Alan Darrow has been promoted to vice president from director of finance and administration, and Douglas Carr has been appointed specialist in government and industry affairs, at the National Air Transportation Assn., Alexandria, Va.
John E. Carpenter (see photo) has been appointed vice president-finance of Huck International Inc., Tucson, Ariz. He was vice president-finance and administration of the Thiokol Defense and Launch Vehicles Group, Brigham City, Utah.
The first Horizon battlefield observation system is entering service with the French army. The system was developed jointly by Eurocopter's French arm, Thomson-CSF and Dassault Electronique to provide all-weather intelligence-gathering on moving targets such as wheeled or tracked vehicles, helicopters, slow-speed aircraft and ships.
Jeff Scheinrock has been named vice chairman/chief financial officer of the Kistler Aerospace Corp. of Seattle. He was vice chairman of Packard Bell Electronics.
LASER LANDING AIDS, INTRODUCED on U.S. Navy carriers to give pilots visual glideslope and center line cues at night at far greater ranges than conventional lights, are now available for civil airfields from LaserLine Corp. of Cherry Hills, N.J. With the color-coded eye-safe lasers, pilots can get line-up and glideslope clues as far away as 15 naut. mi. on a clear night, with accuracy on the level of an ILS.
Steven M. Cox has become vice president-sales and marketing for ImageLinks Inc., Melbourne, Fla. He was managing director of the Earth Resources Observation Satellite program, Annapolis, Md.
Vice President Al Gore's Commission on Aviation Safety and Security has proffered recommendations aimed at quickly improving airline and airport security. Among the proposals: install sophisticated bomb equipment at the nation's major airports, increase background checks for all airline employees, require detailed manifests, match all baggage to passengers and improve baggage screening. Lobbyists are worried about who would pay for implementing the plans of the commission, which was created by President Clinton after the explosion of TWA Flight 800 (AW&ST July 29, p.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN'S ELECTRONIC SENSORS and Systems Div., formerly Westinghouse Electronic Systems, has successfully demonstrated the performance of a key subsystem for the joint British/U.S. Directional Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) missile warning system. In laboratory tests, the AAR-54(V) passive missile approach warning system demonstrated the missile detection, classification and angle of arrival accuracy required by DIRCM, according to the company. The test met the final criteria for the U.S. Special Operations Command to release long-lead production funding.
THE U.S. SENATE REJECTED by a wide margin a proposal to delete international space station funding from NASA's Fiscal 1997 budget. The amendment, proposed by longtime station foe Sen. Dale Bumpers (D.-Ark.), was quashed 60-37.
SIX PEOPLE SUFFERED minor injuries on Sept. 5 when a Continental Airlines MD-80 was evacuated just prior to takeoff from New York's LaGuardia Airport. While taxiing toward the runway, ground crew observed what they thought were flames shooting from the jet's No. 2 engine. As a precaution, the pilot of the Cleveland-bound jet activated fire extinguishers in both engines and ordered the flight's 83 passengers to exit the aircraft via emergency evacuation chutes. Maintenance personnel later determined that the aircraft had experienced a false or ``hot'' start in the No.
NASA HAS AWARDED a contract to Orbital Sciences Corp. for $50 million to build and test-fly a smaller, rescoped version of the X-34 reusable technology demonstrator (AW&ST June 17, p. 31). The 30-month contract calls for Orbital to build a single-engine, 58-ft.-long rocket with a 28-ft. wing span. NASA will also put up an additional $10 million for X-34 support activities.
A 21-YEAR-OLD SEMINARY student was under arrest last week after allegedly attempting to board a USAir flight at Tampa International Airport with explosive devices, a gun and knives in his luggage. Roman Regman faces 14 Florida state charges in relation to the weapons that security guards reportedly found during a search of his bags as he prepared to board a flight to Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Florida law enforcement officials were investigating whether Regman has ties to any militia group.
Saab Aircraft has begun flight testing a modification to the propeller shaft on the Saab 2000 that substantially eliminates the cabin noise created by the propeller.
Ron Bauer (see photo) has become manager of business development of the Performance Plastics Corp., Ravenna, Ohio. He was vice president-business development of Kaiser Aerotech.
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT HAS TEAMED with several Canadian companies to compete for the Canadian Search and Rescue Helicopter Program. Joining Sikorsky are CAE Aviation, Canadian Marconi, Litton Systems Canada, GE Canada and IMP Aerospace. The team will offer a derivative of Sikorsky's S-70A Black Hawk.
The Aerospace Corp. will have to compete with other organizations for its current technical services role with the U.S. Air Force if a planned merger between Aerospace and Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) goes through as planned. But Aerospace--currently a nonprofit company operating a Federally Funded Research and Development Center (FFRDC)--also will be able to compete for other government contracts and commercial work under the new arrangement, with the potential of significantly broadening its business opportunities.
Within about three months, a working group of the Air Transport Assn. should complete a draft specification for a laptop computer-based system to aid mechanics in executing quick turnarounds of airline flights. The group's goal is a computer aid that could give mechanics swift access to maintenance manual pages, parts availability and technical tips for performing tasks on aircraft scheduled to return to flight within a 30-min. period. Boeing has developed such a ``portable maintenance aid'' for its 777 and 747-400.
Asia's demand for imported energy will continue to soar, expanding a serious potential for regional conflict that must be contained by U.S. military power, according to Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale. He said here last week that, lacking a regional peacekeeping structure like NATO, Asia relies heavily on the U.S. presence in Japan and Korea. The region's mounting dependence on outside energy sources is intensifying competing claims over potentially energy-rich areas of the continental shelf. Mondale said it is only U.S.
A number of leading lawmakers of both parties wanted far more extensive air strikes against Iraq. But others were concerned that an Iraq crippled by U.S. destructive power would become balkanized by factional strife, leaving the region vulnerable to a resurgent Iran. Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R.-Ind.) made probably the strongest call for tougher action.
Hals N. Larsen has been named chief scientific and technical adviser for propulsion control systems for the FAA. He was chief engineer of the Boeing 777 propulsion development team.
The Pentagon isn't bragging about sending bombers two-thirds of the way around the world to strike Iraq. In 1991, B-52s used cruise missiles to hit targets in northern Iraq that were beyond the range of aircraft operating from Saudi Arabia because the Turks would not allow attacks to be launched from their airspace. They adopted a similar stance during last week's attacks against Iraq, as did Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia. So, U.S. bombers had to fly across the Pacific and Indian oceans to strike Iraq. Four B-52Hs first had to shift from Barksdale, La., to Guam.
THREE ALLEGED Middle Eastern terrorists accused of plotting to blow up at least a dozen U.S. commercial airliners were found guilty on all counts Sept. 5 in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. If the convictions are upheld, the defendants face mandatory life sentences. One of the would-be bombers, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, also was found guilty of placing an explosive device on a Philippine Airlines jet on Dec. 11, 1994. It exploded under a seat of the Tokyo-bound Boeing 747, killing a Japanese passenger.
A new type of synthetic aperture radar flown recently over Bosnia gives terrain elevation accurate to within three meters, as well as radar images, and can be used for rapid-response precision mapping.
