Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., are working with the FAA, Boeing and the University of Greenwich, England, on software that models and predicts post-crash passenger egress routes for transport aircraft. The aim of the program is to improve and speed egress patterns. Eventually the software could replace the accident-prone ``live'' aircraft emergency exit drills now required for air transport certification, according to NIST researcher Walter Jones.
Philippe Couillard has been appointed space business director of the Aerospatiale Space and Defense Div. He was systems business director. He succeeds Fran- cois Calaque, who has become division adviser. Couillard has been succeeded by Yves Veret, who was chairman/CEO of Cap Sesa Defense. Jean Viala has become missile systems business director. He succeeds Paul Bernier, who has retired.
Look for the National Transportation Safety Board to hold public hearings on TWA Flight 800 before the end of the year. The FBI expects to pull out of the investigation after finding no evidence of criminal activity associated with the crash that killed 230 people. That will follow the release of a joint FBI/CIA report in 6-8 weeks that cross-references and triangulates the testimony of about 200 eyewitnesses to the disaster.
Dassault Systemes is working on a series of new innovations intended to enable the thousands of engineers, nonengineers and subcontractors working together on complex aerospace projects to share its CATIA CAD/CAM ``information pipeline.''
Marcus G. Bennett, Larry Schafran, Kathryn C. Turner and Guy Wyser-Pratte have been appointed directors of the Comsat Corp., Bethesda, Md. Bennett is chief financial officer/executive vice president of the Lockheed Martin Corp.; Schafran, managing director of L.G. Schafran and Assoociates; Turner, founder/ principal shareholder of Standard Technology Inc.; and Wyser-Pratte, president of Wyser-Pratte and Co.
Dennis D. Freeman has been named executive vice president, Jerry R. Kukulka vice president-operations, David R. Lillington vice president-technology and Paul K. Ballew chief financial officer, all of Spectrolab Inc., Sylmar, Ca. Melvin (Ted) Graves has been appointed Dayton, Ohio-based director of operations for Emery Worldwide Airlines. He was Boeing 727 project manager for the carrier.
Investigators are trying to piece together the last minutes of Garuda Indonesia Flight 152 that crashed Sept. 26 killing all 232 onboard. It was Indonesia's worst air accident in history.
FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey is gathering a small group of aviation professionals to help lay out a road map for modernizing the air traffic control system. She expects to form a group of about 10, choosing FAA executives, industry experts and union representatives to help her identify barriers to progress and establish funding strategies. Two big ATC modernization efforts--the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System and GPS Wide Area Augmentation System--have recently met important milestones and appear to be on track.
M.R. (Skip) Spence has been named vice president-flight operations and Bobby Joe Raper vice president-maintenance and engineering for Express One International Inc. of Dallas.
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (DASA) has begun operating a new production software package designed to optimize civil aircraft program workflow at the company's Augsburg plant, which builds parts for Airbus and other aircraft. The package was written and installed by Aircom, a Munich-based project management and consulting firm, from 1994-96, to DASA's basic design.
Boeing's update of its venerable 737 into the digital age has extended its experience level from the breakthrough computer-controlled design and manufacturing that it achieved on the 777.
Cessna will replace its standard Caravan C-208 with a new Caravan 675 model powered by the Pratt&Whitney PT6A-114A turboprop. The 675-shp. engine, already used on the stretched Grand Caravan and Super Cargomaster models, will boost rate of climb by 16% to more than 1,200 fpm. Takeoff distance is reduced by almost 10%, to 2,000 ft. over a 50-ft. obstacle. Cruise speed also increases slightly. Certification is scheduled for April with first deliveries the next month. More than 900 Caravans have been delivered in 12 years.
When Lockheed Martin Missiles&Space looks at the 21st century, it sees rapid change, unpredictable economic forces and markets dominated by niche customers with stringent and quickly changing demands. Because customer requirements will be diverse, unpredictable and complex, not even the largest company will be able to satisfy them on its own. Teaming will be essential, and products will need to be carefully planned. Designs will be scrutinized at every step in order to assess their impact on life-cycle costs.
Boeing has restructured its space businesses following its merger with McDonnell Douglas and acquisition of Rockwell aerospace operations, to form an organization aligned by market area. Boeing Space Systems is based in Seal Beach, Calif., and has more than 27,000 employees, including about 16,000 in California.
Clearing its Lockheed Martin F-117 stealth fighters for flight again last week after completing inspections on 33 and finding no defects. The entire fleet was grounded following a Sept. 14 crash of an F-117 at an air show in Maryland. Evidence found in crash debris revealed a significant defect in a support structure of the left wing. No similar defects have been found in the inspec- tions so far, and all 53 aircraft will be examined before they are cleared to fly.
Europe's aerospace industry has reversed five years of decline, posting a 12% overall increase in revenues in 1996, and is on track for even stronger growth this year on the back of rising commercial aircraft orders.
The U.S. Air Force has completed its recovery of debris from an A-10 that crashed on Gold Dust Peak near Vail, Colo., last April. Military search activities ceased in mid-September, but a USAF contractor will continue cleanup efforts at the site. The four Mk. 82 500-lb. bombs carried by Capt. Craig Button's A-10 still have not been located, however, and there is no clear indication that they were on the aircraft when it crashed.
RUSSIAN DEFENSE PROCUREMENT is projected at a meager 12-14 trillion rubles ($2-2.3 billion) in 1998. Economics Minister Yakov Urinson estimates that Russian military R&D next year also will be thin, about 10 trillion rubles ($1.7 billion). Both procurement and R&D have been in a virtual free fall since 1992. Procurement dropped 80% then, and continued to shrink in succeeding years (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 21).
Must develop the options desired in the next generation of GPS by next March. The urgency is driven by the December 1998 procurement of the second lot of GPS Block 2F satellites. If not in that buy, the next chance for substantial changes will be 2020. A workshop is being sponsored by the Institute of Navigation (ION), GPS Interagency Advisory Council and NOAA National Geodetic Survey on Nov. 6 to develop options. Participants include government, U.S. industry, commercial and private users.
Airbus Industrie joined the competition for long-range, large-cabin corporate aircraft for the first time on its rivals' turf, at this year's National Business Aviation Assn. convention here last week.
Sam Smookler has been named president/chief operating officer of the Signal Technology Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif. He succeeds James E. Walsh, who is now vice chairman/technical director. Smookler was president of East Coast operations and the Olektron Components and Systems Div.
Initial water tunnel testing has confirmed the proper geometries of a suction inlet--shown in white on this turret cutaway--used to reattach boundary layer air shear. The turbulent air could degrade the focus--and performance--of the laser weapon on the planned Airborne Laser (ABL) aircraft. The inlet creates a trailing, partial vacuum. This effectively pulls boundary layer airflow back onto the aft portion of the spherical turret, allowing the laser to aim through clear air, according to Victor Buonadonna, Boeing principal research engineer.
House Science Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) cautions that two new reviews used to justify astronaut stays on Mir (see p. 37) had better not be ``NASA whitewash.'' Sensenbrenner wants to end long-term stays on the ``worn out'' space station, adding that any fatal accident would set back manned space flight ``for at least a generation.'' He's urging NASA to focus its energies on completing its international space station instead. NASA's Daniel S.
