Finnair expects to receive bids in April from Boeing and Airbus for 12 new aircraft with which the carrier wants to replace its DC-9s on European routes starting in 1999. Finnair is eyeing the Airbus A319, A320 and A321 and Boeing 737-600/700/800. The deal could be worth up to $400 million, with the possibility of further orders. Finnair said it eventually intends to acquire additional aircraft of the same type to replace the 25 MD-80 aircraft it also operates on its European routes.
America and Russia continue to cement the foundations of what might become a 21st century strategic partnership, slashing offensive nuclear weapons to new lows, breaking a deadlock over theater missile defenses and forging closer ties on European security.
TRIMBLE HAS AGREED TO MAKE ITS SIERRA GPS chip set available to Xanavi Informatics Corp. of Japan for use in automobile navigation systems. Despite rapid growth, aviation GPS use will be dwarfed by the automobile market, which will grow from a $310-million annual market in 1995 to $3 billion by 2000, according to the U.S. GPS Industry Council. Pioneer Electronics was the first, but Trimble's GPS technology is now being used by Philips Car systems in BMWs in Europe, and by Hughes' Delco Electronics in Cadillacs.
ZHANG TONG, HEAD of China Great Wall Industry Corp., was killed during a visit to Europe's space launch center in French Guiana. Tong climbed a rock on the coast to pose for a picture and was swept away by a wave. China Great Wall manufactures Long March boosters.
Researchers at Auburn (Ala.) University have flown the first remotely piloted helicopter that uses a solid-state adaptive main rotor system for flight control. If developed, the solid-state adaptive rotor system (SSAR) has the potential to significantly reduce weight, drag, complexity, cost and radar signature of full-size helicopter rotor systems (AW&ST Apr. 15, 1996, p. 46).
The most extensive zero-gravity studies to date on the physics and science of combustion will be conducted on the space shuttle Columbia during the 16-day Microgravity Science Laboratory flight set for launch this week.
A pair of unique, long-range video cameras, one on each of two P-3Cs operated by Patrol Sqdn. 8 have become key instruments in providing real-time intelligence to senior U.S. and NATO leaders. With the current crisis in Albania and a long-term commitment to monitoring the peace in Bosnia, the squadron's aircraft have been flying three missions a day--two over Albania and one over Bosnia.
Pratt&Whitney, Volvo and Delta Air Lines failed for years to detect flaws in a JT8D-200 engine's titanium alloy fan hub before those flaws caused the hub to shatter and kill two passengers on a Delta MD-88 last July, NTSB investigators have found. At a public hearing near Delta's headquarters here last week, investigators for the National Transportation Safety Board outlined the string of failures that began in 1989 with the hub's manufacture by Volvo Flygmotor and ended July 6, 1996, on Runway 17 at Pensacola (Fla.) Regional Airport.
NATO Secretary General Javier Solana has agreed to open negotiations aimed at establishing a formal relationship between Ukraine and the alliance. Following a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Hennadiy Udovenko and Defense Chief Volodymyr Horbulin, Solana pledged to complete the negotiations in time for the NATO heads-of-state summit in Madrid in July. The conclave is expected to produce invitations to Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and possibly a fourth East European state to join NATO by 1999.
Larry Wise has been promoted to vice president from director of contracts and procurement for Tracor Applied Systems Inc., Rockville, Md. Ray F. Bradshaw has been promoted to director of human resources for Tracor Flight Systems Inc., Austin, Tex., from manager of human resources for Tracor Inc.
Steven J. Dorfman, chairman of Hughes Telecommunications and Space Co., outlined how the federal government should help the U.S. satellite communications industry, in remarks to the Washington Space Business Roundtable. Excerpts follow: I would like to focus on the pivotal role of Washington as it relates to the proliferation of satellite communications around the world, and in particular, to the success of the U.S. satellite communications industry.
Officials at Japan's Ministry of Transport are denying that safety questions they have raised about the operations of U.S. carriers at Tokyo's Narita Airport are related to their current bilateral talks with the U.S. But the ministry has begun talking to the Tokyo office of the FAA about what it regards as chronic maintenance problems at Northwest Airlines that include numerous tire bursts, a Mar. 1 engine-out and fire while landing and an engine failure that scattered parts on Narita's runway.
