Flight testing being done here at NASA's Lewis Research Center shows that a pilot responding to what is believed to be a wing stall during an approach to landing could be applying the wrong recovery procedure--what the pilot may be actually encountering is a stall due to tailplane icing. The normal recovery procedure from a wing stall requires the pilot to lower the nose of the aircraft and add power while leaving the flaps in their present position.
Experimental Aircraft Assn. President Tom Poberezny and other EAA officials, for expanding the association's annual ``fly-in'' into a world-class international aviation and aircraft exposition.
Phil Brooks, a Boeing 767/757 first officer for American Airlines and chairman of the Allied Pilots Assn.'s Special Projects Committee, for excellent leadership in promoting development of graphical cockpit displays, which would improve pilot spatial awareness and reduce controlled flight into terrain accidents.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. officials, for striving to advance composite and automated manufacturing technologies through the design of the Premier 1 and the super mid-size Hawker Horizon business jets. These technologies are aimed at reducing costs as well as improving the performance of the two aircraft.
Under pressure from falling exchange rates, Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is discussing a swap of at least five Boeing 777-200IGW delivery slots it has available this year with three foreign carriers. MAS Executive Vice President Bashir Ahmad said the airline currently is holding discussions with individual carriers in Europe, South America and the U.S. Delta Air Lines, the U.S. carrier, had a team in Kuala Lumpur last week discussing terms for the swap.
Larry D. McClain, Northrop Grumman's former site manager at Edwards AFB, Calif., Robert G. Myers, the company's vice president for test operations, and the entire USAF/Northrop Grumman B-2 Air Vehicle Test Team, for completing an aggressive eight-year flight test program with no accidents or major incidents.
Cathy Bill, general manager of the Air Line Pilots Assn. of South Africa, for assembling data on air safety in Africa and raising the debate on the situation and Africa's needs to the highest international level. The International Civil Aviation Organization responded by convening an air navigation conference in 1997 that closely identified the needs of the Africa/Indian Ocean region and mapped out a plan to correct deficiencies.
Tom Stark, senior vice president of VisionAire Future Works, has received the 1997 Oliver L. Parks Alumni Merit Award from Parks College of Engineering and Aviation of St. Louis University. He was honored for accomplishments during his military and civilian careers in the aerospace industry.
European Space Agency astronaut Pedro Duque says he never dreamed he would be taking his first trip to space with John Glenn, who's slated to fly with him on shuttle Mission 95 this October. Duque doesn't remember Glenn's landmark 1962 flight--it took place a year before he was born--but the Spanish astronaut told Aviation Week&Space Technology he can't wait to meet Glenn and hear his views on the current space program. Though Duque will outrank Glenn, who was named as a payload specialist for the shuttle flight, he's clearly in awe of him.
Borge Boeskov, president of Boeing Business Jets, for first establishing a separate entity within Boeing to market and service corporate jets and then surprising the rest of the industry with orders for more than 25 of the 737 variant.
Francis Bernard, special adviser to the executive team at Dassault Systemes, for his technical, commercial and managerial contributions for more than 25 years toward the creation and development of the CATIA computer-aided design and manufacturing system. After Dassault gained significant time savings by using the interactive 3D graphic software system, the company exported CATIA, which is sold worldwide.
Although the Ariane 5 has yet to complete qualification trials, program managers are already transitioning to commercial operation. This is reflected in the recent transfer of responsibility for booster production and launch from the French space agency, CNES, which handled the first two qualification flights, to Ariane operator Arianespace. Last November, Arianespace took over the ELA-3 launch complex built for the Ariane 5 from the European Space Agency. ESA had previously handed over the Ariane 5 solid propulsion facilities in Kourou.
THE FIFTH AND FINAL SATELLITE in the Inmarsat-3 series and Embratel's Brazilsat B3 telecommunications satellite were launched successfully on an Ariane 4 launch vehicle on Feb. 4 from Kourou, French Guiana. The launch, initially scheduled for Jan. 30, was postponed several times due to high-altitude winds. Inmarsat-3 F5, set for a final on-station location of 25 deg. East, will serve as a spare for the existing four satellites in the Inmarsat-3 constellation which provide voice and data communication services to mobile, laptop-size terminals.
