The push for ``one level of safety'' in aviation must be an international program to adequately protect the flying public, industry and government officials told the Air Line Pilots Assn. annual air safety forum. Speakers agreed that the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) must have expanded authority and more resources if a serious improvement is to be made in safety levels worldwide, particularly in developing nations.
NASA'S DRYDEN FLIGHT Research Center has started captive-carry tests of the X-38 lifting body, designed to demonstrate technologies for a future crew return vehicle (AW&ST Aug. 4, p. 16). The X-38 is shown suspended from NASA's B-52 carrier aircraft on the July 30 first flight. Another flight was made on Aug. 2, but operations are now halted to fix electrical problems. The first drop test could occur as soon as October, after the captive-carry tests have been completed.
The U.S. Defense Dept.'s growing dependency on space assets to enhance military operations has greatly increased emphasis on monitoring and predicting changes in the space ``weather'' environment. Consequently, forecasting space weather disturbances and warning operational forces have become a high priority for Air Force Space Command. These alerts allow spacecraft controllers to turn sensors away from the Sun, shut down vulnerable subsystems and avoid needless trouble-shooting.
First delivery of Denel Aviation's Rooivalk attack helicopter will go to the South African Air Force's 16th Sqdn. at Bloemspruit AFB in early 1999. Deliveries will continue at a rate of two helicopters per year until the unit's strength reaches 12 aircraft. The sale may be the breakthrough the South African manufacturer needed. Denel also has prospective helicopter customers in Malaysia and Australia.
Light Solutions of Mountain View, Calif., is demonstrating key technologies for an aircraft laser generating system that could adapt frequency, pulse and repetition rates to serve a variety of functions, including defeating heat-seeking missiles. As envisioned, only one of the 8-lb., briefcase-sized solid-state laser diode drive and cooling systems would be required per aircraft. It would route optical pump energy via optic fiber to remote laser heads optimized for a specific mission and located around the aircraft.
U.S. Air Force demonstrations of real-time information to the cockpit (RTIC) have underscored the growing importance of making high-data-rate satellite communication channels available to tactical forces targeting mobile weapon systems.
The Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle's successful second flight goes a long way to restore the rocket's reputation, tarnished by multiple failures on its first flight in August, 1995. The LMLV performed a nearly flawless job of placing the NASA/TRW Lewis satellite into its initial orbit, and does not appear to be involved with subsequent Lewis problems, which started three days later (see p. 31).
Continental Airlines, in an order valued at $75 million, has selected the 43,100-lb.-thrust Rolls-Royce RB211-535E4B engine to power five Boeing 757 aircraft it has on order. Two of the aircraft are scheduled for delivery in June and December, 1998, and the remaining three during the first quarter of 1999.
The Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines has mounted a push to win approval of the last two nations necessary to ratify the Warsaw Convention that allows electronic documentation for cargo shipments to replace paper air waybills. Called Montreal Protocol No. 4, the amendment has been ratified by 28 countries but needs approval by 30 to become the international standard.
Formally submitted to the Justice Dept. documentation that will allow regulators to begin their review of the company's proposed acquisition of Northrop Grumman Corp. Under the Hart-Scott-Rodino law, the government will have 30 days for its initial review. The entire review process, however, is likely to take 4-6 months. While Justice is expected to approve the $8.26-billion transaction, many industry observers continue to believe Lockheed Martin will be required to divest some defense electronics assets that now reside within Northrop Grumman.
Austin, Texas', new airport, Austin-Bergstrom International, site of the former Bergstrom AFB, remains on schedule for startup of passenger service operations in May, 1999. Estimated total cost of the airport project is $630 million, to be funded by airport users and the national aviation system. During her visit there last week, new FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey announced Austin-Bergstrom will receive a $2-million grant, earmarked for airport parking facilities, from the agency's Military Airport Program.
Alan Sbarra and Ulf Weber have become vice presidents of Roberts, Roach and Associates, Hayward, Calif. Sbarra was a senior sales analyst for Latin America for United Airlines, and Weber was vice president-network development for Swiss airline Crossair.
Richard Bromberg has been appointed mid-Atlantic regional sales manager, succeeding Ariella Heller, who has become Midwest U.S. sales manager, for El Al Israel Airlines. Heller succeeds Arieh Abend, who has returned to Israel.
China Xinjiang Airlines is readying its new ATR 72 for initial operations. The European twin-turboprop is a key part of the carrier's plan to modernize its fleet with Western-built transports.
LA RUSSIAN INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH SERVICES (ILS) Proton heavy booster like the one shown above successfully launched the PanAmSat Corp. PAS 5 spacecraft into geosynchronous transfer orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Aug. 28.
The 253-seat Airbus A330-200 twinjet transport, a shortened-fuselage A330 derivative that made its first flight on Aug. 13, already has explored the flight envelope after completing seven event-free tests. The first A330-200 is powered by 67,500-lb.-thrust General Electric CF6-E1 turbofan engines. FAA and European JAA certification is planned for March, 1998. The GE-equipped A330-200 will be followed by additional versions powered by Pratt&Whitney PW4000s and Rolls-Royce Trent 700s.
Stephen Lee has become director of maintenance services at FLS Aerospace, Stansted, England. Promotions include Mike Wilson to head of sales, Phil Whitehead head of key accounts, Mervyn Yaffe key account manager, Jackie Gregory key account support manager and Mark Brown sales support manager.
U.S. and Russian negotiators have concluded tentative agreements clarifying the difference between theater missile defenses and their strategic counterparts. The latter are all but banned by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972. The tentative accords, reached in Geneva by the Standing Consultative Commission, implement the agreements in principle reached at last winter's Helsinki summit, which ruled out the testing of higher velocity theater defenses against strategic, long-range missiles being used as test targets (AW&ST Mar. 31, p. 26).
One indication of the stakes in the negotiations here last week on a new U.S.-Japan bilateral air services agreement is the size of the U.S. delegation--65 people (see p. 37). This includes the representatives of airlines, airports and other interested groups. The delegation takes part in ``plenary sessions'' but is excluded from ``executive sessions,'' where U.S. government negotiators get serious with their Japanese counterparts. ``When the delegation is this size, no business gets done,'' said one of the representatives.
Judith Rodin, president of the University of Pennsylvania, has been named to the boards of directors of American Airlines and its parent, the AMR Corp. Sue Oliver has become vice president-employee relations of American Airlines. She succeeds Jane Allen, who is now vice president-flight service.
Treading carefully even as he prepares to retire, Shalikashvili spoke up for the B-2 in the wake of more criticism of the bomber. The Pentagon's operational test and evaluation director, Philip E. Coyle, told a Senate committee last week that the problems maintaining the aircraft's stealthy coatings are its ``most significant limitation.'' As a Pentagon insider, his testimony is likely to prove more damning than the General Accounting Office report highlighting the woes in maintaining the B-2's low observable skin (AW&ST Aug. 25, p. 19).
