Gen. Michael E. Ryan, head of U.S. Air Forces in Europe, is to succeed Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Ronald Fogleman, who resigned last week over who should be blamed for the Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia. Defense Secretary William Cohen had begun interviewing replacements before Fogleman left. Brig. Gen. Terryl J. Schwalier, who was responsible for the Saudi facility, was denied promotion, and tendered his resignation as well. The short list of those who might gain a fourth star in the wake of the shuffle includes Lt. Gen. George K.
British Aerospace is teaming with Lockheed Martin to study unmanned tactical aircraft designs, with a specific eye to addressing the requirements set for the U.K.'s Future Offensive Aircraft System (FOAS). A formal memorandum of agreement between the two companies is expected to be signed shortly. The FOAS program is examining several alternative concepts to replace Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 strike aircraft by 2015.
SPACE SHUTTLE MISSION 85 Orbiter: Discovery. Launch date: Aug. 7. Launch time: 10:49 a.m. EDT with a 1-hr. 39-min. window. Landing time: Aug. 18 at 7:05 a.m. EDT at Kennedy Space Center. Orbit: 160 naut. mi. at 57-deg. inclination.
Motorola has filed an application with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to use five more geosynchronous slots for its planned Celestri network, adding even more satellites to one of the most expensive commercial spacecraft projects ever proposed. If approved, the application would give Celestri a total of nine geosyncrhonous (GEO) slots to compliment 63 low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites, bringing the total price tag of the system to $14.7 billion.
Safety investigators are assessing what provoked a hard landing that preceded the crash and fiery destruction of a Federal Express MD-11 freighter last week at Newark International Airport. The aircraft that crashed at about 1:35 a.m. EDT July 31, N611FE, was the first of more than 160 MD-11s in service to be destroyed in an accident. McDonnell Douglas began delivering MD-11s in 1990.
Photograph: Learjet has five Model 45 aircraft in the flight test program. FAA certification is scheduled for this month and JAA certification for October. Learjet's Model 45 business jet is nearing completion of a 2,000-hr. flight test program leading to FAA certification this month, followed by initial deliveries in October. Certification, which originally was targeted for July, 1996, has been delayed more than a year, chiefly because the final design was not frozen until the second quarter of 1997, according to Learjet officials.
Advanced technology demonstrator for the planned crew return vehicle (CRV) has made its first captive carry flight on the space agency's B-52 carrier aircraft. The test vehicle, shown on the B-52 at the Dryden Flight Research Center prior to the flight, is designed to validate technologies required for a future emergency crew return capability from the International Space Station. Captive carry research flights from Edwards AFB, Calif., are scheduled to be followed by unpiloted free-flights of the X-38 from the B-52 beginning this fall.
For Federal Communications Commission approval of a new ``Expressway'' broadband satellite system for business communications, with an overall capacity of 588,000 T1 lines, each with a 1.544- megabits/sec. data rate. A peak rate of 155.52 megabits/sec. will be possible.
U.S. and French aviation authorities are investigating whether Air France illegally--but possibly unknowingly--transported more than 900 oxygen generators into the U.S. on two separate flights earlier this year.
Air traffic growth studies project increased route fragmentation in transpacific markets, which would limit demand for proposed 600-800-passenger transports. According to the Geneva-based Air Transport Action Group (ATAG), between 1984-96, non-hub airports in Asia increased their share of transpacific departures to almost 11% from 6%. The share of transpacific departures from the Americas out of non-hubs rose to almost 12% of departures from less than 1% in the same time period.
Photograph: Sikorsky reports encouraging sales of its S-70A helicopters outside the U.S. Cost-cutting efforts and continuous process improvements are reflected in the bottom-line performance of U.S. aerospace/defense companies, whose second-quarter earnings sustained their long-running uptrend. For companies that have a sizable stake in the commercial aircraft market, healthy sales in that part of the industry also are contributing to a strong quarter.
