The Mitre Corp.'s David J. Lubkowski, for directing the development and validation of the new 7.0 logic software for the airborne Traffic-alert/Collision Avoidance System. The software will enhance TCAS performance and safety by significantly reducing the number of ``unnecessary'' Resolution Advisory maneuvers, to minimize pilot and traffic controller concerns.
Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) plans to eliminate up to 300 jobs, or 9% of its workforce, because of suspension of work on three Asian satellites. SS/L has stopped working on L-Star 1 and L-Star 2, a pair of high-power direct-to-home TV satellites it was building for Asia Broadcasting and Communications of Thailand for launch later this year. The U.S. spacecraft builder has also suspended work on a M2A, a high-power multimedia satellite being built for P.T. Pasifik Satelit Nusantara of Indonesia and slated for launch in 1999.
Jeff Griffith of FAA Air Traffic Operations and Margaret Jenny of US Airways, for their work as co-chairs of the RTCA Free Flight Select Committee. Their inputs played major roles in developing the committee's technology recommendations, which the FAA subsequently adopted for implementation.
Richard T. Santulli, chairman and CEO of Executive Jet Aviation, for his lasting--and positive contribution--to business aviation by commercializing the idea of selling fractional shares in business jets. Through fractional ownership, Santulli has expanded the global roster of owners and operators to include people who otherwise could not justify owning a business jet. Today, EJA is the largest buyer of business jets; in the last two years, it has placed orders valued at more than $2 billion.
Rolf Sellge, Jim Fearn, Gary Roberts, Tom Croslin, Terry Beezhold, Jeff Luckey, Terry Watson and other members of the 717-200 (formerly MD-95) development team at the Douglas Products Div. of Boeing, for innovation and perseverance during unusually difficult times for McDonnell Douglas commercial transport programs prior to the Boeing merger.
U.S. safety investigators are calling for changes to flight-deck software to prevent it from disabling primary flight displays on A300 aircraft at critical moments in flight. A feature of the software that is intended to prevent the display of inaccurate or unreliable data ``results in the loss of all primary flight displays at a time when pilots need their critical information the most,'' the NTSB stated in calling for the changes.
Ron Sieck has been named to succeed the retiring Ray Alvarez as vice president/general manager of Honeywell Sensing and Control, while continuing as vice president/general manager of Honeywell Micro Switch, Freeport, Ill.
A U.S. MARINE CORPS OFFICER said late last week that initial indications contradict Italian claims that a USMC EA-6B Prowler electronic jamming aircraft was outside its approved flight path when it apparently cut a ski lift cable, causing the deaths of 20 people. However, the aircraft was only authorized to fly as low as 1,000 ft. above the ground.
Richard J. Spehalski, Ronald F. Draper, Thomas R. Gavin, William G. Fawcett, Hamid Hassan, Enrico Flamini and Charles Kohlhase, for the completion of development and launch of the Cassini spacecraft. The first three months of Cassini space operations have been nearly flawless as the vehicle begins its long trek to Saturn. If all goes according to plan, Cassini should return an outstanding array of science data during its four-year tour of the Saturn system.
EDITED BY JOSEPH C. ANSELMOEDITED BY JOSEPH C. ANSELMO
Bad weather, blamed by meteorologists on El Nino, has begun to affect U.S. space launch operations. Attempts to launch a National Reconnaissance Office relay satellite on an Atlas 2A had to be scrubbed twice at Cape Canaveral late last month because of clouds and winds associated with El Nino. The satellite was eventually launched successfully on Jan. 29, but a Delta launch of Iridium satellites from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Jan. 31 had to be delayed twice because of Pacific storms spawned by El Nino.
BOEING HAS STARTED SHIPPING the first Delta 3 booster to Cape Canaveral in preparation for the scheduled launch of the Hughes Galaxy 10 satellite on June 9. The launch vehicle, with a cryogenic upper stage, is designed to place a payload of 8,400 lb. into geosynchronous transfer orbit, about twice the payload weight capability of the Delta 2 booster.
Tongnoi Thongchua has become regional director for Europe and Africa of Thai Airways International. He was regional director for Australia and the Pacific.
