Jerry Schlesinger (see photo) has become senior vice president of First Aviation Services Inc., Westport, Conn. He was managing principal of the SK Group and executive vice president/chief financial officer of Butler Aviation International.
Emirates, the international carrier of the United Arab Emirates, will add two Boeing 777-200 increased gross weight version aircraft to its fleet in the fall of 1998. The carrier, which operates six 777s and takes delivery of a seventh next month, exercised two of seven options for the new orders. Its IGW aircraft are powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 892 engines; its first three 777s--the ``A'' models--are equipped with Rolls-Royce Trent 840 engines.
Robert A. Stolz, chairman/president of Tiernay Metals, Redondo Beach, Calif., has been named to the board of directors of the National Assn. of Aluminum Distributors.
Went back to work after the union reached agreement with United Parcel Service on a new five-year contract, and so did the 2,000 UPS pilots represented by the Independent Pilots Assn. IPA has asked the National Mediation Board to bring UPS and IPA back to the table to negotiate a new pilots' contract to replace the one that expired in December, 1995. Negotiations were suspended by the National Mediation Board in June. An IPA official said it is paramount that the two sides restart talks and come to a settlement to rebuild customer confidence in the company.
Are expected to become the first customers for the X-31 Mach 3, multirole export missile developed by Russsia's Zvezda-Strela, pending approval by the Yeltsin administration. China wants to use the air-launched missile to equip its most modern fighters, including the Sukhoi Su-27SK/UBs. China recently acquired five non-flying X-31As to test the missile's cryogenic ramjet, according to Russian sources. India would equip its new Su-30MKIs with the 16-ft.-long missile. When fired from high altitude, it has a range of up to 125 mi.
Jon Horne has resigned as airport director at London City Airport to become managing director of the new Sheffield City Airport in England. Maurice Boyle will become operations director at London City Airport next month.
Former electric-utility industry executive Leo F. Mullin is expected to have no difficulty transitioning into his new role as Delta Air Lines' president and CEO. But it remains to be seen whether he can live up to the high expectations of diverse groups who have either a direct or professional interest in the carrier's future.
Pentagon officials acknowledge that an effort to concoct formulas for cutting overlaps among the armed services has failed. There had been great expectations for a two-year-long Weapons Mix Study as the centerpiece of the Quadrennial Defense Review. Now, it has fizzled. The study was to assess every major weapon system and assign each a value, so as to allow cross-service decisions about which weapons to keep and which to abandon as defense budgets decrease.
The FAA has granted Delta Air Lines a supplemental type certificate (STC) for installation of new cargo bay smoke detection and fire suppression systems on its 69 Boeing 737 aircraft. Delta said it will begin installing the systems, developed with Walter Kidde Aerospace, in its aircraft as they are scheduled for regular maintenance. The airline, which expects to complete installation in advance of the FAA's proposed deadline of 2001, also is working on similar systems for its Boeing 727s, McDonnell Douglas MD-88s and Lockheed L-1011s.
The U.S. Justice Dept. has given General Electric the green light to complete its planned acquisition of Greenwich Air Services Inc. The company now plans to finish its acquisition of the maintenance and overhaul firm on Sept. 2. At the same time, GE also is moving to complete its acquisition of UNC, Inc., another provider of engine overhaul and aviation services. The results of a UNC shareholder vote on whether to approve the GE takeover plan are expected in late September.
Outsourcing of certain helicopter operations. USAF Space Command has a 25-year-old fleet of 64 twin-engine Bell UH-1Ns that support missile wing operations and provide passenger transport. A request for information has been issued for leasing services. It is based on two options--full wet lease or a lease where the Air Force would continue to provide crews.
Bruce Peterman, a retired senior vice president-aircraft development for Cessna Aircraft, Wichita, Kan., has been reelected vice chairman of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corp. board of directors.
Alvin Brantley of the Hi-Shear Corp., Torrance, Calif., is scheduled to receive the 1997 Society of Automotive Engineers' Aerofast Speller Award for his dedication to the advancement of the fastening industry.
C. Raymond Boelig has been named senior vice president-marketing and strategic business development for the Spacetec IMC Corp., Lowell, Mass. He was chairman/president/chief executive officer of Bitstream Inc.
