Boeing engineers are assessing several techniques for reducing flammable fuel vapors, as the revelations of the TWA Flight 800 accident investigation spur changes in its philosophy for mitigating fuel-tank explosion risks.
A Columbia Helicopter crew moved a 2.7-million-lb. Shell Oil drill rig between remote jungle sites in Peru in 43.7 flight hours. The project, completed in about a week, required 121 loads--each averaging 22,400 lb. In a trend that should promote helicopter heavy-lift, Shell is operating the project similarly to an off-shore drilling site to protect the sensitive rain forest environment. Well sites are small--less than five acres in size--and all transportation is by air.
Hughes Space and Communications is in the midst of the busiest satellite launch surge in the 34-year history of the company's satcom operations, an effort that includes three of the highest power Hughes spacecraft ever built and the introduction of ion electric propulsion which promises to revolutionize commercial satellite operations.
BRITISH AIRWAYS HAS TAKEN delivery of six Flightwatch graphic display systems developed by Racal Survey and Smith System Engineering that enable the airline to instantly view the position of its aircraft around the globe. The system allows carriers to identify flight plans likely to be affected by adverse weather, closed airspace or restricted areas, as well as enable improved planning for diversion situations based on real-time data of aircraft positions and remaining fuel.
The marine and aviation portions will be separated at Malaysia's next Langkawi International Maritime and Aerospace Exhibition (LIMA '99). They will still run concurrently to take advantage of the LIMA name. This year's show, which concluded its five-day run on Dec. 7, attracted 903 exhibitors, about a third more than two years ago. The aerospace exhibits were spread over a 241,000-sq.-ft. exhibit hall, about twice the size of the last show.
Northrop Grumman's Commercial Aircraft Div. here has begun production of the horizontal and vertical stabilizer assemblies for the stretched Boeing 757-300, and plans to deliver the first shipset to Boeing in February 1998.
BOEING HAS REFINED THE PERFORMANCE of the next model of the 747, the increased gross weight -400, to remedy a shortfall in range and payload on critical long-haul routes such as Los Angeles to Hong Kong and Singapore to London. The -400IGW will incorporate the 747-400F's wing and strengthened undercarriage and brakes, according to Seddik Belyamani, vice president for international sales. Maximum takeoff weight would grow by 35,000 lb. to 910,000 lb. and range by 500 naut. mi. Existing engine types will be used.
Los Alamos National Laboratory is creating software to model the dispersion of chemical or biological agents in urban settings, taking into account size and category of buildings, wind direction and other parameters. Researchers are also modeling the spread from release in subways, as in the Tokyo nerve gas attack. Details include how agents enter or leave a building, and where they will deposit on the ground and other surfaces. ``When such an incident does occur, the models can assist with directing emergency response,'' the laboratory said.
Pat Byron (see photo), director of operations for Honeywell Sensor and Guidance Products' Guidance and Navigation Operation, Clearwater, Fla., has been inducted into the Academy of Women Achievers of the YWCA of the City of New York. She was recognized for her accomplishments as a role model for women throughout Honeywell.
Mark Williams has been appointed vice president-marketing and sales of the Antenna Div. of Integral Technologies, Morgantown, W.Va. He was international product manager for Lucent Technologies Inc.
THE BELL 427 LIGHT TWIN made its first flight on Dec. 11 at Bell Helicopter Textron's manufacturing facility in Mirabel, Quebec. The aircraft is powered by two Pratt&Whitney Canada 600-shp. PW206D turboshaft engines. Samsung Aerospace Industries Ltd. of South Korea is manufacturing the cabins and tail booms. Bell has orders for 70 aircraft and is working toward certification by Transport Canada in December 1998
Wall Street keeps raising the financial-performance hurdle for U.S. airlines, as strong passenger growth and falling fuel prices bolster expectations for higher profits.
The FAA responded to year-old NTSB calls for improving the safety of commercial transport fuel tanks last week, saying it would study the problem for eight more months before acting on the safety board's recommendations.
