THE FAA HAS APPROVED Part 135 single-engine commercial operations under instrument flight rules for the Pilatus PC-12 turboprop. Pilatus expects to see an improvement in sales as a result. Increased interest is coming from medical services, cargo and charter carriers, as well as regional airlines (AW&ST June 2, p. 56).
Airlines throughout the U.S., Europe and Asia are launching a 2.5-year program to survey their aircraft for flawed components that could cause a fuel-tank explosion like the one that destroyed TWA Flight 800. The program calls for carriers to do detailed inspections of fuel systems in about 2,000 aircraft during previously scheduled heavy maintenance visits and to report their findings to a central coordinating group that will compare the results and alert operators to any potential problems that are uncovered.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN WILL produce 134 modification kits as part of the 9-PAC (processor augmentation card) to upgrade the FAA's ASR-9 airport surveillance radars. The PACs will feature new software and hardware designed to increase processing capability. The upgrade is the first in a series of ASR-9 improvements intended to extend service life and meet more stringent operating requirements.
William C. Sanderson has been named director of heliports and technical programs and Kelly S. Stivers manager of information systems for the Helicopter Assn. International.
Luxembourg-based Cargolux has ordered five Boeing 747-400 freighters in a transaction worth $825 million and placed options for two additional aircraft. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in October 1998 and by mid-1999, Cargolux officials plan for the airline to be operating only 747-400Fs. Three of the new airplanes will replace aging 747-200Fs, and the remaining two are part of fleet expansion.
The FAA's $2.4-billion scheme to enhance GPS to meet civil aviation requirements in the transition from ground-based to space-based navigation systems may be insufficient. The Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) may need one or two more geosynchronous satellites than the FAA figures, according to congressional auditors. But even so, the benefits of WAAS will outweigh the costs, the General Accounting Office says. The GAO accepted recent FAA estimates that benefits would exceed costs by a factor of 5.2 on direct air routes if it would save only 1 min. of flight time.
INDIVIDUAL AIR FORCE/Lockheed Martin F-117A stealth attack aircraft are returning to flight after being inspected for a defect believed to have caused the Sept. 14 crash near Baltimore (AW&ST Sept. 22, p. 30). Left outboard elevon vibration preceded the departure of the left wing in that accident. ``The crash debris revealed a significant defect in a support structure in the left wing of the accident aircraft,'' the Air Force said. The inspections are also looking for other possible deficiencies.
The U.S. Navy has joined the rush to develop unmanned, high-performance combat aircraft which Pentagon seers say will dominate wartime skies by 2030. In fact, aerospace industry officials predict the first contract for development of an uninhabited combat air vehicle (UCAV) will be awarded before the end of 1998. Meanwhile, Naval Air Systems Command officials have contracted with Lockheed Martin to define a family of vehicles that could be launched from small surface combat ships and submarines built to carry ballistic missiles.
Morlaix, France-based regional carrier Brit air will exercise its option for two additional Canadair Regional Jet (CRJ) Series 100 airplanes that are scheduled to be delivered in January and March 1998. The airline operates nine of the 50-passenger, twin-engine transports, and is scheduled to take delivery of the additional airplanes next month and in January 1998. Plans call for operating the new jets on routes stemming from a franchising agreement between Air France and Brit air.
India is having a terrible time in space lately. First, its new remote-sensing satellite, IRS-1D, ended up in a low orbit due to under-performance by the indigenously developed Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV). Now, the newest Indian-built communications bird has died. Launched by an Ariane 4 last June, the 2.3-ton, 25-transponder, Insat-2D (actually a multipurpose satellite carrying meteorology and search-and-rescue payloads, as well) suffered power problems, lost its Earth lock Oct. 2 and was declared useless on Oct.
ORENDA RECIP INC. OFFICIALS expect to open a 45,000-sq.-ft. manufacturing facility in Halifax, Nova Scotia, next month to produce 600-hp. OE-600 turbocharged piston engines. The liquid-cooled, aluminum block V-8 powerplants are intended to replace Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6-series turboprop engines in older Beechcraft Model 90 King Airs, as well as remanufactured Piper Navajos and Cessna Model 421s. FAA and Canadian certification is scheduled for late this year.
