AVIATION WEEK&SPACE TECHNOLOGY is expanding its staff overseas and establishing a new bureau to provide better editorial coverage of technology, business and operations within the global field of aerospace. Michael A. Taverna joins the magazine in the Paris bureau as the European editor. Taverna was most recently with Interavia magazine in Paris. He will report to Pierre Sparaco, who has been promoted to senior European editor.
C-MAP/Aviation is now renting cartridges for moving map displays of Jeppesen NavData to aviators who have a Magellan EC-10X or Digifly DU8 GPS unit. Aviators flying outside their regular flying area can rent the cartridges from 30 to 90 days. Each C-MAP regional cartridge covers about the same area as a WAC chart in the U.S. or Canada. Worldwide coverage is available.
THE SHUTTLE ORBITER ENDEAVOUR RETURNED to the Kennedy Space Center on Mar. 27, riding atop NASA's Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft. The homecoming followed an eight-month modification period at Boeing North American facilities in Palmdale, Calif. About 100 modifications and upgrades were added and its weight was reduced by more than a ton under a U.S. Alliance contract. The most significant change involved removal of Endeavour's original internal airlock and installation of a new payload bay airlock to enable Endeavour to dock with the new international space station.
Robert T. Francis, 2nd, vice chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, for his handling of the ValuJet and Trans World Airlines tragedies last year. As board member in charge of the investigations, he calmly and professionally juggled the often conflicting demands of investigators, surviving family members and the media. Also to the brave and dedicated Navy and law enforcement agency divers, and the entire accident investigation team striving to unravel the mystery of TWA Flight 800.
Michael Korens has been appointed a managing director of GKMG Consulting Services of Washington. He was majority counsel to the U.S. Senate aviation subcommittee.
THEMIS COMPUTER IS PACKAGING Sun Microsystems UltraSparc processors in a new high-availability computer, which has fully redundant components, for mission-critical applications that cannot tolerate any downtime. The new Phoenix Telco SPARCServer is designed with no single potential point of failure, according to Themis, to avoid processor, data storage or communication failures that would shut down the system. Primary and secondary power, temperatures and the level of processor activity are monitored and alarms provided. The system is designed for live, on-line repairs.
Anticipating this week's rollout of the first production F-22, Lockheed Martin took its show on the road to Washington last week. Lockmart's vice president for the F-22, Tom Burbage, said Russia's decision not to build the stealthy, next-generation MiG 1.42 fighter has not led to any political blowback on the U.S. stealthy, super-cruise fighter program so far: ``You've still got to worry about the surface-to-air [missile] threat . . . and any other country's aircraft that are out there.
Alan T. Male, director of the Center for Robotics and Manufacturing Systems and associate dean for research and development at the University of Kentucky, has been elected president of the Society of Manufacturing Engineers for 1997. J. Martin Schroder, founder/chief executive officer of Martinair Holland, has received the Medal of Honor from Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands for his achievements in the airline industry.
Robert Farquhar, mission manager for the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) spacecraft at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL); Stamatios M. Krimigis, who heads APL's Space Dept., and payload manager Robert E. Gold. The NEAR mission, which is to rendezvous with an asteroid, was projected to cost $500 million. APL delivered the spacecraft to NASA for a stunning $122 million, setting a benchmark for the agency's new low-cost Discovery missions.
During the last three years, Air France Chairman/CEO Christian Blanc was instrumental in establishing and implementing a long-awaited recovery plan for the troubled state-owned flag carrier. Although his predecessors failed to conclude cost-saving agreements with hostile unions and restore workable relations with the French government, he succeeded in forging and imposing a more positive vision of the future and restored traffic growth. In a complex political and labor environment, Blanc also proved to be a patient negotiator.
Speaking of blowback, Air Force officials are poised to name the F-22 the Raptor. Most folks wouldn't blink at calling a fighter a bird of prey, but the word's origin is the Latin rapere, meaning one who seizes. However, some are questioning the advisability of selecting a moniker whose root is the same as that of the word ``rape.''
Bob Pinnell, now retired, for his research at the U.S. Air Force's Wright Laboratory toward developing an injection molding process to make windshields and canopies for high-performance aircraft. The new technique for directly formed canopies provides improved optics, while retaining the strength to defeat bird strikes, and requires less time to install. Each canopy can be produced in less than an hour, at about 20% of the current cost.
