A dust mite crawls across a micromachine developed by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M. The gear's diameter is smaller than a human hair and 1/100 the weight of the dust mite. Sandia experts estimate the worldwide market for micromachine-based inertial sensors at $3.8 billion and the entire microelectromechanical industry at up to $12 billion by 2000.
Wall Street has high expectations for Howmet International, which began trading under the symbol HWM on the New York Stock Exchange last Wednesday, opening at 151/4.
Proposals under consideration to modernize the next generation of GPS satellites offer improvements for both civil and military users, but the time to make a decision is very short.
Magellan is shooting to open the hand-held consumer market with its $99 GPS Pioneer. The features, too, illustrate the pace of improvements sweeping the GPS community. A hiker can mark and store 100 landmarks and see heading, distance, and time-to-go on an electroluminescent display backlighted for night use. A pair of AA batteries give the 6.25 X 2.2 X 1.1-in., 7-oz. unit 24 hr. of operating life.
British Aerospace has signed a contract with Boeing to manufacture wing components for new-generation 737 aircraft, a move that has underlined the fact that while BAe continues to press for European aerospace consolidation, it is actively seeking to keep its options open for transatlantic partnerships.
SOUTH KOREA'S AIR FORCE has selected the General Electric F404 engine to power the KTX-2 advanced trainer/light attack aircraft that Samsung Aerospace and Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems are to build.
United Airlines expects its new Orion yield management and seat inventory control system to add $50-100 million in annual revenue. United will use IBM's Deep Blue parallel processing system (the computer that beat chess champion Gary Kasparov) to run the system, developed for United by DFI Aeronomics. Installation starts in the first quarter next year.
Loss of profits in the fiscal year that ended June 30 among the 18 members of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has prompted them to warn the region's governments against hasty action in the present currency crisis.
French startup Fairlines is scheduled to begin operations early next week with two MD-80 aircraft in 72-seat business-class configuration. Owned and operated by Francois Arpels, of the jewelry/fragrance Van Cleef&Arpels family, the new carrier initially will provide service out of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle twice daily to Milan Malpensa, three times daily to Nice and twice daily between Nice and Milan.
The rapid verification of procedures by a Johnson Space Center ``tiger team'' working behind the scenes with advanced simulation facilities and experience from previous ``manual'' retrieval flights enabled the shuttle Mission 87 astronauts to easily grasp their wayward Spartan satellite payload on Nov. 24.
James W. Simister (see photos) has been promoted to vice president/general manager from manufacturing manager of McCauley Propeller Systems, Vandalia, Ohio. Volker (Pete) Werwick has been appointed director of sales and marketing.
SAAB AIRCRAFT IS POISED to secure an order for six Saab 2000s from Crossair, which already operates 25 of the 50-seat turboprops. The order, which includes options for two more, was being considered last week by the board at Crossair's parent, Swissair. A Crossair purchase, combined with a recent order by Mesaba Airlines in the U.S. for 19 new Saab 340BPlus aircraft, will sustain production at Saab through the second quarter of 1999. This is not considered enough, however, to stave off plans to cease manufacturing the two turboprops.
Initiatives taken at the International Civil Aviation Organization's meeting in Montreal last month and new collaboration between the FAA and aerospace industry are steps in the right direction toward addressing global air transport safety concerns. The new Industry Safety Strategy Team (see p. 44) has been formed to look at the root causes of accidents during the past two decades and try to identify corrective actions.
In the ``that'll fix it department,'' Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) has called on President Clinton to create an office within the White House to address the Year 2000 issue, saying that the government is ``well behind the curve'' in addressing the two-digit date issue.
Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories are defining the architecture of a prototype ``nanosatellite'' that could evolve into a constellation of approximately 120 spacecraft dedicated to high data rate communications or surveillance.
HARRIS CORP. SHIPPED ITS FIRST 50-WATT digital multimode air traffic control transmitter to Iceland's Civil Aviation Administration. The VDR-2135 transmitter provides voice and data link on VHF ATC frequencies. The digital data link operates at 32 kbps., fast for ATC use.
Ellis Heustess of the Digital Signal Processing Dept. of the Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., has been cited by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for contributions to operational support and development programs in the field of tracking and sensor technology. The programs were developed to help the DEA track its aircraft.
In the same week that the Hong Kong Airport Authority said it was delivering new security equipment to the Chek Lap Kok airport building site, someone ripped out nearly 66,000 ft. of electrical wire already installed in the new passenger terminal. But the authority said the airport can open as planned next April. The theft is the latest blow in a series of events--such as a failed emergency test and delays in operating the airport's high-speed commuter railway--that have raised questions as to whether the April deadline can be met.
A NEW PENTAGON REPORT said India and Pakistan may be working on new ballistic missiles. India is ``likely'' planning a follow-on to the 2,000-km.-range Agni missile, whose flight test program has been inactive since 1994, and is continuing work on the shorter-range Prithvi missile. Pakistan is believed to be building a facility to produce new 300-km.-range ballistic missiles, but appears to have halted work on the two-stage Hatf-2, the report said.
Russian and U.S. space managers are moving to strengthen cooperation on the International Space Station in response to concerns that station preparations are threatened by slow Russian development of important flight procedures and frustration by U.S. astronauts that Russian practices are hindering their training. The Russians have been slow to generate the spacecraft system data needed to formulate procedures and displays necessary to operate their station equipment. This has slowed the preparation of documentation and training aids.
Francois Gayet has been appointed chairman of the Thomson Corp. of America and chairman/CEO of Washington-based Thomson-CSF Inc. He was vice president-strategy and business development of the Detection and Missile Systems Group. Terry Garcia has been confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be assistant Commerce secretary for oceans and atmosphere/deputy administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He had been acting in the post and was general counsel of NOAA.
Three key Asian airlines report that the substantial orders they have with Boeing and Airbus will not be deferred because of recent downturns in their traffic and profits, nor will they put off purchase decisions on new aircraft. They say the strategic marketing and operating advantages of new aircraft are too important to miss. Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Malaysia Airlines are prime launch prospects for the Airbus A340-500/600 and Boeing's 777-200X as well as Airbus' A3XX superjumbo.
The Air Force has selected Axent Technologies' OmniGuard/Enterprise Security Manager and OmniGuard/Intruder Alert to provide an infotech security system at more than 100 USAF bases worldwide. The systems are designed to detect unauthorized entries across a variety of distributed platforms and enterprise systems.
China has certified a stretched cargo version of its Shaanxi Aircraft Co. Yun-8 four-engine turboprop, according to the Civil Aviation Administration of China. A derivative of the Russian An-12, the Y-8F-200 cargo hold is 51.5 ft. long, compared with the basic Y-8F-100's 44.3-ft. length. Overall fuselage length is increased almost 8 ft. to 119 ft., and the aircraft retains its original 124-ft. wingspan. SAC also has improved the new freighter's environmental and cargo handling systems to make it more suitable for hauling produce and livestock.
