DICK RUTAN AND RICHARD ABRUZZO will attempt to fly around the world in a balloon this winter using a special heating system to keep helium warm at night.
Nor is Flight Dynamics ignoring the potential for head-up displays to enhance airport ground flow, thereby improving acceptance rate, during poor visibility. The company is assisting NASA in the development of head-up guidance symbology for precise, Global Positioning System-based rollout, runway turn-off and taxi guidance. The symbology will be tested on Flight Dynamics' head-up guidance systems installed on two simulators and NASA's Boeing 757 transport, according to John Desmond, company president.
Senate confirmation of George Donohue as FAA deputy administrator has been put on hold by Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) because the Transportation Dept. has not answered requests from two airlines that serve his state. AirTran Airways is seeking a waiver of slot restrictions that keep it from providing service from Knoxville to New York's LaGuardia Airport. Trans States Airlines wants a slot waiver for Chattanooga to Chicago flights.
Boeing President Ronald Woodard used the Beijing Aviation China '97 exhibition here last week to reassure the Chinese that production of China's MD-90 Trunkliner program will be uninterrupted by the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger. In the past three weeks, Boeing also has began consolidation of parts distribution and airline support of operations in China for the merged companies.
Aircraft designers and operators know little about the specific conditions that lead to a fuel tank explosion and cannot analyze the phenomenon adequately with fuel characteristics data and computer modeling techniques available today, according to officials at a fuel-hazards conference here.
Deep canyons with walls up to 2,000 meters (6,500 ft.) high are visible in this image (below) of the Labyrinthus Noctis area west of the Valles Marineris, one of the first orbital images returned by Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). A runoff channel was also imaged during one of the early passes over the planet, with dunes visible on the canyon floor (right). The images are considered of lower quality than the Mars Global Surveyor Orbiter Camera will be capable of when the spacecraft is in its final orbit and the mapping mission begins early next year.
NASA and industry engineers are deciding on the basic form of a High-Speed Civil Transport that will strongly influence future U.S. commercial supersonic aircraft. A December deadline has quickened the pace at NASA to complete the work on a preliminary technical configuration aircraft. A computer-based model, it will become the focus of intense study in NASA's High Speed Research program throughout next year. A final technical copy of the aircraft should be in place to meet a December 1998 program milestone.
Kenneth Alan Townsend has been named director of the Domestic Oil and Gas Div., Virgil Russell director of operations and Col. R.J. Wallace (USMC, Ret.) director of maintenance, for Petroleum Helicopters Inc., Lafayette, La.
Boeing has selected a site in Decatur, Ala., for construction of a new 2-million-sq.-ft. facility to build the core vehicle for its Delta 4 booster. The launcher is a finalist in the U.S. Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) competition. The Delta 4 is also intended for commercial operations. Other sites considered were near Huntington Beach, Calif., and Titusville, Fla. A new $250-million launch facility will be built at Cape Canaveral for the Delta 4. The Decatur factory is expected to employ 2,000-3,000 people.
Iridium now has half its constellation in orbit. Five more satellites have been launched, bringing the number in low-Earth orbit to 34. The spacecraft were launched on a Boeing Delta 2 from Space Launch Complex-2 at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., at 6:23 p.m. PDT on Sept. 26. The next Iridium launch on a Delta from Vandenberg is scheduled for early November. The 66-satellite network is scheduled to be operational next year.
Despite tight budget constraints in research and technology funding, Europe envisions building an all-new supersonic commercial transport that could enter service late in the next decade. The European aircraft and engine manufacturers' advanced technology effort is complemented by national aerospace research agencies such as the British Defense Research Agency, Onera in France and DLR in Germany.
Although lacking sufficient raw materials, Northrop Grumman's Commercial Aircraft Div. is meeting its production commitments to Boeing while instituting new programs designed to streamline production flow and improve procurement procedures throughout its extensive chain of suppliers.
Now that Sukhoi's S-32 has flown (the first flight was Sept. 25), the Pentagon foresees the Russian Air Force having two candidates for a fifth-generation, multirole fighter. Don't expect anything like a Western-style fly off between the two aircraft. The air force will be able to afford only one--either the S-32 or MiG's 1.42 design. The S-32 is designed for a lower radar signature, but it is not a stealth aircraft, analysts say. Weapons are suspended under the fuselage on special conformal stations.
It's an example of military illogic rivaling Catch 22--weapons so secret their workings can't be revealed even to commanders in the field. As a result, the weapons don't get used! Odeen confirmed that a number of secret weapons were not used in the Persian Gulf war either because their capabilities couldn't be revealed to commanders--or because they were offered too late in the conflict. ``Guys came to us saying they had something that would win the war,'' one wartime commander told us.
KAMAN AEROSPACE'S SH-2G(E) SUPER SEASPRITE antisubmarine warfare helicopter has completed flight qualification and performance testing with the U.S. Navy, clearing the way for delivery of the first aircraft to Egypt on Oct. 21. Egypt, the first international customer for the SH-2G, will acquire 10 of the aircraft under a $150-million-plus U.S. Foreign Military Sales contract. The first three aircraft will be sent initially to Pensacola, Fla., where they will be used to train Egyptian pilots. Australia and New Zealand have contracts to procure a total of 15 SH-2Gs.
Southwest Airlines has initiated its ``Adopt-A-Pilot'' program, which is aimed at teaching elementary school pupils about aviation, the principles of flight, and how geography, science and mathematics relate to the operation of an airline. Southwest has selected one fifth-grade class in each of the 52 cities it serves and assigned a cockpit crewmember domiciled in that city to become an ``adopted'' pilot and visit each class.
Reorganized into 11 business units, eliminating the three sectors--aerospace, automotive and engineered materials. The sector offices will close within 30 days, and their functions will either be eliminated or they will be moved to the corporate or business unit level. Daniel P. Burnham, who heads what is now AlliedSignal Aerospace Co., has been elected to the board of directors and as one of two vice chairmen of the board.
Jean-Cyril Spinetta, Air France's newly appointed chairman/CEO, is expected to strengthen the state-owned carrier's profitability and its quest for global business. He is Air France's sixth chief in 12 years, a clear indication of the French government's interference, which created top management instability in a troubled political environment.
The Administration's fast-track trade bill is in ``very deep trouble'' in the House, Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) warned last week. A supporter of the legislation, Gingrich laid all blame on the President. Clinton has not ``personally reached out to Democrats,'' many of whom are under labor union pressure to vote against the bill, Gingrich said. Renewal of fast-track authority would restore the President's ability to negotiate a trade agreement and submit it to Congress for an up-or-down vote, with limited debate and no amendments.
United Airlines has begun testing a voice recognition system for taking airline reservations. Created using Applied Language Technologies' SpeechWorks 3.0 speech recognition software, the automated voice response system will be tested by United's 80,000 employees to make their own airline reservations. The intent is to improve automated systems into which callers have to key information using touchtone telephones, by providing a machine that can give voice recognition of what it has been told.
National Laboratory in California is developing what it calls ``a particularly promising emerging technology'' to help combat nuclear terrorism. Test deployment at a U.S. military base is in the works.
