A 3.7% scale model of a Boeing 767-400ER transport exhibits a new swept-back wingtip design during recent transonic wind tunnel testing in Seattle. The highly-swept, 8-ft. wing extensions save over a ton of weight and are substantially less complex to manufacture and maintain than the originally proposed 8-ft. canted winglets, Boeing said.
One ``opportunity'' resulting from Boeing's planned merger with McDonnell Douglas this summer will be standardizing on a computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM) system. Despite Boeing's vaunted--and heavily upgraded--Dassault/IBM Catia system, McDonnell Douglas and many industry suppliers use St. Louis-based EDS Unigraphics as their primary product development and CAD/CAM software. These include Pratt&Whitney, GE Aircraft Engines, Northrop Grumman and Bell Helicopter.
THE ARMAMENT DIRECTORS of five of the eight European nations involved in the Future Large Aircraft (FLA) have decided to restart the long-stalled project by financing a ``prelaunch'' phase of the airlifter program. France, Germany, Italy, Spain and Turkey agreed to provide $130 million to allow Airbus Industrie, Alenia and partners in Turkey to begin preparatory work and establish an industry structure to undertake development of the aircraft. The U.K. said it would decide whether to join later this summer.
Israel Aircraft Industries has developed an upgrade for the Harpy lethal unmanned aerial vehicle designed to detect, attack and destroy surface-to-air missile and radar sites. IAI has sold more than $200-million worth of the all-weather, antiradar systems to several countries, as well as the Israeli Defense Forces. While IAI exhibited Harpy for the first time publicly here, technical details of the system remain highly classified.
Jonathan Howe has been appointed director general for Geneva-based Airports Council International. He was a partner in the law firm of Zuckert, Scoutt and Rasenberger. He succeeds Oris W. Dunham, Jr., whose term expires this summer.
Jane Garvey appears certain of Senate approval as FAA administrator. At her confirmation hearing last week, she heard familiar Republican complaints about the President leaving the post vacant for so long. Garvey also listened to familiar concerns, shared by industry, that she does not have enough aviation experience (AW&ST June 16, p. 83). And lawmakers cautioned the ex-Logan (Boston) International Airport director that she would be caught in the FAA's proverbial squeeze between growing air travel and shrinking budgets.
NASA AND THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION (NSF) have selected 16 proposals for grants ranging from $40,000-185,000 to study samples of Mars Meteorite ALH84001 over the next two years. Last summer, a NASA-led research team reported that it had found evidence of ancient Martian life in Meteorite ALH84001 (AW&ST Aug. 12, 1996, p. 24). NASA and the NSF subsequently established a program to investigate the team's findings and related meteorites. The 16 winners were selected from 61 proposals received by the two agencies.
Spain's Construcciones Aeronauticas (CASA) has launched the C-295 program. The military transport's first flight is scheduled for March, 1998, and first delivery is tentatively planned for the second quarter of 2000. The C-295 is a stretched-fuselage derivative of the in-production CN-235. It will be powered by two 2,645-hp. Pratt&Whitney PW127G turboshaft engines driving six-blade Hamilton Standard RF568F propellers. Six additional fuselage frames will increase the C-295's cabin length by three meters to 12.7 meters (41 ft.).
Photograph: East Asia Airlines, a commuter service to the gambling mecca Macau, will trade in its Bell 222s for Sikorsky S-76+s in October; it expects to have more flexibility under the Chinese than it had under the British. East Asia Airlines, the Hong Kong-Macau helicopter shuttle service, has an unusual perspective on political handovers. It not only has had to prepare for Hong Kong's transition from British to Chinese rule on July 1, but it will see the Portuguese turn over Macau to China in 1999.
SAN DIEGO-BASED GDE SYSTEMS INC., a Tracor subsidiary, will deliver three deployable Tactical Exploitation Group (TEG) ground stations to the U.S. Marine Corps. The TEGs will give the Corps a real-time capability to exploit imaging from the F/A-18 reconnaissance system. Each TEG is housed in tents and shelters mounted on three highly mobile multipurpose wheeled vehicles.
Virgil Smith, chief engineer for the Sverdrup Corp.'s aeropropulsion test and evaluation department; Dean Herron, former Sverdrup aircraft systems test and evaluation director, and James C. Sivells, a former manager for ARO Inc., have been named 1997 Arnold Engineering Development Center Fellows by the U.S. Air Force.
