A draft watchdog report blisters Boeing's performance as space station prime contractor. The company's schedule performance ``has continued to decline virtually unabated,'' the General Accounting Office found. Delayed engineering drawings, late parts delivery, rework and subcontractor miscues added up to a $310-million cost overrun by this past May, versus a $27-million cost underrun in January, 1995, according to the draft, first obtained by Aerospace Daily.
Jack Brill, engineering manager for nickel-hydrogen cell and battery development and production at the Power Systems Dept. of Eagle-Picher's Technologies Div., Joplin, Mo., is scheduled to receive the 1997 Aerospace Power Systems Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. The award is presented for contributions to the application of engineering sciences and systems engineering to the production, storage, distribution and processing of aerospace power.
IRIDIUM'S competitors in the nascent global mobile satellite telephone business are not far behind. The 48-satellite Globalstar venture, led by Loral Space&Communications, is planning the launch of its first spacecraft on a Delta 2 booster on Dec. 4. And Hughes Space and Communications is moving ahead with the production of 12 spacecraft for London-based ICO Global Communications following completion of a satellite system and communications payload design review.
THE U.S. SENATE Commerce Committee unanimously approved the nomination of Jane Garvey to be FAA administrator despite continuing reservations of Chairman John McCain (R.-Ariz.). If confirmed by the Senate, which is expected, Garvey will be the first FAA administrator to have a five-year term instead of serving at the pleasure of the President.
Northwest Airlines has exercised an option to acquire 24 more Avro RJ85 regional jets for use by Mesaba Airlines, one of its Northwest Airlink affiliates. The move will bring Mesaba's eventual fleet of RJ85s to 36.
Frank Meditz has been named regional manager at Delta Air Lines' European headquarters in London and Peter Hannaford and Roman Neumeister managers in London and Vienna, respectively. Bill Crumbley has been promoted to managing director of the Delta Shuttle from director of international reservation sales and services for Delta Air Lines.
Pilot programs germinated by the U.S. Air Force's Manufacturing Technology Directorate are attempting to translate principles and research findings of the Lean Aircraft Initiative into tangible benefits for the U.S. military aerospace community. Three projects are underway as a direct result of the three ManTech-sponsored Lean Forums held since August, 1994, and two additional related efforts are being managed by ManTech in conjunction with the F-22, RAH-66 Comanche and C-17 system program offices.
Bowing to economic and political realities, the Socialist-led French government is softening its position regarding the privatization of state-owned aerospace and defense firms.
The New Piper Aircraft Inc. plans to begin flight tests of a PA-38-112 Tomahawk next month to determine whether specific aspects of the aircraft's stall and spin characteristics meet Federal Aviation Regulations.
Michael Gat has been promoted to vice president-commercial of El Al Israel Airlines. He was New York-based general manager for North and Central America. Gat will be succeeded by Michael Mayer, who was cargo director.
Trans World Airlines Inc., which plans to make substantial staff cuts before year-end, last week turned in a second-quarter net loss of $14.4 million, or 36 cents a share, versus a net profit of $25.3 million, or 46 cents per share, in the same period last year. This was the second consecutive quarter in which TWA's financial performance stood out sharply from the rest of the U.S.' major carriers (see p. 13).
DELTA AIR LINES LAST WEEK announced two executive appointments in anticipation of Chairman and CEO Ronald W. Allen's retirement on July 31. Mary Johnston Evans, who has been a member of the carrier's board of directors for the last 14 years, was named acting nonexecutive chairman, effective Aug. 1. In a related move, Maurice W. Worth, currently Delta's executive vice president for customer service and acting chief operating officer, was named acting CEO, effective Aug. 1.
A relatively simple experiment on the Sojourner rover has shown that dust deposited on a solar cell from the atmosphere is at the level predicted prior to the mission and not expected to affect Pathfinder solar power generation during the mission. The experiment is considered significant because Pathfinder and Sojourner represent the first use of solar power on the surface of Mars, and subsequent landers and rovers in the planning stages are expected to remain operational for long periods of time in the dusty Martian environment.
SOUTHWEST AIRLINES' NET INCOME for the second quarter was $93.8 million--a 10% increase compared with $85.3 million in last year's second quarter. Operating revenues increased 5.1% to $956.9 million from $910.3 million in 1996. Available seat miles increased 8% and revenue passenger miles rose 3% for a load factor of 63.9%, compared with 67% last year. The airline ended the quarter with $577.8 million in cash.
THE IRIDIUM MOBILE SATELLITE venture encountered its first significant glitch when ground controllers lost communications on July 18 with one of 17 in-orbit satellites. The satellite was one of five Motorola-built Iridiums that were launched on a Delta 2 booster on July 9 and had been in a parking orbit awaiting ascent to its final orbit 483 mi. above Earth when contact was lost. Attempts to reestablish communications were underway last week.
Trans World Airlines Inc. will be under considerable pressure between now and the end of September to achieve what it couldn't accomplish in the first or second quarters--show a profit (see p. 43).
U.S./European defense contractor partnerships are necessary if the Western alliance is to survive, admonishes NATO Secretary General Javier Solana. ``As the transatlantic technological gap increases, it gets more difficult to keep on talking about a real partnership,'' he said during a visit here. He contends the subject is ripe for debate, but U.S. businessmen are reluctant to proceed until European companies restructure themselves to become more competitive.
Lean manufacturing is a philosophy pioneered by Toyota executive Taiichi Ohno and codified in the Toyota Production System. Employing five basic principles--specifying value from the perspective of the end customer, identifying the value stream for each product, creating continuous flow in manufacturing and assembly, making products flow only at the ``pull'' of the customer, and striving for perfection--lean is intended to attack waste and give customers exactly what they want.
The White House claimed major progress in the 30-nation Vienna talks for conventional arms reduction in Europe. Last week's agreement sets up the structure for revamping the 1990 Conventional Forces Europe (CFE) Treaty, which has resulted in the elimination of more than 50,000 weapons and combat equipment, including strike aircraft like Russia's MiG-29 (AW&ST Jan. 20, p. 27).
Henry A. Radzikowski has been appointed Washington-based vice president-international operations for the Globalstar services provider group operations of Loral Space&Communications Ltd. He was regional president for the Commonwealth of Independent States and Eastern Europe of GTS Inc.
Officials of Frontier and Western Pacific airlines are leaning toward retaining the ``Frontier'' name after the two carriers merge operations this fall (AW&ST July 7, p. 52). Although WestPac is larger and, technically, is acquiring Frontier, the latter's name is associated with a long history of safety and reliable service in the Western U.S. The original Frontier (and its predecessors) suffered only one passenger fatality while amassing more than 87 million flight miles between 1946 and 1986, when it ceased operations.
Beijing's Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Group (Ameco) is operating a trade school established in 1990 with a grant from the German government. The Aeronautical Apprentice Training Center, co-located with Ameco at Beijing's Capital International Airport, offers training in avionics technology, aircraft and engine maintenance, and structural mechanics. The school has graduated nearly 300 technicians and is recruiting about 80 students per year. The German government has spent about $16.2 million on the training program, including funding for 11 German instructors.
El Al Israel Airlines has embarked on a plan to rebuild its fleet and upgrade its service image in anticipation of a public stock offering within the next 18 months, El Al President Joel Feldschuh said recently. When El Al goes private, all its stock will be offered on the Israeli stock exchange at one time, Feldschuh said, with no limits on international ownership. He added the airline's management will have to remain Israeli.
