Despite increasing orders for small jet aircraft from regional airlines, carriers were cautioned here not to get starry-eyed about regional jets and abandon the core turboprop services that have provided the industry's strong growth. The popularity of jets with the public--and manufacturers' plans to produce them with as few as 30 seats for the regionals-- dominated much of the discussion at the Regional Airline Association's annual convention here.
Sooting and fracturing of debris from TWA Fight 800 points toward an explosion that occurred deep within that 747's center fuel tank before the aircraft broke up and plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, according to NTSB analyses.
John J. Sheehan has become secretary-general of the International Council of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Assn., based in Frederick, Md. He succeeds Steven J. Brown, who is now head of the National Aeronautic Assn. Sheehan was a management and training consultant for Phaneuf Associates in Washington.
Five months after Air New Zealand acquired 50% of its stock, Ansett Australia Airlines is undergoing a major restructuring to cut operating costs, rationalize its fleet and broaden its international route offerings.
Nicola A. Nelson (see photo) has been promoted to principal director of the Systems Development and Operations Subdivision of the Systems Engineering Div. of the Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles. She was director of advanced space systems in the Space-Based Infrared System High Element program office.
After many months of uncertainty, Europe's two major military helicopter programs--the Franco-German Tiger and the four-nation NH-90--are poised to enter the production phase. The two programs have been held up because of defense budget reassessments, particularly in France and Germany.
The National Air and Space Museum opened a major exhibit last week on the ``Space Race'' with Russia. Eleven of the Soviet-era artifacts--including a recon film return capsule from a Salyut space station in the 1970s, the Soyuz TM-10 descent module and a Russian space suit for use on the Moon--were purchased at a 1993 auction by an anonymous collector. That collector revealed himself last week--Texas billionaire and two-time presidential candidate Ross Perot.
The Joint Strike Fighter program office may accelerate the development schedule of the aircraft's General Electric/Allison/Rolls-Royce YF120-FX alternate main engine, a move that could reduce the Joint Strike Fighter's reliance on just one powerplant for early production buys of the aircraft.
AVIATION INDUSTRIES OF CHINA, Airbus Industrie, Finmeccanica and Singapore Technologies Ltd. have signed a framework agreement setting forth the principles of cooperation on a new 100-seat jetliner. The twinjet aircraft, to enter service in 2003, will be available in a 105-seat model designated the AE 316 and a 125-passenger version labeled the AE 317. Separately, China Aerospace Supply Corp. ordered 10 Airbus A320 and 20 A321 short/ medium-haul transports worth $1.5 billion.
Howmet Corp. and Pratt&Whitney will invest $8.8 million in a joint venture to produce turbine engine components using Howmet's Spraycast forming technology. The company, Spraycast Technologies International, will be based in Whitehall, Mich. A new plant there will have the capacity to melt up to 6,000 lb. of material per shift and create parts up to 55 in. in diameter when it opens in 1998. An adjacent pilot plant also is being upgraded.
Thomas J. Downey (see photo) has been appointed general manager of communications and community relations for McDonnell Douglas Aerospace of St. Louis. He held a similar position at the Douglas Aircraft Co., Long Beach, Calif.
United Airlines and the Air Transport Assn. have filed suit in U.S. District Court in San Francisco to block a local ordinance approved last year that requires companies doing business with San Francisco to offer the same employment benefits to domestic partners as they do to spouses of employees. The ordinance is backed by San Francisco's gay and lesbian community, but by some estimates it is likely to benefit heterosexual partners the most.
Emirates Group will start soliciting third-party maintenance contracts for the first time following the opening of a new, high-technology engineering and maintenance base this fall. The new facility, taking shape on the southeast side of sprawling Dubai International Airport, will accommodate three widebody aircraft--including Boeing 747-400s--in fully air-conditioned hangars. Another four widebodies can be accommodated on an adjacent, protected parking apron, giving Emirates maintenance base capacity well beyond its own needs, officials said.
After clear warnings from Capitol Hill, NASA seems willing to walk into a political buzz saw to fix the International Space Station program's problems. The agency needs upwards of $200 million to build the backup Interim Control Module for Russia's delayed Service Module and to take care of other matters related to its partner's stumbling. Rep.
