Tig Krekel has been appointed president of AlliedSignal Aerospace Equipment Systems, Torrance, Calif. He was vice president/general manager of AES' Environmental Control Systems. Krekel succeeds John Tucker, who is now president/chief operating officer of the York (Pa.) International Corp.
A voluble Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) blew up last week at the Army Lt. Gen. Lester L. Lyles, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) director. Incredulous at the BMDO chief's public assertion that he didn't want more money to speed up the troubled development of theater missile defenses (TMD), Weldon angrily adjourned a hearing of the House National Security Committee's R&D panel.
The U.S. Air Force is expecting a major operational windfall from its purchase of 21 MiG-29s from Moldova. If service officials can juggle the budget, they plan to reform the Air Force's once top-secret ``Red Eagles'' unit that flew Soviet-made fighters and strike aircraft from the Groom Lake and Tonopah airfields on the restricted Nevada test ranges, senior service officials say. In its unclassified reincarnation, the unit would be operationally more available and very visible, probably on the flightline at Nellis AFB, north of Las Vegas.
SOLECTRON HAS RECEIVED a U.S. Dept. of Commerce Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for manufacturing for the second time--the first repeat winner in the 10-year history of the program. To date, only 16 companies have won the Baldrige award for manufacturing. Solectron, a leader in electronic surface mount technology, provides printed circuit board design, engineering and production to original equipment manufacturers. Honeywell is its largest avionics customer.
Citing phenomenal growth in commercial demand for launches, Pentagon officials have approved a plan to develop two new families of U.S. launchers instead of one.
The squabbles continue about preparations for future war. The Air Force wants to spend more on aircraft and munitions to halt an armored invasion anywhere in the world within hours. Gen. Dennis J. Reimer, the Army chief of staff, says, so far, he sees no ``compelling reason'' for that plan. He urges investment in ground troops ``to get in there and root them out.'' Reimer doesn't even favor spending more on Army aviation-- unless total Army funding is increased.
Low-cost U.K. carriers Easyjet and Debonair have threatened to take legal action against British Airways if it decides to set up its own ``no-frills'' subsidiary. They claim BA's only reason for doing so is to try to drive them and other new low-cost U.K. carriers out of business. BA is nearing completion of a study it commissioned to investigate the idea.
The U.S. Air Force's 45th Space Wing, which manages unmanned launch operations at Cape Canaveral, has cut the costs of USAF launch services charged to commercial users by speeding and automating billing practices. The savings, several hundred thousand dollars per launch, varying with each mission, ``accomplished what naysayers said could not be done--a fixed-price for launch, with one bill delivered to a customer within 30 days'' at a reduced price, said USAF Brig. Gen. Randy Starbuck, the space wing commander.
Lufthansa Technik and Bombardier Business Aircraft plan to open their joint-venture service center at Berlin's Schonefeld Airport in mid-November. The companies have set up Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services to operate at existing Lufthansa Technik facilities at the airport. The center is planned to be certificated as a repair station under both Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities and FAA regulations. It will service Learjet and Challenger business jets as well as Bombardier's new Lear 45 and Global Express business jets after they enter service.
Audits of the first enhanced ground proximity warning systems entering business jet and air transport service reveal few ``false alarm'' or other problems caused by their new digital terrain databases or related logic. The experience contrasts sharply with the teething pains of early model, conventional GPWS.
Marcy J.K. Tiffany has been named general counsel of the Hughes Electronics Corp. of Los Angeles. She succeeds John J. Higgins, who has retired. Tiffany was U.S. bankruptcy trustee for the Central District of California.
The order book for Embraer RJ145s (formerly designated the EMB-145 Regional Jet) stands at 167 firm orders and 225 options, according to the Brazil-based company. Embraer recently logged two orders and two options for RJ145s from Luxembourg's Luxair and one order and four options from City Airlines of Sweden. Another company, North American Wexford Management LLC, plans to acquire 20 aircraft and has options for 20 more. Regional Airlines of France and British Regional Airlines have increased their orders, and 26 RJ145s have been delivered, according to Embraer.
John Gonsalves and Randy Znamenak have been appointed services sales directors for Bombardier Aviation Services for the Eastern U.S., based in Hartford, Conn, and Western U.S., based in Wichita, Kan., respectively.
One difficulty with using computers in product design has been finding a way to ensure that the features and tolerances of parts are faithfully transferred when the manufacturing process begins. Data dropouts are not uncommon even when an internationally accepted software interface standard is used. One tool that has proven useful to aerospace manufacturers has been created by the Israeli firm Technomatix Technologies. Called Valisys, it is part of Technomatix's computer-aided production engineering (CAPE) suite of software tools.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and IBM are joining forces in an attempt to improve airline baggage handling and security through better data management. KLM's Interactive Baggage Reconciliation System (IBRIS) will be integrated with IBM's Airport Wireless Infrastructure to provide instant data on baggage identification and location, in wireless and portable operations. Ibris uses PC-based hand-held bar code scanners and operates in an IBM RS/6000 environment.
AIRBUS HAS RECEIVED TYPE CERTIFICATION for AlliedSignal Electronics&Avionics enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS), the first for an air transport category aircraft and the first certification of the system by the European Joint Aviation Authorities. The certification for the A319, A320 and A321 means the company will be able to offer EGPWS as a standard option from the factory on those models, and to retrofit existing aircraft without obtaining a supplemental type certificate.
Spanair, a Spain-based carrier owned by Scandinavian Airlines System and a Spanish travel agency, is to begin nonstop service between Madrid and Washington on Nov. 20. The flights, four times a week, will mark Spanair's first foray into the U.S. The carrier, which will operate Boeing 767-300 aircraft with 18 business-class and 248 coach-class seats, is offering introductory round-trip fares of $299-399.
Borealis Technical Ltd., a subsidiary of Borealis Exploration Ltd., is designing solid-state, micro-cooling devices that use electron emissions to reduce temperature. The London-based company has built and tested a proof-of-concept device and is working on a commercial prototype. Simply put, when an electron is emitted from a cathode to an anode in a vacuum tube, the cathode becomes cooler and the kinetic energy carried by the electron is dissipated at the electrode, causing it to heat up.
A recent In Orbit column did not include all the facets of an agreement Japan is negotiating with NASA for space shuttle launches of the Japanese Experiments Module to the International Space Station (AW&ST Oct. 13, p. 17). Japan plans to develop a centrifuge and provide H-2A launches to offset slightly more than $1 billion in space shuttle transportation costs.
Philip James has become group vice president of North Kingstown, R.I.-based Brown and Sharpe's measuring systems business. He was executive vice president of Ingersoll International.
MITRE IS TESTING A PROTOTYPE multipurpose broadcast data link with a simple transceiver to exchange position information between aircraft and the ground and for uplinking traffic and weather to aircraft. The Universal Access Transceiver transmits on a single frequency, currently in the VOR DME band. It meets the minimum standards for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), according to Mitre.
Boeing plans to restart production of the 747 transport this week after a 20-manufacturing-day shutdown to allow parts stocks to rebuild and address expensive out-of-sequence work. The company last week also confirmed the delivery delay problem is more extensive than first estimated, and will extend into early 1999 for some models. Boeing originally said it would catch up to its planned production schedule by the middle of next year. The delays also hurt Boeing's ability to promise reasonable delivery times to potential customers.
