The ``Alpha'' high-power laser recently conducted tests with associated optics, demonstrating for the first time simultaneous operation of an anti-jitter mirror with a wavefront-cleanup deformable mirror. Officials say initial data are promising, although the final test ended prematurely.
Bombardier expects to record more than $2 billion in business aircraft sales next year, a performance driven largely by its planned introduction of two aircraft--the Learjet 45 midsize business jet and the Global Express ultra-long-haul jet--over a seven-month period. The first Lear 45 is slated for delivery in December, and Montreal-based Bombardier projects deliveries of 48 of them next year. Global Express deliveries should start by June with 21 customers expected to receive those aircraft in 1998. Bombardier Business Aircraft's other lines also will be busy next year.
In other safety-related moves last week, FAA officials ordered stringent inspections and modifications to the oldest Boeing 737s flying and launched a program to crack down on illegal shipments of dangerous goods by air courier companies.
Silicon Graphics' ``Orlando Reality Center'' will be opening Nov. 5, featuring the company's latest hardware to solve simulation and image processing problems for customers. Other companies' hardware and software are also used at the center to work on these tasks and to further the state-of-the-art in developing simulation and training solutions. The Reality Center is located in the Central Florida Research Park, recently dubbed the ``National Center for Simulation'' by the Florida governor.
A U.S. Air Force accident investigation board has concluded that Capt. Craig D. Button intentionally crashed his A-10A into a Colorado mountain last April, although the suicide probably was not premeditated.
Lockheed Martin is proposing the use of adhesive films to replace conventional paint on commercial jet transports. A number of U.S. airlines have expressed interest in the technology, which would cost more than conventional paint initially but in the long-term would save time and money in removal and surface preparation. The films also would weigh less than paint, according to a company official. Plans call for applying prototype films to an airline or cargo aircraft late in 1998 or early in 1999 for operational testing.
David D. Hurder has been named vice president-operations of McGean-Rohco Inc. of Cleveland and William R. Puckett vice president of its Cee Bee Div., Downey, Calif.
In a major win for Europe's satellite industry, Matra Marconi Space has been selected by Motorola to supply high-power buses for one of the most complex and expensive commercial spacecraft projects ever proposed.
Tony D'Astolfo has been appointed United Airlines' national sales manager for the U.K. He succeeds Brandon O'Reilly, who is now general manager for Singapore.
An ultrahard coating many times slicker than Teflon has been developed at Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Ill. The new coating may have the lowest coefficient of friction, measured at 0.001 in a dry nitrogen atmosphere, of any known carbon-based material. Teflon's coefficient of friction is about 0.04 and steel's around 1.1. Potential applications include oilless bearings, spacecraft mechanisms and rolling and sliding gear systems, according to Ali Erdemir, team leader.
Uruguayan investigators are assessing whether a failure of a DC-9-32's pitot system heaters contributed to the aircraft's 24,000-ft. plunge into a swamp on the border with Argentina.
Julie Kim has been named vice president of O'Brien Krietzberg of Los Angeles. She has been a consultant for airport construction projects in Asia and the U.S.
A WORLD AIRWAYS MD-11 was damaged while landing at Montevideo, Uruguay, on Oct. 24. World Airways sent a team to the site to assess the damage from the tail strike. The company believes the aircraft will be out of service for two months resulting in a loss of about $4 million in revenue. Insurance is expected to cover repair and certain related costs, but not the lost revenue.
Due to a resurgence of tourist traffic in Egypt and North Africa, the year-to-year rate of passenger/traffic increases at African airports exceeded growth in all other regions of the world in July, according to the trade group Airports Council International's monthly report on traffic at 498 facilities worldwide. The reporting African airports logged 3.12 million passengers in July, a 15.4% increase over the July 1996 level. Reporting airports in Latin America and the Caribbean saw a 7.3% year-over-year increase, to 8.63 million passengers.
A Clinton Administration decision to eliminate a U.S. capability for collecting airborne samples of nuclear debris at high altitudes is a major departure from a long-standing policy of test ban treaty monitoring. And it's a critical mistake, according to senior military officers and arms control experts.
Boeing's Airborne Surveillance Testbed supported last week's Ariane 5 flight as part of a joint NASA and European Space Agency effort to enhance range safety. The AST, a modified 767 transport under contract to the U.S. Army Space and Strategic Defense Command, normally is used for developing and evaluating defenses against intercontinental ballistic missiles.
The Clinton Administration last month made a mistake in killing the SR-71 reconnaissance program with the line-item veto. The veto was created to eliminate pork-barrel projects that Congress forces upon the executive branch. But the SR-71 is hardly pork.
JAPAN AIRLINES POSTED a huge increase in net profit for the first half of the fiscal year ending Sept. 30; it amounted to $170.5 million, compared with $22.5 million in the same six months last year. While international passenger demand was sluggish, with fewer Japanese tourists traveling abroad, domestic passenger loads and global cargo traffic grew steadily during the reporting period. Operating costs increased 2%.
The French government has approved the first defense programs to benefit from an experimental multiyear procurement initiative, sanctioned several weeks ago.
Sanders is in a five-year alliance with Theseus Logic Inc. to insert clockless logic into aerospace systems, including a test on the F-22 under a $2.3-million Darpa contract. Theseus, located in St. Paul, has developed ``Null Convention Logic'' that uses a third ``null'' state to signal when an operation is complete, eliminating the cost, power consumption and idle time of a clock.
An unarmed advanced short-range air-to-air missile (Asraam) launched from an F-16 came within lethal distance of a QF-4 target drone during a test of seeker performance at Eglin AFB, Fla., on Oct 23. A previous test was conducted on Sept. 20 to gather vibration and dome heating data. The program is on track for initial deliveries of the missile to the U.K.'s Royal Air Force next year. The Asraam production line at Matra BAe Dynamics is up and running and already has delivered missiles for the test program.
TUNISAIR HAS ORDERED four Boeing 737-600 transports and placed options on three more. The deal is worth about $300 million if all the aircraft are taken. The -600 is the smallest member of Boeing's ``next-generation'' 737 family, seating 108-132 passengers. The Tunisia-based airline now operates seven 737-200s and -500s.
THE GENERAL AVIATION Manufacturers Assn. posted record third-quarter net billings of more than $1.1 billion. U.S. manufacturers delivered 227 new aircraft during the quarter, up 62.1% compared with the same period last year. GAMA officials expect a strong fourth-quarter and anticipate deliveries in 1997 to exceed 1,000 aircraft. GAMA is also working to stem the steady decline of the number of student pilots.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems appears to have had success in modeling the curing of large composite parts in autoclaves. The company's code for optimizing batch runs in autoclaves (Cobra) reduces physical testing and cuts the time to solve problems from weeks to hours, according to Lockheed Martin. Cobra was used on F-22 fighter parts to yield a 98% acceptance rate. The program takes into account the composite material, the tooling material and shape, and the curing environment.
Larry Fletcher has been named vice president-sales for the Pacific Rim of the Aviation Sales Co. of Miami and James AuBuchon general manager for Atlanta-based subsidiary Dixie Aerospace Bearings Co. Fletcher was director of engineering for Southern Air Transport in Cleveland. AuBuchon was director of product procurement for American Airlines.
