Twenty years after Boeing introduced parts ordering through electronic data interchange for its largest customers, smaller airlines are taking advantage of the Internet for quick, affordable access to the manufacturer's 410,000 part numbers in stock.
American Eagle's commitment to acquire 67 twinjets from Canadair and Embraer and Continental Express' additional order for 25 more Embraer aircraft illustrates the growing popularity of turbofan-powered regional transports. American Eagle concluded orders for 42 50-seat Embraer EMB-145s powered by Allison AE3007A1 turbofan engines and 25 Canadair Regional Jet Series 700s equipped with General Electric CF34-8C1 turbofans. In addition, American Airlines' regional affiliate optioned 25 EMB-145s and 25 CRJ-700s.
A $1-billion series production launch for the Aero Vodochody L-159 light multirole combat aircraft signals a resurgence in efforts by Eastern European manufacturers to meet booming demand for advanced trainer/combat support aircraft.
Rome Laboratory has awarded software contracts to SRI International and Carnegie Mellon University to improve command and control of joint and coalition air forces. Totaling $3.9 million, the contracts involve the Joint Forces Air Component Commander program and are aimed at air campaign planning and scheduling research. The Air Force's Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass., wants to tap industry for the latest in attack operations decision aids.
John Hawkins has been named chief executive of Graseby Plc. of London. He was executive vice president of Philips Media and president of Philips Media Europe. Hawkins will succeed Paul Lester.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE IS SEEKING innovative methods to recover critical real-time information in an air defense system following an information warfare attack. Information warfare is the offensive and defensive use of information to exploit, corrupt or destroy an adversary's information and information systems while protecting one's own. After an attack, current techniques require computer rebooting, but that is often a lengthy process that compromises decision-making and the timeliness of information.
PRATT&WHITNEY and Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) are discussing AVIC's participation as a revenue-sharing partner and supplier in development of the PW6000 turbofan engine program. The 15,000-24,000-lb.-thrust engine is being designed for the 100-seat aircraft market. In addition, Pratt&Whitney Canada will supply PW127F turboprop engines and Hamilton Standard propellers for the twin-engine Ilyushin Il-114 passenger and cargo transport, and the company also has been chosen by Spain's CASA to provide PW127G turboprop engines to power its C295 aircraft.
Charles Moran has been promoted to president from vice president-operations of CA One Services Inc., Buffalo, N.Y. He succeeds Jon L. Luther, who has become president of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits restaurant chain.
After a prolonged civic battle, the San Jose (Calif.) City Council recently approved a major expansion of the city's international airport that includes extending its parallel runways to 11,050 ft., and building new cargo and terminal facilities. Runway 12L/30R, now 4,400 ft., is to be completed in 1999; Runway 12R/30L, now 10,200 ft., is to be done in 2000. The airport is a major regional hub with limited international flights in the Americas and to Asia. It does not allow 747 operations, but American Airlines uses it for MD-11 flights to Tokyo.
An agreement between NASA and the Defense Dept. could be reached soon on use of the space shuttle to launch an average of one military payload per year. The most likely candidate payloads would be satellite types which have already been flown on the shuttle, such as a Defense Support Program (DSP) spacecraft which flew on STS-44. Boeing officials said orbiter payload bay satellite support structures for DoD spacecraft previously launched on the shuttle are in storage.
The rapid successes of U.S. and Russian laboratory-to-laboratory collaboration in safeguarding tons of nuclear materials have not extended to the weapons side of the program.
American Airlines is spreading $268-million worth of business around to three airline seat manufacturers in a major refurbishment of cabin interiors on hundreds of its aircraft. Recaro Aircomfort, a German manufacturer better known for its automobile seats, will provide American with new coach seats for more than 400 aircraft, including new Boeing 777s and 737s on order and its existing McDonnell Douglas MD-80s and Boeing 727s. U.S.-based BE Aerospace and American jointly will design a new business class seat for the airline's 777s and its long-range 767s.
