The FAA must continue its program to scrutinize safety oversight of nations whose airlines operate to the U.S. to make sure they comply with international standards--even as the agency works for a strengthened safety oversight framework at the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). So says Anthony J. Broderick, the former FAA regulation and certification honcho. ``It is far too early to slow down,'' he told the International Aviation Club here, especially since the FAA was ``the major force'' in getting the momentum going.
Southwest Airlines has introduced a Freedom USA Pass program for British travelers to the U.S. and plans to expand the program into the rest of Europe and the Far East later this year. The airline has appointed Gatwick-based Aviareps Ltd. to handle marketing and sales. The offer includes three flat-fare options for travel between any two city-pairs. There are separate passes for travel: one for Eastern/Central regions, one for the Western region and one that spans Southwest's entire U.S. network.
Scott Rayder has become a professional staff member for oversight issues and Adrienne Woodward deputy communications director of the U.S. House Science Committee. Rayder was congressional and constituent affairs specialist for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Woodward was committee staff assistant and press aide. Ken Gordon has been named a professional staff member on the panel's Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee. He was an Aerospace Corp. military space policy adviser to the U.S. Air Force.
No. 2 qualification launch (V502), tentatively planned for Sept. 30, will be further delayed by additional checks of the Vulcain cryogenic engine's actuators. Tests completed in the last few days indicated an excessive oil consumption in the actuators' oil system, a European Space Agency official said late last week. If the required fixes involve no more than ``fine tuning,'' the V502 launch will be delayed ``by no more than a few days'' and rescheduled for early October.
PATS Inc. has purchased the former Georgetown (Del.) Aircraft facility to house installations of long range fuel tanks in the new Boeing Business Jet. Columbia, Md.-based PATS has received a Boeing contract potentially worth more than $200 million to fabricate, test, certificate and install its auxiliary tank system in the modified 737-300s. It is the largest contract in the company's history, according to PATS President Jack Frost. The extra fuel capacity will extends the BBJ's range to 6,200 naut. mi. with reserves. Once operations are underway, the 89,000-sq.- ft.
The U.S. Defense Dept., banking on a proposed doubling of the National Missile Defense (NMD) budget, plans to substantially expand the number of costly flight tests, but the Clinton Administration is holding firm against calls to speed up deployment.
From Ft. Bragg, N.C., to Kazakhstan on Sept. 14-15 to airdrop 500 U.S. troops from the 82nd Airborne Div. and 40 Asian troops, for an exercise named Centrazbat '97. Two of the aircraft airdropped vehicles and cargo. The C-17s refueled three times en route during the 19-hr. flight. A total of 1,400 troops from the U.S., Russia, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Latvia are participating in the peacekeeping training exercise which lasts six days. Kazakhstani MiG-29 fighters are also involved in the training.
Was appointed chairman/CEO of Air France on Sept. 18. The French government selected Spinetta to succeed Christian Blanc who resigned earlier this month in the wake of an intense controversy centered on Air France's ill-fated privatization plan. Spinetta headed Air Inter, then-Air France's domestic-regional subsidiary, in 1990-93. He later was appointed industrial policy advisor of the late President Francois Mitterrand and recently worked for Edith Cresson, the European Commissioner for Research and Science.
The arrival of several new commercial remote sensing systems is about to end the U.S. Defense Dept.'s monopoly on highly detailed satellite imagery and could ultimately set new paradigms for the way the government procures and tasks its own imagery spacecraft.
With 1,800 active matrix liquid crystal displays over a three-year period. The 8 X 8-in. color AMLCDs are destined for Boeing 777 and 737Xs, for which Honeywell is supplying the cockpit avionics. The displays benefit from a proprietary C7 compensator Collins developed during 10 years of research, which gives very stable gray scales and color over wide viewing angles--greater than the required 60 deg. from the perpendicular.
Celso Azevedo has been named president/CEO of Astrolink, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Space and Strategic Missiles, Bethesda, Md. He was senior vice president of DirecTV.
Specially equipped U.S. and South African Air Force aircraft have gathered in Namibia to bring their electronic intercept, infrared sensor and all-weather flight capabilities to bear in an often zero-visibility search for debris and bodies from the midair collision of two transport aircraft.