Vivid Technologies Inc., which provides automated explosives-detection equipment for airline luggage, is setting up a joint venture company in partnership with an Indian concern.
Ten Western European nations are on schedule to provide four major modules and a long list of other elements for the International Space Station--the largest space endeavor, after the Ariane 5 booster, that Europe has ever been involved in. In October, the European Space Agency (ESA) handed over the first European hardware for the station--the Data Management System for the Russian Service Module (AW&ST Nov. 3, p. 26). The module is scheduled to be launched into orbit by the Russian Space Agency (RSA) on the third assembly mission in December 1998.
AS PART OF A NEW equal opportunity policy, Israel's El Al Airlines will begin accepting pilot applications from women. The carrier has traditionally hired only former Israeli air force pilots, who were all males. But since the air force recently began accepting women for pilot training, officials of the airline decided that male or female pilots who have not served in the air force can apply to El Al.
A new class of materials, called nanocomposites, could significantly increase the fire retardancy of plastic materials and synthetic fibers used in aircraft interiors. Nanocomposites are superplastic compounds in which about 1-nanometer-size particles of montmorillonite clay are dispersed throughout the polymer, according to Jeffrey W. Gilman and Takashi Kashiwagi, fire science researchers for the National Institute of Science and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md. A nanometer measures about 40-billionths of an inch.
The FBI is not quite out of the TWA Flight 800 investigation. Assistant Director James K. Kallstrom reminded the National Transportation Safety Board last week that the criminal probe is not closed, only ``pending--inactive.'' That's because of what Kallstrom said is the admittedly remote possibility ``that new evidence could be discovered.'' Writing to the safety board, Kallstrom objected to any use at the NTSB's hearing this week of the accounts of 244 eyewitnesses analyzed by the CIA in ruling out a missile.
The liquid oxygen tank for the X-33 single-stage-to-orbit demonstrator has passed a hydrostatic proof test at a Lockheed Martin facility in New Orleans. To simulate flight pressure, the dual-lobed aluminum tank (pictured) was filled with 19,400 gal. of water. Another 1,000 gal. were added to a standpipe at the top of the tank. Pressure during the test topped out at 66 psi. at the aft end of the tank. The hardware is now set to be shipped to Lockheed Martin Skunk Works in California, where the X-33 is being built.
Canada's changeover to a fee-based air navigation system, rather than fare- or waybill-based taxes, could increase domestic freight rates by as much as 10%, according to air carrier input to a recent government-led aviation policy forum. The resulting increase in costs could make fresh food less affordable to people living in the country's remote northern communities, many of which are entirely dependent on air transport. Air freight in Canada primarily moves north with empty returning aircraft still subject to air navigation fees.
Noesys 1.1 is a science data mining and visualization application for IBM-compatible and Macintosh desktop computers. The new version provides better support for the hierarchical data format (HDF) standard and a new import facility for netCDF files that are widely used to store meteorological data, as well as the ability to work with data sets of virtually any size and dimension. Fortner Software LLC, 100 Carpenter Drive, Sterling, Va. 20164.
In the wake of Boeing's production woes with the 737-700, launch customer Southwest Airlines will take delivery of only two of the next-generation aircraft this year. It was scheduled to receive four last month and another four this month, but Boeing has promised to deliver only two later this month and will be late delivering each of the 21 additional aircraft Southwest is scheduled to receive next year.
A NEW STUDY has found no evidence of life in Martian meteorite ALH84001 (AW&ST Aug. 12, 1996, p. 24). Worm-like forms in the rock that a NASA/Stanford University research team last year said could be fossils from primitive life forms are actually lamellae-fractured surfaces of pyroxene and carbonate crystals which were formed by geological processes, according to the study, led by John Bradley of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Canada's role in the International Space Station is deceptively small. Astronauts arriving at the sprawling orbital outpost will see no modules with ``Canada'' emblazoned on the side. Inside, they will find that the nation's scientists are allotted only 3% of the experiment racks. But the components Canada is providing are not only essential, they put the U.S. closest partner squarely in the middle of station development and operations to an extent unmatched by any other partner, save Russia.
