The difficulty Russian engineers have had in isolating the location of a pressure leak in the Mir space station's damaged Spektr module has prompted new emphasis at NASA to develop better leak detection methods and improve ground pressure testing of U.S. hardware for the International Space Station. The most significant new measure is a plan to vacuum test major U.S. station elements such as the 6.5-ton station airlock, and possibly even the large U.S. Laboratory Module, after they are fully integrated.
Bell Helicopter Textron's Model 427 light twin-engine helicopter is scheduled to make its first flight Dec. 4 in Mirabel, Quebec, launching a 12-month flight test program aimed at obtaining certification by Transport Canada in December 1998.
Donald J. Yockey, U.S. under secretary of Defense from 1991-94 and a former senior executive with Rockwell International Corp., died after a heart attack on Nov. 16 at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, Calif. He was 76 and had been retired since 1994. He joined Rockwell in 1966 and was group president for several different electronics business units after the merger of Rockwell and Collins in 1973. Later, he became special assistant to the president of Rockwell. Yockey also served 22 years in the U.S. Air Force and Army.
Robert D. Johnson has become president of AlliedSignal Electronics and Avionics, Olathe, Kan. He was vice president/general manager of AlliedSignal Aerospace Services.
Lockheed Martin has begun demonstrating its Air Vehicle Prognostics and Health Manager system for the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) that is designed to decrease cost of operation by allowing condition-based maintenance of components. The three-year demonstration is scheduled to conclude in September 2000. It will include development and operation of a prototype subsystem designed to electronically transfer data to maintenance technicians about the aircraft's systems, along with any corresponding maintenance actions that are necessary.
The Alcatel-led SkyBridge venture, which plans to place 64 satellites in low-Earth orbit to provide broadband communications worldwide starting in 2001, has five new partners. Japan's Mitsubishi Electric and Sharp, Canada's Spar Aerospace, France's Aerospatiale, and Societe Regionale d'Investissements de Wallonie, a Belgian investment entity, have all agreed to invest undisclosed sums in the $3.5-billion system. The new partners join two previously announced SkyBridge investors, Loral Space&Communications and Japan's Toshiba.
From April 1991 to January 1992, David A. Kay was the chief weapons inspector for UNSCOM--the U.N. Special Commission on Iraq. Now a vice president of the Science Applications International Corp., he writes here on what the U.S. should do, given the limitations on arms inspections with Saddam Hussein in power.
U.S. analysts disagree about how effective U.N. inspections in Iraq might be if they resume unconditionally, as Iraq has promised. Some say the U.N. Special Commission (UNSCOM) team could pick up largely where it left off, once it accounts for the nearly three-week hiatus that resulted from Baghdad's expulsion of U.S. inspectors. Others believe the commission will produce few results, despite its past accomplishments.
ITT INDUSTRIES INTENDS to purchase Kaman Sciences Corp., subject to regulatory approval, for $135 million in cash. Kaman Sciences provides software support, scientific research and advanced systems, principally for the Air Force, Navy and Army. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Kaman Sciences has revenues of $150 million.
In the Nov. 10 issue, Aviation Week&Space Technology incorrectly reported the Learjet Model 45's range with NBAA IFR fuel reserves. In September, the range was increased to 2,000 naut. mi. and maximum VFR range to 2,380 naut. mi.
US AIRWAYS HAS AGREED to buy the Washington-New York-Boston Shuttle, currently operated as US Airways Shuttle, for $285 million, a price set in an outside appraisal. By exercising its option to purchase Shuttle Inc., a majority of whose stock is owned by a consortium of banks, US Airways scuttled a plan by American Airlines to buy the heavily traveled shuttle operations. With a dedicated fleet of 12 Boeing 727s, US Airways currently operates 15 daily round trips between Washington and New York and 17 round trips between New York and Boston.
Hughes Training and Lufthansa Technical Training will join forces in an effort to acquire additional business in the training market. Under an agreement that was concluded last week, the two companies will provide training for engineers, maintenance mechanics and management technicians for a wide range of Airbus Industrie, Bombardier/Canadair and Boeing aircraft (including Boeing's Douglas Product Div. commercial transports). Joint U.S.-German teams will be at Lufthansa Technical Training's facilities at Hamburg and Frankfurt.
Total equity of U.S. major airlines at the end of last year returned to the $13.7-billion level previously reached in 1989, prior to the earnings decline of 1990-95. Revenues climbed to $81.7 billion in 1996, and the carriers were able to reduce total debt during the last two years by $8 billion, Edmund S. Greenslet reports in his annual analysis of the airlines' investment capacity. Greenslet, president of ESG Aviation Services of Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla., said the industry's capital structure has returned to reasonable health, as debt now amounts to 59% of capital.
IN A MOVE THAT COULD EXPAND its Canadair Regional Jet fleet to 125 aircraft, Comair last week converted conditional orders for 12 CRJs to firm orders. In addition to the 54 regional jets now operating, Comair has firm orders for aircraft that will increase the fleet to 80 jets by 1999. It has options for 45 additional jet aircraft, some of which may be the stretch 70-seat Canadair jet.
ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE has concluded an agreement with Raytheon Aircraft Co. to design, produce and integrate the 36-150 auxiliary power unit and integrated pneumatic control (IPC) for the Hawker Horizon. The IPC will replace separate units for the environment control, pressurization and APU systems. Plans call for AlliedSignal to deliver the APU and IPC systems in 28 months.
Construction of the new $1.2-billion Terminal 4 at New York's JFK International Airport--the first in the U.S. to be developed by a private-sector consortium made up of non-airline-based members--is underway. The new facility is to replace the existing Terminal 4, or International Arrivals Building (IAB). Officials at last week's ground-breaking ceremony said the new 1.5-million-sq.-ft. terminal, which is expected to become operational by mid-2000, will have 108 centralized check-in counters, 56 federal inspection stations and 16 gates.
The first new Boeing aircraft to join Finnair's fleet, a 757-200, began service last month. A total of four 219-seat 757s have been ordered by the airline. The type will be used to carry vacation travelers to leisure destinations including the Canary Islands, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and India. The -200 has a range of 4,000 naut. mi.
Since the end of the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war, the U.S. and its allies have bombed, demonstrated against or threatened to strike Iraq at least a dozen times. -- August and September 1991--Tomahawks are retargeted on Iraq following its refusal to allow inspection of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons facilities identified since the war's end. Saudi Arabia's defenses are beefed up with extra Patriot air defense missiles.
One by one, US Airways Group Inc. is implementing the initiatives that management pledged they would pursue in the wake of securing a new five-year pact with pilots aimed at lowering costs.
Like their U.S. counterparts, most major European airlines are likely to post record or near-record profits for the year, with Lufthansa German Airlines' financial performance among the European industry's strongest.
Comair, the Delta Connection carrier, is claiming a record high for monthly traffic--in October, the number of passengers increased 18.1%, to 492,422. Compared to last year's tallies for the same month, revenue passenger miles for October reflect an increase of 18.7% and available seat miles, 8.9%. Load factor was reported at 62.6%, an increase of 5.1 percentage points.
James R. Pirkle has been promoted to regional vice president for the Pacific region from general manager of the Los Angeles kitchen, for Dobbs International Services Inc., Memphis, Tenn.
