China Eastern Airlines is adding new flights to create daily services from Shanghai to Los Angeles, with beyond services to Chicago and New York, to cope with spring and summer demand. The Shanghai-based airline, one of China's three largest, also is adding flights for sightseers to the Huangshan Mountains in east China's Anhui Province, Guilin in Guangxi Province in southern China for tours of the Li River, and Quanzhou in Fujian Province on China's southeast coast.
Boeing Co. shareholders came close to approving a shareholder proposal at the company's recent annual meeting that would have required the annual election of all members of the board of directors. The proposal, put forward by the Ray T. Chevedden and Veronica G. Chevedden Family Trust and opposed by Boeing, garnered a 48% vote, extraordinarily high for a shareholder resolution. The proponents argued that electing directors every year would ``heighten the accountability and performance'' of Boeing and its board; directors are elected for three-year terms now.
Terence J. Keenaghan has been promoted to director of sales and marketing from sales manager of Kaynar, Fullerton, Calif. Robert G. Allebaugh has been appointed a project manager.
THE NORTH AMERICAN MARKETING chief for the world's leading launch company wants satellite builders to 'fess up sooner when spacecraft are not going to be ready on time. Arianespace's Douglas Heydon says six satellites scheduled for launch on Ariane boosters in 1996 were delayed. As a result, Arianespace was able to conduct only 10 of the 12 launches it had planned last year (a 1997 launch is pictured). Satellite manufacturers have long complained about a need for more launch capacity to meet booming demand.
Preliminary findings and numbers from the Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) were leaked last week, almost two weeks before the official release date (see p. 22). What is interesting is that the leaks came several days before military and congressional leaders were to be briefed on the final version of the study. Defense Secretary William Cohen had ordered senior military officials to keep mum about their input to the QDR. The leaks, say Pentagon insiders, were part of the Defense Dept.
Continental Express wanted to inaugurate its Cleveland-White Plains (N.Y.) service earlier this month with new Embraer EMB-145 regional jets on each of four daily flights, but the plans ran into a local snag. A capacity agreement at the White Plains airport defines the EMB-145, because of its 92-ft.-long fuselage, as a large transport, not a regional/commuter. Its length exceeds the demarcation between the two types by about 7 ft. As a large transport, the EMB-145 falls under operating restrictions that it wouldn't encounter as a regional/commuter.
The often-confusing cross ownership between Australian and New Zealand's airlines is becoming a little clearer. With the Australia-New Zealand single aviation market now in operation, Australia's Qantas Airways is eager to enter the New Zealand market and is expected to purchase Ansett New Zealand from the News Corp. Regulatory authorities saddled the News Corp., the international media conglomerate headed by Rupert Murdoch, with Ansett New Zealand last year when Air New Zealand bought a 50% ownership in Ansett Australia.
THE BALLISTIC MISSILE Defense Organization (BMDO) conducted its first operational evaluation of command and control components that could be used in a National Missile Defense system, including DSP satellites and X-band radar. BMDO evaluated the components during a standard test firing of a USAF Peacekeeper on May 7. The ICBM was launched from Vandenberg AFB., Calif., to the Kwajalein Missile Range in the central Pacific Ocean. BMDO plans similar evaluations in June, this fall, and in early 1998, using Peacekeeper and Minuteman missiles.
Projected growth in the small satellites planned for use in commercial, wireless communications systems could increase the demand for plated magnesium housings, according to officials involved in spacecraft development.
ANOTHER U.S./RUSSIAN ``FIRST'' will take place this week when four students from the USAF Test Pilot School visit the Gromov Flight Research Institute in Zhukovsky. Although TPS instructors have participated in exchanges with their Russian counterparts, this marks the first time for students. Three pilots and one flight test engineer will each get a qualification flight in the MiG-29 fighter.
Rose M. Koronkiewicz has been named ISO registrar program manager for the Performance Review Institute, Warrendale, Pa. She was a unit manager for the ISO 9001 certification process for the FMC Corp.
ICING IS BEING CONSIDERED BY THE U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) as a factor in its investigation into the crash of a Comair Embraer EMB-120RT near Monroe, Mich., on Jan. 9.
