Photograph: The cockpit would feature three electronic displays developed for the Model 609 by Rockwell Collins. Although most companies would use two pilots in IFR flight operations, Bell Boeing officials plan to obtain FAA certification for single pilot operation of the aircraft. A full-scale mockup of the Model 609 (shown below) will be displayed at the National Business Aviation Assn. convention in Dallas next month.
In a recent CIA publication, National Reconnaissance Office historian Gerald K. Haines claims that during the Cold War the Air Force knowingly attributed many UFO reports triggered by high-flying U-2s and SR-71s to ``natural phenomena such as ice crystals and temperature inversions.'' Not so, says one leading UFO debunker, Aviation Week's own Phillip J. Klass.
Avianca is to unveil cut-rate vacation packages in league with major hotels in Colombia later this month as part of the carrier's campaign of more than $8.5 million to improve its infrastructure and boost tourism. The Colombian carrier is committing $6 million by the end of the year to improving its facilities and equipment, other than aircraft. The remainder is to be spent on improving security for its customers and its operations and selling tourists on traveling to the South American nation. For a further boost, Avianca is awaiting U.S.
The U.S. and Turkey should set a new agenda for strengthening their bilateral security relationship, to deal with the new balances of power in the eastern Mediterranean, say U.S. strategic analysts. In particular, they stress the urgent need of the two NATO allies to work closely on countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD). Turkey shares borders with Syria, Iran and Iraq, which are widely considered among the world's most dangerous proliferators.
The U.S. Air Force awarded $149 million in contracts to six companies to develop sensors for the National Polar Orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System, which is slated to combine U.S. military and civilian satellite weather monitoring. The contractors were Hughes, ITT Aerospace, Ball Aerospace, Orbital Sciences and Saab Ericsson.
NATO ally Turkey plans to expedite bids to equip its helicopter fleet with active and passive antimissile systems in the wake of two recent aircraft losses to suspected terrorist attacks. Turkish defense sources estimate a cost of $100,000 per helicopter to equip the military's diverse fleet, which includes 30 AH-1P Cobras, nine AH-1W Super Cobras, 19 Cougars and 17 Mi-17s. In addition, Turkey is to produce 30 more Cougars under a joint project, and recently solicited bids for 50 attack helicopters (AW&ST July 7, p. 47).
Photograph: Russian Soyuz SL-4 lifts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome on about 1 million-lb. thrust carrying the Soyuz TM-26 replacement crew to Mir. The crew docked with Mir Aug. 7. Astronauts on shuttle Mission 85 and the joint U.S./Russian crew on Mir are moving into an intense week of flight operations in different orbits, following the launch of Discovery on a varied science mission and the docking of the new Soyuz TM-26 crew with Mir.
Charles H. Noski has been appointed executive vice president/chief financial officer of the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He was vice chairman/CFO of the Hughes Electronics Corp. Noski succeeds Stephen F. Page, who is now president/chief executive officer of UTC's Otis Elevator Co.
Ovadia Harari (see photo) has been named as executive vice president of Israel Aircraft Industries. Menahem Shmul succeeds Harari as corporate vice president/general manager of the Military Aircraft Group. David Harari, formerly corporate director for business development, has become corporate deputy vice president/director of research and development. Menahem Tadmor is now director of corporate industrial services.
Two Eurocopter AS-350 AStars and an A-365 Dauphin are shown operating from the Dallas Central Business District Heliport, located at the southern end of the Dallas Convention Center. The nearly 4-acre, public-use heliport, which opened in January, 1994, now is logging about 4,000 operations a year. Flights associated with the National Business Aviation Assn. convention being held in Dallas this year should increase that total to 5,000 for 1997, according to Lana Furra, manager.
With major airlines expected to hire 4,200 pilots this year, up from 3,080 in 1996, the retention rate for the Air Force's most experienced pilots continues to drop like a rock. The fraction of experienced pilots taking a bonus and staying on board at the nine-year mark has plummeted to 32% from 81% in 1994, says personnel guru Brig. Gen. John Regni. Already this year, 626 pilots have said goodbye to active duty--more than the 498 that left in all of 1996.
A PC-based trainer to Northwest Airlines to simulate the flight management system in a Boeing 757-200. The device is to simulate the full integration and emulate the functions of the FMS, autopilot and electronic flight instrument systems, but at a fraction of the cost of hardware trainer devices. The Burnsville, Minn., company is under contract to American Airlines, Federal Express and FlightSafety International for other PC-based systems. Touch-screen or a mouse input can be used.
