Henry Ma has become general manager for Hong Kong for United Airlines' Pacific South Div. He succeeds Barry Bergmann, who has resigned. Chris Lin has been named general manager for China, succeeding Robert Copeland, who has become general manager for Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok airport project. David Solloway is now general manager for India, succeeding Richard Snyder, who is retiring, and Bruce Kerr has become manager for marketing and sales.
The natives are restless. The 30-year moratorium on all things progressive in aeronautics is showing cracks, and once again the prophets and soothsayers are daring to forecast a bright future. Aviation Week&Space Technology wants to know what to expect.
THE AVIATION WEEK GROUP HAS BEEN NAMED to receive two prestigious awards next month. The Airport Consultants Council, based in Alexandria, Va., has named the division of The McGraw-Hill Companies as winner of its 1997 Aviation Award of Excellence. The Aviation Week Group is being honored for the significant contribution it makes to the commercial aviation business by virtue of its diligent, in-depth and respected reporting.
The U.S. Navy has the AGM-154A Joint Stand Off Weapon (JSOW) ready for operations nine months early. The Raytheon/ Texas Instruments' product is a glide bomb that allows F/A-18 pilots to launch weapons outside the range of most anti-aircraft weapons. Depending on launch altitude, this could be 12-40 naut. mi. from the target. Following successful operational tests in June, the Navy opted to keep six extra test JSOWs on board the U.S.S. Nimitz for training and operational contingencies rather than return them to the company.
NASA is throwing its support behind a proposal to rescind an 11-year-old presidential edict and a provision in U.S. law that virtually prohibits the space shuttle from carrying commercial satellites into orbit. The policy reversals are being pushed by United Space Alliance (USA), the venture that manages shuttle operations, as part of a plan it has begun to develop with NASA to completely privatize the shuttle in five years.
BOULLIOUN AVIATION SERVICES has purchased three 737-300 transports from Boeing. The Bellevue, Wash.-based leasing company now has a total of 20 737s in service or on order. The company is a subsidiary of Japan's Sumitomo Trust.
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT HAS COMPLETED FIRST FLIGHT of the CH-60 helicopter, a Black Hawk derivative that could replace aging CH-46s in service with the U.S. Navy. Sikorsky pilot Bob Spaulding and copilot Chris Geanacopoulos made the 15-min. first flight from Sikorsky's Stratford, Conn., facility on Oct. 6. During the flight, the crew performed basic aircraft controllability tests and conducted several minutes of ``up and away'' flying, including forward and side-to-side flight. Maximum altitude reached was about 1,000 ft.
THE NEW UNMANNED Progress M-36 resupply spacecraft docked with the Mir station Oct. 8. The Progress carried a second new computer to Mir along with additional water and maneuvering propellant. Operations to dock M-36 with Mir had to be delayed for a day when the old Progress M-35 vehicle failed to undock properly because the station's crew accidentally left a retention device in place. The new Progress arrived two days after the space shuttle Atlantis landed at Kennedy Space Center ending its 11-day mission to the station.
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.