The National Science Foundation and National Center for Atmospheric Research are shelving a two-year effort to fly a WB-57F in support of high-altitude research projects. The former U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft was grounded last August after an inflight failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system, accompanied by radio and intercom loss. Structural cracking and problems with avionics have plagued the aircraft since its arrival in 1994 (AW&ST Aug. 21, 1995, p. 58).
Air China's $685-million order of five Boeing 777s last week signaled a continuing thaw in U.S.-China relations and the opportunity for Boeing to start closing tentative Chinese transport orders worth about $5 billion.
Bob Hobbi (see photo) has been appointed director of account management for FlightSafety International of New York. He was director of customer support. Barbara Taylor has been promoted to assistant director of operations for customer support, based at the FSI Instructional Systems Div. in Fort Worth, from assistant director of customer support.
PENTAGON ACQUISITION CHIEF Paul Ka- minski has given the Navy approval for the first low-rate production of 62 F/A-18E/Fs in three lots. He signed an acquisition decision memorandum approving production of Lot 1 and advanced procurement for Lot 2. At the same time, the Navy also was given authority to approve both the remaining low-rate and, subsequently, full-rate production which is planned to total 1,000 aircraft in a $90- billion program.
Paris' role as a major international hub is endangered by a shortage of runway capacity that is required to keep pace with strong traffic growth. In the next few days, the French state council is expected to ratify the ADP Paris airports authority's plan to construct two additional runways at Roissy/Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport. However, environmentalists are opposing the plan, and the government has banned expansion beyond a four-runway system. In addition, Orly's capacity is frozen.
The FAA plans to cut funding for airport improvements by $460 million in its 1998 budget, mainly to compensate for increased personnel costs. Although small airports will continue to get grants, large airports will lose out, primarily because they are considered better able to generate their own revenue, according to Joel C. Taub, the agency's acting chief financial officer. Alternative sources of finance for big airports could include passenger facility charges, user fees, concessionaire fees and bonds.
Ira Albom and William F. Heitmann have been appointed to the board of directors of Diagnostic/Retrieval Systems Inc., Parsippany, N.J. Albom is corporate senior vice president of Teleflex Inc., and Heitmann is a vice president of the NYNEX Corp.
Within 3-5 years, U.S. satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles could carry a laser that can detect germ and chemical weapons use, and possibly their production, Sandia's Paul Robinson suggested last week. Using the prototype Caliope laser, researchers already have identified biological species floating in the air and on surfaces at ranges of more than 11 mi.
CHECKOUT OF THE NEW Nicmos Near Infrared Camera/Multi-Object Spectrometer installed in the Hubble Space Telescope by a space shuttle crew in February indicates the instrument's No. 3 camera cannot be focused properly because of a thermal problem. Two other cameras in the instrument are working well and the overall impact to Nicmos will be minimal, especially since engineers believe the problem will eventually cure itself.
CANADIAN MARCONI HAS AWARDED Virtual Prototypes Inc. a contract to aid in the development of an Aircraft Crewstation Demonstrator as a human factors engineering tool, representing a variety of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft for Canada's Department of National Defense. They wanted a tool for early human factors evaluation rather than waiting for a prototype. Canadian Marconi intends to use both VPI's rapid prototyping facility and off-the-shelf fixed- and rotary-wing flight simulator software products.
Lockheed Martin consolidated its commercial satellite manufacturing operations here to build satellites faster. But investing nearly $1 billion in a state-of-the-art plant has as much to do with keeping pace with its customers as about beating the competition.
Huntsville International Airport is expanding its international intermodal freight center to strengthen its position as an alternate U.S. air cargo ``gateway.'' Gradually gaining momentum after its October, 1986, opening, the $15-million freight facility just attracted its fourth weekly-scheduled international cargo flight, all Boeing 747Fs jointly operated by Cargolux and Panalpina, a major international freight forwarder.
The majority of United's transatlantic services will be operated by Boeing 777s this summer. The carrier this week is replacing two 767s with two new long-range 777s on its San Francisco-London route and will substitute the 777 for a 767 on Los Angeles-London flights in June. Most flights between London and Chicago, Newark and Washington will operate with 777s this summer, as will flights from Chicago to Frankfurt and Paris and flights from Washington to Paris, Frankfurt and Amsterdam.