Jet Air for succeeding where so many others have failed in India's deregulated aviation environment. Significantly, Jet Air has foreign investment, something the Indians should keep in mind as they consider whether to allow Singapore Airlines to become a partner in a domestic airline.
ROCKWELL COLLINS HAS DELIVERED four low-cost miniaturized airborne Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) Link 16 terminals to the British Royal Navy for flight test on the Sea Harrier F/A-2, Sea King AEW Mk. 7 and other naval aircraft. The new CP-2378 terminal will provide most of the services offered by Class 2 type airborne JTIDS terminals ``at one-fifth the cost and one-third the size,'' according to the company. The new terminal provides secure voice and data, identifies users and their locations and provides encrypted security and antijam protection.
A quick return-on-investment plan for Hong Kong's new airport at Chek Lap Kok is expected to make its user fees nearly three times higher than at Kai Tak, the airport it is to replace next April. Basic operating fees for a 747 will be HK$67,700 ($8,700) at the $9-billion Chek Lap Kok (CLK), compared with HK$25,640 ($3,300) for Kai Tak, according to the Airport Authority, the government agency building the new airport. One reason for the jump is a new set of fees not charged at Kai Tak.
Claudio Spagnoletti and Romano Mazzucco have swapped positions at Alitalia. Spagnoletti has become general manager for North America based in New York. He succeeds Mazzucco, who in turn has become Tokyo-based general manager for Japan and South Korea, succeeding Spagnoletti.
THE INTERSTATE AVIATION COMMITTEE is investigating whether corrosion in the tail of an Antonov An-24 or metal fatigue caused an inflight breakup on Mar. 18 that killed 50 people. The committee expects to complete its probe of the accident by the end of the month. One possible cause that was considered, but ruled out, was an explosion. The An-24 operated by Stavropol Airlines (a small carrier once part of Aeroflot) disintegrated near Cherkessk, 55 mi. south of Stavropol in southern Russia. The aircraft was on a charter flight from Russia to Turkey.
Uzbekistan Airways has combined the strengths of its former Aeroflot hub operation with new Western aircraft and air traffic control equipment to become one of the largest carriers in the region. The airline last month took delivery of its second 207-seat Boeing 767-300ER and has a VIP-configured 757-200 due soon. It also operates two 192-seat Airbus A310-300s and select aircraft from a fleet of more than 90 Soviet-built jet- and turboprop-powered transports.
The time has come to take dramatic action on air safety in Africa, to stem the rising tide of major accidents and near disasters occurring there on a regular basis. If nothing is done, the chances are good that the continent will experience a mid-air like the one in India last year that claimed 349 lives when a Saudia 747 collided with an Air Kazakhstan Il-76.
Grady B. Palmer has become director of airline inventory sales for the United Aerospace Corp. of Miami. He was director of marketing for the Airline Sales Co. Thomas K. Kenville has been appointed director of sales and marketing for UND Aerospace, Grand Forks, N.D.
To NTSB Investigator-in-charge Gregory Feith and the team of municipal, state and federal officials that investigated the May 11 crash of ValuJet Airlines Flight 592. Feith and other NTSB officials molded and held together the team that retrieved the bulk of that aircraft's wreckage from the Florida Everglades, salvaging the physical evidence needed to hone in on the causes of the crash.
Roydon G. Sutherland of New Zealand has been appointed chief of the Aviation Security and Facilitation Branch of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Europe's commercial air transport system will undergo profound changes as deregulation--which kicked in last week--throws open to full competition domestic routes long dominated by national flag carriers. This transformation is unlikely to be as abrupt as the one triggered by U.S. airline deregulation in 1978. In Europe, changes are apt to happen more gradually. Furthermore, fundamental differences in the region's demographics and aviation infrastructure may steer this evolution in a different direction than it took in the U.S.
SATELLITE RADIO broadcasting licenses auctioned by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission went for $89.9 million and $83.3 million. The high bidder was American Mobile Radio, a unit of American Mobile Satellite of Reston, Va. The other slot went to Washington-based CD Radio Inc. Subscribers are expected to pay $5-10 a month for the nationwide digital audio services offering up to 50 channels. Special radios with tiny dish antennas will be required.