United Parcel Service sought to keep its international air services aloft last week as a strike by the Teamsters union, supported by the company's Independent Pilots Assn., crippled the world's largest package distribution company. Competitors, including other package carriers, scrambled to pick up even some of UPS' normal business. UPS routinely delivers 12 million parcels and documents a day, including 80% of all domestic U.S. deliveries. About 1.6 million packages a day are delivered through its ``Next Day Air'' and ``Second Day Air'' services.
Office and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency have selected three teams for the first phase of an effort to develop a Tactical Common Data Link (TCDL). The goals are a family of increased-capacity/lower-cost common data links and increased data link competition. The interoperable digital links are to support both manned and unmanned airborne reconnaissance platforms, including Outrider, Predator, Reef Point, Rivet Joint, Joint-STARS and Airborne Reconnaissance Low.
Photograph: Company officials expect the Galaxy prototype, shown here undergoing wing mate operations, to make its first flight late this year. Alliance Airport near Fort Worth will become the new headquarters for Galaxy Aerospace Corp., and serve as the central hub for completion and product support of the new super mid-size cabin Galaxy business jet. Plans call for completing construction of a $12-million, 143,000-sq.-ft.-headquarters complex by the end of September, 1998, according to Brian E.
Federal Express' new ``next business day'' schedule is expected to expand its services from Japan to the U.S. (AW&ST Aug. 4, p. 15). But its greatest impact will be further down the line, at the origin points in Penang, Malaysia, and Singapore, which now have two-day turnarounds. For Taiwan, the extended service will allow pickups 2 hr. later. When the new Chek Lap Kok airport opens next April, FedEx will gain a $100-million terminal that will let it take advantage of the first 24-hr. operations available in Hong Kong.
Anthony W. Merritt has been promoted to director of government and military sales from global account executive for government sales for Emery Worldwide, Redwood City, Calif.
Four Sikorsky helicopters operated by Hong Kong's Government Flying Service fly in formation past the new Tsing Ma bridge, the longest road and rail suspension bridge in the world. The GFS flies six Sikorsky S-76A+ helicopters equipped for search and rescue (SAR) or utility use, plus three S-70 Black Hawk tactical police helicopters. Shown are the SAR version of the S-76A+ in orange and white, the utility versions in blue and red and the S-70 in gray livery.
Are assessing the impact of apparent oxygen and hydrogen leakage from the Titan 4B Centaur upper stage that is scheduled to launch the Cassini mission to Saturn Oct. 6. The small leakage was detected Aug. 5 during the vehicle's terminal countdown demonstration test at Cape Canaveral. Some previous Centaurs have had a similar problem when first fueled, and the test will be repeated to assess the significance and impact of the data.
Erickson Air-Crane, Central Point, Ore., has manufactured the first ``new'' Sikorsky S-64 Skycrane in more than two decades. The aircraft, total time 0.0 hr., became the 15th Skycrane in Erickson's heli-logging, heavy-lift and firefighting fleet in July. Erickson purchased the S-64 type certificate from Sikorsky in 1992 and plans to market the helicopter worldwide. Initial production capability is estimated at two a year, according to Lee Ramage, director of marketing and sales.
Lufthansa German Airlines and Finnair plan to terminate next October their 1991 ``regional agreement'' to jointly operate flights in the German-Finnish corridor. Lufthansa's decision to cancel the pact is a result of that carrier's initiative to forge a far-reaching alliance with Scandinavian Airlines System.
Photograph: Since service began in May, load factors on Mesa's Canadair RJ-200LR aircraft flying between Fort Worth and Houston have been less than 50%. ANDREW ABSHIER Facing load factors well below market forecasts for its regional jet service between Fort Worth and Houston, Mesa Airlines is implementing a fare sale, and plans to introduce service to San Antonio later this year. To attract more passengers, Mesa is reducing the normal, one-way fare of $84 to only $25, effective until Aug. 31 for travel by Nov. 15.
Photograph: A Martian sunrise is shown in false color image sequence (bottom to top) at 4-min. intervals, with the sky appearing darker after sunrise because of an exposure change on the imager. Pathfinder has completed its inital ``hibernation'' periods as the spacecraft moves from an operational phase of continous science observations to a somewhat scaled-down, long-term monitoring of the planet while attempting to preserve its limited power resources.