Iran has begun test firing a Chinese anti-ship cruise missile capable of being launched from an aircraft, U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen said last week. The missile, known as the C-801, is a version of the ship-launched Chinese C-802 cruise missile first acquired by Iran last year. The C-801s were fired from Iranian F-4 aircraft in two tests, on June 3 and June 6, Pentagon officials said. The F-4s were sold to Iran by the U.S. in the 1970s.
Louis M. (Luke) Bogdanovic, who retired in November as president of the Hughes Aircraft Co.'s Radar and Communications Systems segment, died June 10 in Los Angeles. He was 62. Bogdanovic had been with Hughes for 40 years. He led development of many airborne-radar technologies such as TARAN-IS, the Atlas radar, ASG-18, F-111A/Mk. 2 avionics and the A-7D/E bomb navigation system. Bogdanovic designed the track-while-scan and fire control functions for the F-14's AWG-9 weapon control system and later was F-15 radar program manager.
The Air Accidents Investigation Branch is urging aviation regulators in the U.K. to review the procedures of operators there covering the incapacitation of a required flight crewmember. The recommendation follows a Dec. 6, 1996, incident, in which the first officer of a British Airways 767-336 fell ill shortly after the start of a planned 6-hr. 54-min. flight from Pittsburgh to London's Gatwick Airport that was operated under the 180-min. ETOPS rules. It was later determined that he had taken medication the U.K.
RAYTHEON E-SYSTEMS WILL PROVIDE frequency agile filters (FAFs) for three USAF Joint-STARS aircraft, under a $4.8-million contract from Hughes Defense Communications. The filters will eliminate, or at least reduce, the mutual interference that occurs when any of the aircraft's UHF radios operate too close to the same frequency, according to Raytheon. Complicating the close physical proximity is the fact that the 12 UHF radios are frequency agile. Each radio will have an electronically-tuned bandpass filter that hops it and blocks out the other radios' frequencies.
CyberFlyer Technologies plans to test traveler reaction this summer to a unit that will provide public Internet access at restaurants in various airports in the U.S. After inserting a credit card, the traveler can use the CyberFlyer tabletop Intertop access station for checking personal e-mail, travel information, surfing the net or playing games. The unit consists of an Intel-based PC with flat panel display, conventional keyboard and internal modem connected to a high-speed (T1) phone line.
The House National Security Committee, in its defense authorization report for Fiscal 1998, would hold back U.S. aid to help Russia cut its strategic forces to START 2 levels until President Clinton certifies that Moscow will pay its share. START 2 would limit the U.S. and Russia to between 3,000-3,500 warheads by 2003 and require the destruction of all Russian SS-18 heavy ICBMs, their launch cannisters, and most of their silo launchers. The Administration requested $77.9 million for strategic arms elimination projects in Russia next year.
Russia's Transaero has placed an order for six Ilyushin Il-96M passenger transports, becoming only the second airline to commit to the long-range jet. The other is Aeroflot Russian International Airlines (ARIA), which has ordered 17 Il-96Ms and three Il-96T freighters.
Slater and New Zealand Minister of Transport Jenny Shipley used the State Dept.'s Treaty Room to sign an open skies aviation agreement between the U.S. and New Zealand last week. It was the 24th open skies pact signed by the U.S. Shipley said New Zealand is hoping the accord will increase passenger and cargo services between the two nations, helping to promote New Zealand as a tourist destination and providing additional capacity and choice for exporters and importers. Currently, United Airlines, which code-shares with Air New Zealand, is the only U.S.
Cassini program officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are monitoring the operation of three inertial reference units (IRUs)--two on the spacecraft in Florida and a spare at JPL--after detecting some slower start-up times than usual on the two spacecraft units. The two IRUs, on the spacecraft scheduled for an October launch, have been taking about 20 sec. longer than normal to start up. Each IRU has four Litton hemispherical resonator gyros (HRGs).
