Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory is seeking an industrial partner to help develop a new form of laser light travel. Potential applications include enhanced light detection and ranging (lidar) techniques as well as the creation of new laser-based technologies. Unlike conventional lasers, when the light pulse from a powerful infrared titanium-sapphire laser reaches a certain intensity, the beam focuses itself into a thin filament without the aid of lenses or mirrors.
The long-standing proposal by Singapore Airlines and India's industrial TATA Group to start a new domestic carrier on the subcontinent may be near fruition. Indian civil aviation sources say the proposal to create TATA-Singapore Airlines (TSA) is likely to receive government approval in October. The plan has been under consideration since June, 1994 (AW&ST June 3, p. 68). TSA would have an equity capital base of the equivalent of $500 million, with 60% Indian and 40% foreign participation. TATA and the Indian public would hold 60%.
The McDonnell Aircraft Co. appears to be gaining the upper hand in the three-month-old labor dispute between the company and striking St. Louis machinists. The military aircraft division of the McDonnell Douglas Corp. has assembled a team of 5,200 people, including about 2,000 outside workers, to replace the 6,700 union members who went on strike June 5. Senior management said it won't be necessary to hire any additional employees in the near-term but if more are needed the company can draw from a pool of about 900 applicants.
Passenger boardings at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport may top 18 million this year, an increase of nearly 3 million during the last calendar year. The airport recorded 10.8 million passengers in the first seven months, up 28%. This compares to a U.S. national average growth rate of 4.6%. Delta Air Lines and its Delta Connection partner, Comair, have hubs at the airport. These carriers have added 80 daily departures since May, 1995.
A new, production-grade wake survey system has been qualified for routine operation at typical transonic Mach numbers at Boeing's Transonic Wind Tunnel in Seattle. The Electronic Wake Imaging System produces both quantitative and qualitative data from the test model's flow field, including real-time color mapping of total pressure isobars, according to Cheryl Rohloff, Boeing Technology Services. A simplified analysis of the flow is available shortly after the survey to provide an indication of profile drag and wave drag.
UNITED AIRLINES PLACED an order with Boeing and Airbus Industrie for 51 new aircraft, with a book value of about $4.4 billion. United will benefit from discounts, however. From Boeing, United said it has ordered 19 747-400s, six 757s and two 777s, with a book value of $3.5 billion (AW&ST Aug. 19, p. 16). The carrier also has become the first U.S. airline to order Airbus A319s, with its planned purchase of 24 aircraft, valued at $900 million.
The inaugural intercept test of Israel's Arrow 2 antitactical ballistic missile was successful, according to preliminary data results. The intercept on Aug. 20 marked the third overall test of the operationally configured missile, which was built by Israel Aircraft Industries and is part of a joint Israeli-U.S. funded effort to develop a missile defense for Israel known as the Arrow Weapon System.
Say goodbye to the F-22, F/A-18E/F, V-22, Comanche and international space station. Well, maybe not. Cancellation of all of those programs are among 200 ``policy options'' offered by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) in its latest annual report on ways to reduce the federal budget deficit. The CBO says scuttling two of the Pentagon's highest priority fighters, the Air Force F-22 and Navy F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, would save $18 billion and $14.4 billion, respectively, over the next six years.
Lawrence Mustico has been appointed manager of aircraft maintenance sales, Charles Praniewicz manager of the Pittsburgh Regional Turbine Shop and Brian Cunningham manager of project engineering, for Dallas Airmotive. Mustico was Northeast U.S. Allison 250 sales manager, while Cunningham was a Spey and Tay engine project engineer. Praniewicz is a certified A&P mechanic on Pratt&Whitney PT6A and JT15B powerplants.
General Electric expects the FAA to grant the Boeing 777's GE90 180-min. ETOPS clearance in late September. GE's engine finished its last major ETOPS test on July 31 when a GE90-powered 777 successfully ended a key 1,000-cycle ETOPS flight test program. Next on the agenda is a meeting with the FAA to review GE90 ETOPS issues and flight tests. Originally scheduled for this month, the meeting has slipped to mid-September owing to the agency's heavy workload.
Japan's army expects to buy 15 or 16 Raytheon Beech Super King Air 350s to replace Mitsubishi LR-1s now serving in a liaison/reconnaissance role. The Japanese army operates 16 of the twin-turboprop-powered LR-1s, known commercially as the Mitsubishi MU-2. The first six Super King Airs are expected to be in service by 2000.
Boeing has added almost 10,000 workers thus far in 1996, largely to meet surging demand for its transports. Company forecasts issued earlier this year said the company anticipated hiring about 8,200 new workers during all of 1996. However, a flurry of orders that began in late 1995 has Boeing planning to almost double its commercial transport production to 34 a month by early 1998.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology doctoral candidate Moshe Alamaro is organizing an international consortium to airdrop billions of young trees in aerodynamically shaped penetrator containers. The effort targets rugged and remote areas that can support vegetation but where ordinary forestation methods are impractical. Funding likely would come from power companies eager to earn pollution credits to offset new CO2 taxes, a tariff quickly spreading through Europe, Alamaro said. An acre of pine trees can absorb up to 10 tons of CO2 a year.
Legislation reinstating the five excise taxes that finance the Airport and Airway Trust Fund was signed into law last week by President Clinton. The renewed levies, including the 10% passenger ticket tax, were part of minimum wage and business tax relief legislation that Congress adopted at the last minute before the August recess. The other duties are a 6.25% tax on domestic air freight waybills, a $6.00-per-person tax on international air departures, a 17.5 cents-per-gal. tax on jet fuel used in non-commercial aviation and a 14 cents-per-gal.
LOCKHEED MARTIN IS PLANNING to install remote control, command and drive systems on the Atlas Centaur service towers at Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36 to give Atlas teams an extra hour of margin when bad weather threatens to scrub a countdown. Current procedures require a driver and safety support team to be sent to the pad when bad weather approaches to drive a gantry back in place around the launch vehicle. That decision must be made with enough time to ensure crew safety when rough weather approaches the fueled booster.
Japan's space agency took advantage of its Adeos-1 launch to place a basketball-sized repeater satellite into orbit for ham radio operators. Called the Japan Amateur Satellite-2, the 110-lb. spacecraft is a successor to the JAS-1B, which is near the end of its 5-year lifespan. The solar-powered JAS-2 will make 16 orbits a day in 500 X 800-mi. orbit inclined at 99 deg. It has both analog and digital receiving and transmitting capabilities and can store and forward messages.
Initial results from a Technology Reinvestment Project awarded in early 1994 offer the promise of dramatic improvements in the cost, weight and durability of large composite parts for next-generation aircraft engines.
Isamu Kawai, chairman of Fuji Heavy Industries Inc., has been appointed chairman of the board of the Japan Aircraft Development Corp. He succeeds Hiroshi Ohba, who is now chairman of the Society of Japanese Aerospace Cos.
Robert Griswell has been named vice president/general manager of SabreTech Inc. facilities at Orlando (Fla.) International Airport. He was president of Santa Barbara (Calif.) Aerospace.
