprehensive roadmap for building a year-2020 space-warfighting capability, but a clear declaration that space has become a national economic ``center of gravity'' which must be protected.
Dwayne Tucker has been appointed vice president-human resources of Northwest Airlines. He has been senior vice president-human resources of First Data's Card Service Group. Tucker succeeds Deanna Hess, who will remain a vice president until retiring at the end of the year.
Safety investigators last week urged the FAA to order inspections of fuel-quantity indicating systems in Boeing 747-100, -200 and -300 aircraft and to survey those systems in other aircraft types for damaged wiring that could create ignition sources inside fuel tanks. In an Apr. 7 letter to FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Jim Hall also called on the FAA to order airlines to replace 1960s vintage terminal blocks on 747 fuel probes that have a tendency to cut through wire insulation.
Silicon Graphics Inc. is on track to introduce a line of visual PCs in the second half of 1998 that should open new markets for its high-fidelity graphics technology.
Airline insurers in the U.K. are working on the final draft of an exclusion clause for the risks associated with ``millennium bug'' glitches in avionics and computer software. A joint working group of the Aviation Insurance Offices Assn. and Lloyd's Aviation Underwriters Assn. also is developing a questionnaire for carriers to assess the measures they are taking to minimize the potential risks involved if computer systems do not recognize the date change to 2000.
Philippines regional carrier Cebu Pacific has returned to active flight status and called back 220 furloughed employees after being grounded following the Feb. 2 DC-9 crash that killed 104 people (AW&ST Feb. 16, p. 33). Airline officials also said they will resume plans to lease two more DC-9s from Air Canada and begin international operations to destinations such as Singapore. A preliminary accident report said pilot error was the cause of the crash, but it cited the airline for poor management.
G. Richard Patterson has been promoted to vice president/general manager of the Aerospace Div. from divisional vice president-marketing/acting general manager for Ametek Inc., Paoli, Pa.
