Acrucial labor agreement forged between US Airways and the Air Line Pilots Assn. guarantees pilots pay parity with competing carriers and clears the way for creation of a low-cost ``US2'' operation and the acquisition of up to 400 Airbus aircraft.
'Tis said businessmen and politicians despise each other, but the White House guest list for the state dinner honoring Chinese President Jiang Zemin reads like a Who's Who of American industry. On the list: Boeing supremo Philip M. Condit, United Technologies chief George David, Motorola boss Christopher B. Galvin and Westinghouse chairman Michael Jordan. Rubbing elbows with the Clintons, the Gores and top-ranking Chinese officials, America's corporate titans dined in the East Room at (bipartisan) tables set with Eisenhower's gold base plates and FDR's china service.
Jean-Paul Dubreuil, president of Regional Airlines of France, has been elected president of the European Regions Airline Assn. Joao Ribeiro da Fonseca, president of PGA Portugalia, has been elected vice president. Past President Fritz Feitl, CEO of Tyrolean Airways, will remain an ERA board member. Marc Dufour from Air Littoral and Hans Kallenius from Malmo Aviation have been elected board members.
Mars Global Surveyor project officials have decided to ease the spacecraft back down to aerobraking altitude while they carefully watch data for any signs of additional problems with the damaged solar panel. Glenn E. Cunningham, MGS project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said aerobraking is scheduled to resume Nov. 7 (AW&ST Oct. 20, p. 25).
The Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance vehicle has completed its first scheduled taxi tests at Edwards AFB, Calif., to evaluate autonomous ground operations in preparation for first flight. The Teledyne Ryan Aeronautical Tier 2+ Global Hawk--with a wingspan of 116 ft. and a gross takeoff weight of 25,600 lb.--is designed to taxi, takeoff and fly autonomously during a mission using inputs from its Global Positioning System (GPS) and a ring laser gyro inertial navigation system.
Scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory have developed an improved algorithm that should enable holographic synthetic aperture radar (HSAR) scans of ground targets by circling aircraft. The code, which reconstructs images from the outputs of circular scans, overcomes the shortcomings of previous algorithms and has a high computational efficiency, according to Michael Y. Jin, technical staff member. When used in conjunction with a ground-penetrating, low-frequency wideband signal, the technique can produce high-resolution images of buried mines.
Airlines face new mandatory inspections of critical engine parts under a joint FAA/industry program to develop more effective means of preventing uncontained engine failures. Engine manufacturers and their suppliers of raw materials and machined parts have been working for years to find better means of producing defect-free parts, spurred by the 1989 uncontained engine failure on a United Airlines DC-10 that led to its crash in Sioux City, Iowa.
The European Union's Competition Directorate plans to scrutinize the terms of definitive purchase agreements recently finalized by Delta Air Lines and Boeing. The contract includes firm orders for a total of 106 737s, 757s and 767s as well as 124 options and 414 ``rolling options'' covering the 1998-2018 time period. According to the agreement, concluded on Oct.
Cindy Tarver, sales director for North and South America for Hughes Avicom International, has received the WAEA Lifetime Achievement Award for more than 20 years of leadership and contributions to the airline inflight entertainment industry.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff is taking some historical lumps in a new book, Dereliction of Duty (HarperCollins, $27.50). During the Vietnam War, the chiefs were ``dishonest,'' writes an Army officer who spent five years researching the group. Maj. H.R. McMaster was among the first to get access to declassified JCS records from the early 1960s.
Richard O. Gordon has been appointed deputy director, Quentin Smith head of the Air Transportation Div., Ava L. Mims manager of the Aircraft Maintenance Div. and Robert A. Wright manager of the Technical Programs Div., all of the FAA Flight Standards Service. Gordon was manager of the Alaska region for the Flight Standards Div. Smith was assistant manager of the Air Transportation Div. Mims was a manager in the Production Airworthiness Certification Div., and Wright was manager of the General Aviation and Vertical Flight Office.
