U.S. AIR FORCE and Army National Guard troops started recovering debris from the A-10 Thunderbolt 2 that crashed in early April near the top of Gold Dust Peak about 15 mi. southwest of Vail, Colo. Last week, pararescue specialists from Detachment 1, 342nd Training Sqdn. at Kirtland AFB, N.M., established a ``rope system'' on the peak's steep slope, allowing explosive ordnance technicians and accident investigators to reach the crash site. A bomb rack, the 30-mm. cannon, ammunition, pieces of magnesium flares and some human remains were among the debris recovered.
James R. Van Wert, Jr., has been named vice president-technology for the Amcat Industrial Corp., Dayton, Ohio. He was director of technology for the Alcoa automotive division.
Prophecy 550 is a machine vision system that can inspect more than 20,000 parts per minute. It features a half-slot, PCI-based frame grabber, the Sherlock 32 Windows-based software application and an Intel Pentium host computer with an MMX computer and Windows NT 4.0 software. The system can measure dimensions, detect flaws, verify size and location and ensure that components are properly assembled. Imaging Technology Inc., 55 Middlesex Turnpike, Bedford, Mass. 01730-1421.
Mariea C. Dunn of Southern University, Baton Rouge, La., is among faculty members who will receive 1997-98 NASA Administrator's Fellowships. The program is designed to enhance the professional development of mid-career science, mathematics and engineering faculty at black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges. The other recipients are: Teresa D. Edwards, Spelman College in Atlanta; James T. Brown, Kennedy Space Center; Marla E. Perez-Davis, Jon C. Goldsby, Yolanda R. Hicks and Mark D.
A management consultant group in Saitama, near Tokyo, is the latest to say it wants to form a new carrier to operate charter flights to Guam, the U.S. territory that is a popular Japanese vacation spot. With the tentative name of Japan Pacific Airlines, the carrier is to lease a 280-seat Boeing 767-300ER and wants to be operating next summer. Its aim is to cut Tokyo-Guam fares by 20-30%. The consultant group includes former Pan American World Airways staff and expects to use foreign pilots.
A small jet engine such as this Jet Air Start Unit can be tested for electromagnetic interference in a fully instrumented, EMI/EMC shielded room measuring 40 X 40 ft. with an 18-ft. ceiling. During testing, the engine required fresh air, while exhaust gases had to be expelled. The oxygen level inside the room was maintained at 22% during the test. National Technical Systems, 1536 E. Valencia Drive, Fullerton, Calif. 92831.
Its name by acquiring AirTran AirWays and assuming its name. One holding company will be formed from ValuJet Airlines Inc. and AirWays Corp., the parent of AirTran AirWays. ValuJet will provide stock worth $61.8 million to AirWays stockholders. The merged carrier will operate 40 Boeing 737s and McDonnell Douglas DC-9s in AirTran colors and take advantage of AirTran's maintenance hangar at Orlando, Fla. ValuJet President D. Joseph Coor will be chief executive officer.
Pressure Systems Inc. is providing these titanium tanks for the cryogenic second stage of McDonnell Douglas' Delta 3 launch vehicles. The 22.14-in.-dia. tank incorporates a positive expulsion elastomeric diaphragm for expelling hydrazine to the four rocket engine modules used in the attitude control function. Each module has three thrusters. Pressure Systems Inc., 6033 E. Bandini Blvd., Commerce, Calif. 90040.
Argweld is a water soluble purge film designed for creating dams to maintain an argon atmosphere when welding titanium or other reactive metals that are subject to corrosion, porosity and embrittlement. The Argweld dissolves when the pipe is washed out or hydrostatically tested after welding. Argweld comes in a kit with water-soluble adhesive, 20 sq. meters of film, a safety knife to cut the dams and a set of working instructions. Huntingdon Fusion Techniques USA Inc., P.O. Box 5653, Longview, Tex. 75608-5653.
Mission on board the space shuttle Columbia is set to return to Earth July 17, carrying significant new data on combustion and other processes important to advanced industrial operations and engine development. The 16-day Spacelab mission is set to land at 6:53 a.m. EDT at the Kennedy Space Center.
