In the next few weeks, the International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) is scheduled to issue a crisis management handbook that is designed to help airlines improve communications with the media and politicans after accidents. ``The first few hours are vital; an efficient crisis staff must immediately become operational. Information mishandling can have a lethal impact on an airline's image and fate,'' an IATA official said. The guidelines will include recommendations such as the need for factual briefings that should avoid speculation on possible causes of an accident.
Philip Odeen, the chairman of the National Defense Panel--the independent group that was to comment on the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review and suggest alternate force structures--says forget it. Instead, the panel will study capabilities, publish a number of position papers looking out to 2015-20 and tag problem areas for increased Pentagon focus. For example, the panel will call for a reorganization of the national security apparatus.
Konrad J. Walter has been named director of program management for North America for Greenwich Air Services of Miami. He was senior program manager for aircraft and engines.
EXECUTIVE JET INC. PLANS to hire more than 200 pilots in 1998 to keep pace with growth of its NetJets fractional ownership program. The company has 350 pilots and will have more than 470 by the end of this year. Minimum requirements include an airline transport pilot certificate and at least 2,500 hr. total time, with 500 hr. in multiengine airplanes.
The success of NASA's Mars Pathfinder and the discovery of possible ancient life on the red planet have reignited excitement in Japan and Europe about Mars and other parts of the solar system. The new enthusiasm has bolstered hopes that cash-strapped space agencies in the U.S., Europe, Russia and Japan can pool their resources for a sample return mission to Mars in 2005 and, ultimately, a human landing on the planet.
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON'S first use of the line item veto on the 1998 military construction budget hit aviation hardest--20 of 38 provisions worth $287 million. The size of the projects axed ranged from a $1.3-million runway extension to Whiting Field, Fla., to a $14-million theater air and flight simulation and training facility at Kirtland AFB, N.M. Administration officials said the projects were picked because they weren't requested in the President's budget, they wouldn't improve quality of life for families, and construction wouldn't begin in 1998.
Don H. Davis has become chief executive officer of the Rockwell International Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif. He remains president and succeeds Donald R. Beall, who will stay as chairman until February, when Davis is scheduled to become chairman.
THE NEW ECHOSTAR 3 communications spacecraft, the first advanced AX version of Lockheed Martin's A2100 design, is en route to its geosynchronous orbit station at 61.5 W. Long. following launch on an ILS Atlas 2AS booster Oct. 5. The 8,100-lb. spacecraft is the heaviest payload ever launched in the 30-year history of the Atlas-Centaur program. The A2100AX spacecraft is also the first spacecraft to be produced in Lockheed Martin's new Commercial Satellite Center, Sunnyvale, Calif. EchoStar 3 will beam TV and data services to the eastern U. S.
DICK RUTAN AND RICHARD ABRUZZO will attempt to fly around the world in a balloon this winter using a special heating system to keep helium warm at night.
Nor is Flight Dynamics ignoring the potential for head-up displays to enhance airport ground flow, thereby improving acceptance rate, during poor visibility. The company is assisting NASA in the development of head-up guidance symbology for precise, Global Positioning System-based rollout, runway turn-off and taxi guidance. The symbology will be tested on Flight Dynamics' head-up guidance systems installed on two simulators and NASA's Boeing 757 transport, according to John Desmond, company president.
Senate confirmation of George Donohue as FAA deputy administrator has been put on hold by Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) because the Transportation Dept. has not answered requests from two airlines that serve his state. AirTran Airways is seeking a waiver of slot restrictions that keep it from providing service from Knoxville to New York's LaGuardia Airport. Trans States Airlines wants a slot waiver for Chattanooga to Chicago flights.
Boeing President Ronald Woodard used the Beijing Aviation China '97 exhibition here last week to reassure the Chinese that production of China's MD-90 Trunkliner program will be uninterrupted by the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger. In the past three weeks, Boeing also has began consolidation of parts distribution and airline support of operations in China for the merged companies.
Aircraft designers and operators know little about the specific conditions that lead to a fuel tank explosion and cannot analyze the phenomenon adequately with fuel characteristics data and computer modeling techniques available today, according to officials at a fuel-hazards conference here.
Deep canyons with walls up to 2,000 meters (6,500 ft.) high are visible in this image (below) of the Labyrinthus Noctis area west of the Valles Marineris, one of the first orbital images returned by Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). A runoff channel was also imaged during one of the early passes over the planet, with dunes visible on the canyon floor (right). The images are considered of lower quality than the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera will be capable of when the spacecraft is in its final orbit and the mapping mission begins early next year.
NASA and industry engineers are deciding on the basic form of a High-Speed Civil Transport that will strongly influence future U.S. commercial supersonic aircraft. A December deadline has quickened the pace at NASA to complete the work on a preliminary technical configuration aircraft. A computer-based model, it will become the focus of intense study in NASA's High Speed Research program throughout next year. A final technical copy of the aircraft should be in place to meet a December 1998 program milestone.
Kenneth Alan Townsend has been named director of the Domestic Oil and Gas Div., Virgil Russell director of operations and Col. R.J. Wallace (USMC, Ret.) director of maintenance, for Petroleum Helicopters Inc., Lafayette, La.
Boeing has selected a site in Decatur, Ala., for construction of a new 2-million-sq.-ft. facility to build the core vehicle for its Delta 4 booster. The launcher is a finalist in the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) competition. The Delta 4 is also intended for commercial operations. Other sites considered were near Huntington Beach, Calif., and Titusville, Fla. A new $250-million launch facility will be built at Cape Canaveral for the Delta 4. The Decatur factory is expected to employ 2,000-3,000 people.
Iridium now has half its constellation in orbit. Five more satellites have been launched, bringing the number in low-Earth orbit to 34. The spacecraft were launched on a Boeing Delta 2 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 6:23 p.m. PDT on Sept. 26. The next Iridium launch on a Delta from Vandenberg is scheduled for early November. The 66-satellite network is scheduled to be operational next year.
Despite tight budget constraints in research and technology funding, Europe envisions building an all-new supersonic commercial transport that could enter service late in the next decade. The European aircraft and engine manufacturers' advanced technology effort is complemented by national aerospace research agencies such as the British Defense Research Agency, Onera in France and DLR in Germany.
Although lacking sufficient raw materials, Northrop Grumman's Commercial Aircraft Div. is meeting its production commitments to Boeing while instituting new programs designed to streamline production flow and improve procurement procedures throughout its extensive chain of suppliers.
Now that Sukhoi's S-32 has flown (the first flight was Sept. 25), the Pentagon foresees the Russian Air Force having two candidates for a fifth-generation, multirole fighter. Don't expect anything like a Western-style fly off between the two aircraft. The air force will be able to afford only one--either the S-32 or MiG's 1.42 design. The S-32 is designed for a lower radar signature, but it is not a stealth aircraft, analysts say. Weapons are suspended under the fuselage on special conformal stations.
It's an example of military illogic rivaling Catch 22--weapons so secret their workings can't be revealed even to commanders in the field. As a result, the weapons don't get used! Odeen confirmed that a number of secret weapons were not used in the Persian Gulf war either because their capabilities couldn't be revealed to commanders--or because they were offered too late in the conflict. ``Guys came to us saying they had something that would win the war,'' one wartime commander told us.
