THE NATIONAL AERONAUTIC ASSN. has selected the Gulfstream 5 industry team, led by Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., to receive the next Collier Trophy. The award recognizes the top U.S. aeronautical achievement for 1997.
The University of North Dakota Center for Aerospace Sciences, in Grand Forks, has been renamed the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences, in honor of its founder. The first building in the campus aerospace complex has been named John D. Odegard Hall.
David Spencer (see photo) has been appointed managing director of the Icore International subsidiary of London-based Smiths Industries. He has been director of human resources and will be succeeded by Anne Minto.
INTELSAT ANNOUNCED a long-awaited restructuring plan in which it would spin off six of its satellites to a separate, publicly-traded company known as INC. The company would be incorporated in the Netherlands and make an initial public stock offering in 1999. Comsat Corp. would be the largest initial owner, with a 16% share. Intelsat would hold a 10% ownership.The six satellites are Intelsat 703, 803, 806, 513, Intelsat K, and K-TV. The plan is subject to final approval by Intelsat's Assembly of Parties when it meets on Mar. 30.
Bob Lekites has been promoted to vice president-airlines from flight operations manager and Richard E. Barr to vice president-flight operations from director of operations, at United Parcel Service, Louisville, Ky. Frank Skubis has become system chief pilot.
The FAA has been slow to address problems that could disrupt critical computer operations after 1999 and probably will be unable to get the problems under control by the turn of the century, according to government overseers.
Toon de Groot has been appointed senior vice president-corporate marketing of Avio-Diepen, Alphen aan den Rijn, Netherlands. Maarten Peters will oversee sales development in new markets. Paul Wieland also will head purchasing and inventory management, and Dirk Bakkeren has been named director of sales.
Karen Thompson and Coleman Bryan, chemists for NASA at the Kennedy Space Center, have won the 1997 Distinguished Patent Award from the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory for developing a polyaniline coating resistant to the corrosive seaside environment at the space center.
John Hamilton has become senior vice president/chief operating officer and Briand Greer director of worldwide distribution of Fairchild Fasteners, Torrance, Calif. Hamilton was vice president/ general manager of the environmental control systems unit of AlliedSignal Aerospace. Greer was international business development director of UNC.
Saudi Arabia has decided not to allow U.S. Air Force aircraft stationed there to shift to nearby countries such as Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman or Qatar to carry out attacks against Iraq--at least for now. Air Force planners say the Administration must persuade the Saudis to change their minds.
President Clinton has put extra priority on the Year 2000 problem. On Feb. 4 he issued an executive order creating the President's Council on Year 2000 Conversion, which will report to him at least quarterly. It will be chaired by John A. Koskinen, former deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, who has a private sector background in reorganizing troubled companies. He starts Mar. 9 and will oversee the government's Y2K activities, as well as those of state and local governments and private industries that are tied to federal data systems.
LanChile Airlines is increasing the frequency of its nonstop services from New York and Los Angeles to Lima. Its round-trip Lima-New York service is increasing from four times weekly to daily departures, with round-trip Los Angeles-Lima service scheduled three times weekly. LanChile operates these flights with Boeing 767-300ERs in three classes of service.
All Nippon Airways and Lufthansa will begin code-sharing between Tokyo and Frankfurt this summer. Lufthansa will code-share on four of its eight weekly flights, while ANA will add a flight to the three it makes now, for a total of eight between the two carriers. The airlines are discussing code-sharing in the future and joint services for the Frankfurt-Kansai route.
Paul G. Kaminski, chairman/CEO of Technovation Inc., Fairfax Station, Va., has been named to the board of directors of the General Dynamics Corp., Falls Church, Va.
Cessna Aircraft Co. delivered an industry record 618 piston- and turbine-powered airplanes in 1997 and faces a rising order backlog already worth $2.8 billion for 1998 that reflects growing demand for new aircraft, according to senior company officials.
While the Pentagon prepares for a protracted air campaign against Iraq, some of the U.S.' remaining weaknesses are revealed by examining investments in near-term weapons improvements. Battle damage assessment (BDA) and hyper-velocity weapons are two areas of particular military interest. Accurate BDA has been a chronic problem, particularly when target areas are covered by clouds. Satellite-based radars can see bomb craters, but they can't pick up shrapnel damage, for example, that makes a building useless but leaves it standing.
The Aviation Week&Space Technology list of 1997 Laurels winners incorrectly identified Charles Bigot as chairman and CEO of Aerospatiale. His Laurel award recognizes his accomplishments as chairman and chief executive of Arianespace. He retired in 1997. Yves Michot is chairman and CEO of Aerospatiale, which is a major shareholder of Arianespace.
Erickson Air-Crane is applying technology to help pioneer new heavy-lift applications and refine existing capabilities. Following seven years of steady growth, the company is scrambling to replace Asian markets muted by that region's recent economic downturn. A high-rise building evacuation pod, designed to be carried by a large helicopter, is scheduled to fly within 60 days.
U.S. carriers have submitted their wish lists for new routes and code-sharing authority under the new U.S.-Japan bilateral agreement, and like children at Christmas, some disappointments are ahead.
Harm Kreulen has been appointed passenger sales manager for the Benelux countries for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. He was marketing director in the Netherlands.
The U.S. General Accounting Office has suggested formation of a Base-Realignment and Closure-like committee to conduct a government-wide review of national research and development labs. The panel's aim would be to consolidate existing labs, eliminate excess capacity and close outdated facilities. Twenty-two federal agencies now receive about $72 billion in research and development monies annually, including the Defense Dept. test and evaluation groups, consuming about 14% of federal discretionary spending.
THE FAA'S JAN. 12-21 AUDIT OF PRODUCTION of the Boeing 737 horizontal stabilizer found that, with a few exceptions, the tails are built properly despite documentation problems. The audit was prompted by the SilkAir 737-300 crash on Dec. 19 in which sections of the tail were found away from the main crash site with some fasteners missing from the leading edge (AW&ST Jan. 19, p. 47). The audit found no evidence of missing fasteners in production, and noted that SilkAir maintenance records on Dec.
PRATT&WHITNEY IS CONDUCTING altitude tests of their F100-229A engine at the company's Wilgoos facility in East Hartford, Conn. The tests are aimed at qualifying production fan aerodynamics. The powerplant is a refanned version of the F100-229 that has generated as much as 37,150 lb. of thrust in ground tests. It is a contender to power F-16s being offered to the UAE for its pending fighter buy.
Kevin P. Mitchell chairs the Business Travel Coalition of Lafayette Hill, Pa., which represents major companies. He recently wrote a letter to Roger W. Fones, chief of the U.S. Justice Dept. Antitrust Div. section that handles transportation matters. Copies were sent to Congress and Transportation Dept. and Federal Trade Commission officials. Excerpts follow.
Turborreactores S.A. of Mexico will restart engine maintenance and overhaul operations after an infusion of $12 million from the Spanish engine company Industria de Turbo Propulsores (ITP), which is 45% owned by Rolls-Royce. Under the agreement with Cintra, which owns Aeromexico, Aerocaribe, Mexicana Airlines and AeroPeru, ITP will become the major shareholder in Turborreactores with a 60% stake. Cintra will invest another $8 million in the engine facility.
