Since 1982, the U.S. Congress has appropriated more than $25 billion to modernize the National Airspace System (NAS). To say the FAA has mismanaged much of this work would be a vast understatement. The effort has been riddled with cost overruns, schedule slips, fired contractors, canceled projects, performance shortfalls and scaled-back objectives. With shortcomings in the agency's own organizational culture, the FAA has bungled its overall modernization roadmap, cost estimating and software acquisition.
KOREAN AIR WILL RELY on $640 million in loans this year, nearly half from U.S. banks, to offset the economic downturn that brought it record losses in fiscal 1997. The airline reported last week it lost $245 million in 1997, partly because of exchange rates problems. The carrier is reducing frequencies on some Asia-Pacific routes and eliminating others altogether to preserve its cash flow.
Sensa Technologies of Fort Worth is offering an Internet-based service that will allow turbine operators and overhaul shops to build extensive databases on engine performance and use the data to match observed conditions with future maintenance needs.
BOEING CONTINUES TO STRUGGLE with increased production rates of its narrow-body 737 transport. The challenge is compounded by the certification and introduction of new 737-600/700/800/900 models. Although top Boeing officials believe all commercial transport production lines will be back on schedule by mid-summer, they will not confirm the company will make its 115-aircraft first-quarter delivery goal.
Airlines in South America are positioning themselves to survive a new wave of intercontinental competition and prosper from the steady growth of regional and domestic markets.
Cathay Pacific has contracted with IBM Global Services Australia to run the airline's data center in Sydney, including operation of the IBM and Unisys mainframe computers, managing systems and assets, and other technical services. Cathay's 72 employees at the data center now work for IBM. Cathay expects to save money with the agreement, which is worth $150 million over nine years. The Sabre Group also is supporting Cathay's information technology needs.
A fluoride-based photoetching process is being used on titanium cathodes and anodes in fuel cells, oxygen generators and hydrogen generators. The proprietary process does not induce the stresses that are comon in machining, allowing the parts to be friction-bonded or brazed. Pure titanium can be etched over a range of 0.005 to 0.09 in. Photofabrication Engineering Inc., 500 Fortune Blvd., Milford, Mass. 01757.
All Nippon Airways has signed separate bilateral agreements with Lufthansa German Airlines and United Airlines to boost its European and U.S. traffic counts. The agreements are not regarded as a prelude to membership in the Star alliance founded by Lufthansa and United that includes four other international carriers, an ANA official said. But he added, ``Obviously, things can change.''
Investigators of the crash of SilkAir Flight 185 will reconstruct that 737-300's tail and examine similar aircraft in the airline's fleet to seek clues to why the aircraft suddenly plunged from 35,000 ft. killing all 104 people on board.
Hughes will build an exact replica HS-601HP satellite as the replacement for Asiasat 3, which was lost on Dec. 25 in the failure of a Proton booster launched from Kazakhstan's Baikonur Cosmodrome. Called Asiasat 3S, the replacement satellite will feature 9,900 watts of power for telecom and television services to Asia, the Middle East, Australasia and the Commonwealth of Independent States. It carries 28 active C-band transponders with 55-watt traveling-wave tube amplifiers (TWTAs) each and 16 Ku-band transponders with 138-watt TWTAs.
LOCKHEED MARTIN INTERSPUTNIK plans a late December 1998 launch on board a Proton for LMI-1, an A2100 satellite with 44 C- and Ku-band transponders to be positioned at 75 deg. E. Long. above Sri Lanka. Including launch services, insurance and the spacecraft, the launch is valued at more than $200 million. LMI President James Beitchman said LMI-1 will provide the Russian Federation and Commonwealth of Independent States their first telecommunications services from a long-life, high-powered satellite of Western reliability.
