This Airless, Vapor Degreasing Machine was developed for aerospace cleaning applications. It can be used on parts ranging from fasteners to large components. The high-vacuum process can be used on metal and ceramic parts and results in no emissions of cleaning chemicals to the environment. The typical cleaning cycle is 20 min. The unit features automated process controls. Serec Corp., 335 Valley St., Providence, R.I. 02908.
Eastern's Size 17 linear actuator motors are now available with a new configuration. An anti-backlash nut dramatically improves bidirectional position accuracy, especially in situations with tight tolerances. The anti-backlash nut adds 0.3 in. to the motor's 1.3-in. length. The motors are driven by unipolar or bipolar stepper drive electronics. Eastern Air Devices Inc., 1 Progress Drive, Dover, N.H. 03820-5449.
Despite tight economic constraints, Italy plans to boost space spending in the next few years, an effort designed to promote the nation's advanced technology capability and strengthen its role in the global space community. In the next 10 years, Italian space spending will gradually increase to nearly $1 billion per year, up from about $625 million in 1996.
Airline training of cockpit automation is spreading to less expensive devices, and is now becoming available in programs for laptop computers that model the entire automatic flight system. However, automation has also become part of crew resource management (CRM) training, where it needs to be taught in a cockpit setting with both pilot and first officer present. It spans the full range of training activity, and has fostered a cottage industry providing information beyond the limitations of company automation courses.
Robin T. Jacoby has been appointed Western U.S. sales manager for the Boonton Electronics Corp., Parsippany, N.J. He was senior applications manager for Marconi Instruments Inc.
TRACOR FLIGHT SYSTEMS has been awarded a $20.8-million contract to supply two Israel Aircraft Industries Astra SPX business jets to the Air National Guard for personnel, ambulance and light cargo transport missions. The SPX aircraft will replace C-21 jets currently in service with the 201st Military Airlift Sqdn. at Andrews AFB, Md.
Douglas Aircraft Co. plans to broaden its pilot training program to include instruction early in the process that places greater emphasis on crew responses to aircraft problems. Nicholas A. Gentile, Douglas chief pilot and senior manager for flight crew training, said the initial Advanced Qualification Program (AQP) training, which is expected to be introduced with the MD-95, is designed to focus early on crew interaction and the processes used to respond to aircraft problems.
ANTHONY J. BRODERICK has been picked as this year's recipient of the Aviation Week&Space Technology Distinguished Service Award. The award, established in 1949, is administered by the Flight Safety Foundation. Broderick is the former associate FAA administrator for regulation and certification. The annual award is given for ``distinguished service in achieving safer utilization of aircraft.'' The award will be presented to Broderick later this year in Washington.
John K. Kaiser (see photo) has become executive vice president-sales and marketing for Analytical Graphics Inc., King of Prussia, Pa. He had been a principal in Kaiser, Feinberg and Associates.
The Comm Module for Satellite Tool Kit is designed to let users quickly assess the strength and quality of potential communications links among satellites and air, land and sea systems. Users can perform ``what if'' communications link budget analysis and visually map the effects of many parameters, including signal strength, flux density, data bit error rate, effective isotropic radiated power, receiver gain/equivalent noise temperate and Doppler shift.
PI660 is a 32-bit Windows NT data acquisition software package for IBM PC-compatible computers. It can record up to 500,000 samples per sec. The software programs transducer signal conditioning individually calibrates each channel and displays real-time data while recording to disk. A companion post test data analysis package called PI332 displays multiple channels in engineering units for time and frequency domains, includes digital filtering and has a macro language for data manipulation. Test setups are stored in Microsoft Access files.
David W. Norcross has become permanent director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Boulder, Colo., laboratories. He had been acting director since the retirement of Robert A. Kamper.
Bob Showalter, chairman of Showalter Flying Services Inc., Orlando, Fla., will receive the American Spirit Award of the National Business Aircraft Assn. at its annual meeting Nov. 19-21. He will be honored for his service to business aviation.
The Model 414/514 pressure transmitter can be used to measure pressure in liquids and gases. Pressure is converted into a linearized electric signal. The transmitters are available in capacities from 20-1,500 psi. They operate on a supply voltage of 11.5-30 v dc, producing an output signal of 4-20 milliamps or 1-6 v dc. Built into a polycarbonate housing with a metalized surface, the pressure transmitters have an operating range of -40-185F. Taber Industries, 455 Bryant St., North Tonawanda, N.Y. 14120.
Airlines in the U.S. are likely to face greater scrutiny of their programs for training and managing mechanics as the FAA responds to congressional and bureaucratic pressures to bolster maintenance operations. Campaigns to convince FAA officials and airline executives to improve the training of airframe and powerplant mechanics--and to ensure that A&P and avionics technicians at outside repairs perform customer work properly--have been underway for some time.
The head of U.S. Strategic Command says there's no immediate need for a national missile defense system because nuclear deterrence has worked for decades and will continue to protect the nation from attack. Air Force Gen. Eugene Habiger said the U.S. has threatened to use nuclear weapons on five occasions, including a threat to Iraq in 1990 and a more recent warning to North Korea.
Prof. Peretz P. Friedmann, of the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dept. of the University of California at Los Angeles, has received the 1996 Structures, Structural Dynamics and Materials Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was honored for contributions ``to aeroelasticity and structural dynamics as applied to the analysis and design optomization of helicopters.''
Jet Age Flight Helmets: Aviation Headgear in the Modern Age by Alan R. Wise and Michael S. Breuninger is a photographic demonstration that details the development of flight helmets since the end of World War 2. It includes photos of more than 120 helmets and their associated equipment, such as oxygen masks and boom microphones. U.S. military, international and astronaut helmets are covered in this work, which contains more than 1,000 images, most of them in color. Schiffer Publishing Ltd., 77 Lower Valley Road, Altglen, Pa. 19310.
ROLLS-ROYCE, MEANWHILE, received a $450-million order last week for RB-211-535E4B engines to power an initial batch of Tupolev Tu-204 aircraft ordered by the Kato Group of Egypt. It plans to order up to 200 of the aircraft over the next five years. The engine order covers 13 firm and 17 option aircraft ordered by Kato from the Russian manufacturer Aviastar. The first two engines were delivered to Aviastar's factory in Ulyanovsk in July.
The Swedish air force has begun the final phase of its effort to transition to a single, multirole aircraft with the training of the first instructor pilots for the JAS 39 Gripen.
John L. Clark has been appointed president/chief executive officer of the Avia Bellanca Aircraft Corp., Reston, Va. He remains president of Blum, Clark and Co.
The Jamco Corp. has developed a process to semicontinuously mold T, L and hat-shaped composite beams. The advanced pultrusion method, designated ADP by Jamco, substantially reduces manufacturing costs compared to those for traditional hand lay-up. The ADP production process includes automatic prepreg lay-up equipment as well as a heating/press die, curing oven and pulling and automatic cutting device, according to Rodney Brown, director of marketing for Jamco America of Everett, Wash.
John Parsons (see photos) has been appointed vice president-space program operations and Joe Straus general manager of the Space-Based Surveillance Div. of the Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles. Parsons was the division's general manager, while Straus was general manager of the Electronic Systems Div. Charles A. Emering has become Northeast U.S. sales manager for K/C Aviation of Dallas. He was director of maintenance for Atlantic Aviation Flight Services, Teterboro, N.J.