The U.S. and the European Union are heading for a showdown on the proposed Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger that could threaten to revive old trade disputes. Karel Van Miert, the European commissioner in charge of competition policy, reiterated last week his ``strong doubts'' about the merger, which would strengthen Boeing's leading position in the civil aircraft market. He also cast as ``totally unacceptable'' Boeing's 20-year ``exclusive'' supply deals with American Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
NATO AND RUSSIA AGREED in Moscow last week on a Founding Act formalizing their joint security cooperation. Agreed to in principle at the Helsinki summit in March, the act provides for a consultative mechanism, the NATO-Russia Permanent Joint Council, in which Russia will have a voice but not a veto in European security issues. The Moscow talks expanded NATO's previous pledge of ``no intention, no plan, no reason'' to deploy nuclear weapons in new member states to include nuclear weapon storage sites (AW&ST Mar. 31, p. 27).
Facing public and political criticism that they are dragging their feet, large U.S. airlines pledged last week to install fire suppression systems, as well as smoke detectors, in the cargo holds of their narrow-body aircraft. The head of the Air Transport Assn., which represents 22 major and national U.S. airlines, said assurances that the government would not ban the use of fire-suppressant chemicals helped clear the way for the airlines to commit to installing the extinguishing systems with the detectors.
China's Long March booster program has returned to an operational status, and has a chance to begin working its way back into favor with the international insurance industry with the successful launch of a Chinese/German communications satellite. A Long March 3A placed the 2-ton class Dong Fang Hong-3A2 satcom into a geostationary transfer orbit at 00:17 a.m. May 8 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The 3-axis stabilized DFH-3A2 has 24 C-band transponders.
The effect of a kilometer-wide (0.6-mi.) comet impacting the Earth's atmosphere at a 45-deg. angle and hitting the Atlantic ocean was simulated last month at Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M. The exercise, which was divided into 54 million zones and ran for 48 hr., was intended to help tune up Sandia's new Intel 1.8-teraflops-capable (1.8 trillion operations a second) computer. The fully resolved, three-dimensional visualization ran on 1,500 processors, about one-sixth of the computer's planned 9,000-processor final configuration.
Robert C. Ayers (see photo) has been named president of SMR Technologies' Engineered Rubber Products Div., Sharon Center, Ohio. He was a director of marketing and sales for the Michelin Tire Corp.
Sparks were flying on Capitol Hill after Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski briefed a House panel last week on the Quadrennial Defense Review's (QDR) recommendations for missile defense. ``A slap in the face,'' fumed Rep. Curt Weldon (R.-Pa.), chairman of the House National Security Committee's R&D panel. The QDR would more than double the $1.9 billion the Pentagon had planned to spend on national missile defense (NMD) during the coming five years to pay for more flight tests.
Coherent Technologies Inc., of Boulder, Colo., has developed several lidar systems that detect wake vortex and other turbulence that can affect aircraft. The lidars can determine vortex circulation strength, speed and direction. Long-range versions can sense to more than 9 mi. out, and have potential applications in ground-based wind shear and microburst detection, according to Paul Reveley, CTI director of marketing. An aircraft-mounted short-range system, planned to weigh less than 15 lb., gives pilots as much as 20-sec. warning of turbulence at altitude.
THE FAA PLANS TO REQUIRE the installation of ice detectors on all 220 U.S.-registered Embraer EMB-120 transports, indicating icing may have been a factor in the fatal crash of a Comair EMB-120 near Monroe, Mich., in January.
A Boeing campaign to improve the way parts and assemblies fit together is having a major impact on aircraft assembly times. The process, called Hardware Variability Control, has been responsible for reducing the average installation time for a next-generation 737 transport's dorsal fin from 11 hr. initially to 3 hr. Specifically, HVC measures how closely a part or component fit-up matches requirements specified by engineering drawings, according to Rick Heinz, 737/757 programs HVC master coach.
Russia has begun developing a new unmanned mission to the Moon at the same time its space science program is in the midst of a major shakeup caused by limited funding and the failure of its Mars 96 probe. The flight, set for launch in 2000, is to be the first Russian mission to the Moon in more than 20 years. It would involve an orbiter that will fire three 550-lb. nuclear-powered penetrators into the lunar surface.
