Photograph: Major accidents and the demands of victims' kin have thrust NTSB officials such as spokesman Peter Goelz into the spotlight. Major crashes and political strategies have combined over the last two years to confront leaders of the National Transportation Safety Board with challenges to the agency's ability--and credibility--in unmasking the causes of aviation accidents. A string of accidents has forced the small agency--with only 125 persons on its aviation staff--to conduct major investigations almost back to back since late 1995.
Photograph: The Airbus A330-200 long-range twinjet transport made its first flight on Aug. 13, powered by General Electric CF6-80E1 engines. Airbus Industrie plans to deliver the first 253-seat A330-200 long-range transport in the second quarter of 1998. The A330-200, an A330-300 shortened-fuselage derivative, made its first flight Aug. 13, powered by two 67,500-lb.-thrust General Electric CF6-80E1 turbofan engines. FAA and European JAA certification is planned for March, 1998, after a 630-hr. flight test program involving six aircraft.
A defense budget amendment sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R.-Ariz.) could reduce the impact of ``Buy America'' regulations on Pentagon purchasing. Intent of the amendment, already adopted by the Senate, is to open markets among long-standing allies for products that are widely available without damaging critical U.S. defense industrial base capabilities. If passed into law, the regulation would increase competition, promote two-way trade, build interoperability and accelerate the fielding of life-critical systems. Since 1980, the U.S.
FIVE UNIVERSITIES HAVE BEEN GIVEN ACCESS to the Energy Dept.'s three most powerful computers to undertake research in nonclassified areas in which advanced computer modeling and simulation will ``accelerate advances in solving key science and engineering applications of national importance.'' Grants will be used by the University of Chicago to study ``the most significant problems in astrophysics''; by the California Institute of Technology to develop a computational facility for modeling the response of materials to intense shock waves; by the University of Illinois at
Photograph: FAA test pilots and engineers in the agency's certification service question their ``professional'' managers' ability to ensure new aircraft meet minimum safety regulation standards. Many test pilots and flight test engineers working for the FAA are deeply concerned that the agency has relaxed its standards of technical expertise for managers, and they fear that could reverse what has, so far, been a good record of certifying safe aircraft.
Digital Image Design (DID), of Warrington, England, will attempt to jump from the consumer PC game market into the Defense Dept. arena with its F-22 PC combat simulator. Rapid advances in simulation and processing power have closed the gap between games and military simulation, making that expansion possible.
OriginPacific Airways, a new charter operator based in Nelson, New Zealand, has purchased four Jetstream 31s from British Aerospace Asset Management. Three are configured for 18 passengers and the fourth as an executive aircraft seating 10. The startup operator will employ external pods mounted under the fuselage of the aircraft for cargo or passenger baggage.
The first Boeing 757 transport to be built using the DCAC/MRM realigned bill of material undergoes final assembly at the company's Renton, Wash., narrow-body factory. Define and Control Airplane Configuration/Manufacturing Resource Management simplifies the way the company configures an airplane and streamlines the parts, processes, tools and documents used in construction. The first 767 wide-body transport being built under DCAC/MRM also is in production.
Photograph: Airbus Industrie, whose narrow-body twinjets are shown here, is promoting a strong European Aviation Safety Authority. The European Council of Ministers has given impetus to a pair of proposals by the European Commission that promise to greatly reinforce Europe's position in the field of aviation safety.
As the new head of the FAA, you are inheriting a full record of achievements, but also daunting challenges. The heritage includes an aviation system that is basically sound and safe. The FAA's aircraft certification process, rule-making and operational expertise has set the standard for safe aviation travel, and has been emulated by other countries for years. U.S. airlines fly almost 12 million scheduled flights a year, with a safety record that has steadily improved, but still needs to be better.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE has received FAA authorization for Gulfstream 4 business jets to operate in Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) airspace, which currently is limited to North Atlantic routes. RVSM decreases separation to 1,000 ft. from 2,000 ft. for aircraft flying between Flight Level 330 and Flight Level 370.
