Conventional, electron beam and other advanced welding and metal-joining technologies are part of continuing NASA research into advanced subsonic airframe structure design and assembly. The revision of assembly and production processes could provide U.S. manufacturers with a competitive and economic edge by reducing parts counts by an estimated 50% and aircraft weight by 20%, according to Charles Willits, a NASA engineering manager in Washington.
The European Space Agency is being reshuffled in a far-reaching effort to implement a revised strategic plan and boost efficiency. Alenia Spazio Chief Executive Officer Antonio Rodota is to become ESA's managing director. He will succeed Jean-Marie Luton, who is not seeking a third term. But the transition schedule has not been determined yet. Luton's second mandate is expiring next year. However, on May 1, Rodota will become ESA's managing director designate, an initiative indicating Luton may leave the agency within the next few months.
Bill Madison (see photo), former vice president-marketing and sales for Greenwich Air Services of Miami, is now director of business development for Rolls-Royce Aero Engine Services Ltd., Derby, England. Sara Sizer has become head of comunications at the Rolls-Royce Aerospace Group, also in Derby.
The ADC Boeing 727-231 transport that inverted and plunged more than 16,000 ft. into a Nigerian jungle last Nov. 6 was attempting to avoid a head-on collision, according to Nigerian aviation authorities. An air traffic controller inadvertently directed the TCAS-equipped ADC transport into a collision course with a Triax Airlines aircraft. The ADC pilot executed an evasive maneuver, rolling the 727 to an excessive bank angle and lost control of the aircraft.
The on-again, off-again acquisition of Carnival Air Lines by Pan American World Airways is on again--and will provide Pan Am with substantial new working capital. Under a definitive agreement, Micky Arison, Carnival's main shareholder, will make a $30-million capital investment in Pan Am and acquire 42% of its outstanding shares. Besides Arison's $30 million, Pan Am also has arranged for a private placement of up to $30 million more in a new issue of preferred stock.
A simple and economical software program to assist manufacturers in designing, simulating and analyzing assembly lines now is available from the University of Huntsville at Alabama. The Modular Manufacturing Simulator provides management and small entrepreneurs with the ability to evaluate and fine-tune a manufacturing line before actual installation, according to Bernard Schroer, associate vice president for research at UAH's Center for Automation and Robotics.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP.'S Electronic Sensors and Systems Div. will install a $11.9-million turnkey ATC system at Lima, Peru's Jorge Chavez International Airport. Included will be an enroute and approach automation and display system, ground-to-air communications and a stand-alone simulator for controller training. For flight safety, an ASR-9 radar will be installed initially, but will be replaced in the final system with an ASR-12 solid-state primary and monopulse secondary surveillance radar.
HUGHES AIRCRAFT CO. WILL SUPPLY THIRD-GENERATION infrared systems to the Danish Army. The system uses a 3-5-micron mid-wave IR (MWIR) indium-antimonide focal plane array with 100,000 detector elements. Hughes has begun low-rate production of a third-generation MWIR system for the U.S. Marine Corps' MV-22, and is developing another for the Tier 2+ Global Hawk High-Altitude Endurance UAV. The Danish Army will receive 178 manportable systems under a $11.2-million contract.
Boeing is hoping that clouds in the political relationship between the U.S. and China won't end up raining on commercial aircraft orders. Two priorities on China's wish list--permanent renewal by Congress of most-favored nation (MFN) trading status and entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO)--are unlikely to happen this year. Congress, following past practice, isn't likely to approve more than a one-year MFN renewal.
Virtually every member of Russia's parliament and political elite opposes NATO's expansion, but President Boris N. Yeltsin has agreed to an official partnership with the alliance nonetheless.
PILATUS AIRCRAFT LTD. received Canadian certification for its PC-12 on Mar. 21, clearing the single-engine, cabin-class turboprop for commercial passenger operations in instrument flight conditions. The certification enables IFR revenue flights at night and in known icing conditions, as well. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Kelner Airways plan to fly PC-12s in Canada.