Long March 3B booster achieved its first successful launch with a 1:50 a.m. liftoff Aug. 20 from the Xichang space center. Its payload, the Agila 2 satcom built by Space Systems/ Loral for Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corp. (MPSC), is expected to complete its geosynchronous transfer to a parking slot at 144 deg. E. Long. early this week. In-orbit tests are scheduled to take about a month, making the satellite available for commercial operations in October.
Roy H. Norris has resigned as president of Wichita-based Raytheon Aircraft Co. and plans to establish an aviation consulting company based in Savannah, Ga. A company official said Norris' duties have been absorbed by Art Wegner, chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Aircraft. Norris joined the company in September, 1994, and had oversight responsibility for development of the Hawker Horizon and Premier 1 business jets.
Control officer was forced to destroy an Arrow 2 missile after it developed a malfunction and went off course shortly after launch during an intercept test last week. U.S. and Israeli officials are investigating the cause of the malfunction. Preliminary indications point to the failure of one of the accessories in the flight control system. The missile was intended to intercept an incoming target--an Arrow 1 representing a Scud missile, which was launched from a sea-based platform 41/2 min. prior to the launch of the Arrow 2 interceptor.
NASA officials are vowing to whip the Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) program into line with Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's faster-cheaper-better approach. A new plan, born of an eight-month review of MTPE, promises to cut development times of post-2002 Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecraft to three years. AM-1, the first EOS satellite, will have been in development eight years at its scheduled launch next summer.
Illustration: Drawing illustrates cosmonauts in depressurized node preparing to close hatch to Spektr after connecting wires to electrical junction on docking cone. Soyuz orbital module was to be safe haven for cosmonauts. DANIEL JAMES GAUTHIER The Russian/U.S. crew on Mir was preparing late last week for a high-stakes repair operation to reconnect electrical power from the damaged Spektr module with the rest of the station.
Photograph: F/A-18s will likely add the U.S.-designed AIM-120 as its new beyond-visual-range missile, but competition for an AIM-9 replacement will be hot. Australia's future is complex and entails making bold choices about new technologies while confronting a changing vision of the relationship between men and aircraft. Between 2000-20, Australia will have to replace its F-111s, F/A-18s and P-3s, decide which weapons should arm both the transitional and new aircraft, and plan how to introduce new technologies like stealth and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The other day, presidential spokesman Mike McCurry was asked a question he couldn't answer. What was the Administration's position, a reporter wanted to know, on a House effort to fire 1,600 people from the Energy Dept.? Key experts working on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons would have to go, the reporter said, especially ``the younger ones who are just hired for this and then they'd be fired, and then there goes the program.''
Photograph: The cockpit of the MIG-29SMT fighter will feature all-Russian hardware. Some components, like microprocessors, will be Western-made. Russian President Boris Yeltsin has approved a plan, long urged by industry leaders, to lend increased government support to Russia's beleaguered aerospace and defense sector, without taxing scarce budget resources.
Orlando International Airport plans to add a fourth, 16-gate satellite terminal to the existing north terminal complex and to construct a new air traffic tower, north crossfield taxiway and other facilities to help the airport keep pace with increasing passenger growth. The $965-million expansion program was approved by the airport's 11 signatory airlines with long-term leases, allowing the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority to begin issuing bonds for the projects, which will be backed by landing fees, airport rents and passenger facility charges.
Illustration: Diagram: NTSB diagram depicts the final flight of ValuJet DC-9-32 N904VJ, based on information from cockpit voice and flight data recorders and radar. Pressure from a bursting tire in the burning forward cargo hold likely registered in static pressure sources for the aircraft's altimetry and airspeed systems, accounting for the first anomalies on the FDR. A second set of fluctuations likely was the result of the fire burning through the alternate static pressure source line that runs through the hold. Control of the aircraft was lost about 8 sec.
The new Beriev Be-103 multipurpose amphibian crashed here on takeoff on Aug. 18, the day before it was to begin flight demonstrations at the MAKS '97 Moscow air show. The pilot, Vladimir Ulyanov, was killed. The accident occurred in poor weather conditions, with low ceiling. The Be-103 stalled at an altitude of about 70-100 meters (230-330 ft.), rolled over and crashed. The Russian civil protection agency formed an investigation board to determine causes for the accident.
