Europe's Airbus Industrie consortium has an order backlog approaching 800 airplanes. Late next year, Brazil's Transportes Aereos Meridionais (TAM) plans to take delivery of five twin-engine Airbus A330-200 long-range transports configured with 235 seats. Orders were placed earlier this month, and included options for another five airplanes. The A330s would be powered by Pratt&Whitney PW4068A turbofan engines. In addition to TAM, Finland's Finnair has ordered five Airbus A319s configured with 126 seats, three 150-seat A320s, and four 188-seat A321s.
The National Transportation Safety Board this month plans to launch the latest tests--a series of explosions in a simulated fuel tank--aimed at identifying the cause of the blast that destroyed TWA Flight 800.
Siemens Plessey Systems' MESAR-2 multifunction electronically scanned adaptive radar is set to begin range trials in the U.K. with an emphasis on detecting and tracking ballistic missiles in a heavy jamming environment. The radar testbed has been developed under a technology demonstrator program with the U.K. Ministry of Defense which included proof-of-principle tests of an earlier version. MESAR-2 uses digital adaptive beam-forming technology which Siemens Plessey officials say makes it virtually immune to jamming. The U.S.
The New Piper Aircraft Inc. is developing the turboprop-powered Malibu Meridian and plans to achieve FAA certification in 2000. First flight is scheduled for August 1998, said Chuck Suma, president and chief executive officer of the company.
ENTERTAINER JOHN DENVER was killed Oct. 12 in the crash of a Rutan Aircraft Factory Long-EZ homebuilt aircraft. Witnesses saw the aircraft dive vertically into the ocean near Pacific Grove, Calif., from about 500 ft. altitude and 150 yd. offshore. The Long-EZ was registered in 1987. Denver, 53, took possession on Oct. 11 after the aircraft had been repainted at the Santa Maria, Calif., airport with his custom tail number, N555JD. After a familiarization flight with the owner, he flew it to Monterey Peninsula airport. Denver took off from Runway 28L at about 5:00 p.m.
Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet begrudgingly reveals that the U.S. spent $26.6 billion on all of its intelligence activities in the Fiscal year ended Sept. 30. But he vows never to disclose the budgets of individual agencies, such as the CIA and the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO). Tenet's revelation comes under pressure from a lawsuit filed in May by the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) after the CIA denied the independent organization's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for the figure.
THE PENTAGON TEAM that brought warfighters and technologists together to develop the conceptual architecture for the Advanced Battlespace Information System (ABIS) received high praise from Boeing's T.K. Jones. Despite funds earmarked for an operational demonstration, the hard part will be raising $5 billion a year for the next decade to build ABIS, he said. The EIA study team suggests the Pentagon take money from the $50 billion it spends annually to buy and operate information-related systems.
Turkey has warned Russia that it may be excluded from bidding on defense projects if it proceeds with the sale of up to 150 S-300 PMUO1 air defense missiles to the Greek Cypriot government, as tensions mount between Greece and Turkey over the divided island.
Lufthansa Technik has begun shifting overhaul work from its Hamburg headquarters to its Ameco affiliate in Beijing. Ameco, a joint venture between the German airline and Air China, completed a D-level heavy maintenance check, strut modification and Section 41 overhaul of a Lufthansa Cargo 747-200 in 52 days last summer. A second 747 freighter is scheduled to arrive in Beijing later this year. Ameco's hangar is big enough for four 747s.
A pod containing an interferometric synthetic aperture radar is mounted under the wing of a U.S. Navy P-3 (below). Pioneered by Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, N.M., the technology, called IFSAR, can produce high-resolution, three-dimensional terrain models through cloud cover, rain and darkness. The sensor relies on about 16 in. of separation between two antennas to provide the 3D effect, according to Tom Prevender, SAR program manager at Sandia.
General Electric and Pratt&Whitney are optimistic that full-scale versions of their HSCT combustor designs will meet the program's stringent emissions criteria. Current guidelines call for HSCT engines to generate no more than 5 grams of oxides of nitrogen per kilogram of fuel burned. The combustor also is to demonstrate a 99.9% efficiency at supersonic cruise and a 99% efficiency at other steady-state operating conditions. The HSCT powerplant team--NASA, GE and Pratt--is expected to select one preferred combustor approach by next May.
U.S. researchers are examining a wide variety of new materials to meet the stringent emission, noise and durability requirements needed to develop a propulsion system for the High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT). Ceramic matrix composites are being investigated for the engine's combustor and exhaust nozzle. Gamma titanium aluminides may be used as nozzle flap materials, and advanced superalloys appear destined for compressor and turbine disks.
Flight Dynamics of Portland, Ore., is proposing the integration of infrared sensor imagery on its commercial head-up guidance systems for improved pilot situational awareness during climb and descent phases of flight. The technology adapts easily to the company's wide-view, stroke/ raster HGS systems and would boost safety for flights operating in mountainous regions and to remote runways, particularly during circling approaches.
Fabrication is underway on the Hyper-X program in preparation for a Mach 7 flight test of the air-breathing aircraft, scheduled to be conducted in mid-1999 on the Western Test Range. Hyper-X is a NASA propulsion demonstration program intended to validate design tools which could be used in the future for development of hypersonic propulsion technology and air vehicles.
Some airlines awaiting new Boeing jets during the next 6-12 months may be operating on the knife's edge until the aircraft builder eliminates acute supply-chain bottlenecks. Major U.S. carriers that have placed sizable orders don't seem alarmed. However, the financial and logistical impact of even a single late delivery can be substantial, so the cooperative mood of the industry could wear thin if problems persist longer than expected.
David Smukowski has been appointed deputy president of FlightSafety Boeing International of Seattle, the joint venture between FlightSafety International and Boeing. He was director of business strategy and development for Boeing Enterprises.
Louis J. Churchville (see photos) has been appointed senior vice president-marketing and Kevin Worley vice president-airline sales for Signature Flight Support, Orlando, Fla.
The success of American Airlines' Advanced Maneuvering Program (AMP) is prompting interest by other major U.S. and international carriers to have American present the one-day program to their pilots or develop a similar course of their own. In response to the increasing levels of cockpit automation, AMP is aimed at increasing a pilot's knowledge of transport aircraft aerodynamics, honing basic flying skills for recovering from unexpected upsets and extracting maximum performance from the aircraft to avoid accidents.
Japanese officials attending the International Astronautical Federation conference in Turin, Italy, last week said they are all for multinational cooperation, but gently suggested that the NASA-led International Space Station is not a good model. One senior Japanese executive said Tokyo's ``rigid'' government bureaucrats have been driven nearly crazy by the failure of the other station partners to stick to their financial and design commitments. No one in Japan can understand why the U.S. Congress debates the merits of the program year after year.
Western Pacific Airlines continued to operate a normal schedule last week after filing for protection under U.S. bankruptcy laws while it searches for capital from new investor groups.