Chances seem to be improving that the beleaguered MD-11 will make the cut when Boeing announces which former Douglas Aircraft Co. transport programs will be retained. ``The prospects are good that the program will proceed,'' according to a Boeing official, based primarily on the aircraft's freighter capabilities and a booming air cargo market--which has generated strong demand for trijet passenger-to-freighter conversions.
MIDWAY AIRLINES CORP. has ordered 10 Canadair Regional Jet Series 200ERs, valued at about $207 million including pilot and mechanic training and spares. Deliveries will take place between next month and December 1998.
Northrop Grumman technicians have begun installation and operational checks of the first of three full-scale development (FSD) versions of the company's Airport Movement Area Safety System (AMASS) for the FAA at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport. AMASS monitors airport surface traffic and alerts controllers of potential conflicts through systems integration with ASDE-3 and ASR-9 radars. The FSD version includes automated conflict alerting, signal and data processing electronics and an automated radar terminal system interface.
As of late last week, neither the flight data nor cockpit voice recorder had been recovered from the wreckage of Garuda Indonesia Airways Flight 152 which crashed Sept. 26 at Medan, on the island of Sumatra in Indonesia. The accident killed all 234 on board.
A slight ``tone'' detected during tests under abnormal flight conditions has prompted Boeing to reinforce the horizontal stabilizer on its new ``next-generation'' family of 737 transports. The change will delay FAA certification by several weeks and move the first delivery of the 737-700 to launch customer Southwest Airlines to the end of this month.
AW&ST: What should this nation be doing to push the boundaries of high-speed research? YEAGER: If you go back and look at what we did once we got beyond the speed of sound and uncovered the [benefits of the] flying tail--which took the rest of the world five years to find out--and using afterburners on jets, you'll see we started running into a little compressor stall problem once we got to Mach 2 in the F-104. The shock wave was being ingested by the inlet, so we solved that by going to variable-geometry intake ducts--like on the F-4 and F-15.
With a burgeoning order book, Saab Ericsson Space is looking to hire 100 new engineers this year. That would expand its workforce by 18% to 650 employees. The company also will start work on a new building at its headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden, to accommodate its growing business. Sales have doubled in the past four years, to $61.5 million, with the largest increase coming in the commercial sector.
Congress last week paved the way for former FAA Administrator T. Allan McArtor to proceed with plans to start a new business-traveler oriented airline out of restricted Dallas Love Field.
Flir Systems Inc. of Portland, Ore., is successfully expanding its imaging technologies into the television news field. The company recently delivered its 50th UltraMedia unit since product launch in April 1996. FSI also introduced a compact version, the UltraMedia RS, last February. The UltraMedia and UltraMedia RS host long-range, broadcast-quality video cameras in 5-axis stabilized mounts, allowing news helicopters to operate at standoff ranges when airspace over a news scene is closed and to conduct covert investigations.
A conference on airline competition sponsored by Business Travel Contractors Corp. (BTCC), which represents 58 of America's largest corporations, is urging Congress to take action to assure airline competition. ``The airline industry is at a crossroads in its experiment with deregulation,'' BTCC President Kevin Mitchell said at a ``competition summit'' here last week attended by about 275 community, business, industry and government leaders.
Turkish Airlines will acquire 26 ``next-generation'' Boeing 737-800 transports through the year 2002 to renew its fleet, and has taken options to buy an additional 23 aircraft for delivery between 2000 and 2002. If all of the options are realized, the sale could be worth more than $2 billion to Boeing.
Military personnel planners seem to believe increased airline hiring of pilots is the primary root of their difficulty in retaining flight crews. It is far easier for these planners to blame their losses on the pull of the airlines, rather than their own policies and lack of insight. The normal attrition due to new careers or returning to school is being accelerated by burdens of increased operational tempo, less meaningful flying time and a ``politically correct'' military.