Robert M. Janowiak, executive director of the International Engineering Consortium, has been appointed to the board of directors of Exigent International Inc., Melbourne, Fla.
A section of the Raytheon Premier 1 business jet's horizontal stabilizer is evaluated in the high-speed test section of Cox&Co. Inc.'s icing wind tunnel in Lower Manhattan. The tunnel, which entered service in September, can simulate temperatures of -22F and winds of 220 mph. in the 48 X 28-in. test section. A 48 X 48-in. test section is capable of 120 mph. tests.
Microsafe Industries of Bellingham, Wash., has been awarded a patent for the company's aircraft cargo bay smoke-detection system. Called Air Faspak (fire and security package), it combines off-the-shelf thermal and optical sensors with a microprocessor-based controller. In operation, redundant sensors continuously monitor for smoke any sudden temperature rise and flames, according to Patrick Golden, president. To virtually eliminate false alarms, the system goes to ``alert'' status if one sensor is triggered. It sounds a full alarm if a second sensor is tripped.
Terry Capehart, who has been president of Extex Ltd., Mesa, Ariz., has been appointed vice chairman. Larry Shiembob, who has been executive vice president/chief operating officer, will succeed Capehart and also will be CEO. Paul H. Francoeur has become vice president/general manager of airline services, Steve Ridolfi vice president-marketing and aircraft programs and Trung Ngo vice president-airline analysis, all for Bombardier Regional Aircraft.
Ranking officials in the FAA's Air Traffic Services division understand the discontent of users of the national airspace system and have revised operational and procurement policy to improve air traffic control performance.
The National Research Council of Canada made the most of the recent ``Great January Ice Storm'' that hit western Quebec, eastern Ontario and parts of New England. NRC pilots and researchers from both NRC and Canada's Atmospheric Environment Service flew almost every day during the Jan. 6-9 storm, which left more than 1.5 million homes in Canada without electricity for a week or more. The specially instrumented Convair 580 research aircraft gathered data on clouds associated with supercooled large-droplet icing conditions, a little-understood hazard to aviation.
HUGHES' PANAMSAT UNIT concluded a $4-billion package to insure launches of 22 satellites on SeaLaunch, Delta 3, Ariane 4, Ariane 5 and Proton boosters over the next four years. Assembled by Space Machine Advisors, it is believed to be the largest space insurance package ever.
Users offer many complaints about the U.S. air traffic control system, but a fresh spirit of cooperation has taken over, spurred by recognition that ATC modernization must get underway for the economy's sake. Critiques of the ATC system have many facets: -- In general, users have concerns about congestion, mounting delays and reliability. -- They are divided on, or are confused about, what some consider FAA policy shifts toward acquisitions, contracts and spending.
Iraq might threaten or even carry out a terrorist biological or chemical assault if Washington serves Baghdad an ultimatum to comply with U.N. weapons inspections, security specialists say. They disagree about the likelihood of such a threat and Iraq's capability to make good on it. But they say the U.S. should be preparing for such a contingency and that its ability to respond is severely lacking, both at home and abroad.
Yes, that was astronaut Bob Cabana, tapped to command the first space station assembly mission, at the side of First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton for the State of the Union address last week in the House of Representatives. But the White House decision to highlight support for the nation's space program by honoring the former chief of the astronaut office carried no weight with the National Space Society. Cabana's appearance and President Clinton's salute to Sen.
Congress is less than thrilled with President Clinton's State of the Union appeals to renew his ``fast-track'' trade negotiating authority and bolster U.S. backing of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Lawmakers predict the Administration's attempt to blunt labor's opposition to fast-track by boosting retraining aid for dislocated workers will not lure enough House Democratic opponents to the President's side to win passage (AW&ST Nov. 17, 1997, p. 33). Aerospace and other major industries support fast-track as a boon to global trade.
