Trevor Findlay, formerly with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institution, has become executive director of the London-based Verification Technology Information Centre. He succeeds Patricia Lewis, who has become the director of the U.N. Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva.
Getting good data exchange between different CAD/CAM programs--CATIA to Pro-E, Pro-E to Unigraphics, Unigraphics to Computervision, etc.--has been a long-standing concern for the industry. Data exchange bottlenecks are most likely to arise between prime contractors and their subcontractors, or between the subs and third-tier vendors using different CAD/CAM programs. But they also can arise among divisions within a company, especially a merged giant like Lockheed Martin. Ten years ago, 24 manufacturers and government agencies formed a consortium called PDES Inc.
Sikorsky is studying a menu of upgrades to the Black Hawk that could double the aircraft's productivity, cut its operational and support costs by one-third and extend the life of the UH-60 fleet by 20-30 years. The studies are being performed to support published U.S. Army plans that call for keeping Black Hawks in service until at least 2025. Upgrades are necessary to meet this goal because the oldest UH-60s will turn 20 this year.
Japan Airlines dipped into its reserve fund for nearly $1.2 billion to cover money-losing investments in hotels, a helicopter operation and cruise business in 1997, but it expects a rebound in profits in fiscal 1998.
THE FAA HAS FINED BOEING $140,000 for failing to properly inspect 140 shipments of fasteners on Dec. 17-18 at its Renton, Wash., narrow-body factory. Boeing is appealing, saying it was using an FAA-approved supplier acceptance process. The case is unrelated to a special inspection of 737 production lines in Renton and Wichita, Kan., last January after the crash of a SilkAir 737 in Indonesia. That inspection found several, non-safety related quality-control process deficiencies.
Australia Pacific Airports Corp. (APAC), a consortium led by U.K. airport operator BAA with a 15.1% share, has won the competition to operate Launceston airport in Tasmania, Australia. APAC agreed to pay A$17 million ($11.6 million) for a 50-year lease on the airport, which posted total revenues of A$4 million ($2.7 million) in 1996-97 and 592,000 passenger movements. BAA, which also has an equity stake in Melbourne airport, hopes to use its foothold in Australia to expand its airport ownership and management into the Asia-Pacific region.
Macau's East Asia Airlines upgraded its fleet to three Sikorsky S-76C+ helicopters, increasing passenger capacity by 50%. The 12-passenger S-76s replace Bell 222s. During 1997, EAA carried more than 40,000 passengers on 26 daily flights between the Portuguese enclave and the central business district of Hong Kong. The rotary-wing journey across the mouth of the Pearl River Delta takes 18 min. compared with a 45-min. commute on ferries. Flights originate from Macau's Maritime Terminal, located hard by Macau's most popular tourist attraction--its casinos.
The fighter competition in Chile is not really about the purchase of 16-20 new aircraft. The real prize is an inside track for a decade-long fighter modernization program that could mean sales of 60 or more fighters as the Chilean air force works through a highly integrated plan to replace three old fighter types--35 Cessna A-37Bs, 40 Dassault Mirage 5/50s and 15 Northrop Grumman F-5E/Fs--with a single, easier-to-support aircraft.
THE FAA WILL GRANT an exemption to FAR Part 23 and allow Sino Swearingen Aircraft Co. to certify its SJ30-2 business jet under Commuter Category rules that permit a maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) above the 12,500-lb. limitation. The SJ30-2's MTOW will be 13,200 lb., providing an additional 700 lb. of useful load. Company officials expect FAA certification late in 1999.
Michael Kluse has been named associate laboratory director for national security for the U.S. Energey Dept.'s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Wash.
A joint venture between a Malaysian freight forwarder and the Cambodian government is testing the theory that low-cost express transshipment hubs can be successful in unlikely settings in the Southeast Asian jungle.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group will fall about five aircraft short of its first quarter production target due to certification delays and continued parts shortages on its `next generation' 737 line.
A study of the techniques used by successful maintenance troubleshooters could lead to changes in both the training and type of instructors for aircraft technicians. Aerospace has progressed from mechanical-based systems to those controlled by electronics, which require abstract thinking, according to Scott Johnson, professor of human resource education at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
The Air Transport Assn. was reorganized last week, and it surprised and confused many industry officials. The airline trade group's senior vice president of operations and safety, Mike Rioux, was demoted. Three staffers left, including Phil Boughton, who had been brought on by Rioux as vice president of engineering, maintenance and materiel. Rioux was given Boughton's post, which he held before he was named senior vice president in 1996. ATA's vice president of air traffic management, John Ryan, was named to head the new Aviation Safety and Operations Div.