The 2,000th single-engine member of the Eurocopter AS350 family has come off the production line. Known as ``Ecureuil,'' ``Squirrel'' or ``AStar,'' depending on market location, the 6-place AS350 first flew in 1974, with advanced features such as the lubrication-free, composite Starflex rotor hub. More than 800 customers in 50 countries have purchased AS350s and another 621 orders have been placed for the twin-engine version. It is called TwinStar in the U.S.
William E. Donohue has been named vice president-new product development and economic analysis for D'Accord Financial Services of San Francisco. Nirmala D. Charan has become assistant vice president in D'Accord's New York office.
This multi-head aluminum towbar is designed for business aircraft with weights of up to 125,000 lb. The welded steel attachment heads have been designed to handle the Gulfstream 5 and Bombardier Global Express. The heads can be changed quickly, allowing the towbar to do double duty while saving storage space and capital investment. Tronair, S. 1740 Eber Road, Holland, Ohio 43528.
Andre van Baarle has been appointed managing director of Unisource Satellite Services of the Netherlands and chairman of its affiliated companies in Europe. Mary Peterson has become vice president-marketing of the EchoStar Communications Corp., Englewood, Colo. She was vice president-customer development for TCI Communications Inc.
Photograph: Frontier maintained healthy revenue yields, but its costs were substantially higher than WestPac's. Post-merger costs are predicted to be less than 7 cents per available seat mile. BILL HOUGH Western Pacific and Frontier Airlines have agreed to merge operations under a stock exchange deal and mount a cooperative low-fare challenge to United Airlines at its Denver International Airport hub. Although the estimated $40-50 million deal is subject to approval by the U.S.
Harry Gregory has been named president/general manager of AAR Allen Aircraft, Wooddale, Ill. He was vice president-component maintenance operations for Northwest Airlines.
With air travel soaring and the Clinton Administration anxious to keep consumers happy, a study by the Transportation Dept. might rekindle efforts to scuttle the controversial Wright Amendment. The study, which compared traffic and fares for the 1,000 largest U.S. markets in 48 states during July, August and September, 1996, found that restrictions on nonstop and connecting service from Love Field are costing travelers in North Texas millions annually in higher ticket prices.
Appointed Arianespace chairman/CEO last week in the wake of a controversy over who would succeed the recently retired Charles Bigot. The French government's initiative to impose Luton, the European Space Agency's outgoing managing director, disrupted the company's plan to promote Francis Avanzi, the company's president. In addition, Arianespace's non-French shareholders feared what they believed to be France's wish to achieve dominance over the European launch system operator.
Photograph: TRW engineers prepare passive millimeter-wave camera for airborne tests that will assess its ability to ``see'' through fog. Passive millimeter-wave radiometers may offer the next big safety advance for landing in bad weather, giving pilots a clear enough runway image to land an aircraft in thick fog.
The space shuttle team here modified its countdown and liftoff timing to successfully launch the Columbia Microgravity Science Laboratory mission earlier than originally planned on July 1, to beat developing thunderstorms that could have scrubbed the flight. Columbia was launched on its 23rd mission at 2:02 p.m. EDT about 35 min. earlier than had been planned. Initial science operations in Columbia's Spacelab module were going smoothly.
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) concluded that the probable cause of a fatal ground collision between a Beechcraft King Air and a United Express Beechcraft 1900C at Quincy, Ill., last November was the King Air pilots' failure to use proper radio communications procedures. All 10 passengers and both pilots of the 1900C and both pilots in the King Air were killed when their aircraft collided at the intersection of two runways.
Visual wing inspections and related regulations are adequate for commuter aircraft cockpit crews trying to ascertain safe aircraft wing performance prior to takeoff in ground icing conditions, according to the National Research Council of Canada. The preliminary findings follow a series of wind-tunnel evaluations performed over the winter and early spring by NRC's Ottawa-based Institute for Aerospace Research. The tests rotated a full-scale, typical commuter aircraft wing section to simulate takeoff while measuring its aerodynamic performance.
A foothold in India, with a new company, LSG India, in New Delhi. Although initially a sales unit for GPS, global information systems and surveying systems, the new company intends to seek production and software developments on the Indian subcontinent. Leica expanded into commercial GPS, from GPS land survey equipment, with the purchase of Magnavox Electronic Systems' commercial navigation and positioning GPS products in the spring of 1994.