A SOFTWARE TOOL THAT USES THE INTERNET to document and manage complex and widely distributed processes has been developed by a research team at NASA-Goddard's National Space Science Data Center. The tool has been applied to NASA's Small Business Innovation Research program in partnership with REI Systems of Vienna, Va., and has achieved a one-third reduction in the time required to process 2,500 SBIR proposals during the past two years, according to Program Manager Paul Mexcur.
Neill Osborne, director of operations for Air Logistics, has become chairman of the Alexandria, Va.-based Helicopter Assn. International and International Federation of Helicopter Assns. He was vice chairman for 1996-97.
The FAA is bracing itself for a new round of criticism in the run-up and follow-up to the National Transportation Safety Board's hearing set for Aug. 19 on the May, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592 crash. Family members of victims will be ``available'' for the press, and they plan an ``air travel safety'' congressional lobbying campaign, which is going to be kicked off by FAA critic Mary Schiavo. Last week, Transportation Secretary Rodney E. Slater said new FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey and the department's Inspector General, Kenneth M.
Photograph: NASA Ames' Darwin Web server aims to cut design and testing time by linking manufacturers to data and analysis from Ames, Langley and Lewis' wind tunnel tests via the Net. The NASA Ames Research Center has developed a computer tool called Darwin to give aircraft design teams near-real-time access to wind tunnel numerical data. ``We developed the system to make wind tunnel data, and analysis of the data, remotely available to the user,'' Ames Deputy Project Manager David Korsmeyer said.
(see photo) has been appointed vice president/general manager of the ICBM Prime Integration Program for TRW Inc. of Cleveland. He has been president/general manager of TRW Environmental Safety Systems Inc.
Global sprawl of the airline industry has increased the need for broader safety oversight. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is taking steps toward assuming a greater role to assure that aviation is safe in any part of the globe. Industrialized nations welcome ICAO's increased interest. Officials of developing and Third World nations are supporting the organization's efforts but have been more wary, expressing concerns for national sovereignty.
Keith Linwood Young (see photos) has been named country manager/business development manager for South Korea and Terry Lee country manager in India for the Hughes International Corp. Young recently retired from the U.S. Army as a colonel. Lee was defense supply adviser at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. Theodore McFarland, former managing director of Hughes Asia Pacific in Hong Kong, has been appointed vice president-Southeast Asia for Hughes Space and Communications International in Kuala Lumpur.
HINDUSTAN AERONAUTICS LTD. has signed a $1.1-million contract with the Laos government to maintain its 29-fighter MiG-21 fleet, giving India its first major defense contract in the region. The contract, signed in May, was revealed only recently due to the Laotian government's concern about upsetting China, which has promised to help modernize their air force.
THE JOHNS HOPKINS APPLIED PHYSICS LABORATORY and NASA are planning to use a new generic software package to cut operations costs for the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite set for launch in 1998. The new ``spacecraft command language`` software, developed by Interface and Control Systems Inc., of Melbourne, Fla., will be used in a test mode for spacecraft development and checkout, then as on-board software to govern FUSE operations in orbit. The same software will also be used in the ground control center.
Maj. Gen. George B. Harrison (USAF, Ret.) has been appointed director of the Electronic Systems Laboratory at the Georgia Tech Research Institute in Atlanta. Harrison recently retired as commander of the Air Force Operational Test and Evaluation Center, Kirtland AFB, N.M.
James W. Bagley, chairman/chief executive officer of OnTrak Systems Inc., San Jose, Calif., has been named to the board of directors of Micron Technology Inc., Boise, Idaho.
Photograph: Aeromexico felt uncompetitive with the Americans unless it improved its information technology in billing, inventory control, airport documentation, automatic ticket printing and reporting. The continuing global shakeout from privatization, deregulation and global alliances has created a rapidly growing market among airlines for information technology systems that can help them manage everything from electronic ticketing to aircraft maintenance.
Photograph: A cutaway view (below) looking south-southeast shows a rough profile of terrain under Flight 801's approach to Guam International and peaks near the localizer course for that approach. Procedures prohibit aircraft from descending lower than 1,440 ft. msl. until they pass the UNZ VORTAC. Flight 801 came to rest on the slope of Nimitz Hill (right), about 250 yd. north of the VORTAC. REPRODUCED WITH PERMISSION OF JEPPESEN SANDERSON INC.