Expect some disruption at Toronto's newly privatized Lester B. Pearson International Airport. Construction crews have begun demolition of the airport's administration building in the start of a $1.65-billion renovation program. The work, to be accomplished over 10 years concurrent with regular airport operations, also will see the razing of Terminals No. 1 and No. 2. They will be replaced by a new ``Superterminal,'' linked to five-year-old Terminal No. 3, according to the Greater Toronto Airports Authority.
Despite a tight defense market, Boeing is gearing up to double production of new and remanufactured Apache AH-64D attack helicopters to a six-a-month rate over the next two years. The program also shows solid potential for additional international sales.
SKY COMPUTOR WILL PROVIDE THE AIRBORNE processor for a foliage penetrating radar Lockheed Martin is developing for the U.S. Defense Dept. The computer uses 320 megabits/sec. 64-bit packet bus to get the fast transfer of information needed for scalable multiprocessing. Lockheed Martin ultimately hopes to install its VHF/UHF synthetic aperture radar with real-time signal processor on an unmanned aerial vehicle such as Global Hawk.
Noise and pollution have prompted Tokyo's Narita airport to limit operation of auxiliary power units to within 30 min. of departure. The alternative is a ground-based power unit (GPU) installed under the ramp, but some airlines prefer to use their own APUs to avoid the GPU service fee. Airport officials said some pilots were operating APUs for an hour or more and that limiting operations to 30 min. or less would reduce exhaust emissions by 40%.
Boeing and the U.S. Navy may have found a fix to handling problems that have plagued the F/A-18E/F since last year. During a recent test flight, aircraft No. E-2, one of five single-seat F-18Es in the flight test program, was flown for 2.4 hr. without experiencing either wing-drop or buffeting, the primary flight anomalies. Several weeks ago, the Navy installed a porous wing fairing on its F/A-18E/Fs to eliminate asymmetric lift, the cause of uncommanded banks known as wing drop.
The House Commerce Committee approved a bill that would end Comsat Corp.'s legal monopoly to sell Intelsat and Inmarsat satellite services in the U.S. The bill would also push complete privatization of Inmarsat by 2001 and Intelsat by 2002. Committee chairman Tom Bliley (R.-Va.), a cosponsor of the legislation, said the bill isn't aimed at harming Comsat. Rather, the goal is to increase competition in satellite services. The Federal Communications Commission has estimated that Comsat adds, on average, a 68% markup to the Intelsat services it sells.
THE U.S. SUPREME COURT on Mar. 23 rejected without comment a former Federal Express pilot's challenge to the FAA requirement that pilots retire at age 60. Robert J. Coupe, who was forced to retire when he turned 60 in December 1995, sued Federal Express, arguing the rule first issued in 1959 violated the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act. Coupe had appealed to the Supreme Court the rulings of lower courts that he could not sue FedEx for complying with an FAA rule. He now is working as a flight engineer.
All-cargo airline Polar Air voluntarily plans to equip its in-service fleet of 13 Boeing 747 freighters with Traffic-alert Collision Avoidance System-2, designed to accommodate future upgrades. Installation is expected to be completed and the system fully operational throughout Polar's fleet by year's end. Under FAA regulations, TCAS installation is not mandatory for cargo operators. Polar Air joins FedEx, which took the cargo-carrier lead in volunteer installations of safety systems.
Gerard Hitt has been appointed vice president-customer support and services for the Rogerson Aircraft Corp., Irvine, Calif. He was general manager of Aeronetics.
ALLIEDSIGNAL HAS FORMED its first avionics manufacturing venture in China, joining Shanghai Avionics Corp. in a $3-million effort to manufacture AlliedSignal's RDR 1400C Color Weather/Search and Rescue Radar, KR 87 Automatic Direction Finder, Mark 2 Communication Management Unit used for ACARS, the Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System, and other components. AlliedSignal holds a 60% interest in the as-yet unnamed company, with state-owned Shanghai Avionics holding the rest.