General Electric has completed altitude tests of a growth version of its T700 engine, the T700/T6E. The tests of the 2,500-shp. turboshaft were conducted at the company's Evendale, Ohio, facility at simulated altitudes ranging from sea level to 20,000 ft. Flight testing of the engine is scheduled to begin later this year, with flight trials of a civilian version of the powerplant, the turboshaft CT7-8, planned for next year. Certification of the CT7-8 is expected in 1999. The T700/T6E and CT7-8 are being developed by GE with Alfa Romeo Avio and FiatAvio of Italy.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines said plans to restrict traffic at Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport will cause havoc with passengers and hurt the airline's chances of forming global alliances. As of Oct. 1, Schiphol will no longer employ its outer runway as a second runway for takeoffs and landings during peak hours, in order to comply with noise reduction legislation.The move is in addition to previously announced restrictions on nighttime operations of wide-body aircraft at the airport, which also take effect Oct. 1.
Ronald V. Swanson and Ronald D. Symmes, vice presidents of the Hughes Space and Communications Co., are the 1997 recipients of the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space Systems Award. They have been cited for achievements in architecture, analysis, design and implementation of space systems. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Galileo Team is the recipient of the 1997 AIAA Space Operations and Support Award. The award is presented for efforts in overcoming space operations problems and ensuring success. And, Robert R.
Philip J. Greco (see photo) has become vice president-business development for commercial operating in the Communications Systems Div. and John Brand director of business development for the Command Systems Div., of the Telephonics Corp., Farmingdale, N.Y.
Patrice Kreis has been appointed chairman/CEO of the Aerospatiale Multicom Satellite Network. He will remain vice president-communications of Aerospatiale.
Richard P. Burrell (see photos) has been appointed president of Dynamic Controls HS within Hamilton Standard Aircraft Systems, Windsor Locks, Conn. He was vice president-engineering. Burrell will be succeeded by Arthur W. Lucas, who has been Pratt&Whitney PW6000 engine design integration manager. Mohammed A. Sattar was named vice president-propulsion systems, and Joseph E. Triompo was promoted to vice president-engine controls and accessories from director of engineering. Sattar was vice president of Hamilton Standard-Nauka.
Have finished a silo-based version of the intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) Topol-M (SS-27) despite the defense sector's financial difficulties. Topol will join the Russian army's arsenal in 1998 to make it the core of the future nuclear deterrent. Despite the limited funding of the Topol-M program, the missile flight tests are being held on schedule. There have been a total of four experimental launches of Topol-M. The army's acquisition of Topol-M ICBMs will include equal numbers of mobile and silo-based versions.
Boeing will be late in delivering 12 transports worth approximately $1 billion because parts and labor shortages have snagged the company's rapid production ramp-up. The deferred deliveries, to 10 airlines, involve seven 737s, four 747-400s and one 757. The aircraft, originally to be handed over this month, now will be delivered in October. Boeing transport sale contracts typically specify the month of delivery, not the exact date.
Astronaut Tom Akers, a U.S. Air Force colonel, has become commander of ROTC Detachment 442 at the University of Missouri in Rolla. He has been assistant director-technical at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
British Airways has chosen EDS to develop and provide information technology systems for its new global accounting center. The contract, estimated to be worth 35 million pounds ($56 million) during the next 10 years, is expected to help cut the airline's accounting costs by 30%. The move is part of BA's drive to achieve 1 billion pounds ($1.59 billion) a year in annual savings through 2000. That drive received another boost with the recent settlement of a pay dispute between the airline and the union representing the majority of its cabin crew.
The Learjet 45's Honeywell Primus 1000 fully integrated avionics suite represents the first application of large, four-tube EFIS displays and an engine instrument and crew alerting system in a lightweight business jet.
Report critical of the Eurofighter program has been circulated among members of parliament as they prepare to vote on the cabinet's recommendation to fund production. The unpublished report, which cites technical and financial problems, suggests cutting Germany's buy from 180 to 100 aircraft. Eurofighter supporters dismissed the report as out-of-date, saying it discusses technical problems that have long been solved.