The longest 737 ever built, made its first flight July 31. The 129.5-ft.-long aircraft departed Renton, Wash., for a 3-hr. 5-min. test flight over the Straits of San Juan de Fuca and northwestern Washington state before returning to Boeing Field in Seattle. The aircraft reached an altitude of 17,000 ft. and performed flawlessly, according to Boeing pilots Mike Hewett and Jim McRoberts. The 737-800 is capable of carrying up to 189 passengers in a single class. Certification is scheduled for February with first delivery to German carrier Hapag-Lloyd a month later.
Photograph: International Launch Services Atlas 2AS carrying Japanese Superbird-C lifts off from Launch Complex 36B at Cape Canaveral on 690,000-lb. thrust. The $200-million mission will broaden Japanese commercial competition. The successful launch of the $200-million Japanese Superbird-C mission on board an Atlas 2AS booster has propelled Japan's communications satellite operators into a new competitive commercial era.
Photograph: Charges that Iran test fired a Chinese antiship cruise missile hardened the proliferation concerns of lawmakers like Rep. Nancy Pelosi, a leading China critic. U.S. intelligence claims that China is the world's worst proliferator of equipment and technology associated with weapons of mass destruction, but nuclear experts see openings for joint counterproliferation efforts with Beijing nonetheless. The latest U.S.
Photograph: Dutch flag-carrier KLM operates a fleet of 92 aircraft, including 10 Boeing 767-300ERs. Alliance partner Northwest has a fleet of 401 aircraft. Northwest Airlines and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines patched up their differences last week, agreeing to be alliance partners but not equity partners. Settling a festering boardroom squabble that landed in the U.S.
Hainan Airlines, China's first carrier to list on the Shanghai stock exchange, is expanding its regional fleet with delivery of two of 10 Fairchild Metro 23s that it ordered in March. Five more are to be delivered by the end of 1997, with the remaining three coming next year. The airline made news in 1994 by becoming the first in China to attract foreign investment, when financier George Soros bought nearly a 25% stake in it for $25 million.
Algernon Yau has been appointed general manager for planning and international affairs and Albert Yau head of cargo sales for Dragonair in Hong Kong. Algernon Yau succeeds Augustus Tang, who is returning to Cathay Pacific Airways.
Armand D. Mancini has been appointed vice president-finance of the Orbital Imaging Corp., Dulles, Va. He held the same position with the Orbital Communication and Information Services Group. Other vice presidents named were: Edward D. Nicastri, engineering and operations; Marshall B. Faintich, strategic development; Mark G. Pastrone, marketing; and Steven M. Cox, international sales. Nicastri was vice president-advanced projects of Orbital's Space Systems Group. Faintich was cofounder/chief technical officer of the Trifid Corp.
The European Investment Bank is lending $85 million to EgyptAir to modernize its medium-haul fleet. The loan will help finance the purchase of four Airbus A321-200 aircraft, as well as ground equipment, training and initial spare parts. Services to Europe account for nearly 40% of all EgyptAir's traffic. The airline, which operates 39 aircraft, serves 76 cities in 49 countries.
Andres Zellweger has become dean of graduate programs and research at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla. He was director of aviation research for the FAA.
China's proliferation record has improved despite serious and persistent breaches, Clinton Administration officials insist. They say the major nonproliferation treaties China has signed since 1992 mark a sharp departure from Beijing's declared policy favoring nuclear proliferation, avowed in the 1960s as a means of ``breaking the hegemony of the superpowers.''
Photograph: Under the current mini-spaceplane technology development program, this composite center fuselage and wing box section is being built for structural testing. The U.S.
Have stopped all Slingsby T-3A Firefly pilot-screening flights after an engine failure at the Air Force Academy. This follows a fatal T-3A crash on June 25, the third at Colorado Springs in 21/2 years. Since early 1995, six cadets and instructors have died in crashes involving the new training aircraft. The suspension was ordered by Gen. Lloyd Newton, chief of Air Education and Training Command, after a T-3A's engine quit during a landing July 23. The indefinite suspension of all flights involves both the academy and the service's Hondo, Tex., pilot-screening base.