Travelers on both sides of the Pacific will see almost immediate benefits from the new U.S.-Japanese air services agreement as airlines move quickly to take advantage of the opportunities. The revised bilateral, reached Jan. 30 in Washington after 11 days of marathon talks, provides the most significant liberalization of the restrictive U.S.-Japanese market since the original pact was signed in 1952.
Ambassador Richard Butler of Australia, executive chairman of the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction, for his steady and resolute leadership in the face of repeated defiance and provocation.
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin tries to put a positive spin on the fury prompted by the recent leak of a headquarters memo ordering the termination of Moon/Mars human space flight research--a decision he personally reversed. ``I love the fact that NASA is such an open agency that everyone gets to read our internal memos,'' he deadpans at a news conference last week. ``I'm not angry, I'm very proud of it.'' But Goldin urges reporters to show more restraint: ``When you see an internal memo, don't see that as a final product.''
Juergen Weber, chairman and CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines. A long-time Lufthansa veteran, Weber has transformed the German carrier from a loss-making, government-owned entity into a profitable private airline and industry pacesetter, while continuing to maintain its traditional reputation for quality. He has forged a worldwide web of alliances with domestic and European regional carriers and global airlines such as United, Singapore and Air Canada, and is looking into means to tackle the influx of low-cost carriers into his domestic market.
Roger Motzko, FAA engineer in the Alaska Region, for helping local authorities and the U.N. rebuild the civil aviation system in Bosnia-Herzegovina. He developed a bilateral agreement between Bosnia and Eurocontrol, organized a multiethnic Bosnian civil aviation agency and composed a plan for returning control of airspace from NATO to Bosnia.
Aviation Week&Space Technology presents its 41st annual Aerospace Laurels selections, honoring individuals and teams who made substantial contributions to the global field of aerospace in 1997. Honorees were selected from nominations submitted by Aviation Week editors in the categories of Commercial Air Transport, Government/Military, Aeronautics/Propulsion, Space, Electronics and Operations. In a departure from previous selections, the people who made the most outstanding contributions in each category, and thus will be the Laureates, will be named in the Apr.
Franco Mancassola, chairman and chief executive of Britain's Debonair Airways, for taking early advantage of European air transport deregulation to establish an intra-European network offering passengers low fares with full amenities.
Ball Aerospace&Technologies Corp. plans to use its commercial spacecraft bus as a platform for NASA's Laser Altimetry Mission, which is designed to measure the height of polar ice sheets. LAM, part of NASA's Earth Science program, is scheduled for launch into a near-polar orbit in July 2001. The mission also will measure cloud cover and monitor land topography. The contract, awarded under NASA's new Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity procurement process, covers integration and testing of the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System. Orbital Sciences Corp.
Geoffrey ThomasContributing to this report was James T. McKenna in Washington.
Air safety experts believe that weather conditions and an unfamiliar flight path were contributing factors in the crash of Cebu Pacific's Flight 387 on Feb. 2, which apparently killed all 99 passengers and five crew in the Philippines' worst air accident. The Cebu Pacific Douglas DC-9-32, registration RP-1507, was apparently 2 mi. to the south of its intended course and in cloud when it struck the 7,300-ft. Mt. Sumagaya near the summit. Minimum safe altitude in the area is 12,000 ft.
Maj. Gen. Kenneth Israel and a joint team from the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office and U.S. Air Force, for leading the effort to create a common signals intelligence system for all of the services. With the Joint Airborne Sigint Family, all of the nation's intelligence-gathering aircraft finally will be able to communicate with each other and exchange information. This will slash the amount of time needed to move intelligence data from the collector to the battlefield commander and shooter.
US Airways will launch its new low-fare airline, called MetroJet, from Baltimore/Washington International Airport to four cities on June 1 in an attempt to compete more effectively against carriers such as Southwest Airlines and Delta Express.
The USAF and Lockheed Martin Titan launch teams at Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB, Calif., for setting a record launch pace in 1997 while overcoming difficult nitrogen tetroxide system problems at both sites and introducing the advanced Titan 4B at Cape Canaveral. Special recognition goes to Lockheed Martin managers Forrest McCartney and Bob Bourne at Cape Canaveral and Tom Heter at Vandenberg, along with Lt. Col. Ev Thomas, commander of Cape Canaveral's 5th Space Launch Sqdn., and Maj. Chris Hale, outgoing commander of the 4th Space Launch Sqdn. at Vandenberg.