SENIOR FAA AND NTSB OFFICIALS HELD daily talks last week in an attempt to agree on a plan for preventing commercial transport fuel-tank explosions before the public marks the one-year anniversary of the destruction of TWA Flight 800.
Boeing has hired 17 Japanese ``sensei,'' or teachers, to help improve factory productivity. The consultants, retired Toyota executives and lean-production specialists, will participate in 40 Accelerated Improvement Workshops (AIWs) with workers at Boeing's Spokane and Auburn, Wash., factories this year. Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplane Group is trying to cut its transport aircraft cycle times and costs by simplifying processes and eliminating waste. One plan is to introduce workers to ``kaizen,'' a Japanese philosophy of gradual, unending improvement.
THE U.S. DEFENSE DEPT. has spent $353 million to improve the security of U.S. forces worldwide since 19 airmen were killed in a terrorist bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia a year ago. About 40% of the money was earmarked for southwest Asia to counter the greatest threat. Security teams have been visiting U.S. military installations to assess whether they are vulnerable, and the first 200 inspections will be done by early next year.
THE AUSTRALIAN MINISTRY of Defense has signed a contract for 11 SH-2G(A) Super Seasprites with Kaman Aerospace International. The multimission helicopters will be flown by the Royal Australian Navy, with deliveries beginning in early 2001. The SH-2G(A) helicopter is powered by two GE T700-GE-401 turboshaft engines. New Zealand has ordered four Super Seasprites and Egypt 10 of the helicopters.
Thomas Geyer has become director of European marketing for the Imi-Tech Corp., Plano, Tex. He was group manager for business development of Daimler-Benz Aerospace in Munich.
Hughes Space and Communications International has filed a $550-million lawsuit against Lockheed Martin, alleging breach of contract involving a launch services agreement for the Proton booster. The suit, filed June 23 in California Superior Court in Los Angeles, seeks at least $250 million for breach of contract and no less than $300 million for intentional contract interference.
A new, nontoxic anti-icing and deicing fluid is being tested by government and industry for aircraft use. Developed by scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., the patented, economical liquid works as well as, or better than, current anti-icing and deicing fluids, according to Leonard Haslim, Ames researcher and coinventor of the liquid. Ingredients include propylene glycol, a thickener and water. Overall, the fluid is so safe its ingredients have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, he said.
James L. Pierre, chairman/chief executive officer of ARINC, has been elected chairman of RTCA Inc. of Washington. Other new officers are: vice chairman, John J. Fearnsides, senior vice president/ general manager of Mitre/CAASD; and corporate secretary, James W. Hardy, director of air traffic control systems for the Hughes Aircraft Co. David Waltrous and Richard Bradenburg will remain president and treasurer, respectively.
Steven F. Zornetzer has been named director of the information systems directorate, Kenneth Ford associate center director for information technology and Paul Kutler deputy chief of NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Zornetzer also has become acting director of NASA's Independent Verification and Validation Facility, Fairmont, W.Va.
NASA'S MARSHALL SPACE FLIGHT CENTER has selected four companies to develop low-cost launch system concepts under six-month, $2-million contracts. The program, aimed at significantly reducing the cost of orbiting small satellites, will initially include small payload market analyses, wind tunnel tests, systems engineering and development of a low-cost upper stage. Two contractors will be chosen later this year for ``Cycle 2'' contracts to design, develop and test vehicles capable of launching a 350-400-lb. payload into low-Earth orbit for $1.5 million.
Jim Kelly has been named vice president-industrial marketing for the Cummins Engine Co., Columbus, Ind. He was vice president-worldwide operations for the automotive group.
Illustration: COBRA Calculated Temperature Distribution AS PART OF ITS DEVELOPMENT of the F-22 advanced fighter for the U.S. Air Force, Lockheed Martin engineers have developed a ``virtual manufacturing'' computer simulation process designed to optimize the curing of composite materials. The Code for Optimizing Batch Runs in Autoclaves (Cobra) is a PC-based simulation that allows engineers to rapidly calculate and determine optimum temperature distribution for parts prior to the actual curing process. The procedure requires about 20 min.
Larry L. Parker has been named president of Leach International Asia-Pacific of Hong Kong. He was senior vice president-marketing and business development for Leach International, Buena Park, Calif.