Aerospatiale's swift recovery and good financial results for 1997 suggest that a state-controlled company can be efficiently managed, make healthy profits and be comparable to private enterprises, according to company executives. ``However, Aerospatiale still suffers from an unjustified [negative] reputation because it is state-owned,'' Chairman/CEO Yves Michot acknowledged.
Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard units may get primary responsibility for unmanned combat and recon aircraft. And they are likely to get some of the early F-22s. Lt. Gen. George Muellner, the Air Force's top uniformed acquisition official, told the House National Security Committee: ``We're expanding the Reserves and Air National Guard into training, particularly pilot training. So we see a lot of missions for them, including UAVs and uninhabited combat air vehicles.
Investigators are focusing on an unusually high angle of attack--and resulting fatal stall--in the crash of China Airlines Flight 676 during an attempted go-around last month at Taipei's Chang Kai Shek Airport that killed all 196 persons on board.
Former U.S. President George Bush has received the National Space Trophy from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement Foundation, for ``leadership in providing the nation with the vision and means to accomplish its goals in space for the 21st century.''
China will need to order 1,134 more jet transports and another 371 turboprop-powered airliners in the next 20 years to keep pace with burgeoning demand, according to a state-approved study by the China Institute of Aeronautic System Engineering. The purchases will be worth approximately $75.7 billion in 1996 dollars and do not include equipment on back order or airlines operating out of Hong Kong, CIASE said.
Marcy E. Rosenkrantz has been named director of the Information Institute at the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory Information Directorate, Rome, N.Y. She was associate director of supercomputing technologies at Cornell University.
The ED-510XL Mercury is a handheld eddy current testing instrument. A user can balance the instrument by pressing just three buttons. Deflections caused by flaws are displayed on the unit's screen in real time. The unit has a frequency range of 140-200 KHz. It can be used to sort materials according to such properties as hardness, alloy type and heat treat condition based on changes in magnetic and electrical characteristics. Centurion NDT, 707 Remington Road, Suite 9, Schaumburg, Ill., 60173.
Brian Schank has been promoted to regional sales manager from technical services administrator for K-C Aviation of Dallas. Dennis Yamauchi has become regional sales manager for engine sales. He was a regional sales manager for Garrett General Aviation/AlliedSignal.
Dan Conti, owner of the Simplex Manufacturing Co., Portland, Ore., has won the Helicopter Assn. International's Distinguished Achievement Award for his contributions to the helicopter industry.
Mongolia is setting the pace for the rest of Asia in establishing a country-wide communication, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management (CNS/ATM) system. Economics is the driving force behind Mongolia's decision to acquire a $12-million ground network from Raytheon Electronic Systems. The country's air traffic management officials are not concerned about traffic within their region, which is sparsely populated, but they do want an accurate accounting of trans-Asia overflights because of the revenues they produce.
Dassault Systemes and IBM have taken several joint steps to pursue the integration of design and management software, an area they call ``Product Data Management 2'' (PDM 2). Dassault has created the Enovia Corp. subsidiary in Charlotte, N.C., to develop PDM 2 programs. Its first products are Enovia.VPM for design and manufacturing, and Enovia.PM for managing data flow, helping to enforce corporate processes.
With the U.S. State Dept.'s decision last month to lift trade sanctions against South Africa, U.S. companies have been deciding what to offer as part of an extensive military modernization program. Some are already obtaining export licenses. Marketers will be hard at work during South Africa's Aerospace Africa airshow that begins Apr. 28. South Africa hasn't expressed official interest in the F-16; however, Lockheed Martin expects soon to finalize the package of products they will offer.
THE PENTAGON HAS SELECTED DIFFERENTIAL-GPS for its Joint Precision Approach/Landing System (JPALS) program to meet diverse multiservice needs. Authorization of a 20-month risk reduction program, expected in May, will focus on developing a small manpack system and evaluating vulnerability to hostile jamming. The current timetable calls for the engineering and manufacturing development program to begin in the spring of 2000, with delivery of prototype hardware in 2002.