DIVISIONS OVER DEFENSE continued to plague Europe last week. Foreign ministers, gathering in Rome to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the European Union, could not agree on the deployment of a multinational force to protect a proposed humanitarian relief mission to chaos-riven Albania. Britain and Germany were cool to the idea, while France, Italy, Portugal and Spain were among countries that agreed to send military officials to Albania to discuss such a deployment.
Navy officials are grappling with an aging fleet of Lockheed Martin P-3 Orions that were designed exclusively for antisubmarine warfare, but are now increasingly saddled with a range of new operation tasks. With the end of the Cold War, the crucial, intensely specialized job of hunting Soviet submarines has largely become a training exercise. Actual operations have been driven by new demands, chief among them being the need to supply real-time intelligence.
THE AIRBORNE LASER successfully passed a three-day U.S. Air Force Program Requirements Review in Seattle on Mar. 21. The milestone clears the way for the beginning of detailed design and engineering work by ``Team ABL'' main contractors Boeing, Lockheed Martin and TRW. The laser-carrying, modified Boeing 747-400F is eyed as a key deterrent to theater ballistic missile launches. As envisioned, ABL will acquire and track missiles in the boost phase of flight, then destroy them with highly accurate laser energy.
U.S. Navy airborne reconnaissance units have been heavily committed to long-term peace monitoring operations over Bosnia, but they were able to change missions literally in mid-flight to take on the additional burden of reporting on this month's Albanian crisis.
By unanimous consent, the Senate has approved--finally--Keith Hall's nomination as assistant secretary of the Air Force for space. Hall has served in the position in an acting capacity since February, 1996, and was first nominated by President Clinton in May, 1996. Bureaucratic red tape held up action on the nomination, and it was resubmitted again in January. Traditionally, the post also has included the concurrent job of running the National Reconnaissance Office, which procures and operates U.S. intelligence satellites.
Anthony Caputo, David F. Masotti and David W. Stapley have been promoted to presidents of divisions of Spar Aerospace Ltd., Missisauga, Ontario. Caputo was promoted to president from vice president/general manager of Spar Aviation Services, Masotti to president of Spar Space Systems from senior vice president and Stapley to president of Spar Applied Systems from vice president/general manager. Deborah M. Allan has been promoted to vice president-public relations from director of public affairs. And, Adina E.
Teaming, which Space Systems/Loral relies upon to build its satellites, is also at the heart of its strategy for selling them. The company is to begin two satellite networks later this year that will expand its business base for the coming decade beyond traditional satellite manufacturing. Each program assumes that networking with existing providers of ground telephone, data and entertainment services is essential.
Gen. John T. Chain, Jr. (USAF, Ret.), has been appointed president of Quarterdeck Equity Partners Inc. of Los Angeles. He was executive vice president of the Burlington Northern Railroad.
Irish carrier Ryanair will launch five new services in the next three months, employing its strategy of using underused airports outside major cities. On May 1, the low-cost airline is to begin thrice-daily service from Dublin to Beauvais airport 70 km. north of Paris and a twice-daily service to Brussels-South Airport. Ryanair will also start a twice-daily service between Kerry, Ireland, and Bristol, England, followed by a new daily service on June 12 from Kerry to London Stansted.
David Johansen and John Kornegay have been promoted to senior vice presidents of manufacturing operations and engineering and marketing, respectively, of the Kamatics Corp., Bloomfield, Conn.
Engineered Medical Systems Inc. of San Antonio, Tex., is looking for industrial applications of a new, post-tensioned concrete high-pressure chamber technology it developed under contract to USAF's Armstrong Laboratory. A 20 X 30 X 18-ft. prototype has passed pressure tests to six atmospheres absolute, twice its operational pressure, and is being certified as a medical hyperbaric oxygen chamber.
Darby M.R. Becker has been named director of government and international affairs for the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. She was legislative director for U.S. Rep. Jerry F. Costello (D.-Ill.).
NASA plans to initiate air-breathing, hypersonic scramjet-powered flight tests in early 1999 with its new Hyper-X winged research vehicle to be launched on a Pegasus booster dropped from NASA's B-52 carrier aircraft.