The IID-100 Series ice detection system relies on a single fiber-optic cable to detect the buildup of ice. Light passing through a lens is distorted if a surface is contaminated, and the cockpit-mounted sensor head at the other end of the fiber will indicate the condition. The IID-110, designed for general aviation, relies on a light emitting diode that offers ``ice'' and ``no ice'' indications. The IID-120 uses a laser light source and can determine whether a detector is contaminated with water, ice or glycol. FiberSwitch Technologies, 4400 S.
The Model 400M60 Cessna Aircraft Detonation Indication System is a portable, six-channel monitor that processes combustion/detonation pressure signals generated by Model 140M01 Cessna force washers installed under one spark plug in each cylinder. The system requires no modifications to the engine itself. Individual liquid crystal diode indicators reveal whether each cylinder is firing. PCB Piezotronics Inc., 3425 Walden Ave., Depew, N.Y. 14043-2495.
Vincent J. Ambrosia has become airframe administrator for Garrett Aviation Long Island. He was chief of maintenance for the GlaxoWellcome flight department.
Neal O'Bannon has been promoted to director from assistant director of manufacturing for the S-TECH Corp, Mineral Wells, Tex. He succeeds Cleveland Clark, who has retired.
Russia and China, which have regarded each other with suspicion and hostility for decades, are engaging in a new era of military and political cooperation, driven by increasingly common geopolitical interests and the Russian defense industry's need for cash. The sale of state-of-the-art military equipment to China is worrying some Russian politicians and military officers, but the political and military leadership in Moscow shows no sign of changing course.
Bat Fish, the classified signals intelligence payload for the Predator unmanned aerial vehicle, should resume flight testing in October at El Mirage, Calif. The system was to have begun operational flights in Bosnia late in 1996, but it ran into problems because the Predator aircraft produced way too much electro-magnetic interference. This ``self-jamming'' reduced the range at which the sigint payload could locate electronic emissions or intercept conversations.
First certifications under a new industry-led, voluntary safety program for helicopter tour operators have been made to eight companies, with others pending. The program requires a helicopter tour operator to pass an initial, rigorous safety audit administered by an outside firm. Thereafter, annual audits are performed, according to Elling Halvorson, chairman of Tour Operators Program for Safety, Kirkland, Wash.
Regional airlines and the airports they serve are stepping up efforts to make their passengers' traveling experience more agreeable through improved facilities and ``amenities'' considered standard by major airlines' travelers. Key are innovations that allow passengers to board turboprop aircraft--the mainstay of the regional carriers' fleet--either directly from the terminal or at least with shelter from the elements.
Jeffrey K. Lown (see photos) has been named president/chief executive officer and Rodney A. Brown vice president-sales and marketing of Kimberly Aerospace, Bellevue, Wash.
William C. Sandifer has been named deputy director of aviation at San Jose (Calif.) International Airport. He was assistant airport director of Bishop International Airport, Flint, Mich.
Videolink HD is a high-resolution system for capturing computer, radar and sonar imagery in real time. The system stores images on a high-definitition TV recorder, which has the resolution needed to preserve small characters and symbols typical of radar and tactical displays. The Videolink HD scan converter can record detailed imagery without quality degradation. It is compatible with inputs of up to 1,280 X 1,024 pixels. RGB Spectrum, 950 Marina Village Pkwy., Alameda, Calif. 94501.
COMPETITION FOR THE Joint Strike Fighter contract has sparked a new pairing, with Northrop Grumman joining the Lockheed Martin team. The new member will specialize in systems integration, support of low-observable technology, avionics integration, sensors, advanced manufacturing and aircraft carrier suitability. Lockheed Martin will concentrate on developing next-generation stealth, supercruise propulsion and advanced avionics. Work content and share is still being negotiated. Lockheed Martin and Boeing are the two finalists.
TOP OFFICIALS FROM SPACE agencies involved in the international space station project are planning to meet in Tokyo on May 31 to discuss the program's new schedule and other details. The meeting will help set the stage for a formal intergovernmental agreement on the station to be signed by President Clinton, Russian President Boris Yeltsin, and other members of the Group of Seven industrialized nations when the G-7 meets in Denver in June.