A worldwide network of new, automated ground-based detection and collection systems developed to support Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) monitoring is expected to encourage compliance of nations who have pledged to cease or never begin nuclear weapon testing.
Albert Westwood has been appointed chief executive of the U.K. Council for Central Laboratory, succeeding Paul Williams, and Ian Halliday chief executive of the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council, succeeding Ken Pounds. Both appointments by the U.K. Trade and Industry Dept. take effect Apr. 1. Richard Brook has been appointed to another two-year term as chief executive of the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council.
SINGAPORE PLANS TO PURCHASE 12 F-16C/D fighters with deliveries set to begin in 2000. The contract is worth $350 million including spare parts, training and support equipment. Singapore already operates eight F-16s. The order brings Lockheed Martin's backlog for the multirole fighter to more than 300 airplanes.
John G. Galli has been promoted to vice president-gallium arsenide and thin-film operations from senior manager and R.E. (Skip) Hoover to vice president-sales from manager of commercial sales, of the Microwave Products Group of the Watkins-Johnson Co., Palo Alto, Calif. William R. Uhlemann has been promoted to vice president-purchasing and materials from director, of the Scotts Valley, Calif.-based Semiconductor Equipment Group.
Four large U.S. military spacecraft for reconnaissance, signal intelligence, communications and navigation are scheduled to undergo checkout in orbit this week following their launch on board Titan 4, Atlas and Delta vehicles. The flights involve a 15-ton National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Lacrosse imaging radar satellite launched Oct. 23, from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on a Titan 4A heavy booster and a 3-ton U.S. Air Force Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS 3) lofted Oct. 24 from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas 2A/Centaur.
China's $3-billion contract for 50 Boeing aircraft is but an incremental purchase in what the company projects will be a Chinese requirement for 2,200 commercial transports during the next 20 years. U.S. industry estimates suggest that China might spend $124 billion on aerospace during that time, U.S. Commerce Secretary William M. Daley said at the Boeing-Air China signing ceremonies he hosted at his department last week. The signing took place the day after the U.S.-China summit here.
Devastating currency declines throughout Southeast Asia suggest trouble ahead for Boeing and Airbus Industrie, although manufacturers claim they aren't worried. In the three months ended Sept. 30, the value of Thailand's currency in U.S. dollar terms dropped more than 30%; Malaysia and Indonesia, about 22%; and Singapore, about 5%.
Boeing has delivered the first C-17s fabricated using precoated, interference-fit aluminum rivets and titanium pins. The patented, dry sealant process improves corrosion control and eliminates the tedious and expensive ``wet'' installation process previously used to seal fasteners on military aircraft. The ``wet'' sealant also cost more to handle and dispose of than buy because it was environmentally hazardous. The precoating primarily is an organic resin compound with corrosion inhibitors, according to Jeff Behnke, Boeing project manager.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey set ambitious goals for herself and the agency last week, committing that during her five-year term FAA officials will collaborate with industry executives and workers on improving aviation safety. ``We need a new safety model,'' Garvey told an audience of more than 250 industry officials at the Aero Club here Oct. 28. ``We need to be both a partner and, when necessary, an enforcer.''
A U.S.-MEXICAN VENTURE led by Loral Space&Communications successfully bid $688 million in an auction for a 75% share of Satellites Mexicanos, the government-owned satellite system that is being privatized. Satellites Mexicanos operates three telecommunications satellites, with a fourth under construction, and has annual revenues of $110 million.
The ADP Paris airports authority plans to build two additional runways at Roissy/Charles de Gaulle during the next four years. The third runway is to be completed in 1999 and the fourth would become available two years later. The government recently authorized CDG's expansion despite a fierce political controversy and strong protests from environmentalists and local residents. The Greens, who belong to Prime Minister Lionel Jospin's left-wing coalition, also objected to the additional runways.
