The helicopter network formed to support the recent Olympics in Atlanta flew approximately 1,500 hr. while demonstrating the efficacy and safety of an integrated vertical lift transportation system in a crowded urban environment. About 120 commercial, police, state and military helicopters participated in the Atlanta Short Haul Transportation System, since renamed Heli-Star, according to the Helicopter Assn. International, which is based in Alexandria, Va.
New manufacturing processes and technologies introduced for the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey engineering, manufacturing and development (EMD) program are cutting costs substantially.
The Defense Dept. is poised to dramatically alter the way it negotiates the procurement of products and services, but the initiative may be fraught with as much risk as opportunity. As early as this week, the Pentagon hopes to officially propose a revised set of rules spelled out in Federal Acquisition Regulation Part 15 under the Competition in Contracting Act of 1984.
Still hoping for direct flights to China, Taiwan's EVA Airways has at least come a step closer with its first services to Hong Kong. But at just 16 flights a week, its share of one of the world's most lucrative destination pairings is only 15% of what its rival, China Airlines, enjoys.
Socata, Aerospatiale's general aviation subsidiary, is set to begin production of the two-engine TB360 civil trainer within the next few months. First delivery is slated for November, 1997. Dubbed Tangara, it is an upgraded derivative of the U.S. GA-7 Cougar developed in the mid-1970s by Grumman American Aviation Corp. Socata recently acquired the Cougar's production rights and heavily modernized the aircraft. Two demonstrators have been completed.
Australia has some unique defense problems that it must depend on technology to resolve. Its long, sparsely populated, thinly forested north coast is difficult for the nation's defense forces to patrol thoroughly, so it remains potentially vulnerable to military or terrorist infiltration.
Looking into its crystal ball, U.S. Air Force planners envision that future surveillance and reconnaissance systems will rely more on distributed systems linked together rather than single large sensors. But they say a change in today's mindset will be needed--spatial resolution should not be the only criterion for evaluating the value of surveillance systems.
NASA late last week was preparing for the planned Aug. 18 launch of a new, low-cost auroral research spacecraft on board an Orbital Sciences Pegasus XL booster to be dropped from its L-1011 carrier aircraft off Vandenberg AFB, Calif. The 422-lb. (192-kg.) spacecraft, designated the Fast Auroral Snapshot Explorer (Fast), is part of a new class of NASA explorer spacecraft designed to provide a strong science return on a constrained budget. The mission is valued at $60 million, including launch costs.
In this age of hype, words such as ``giant'' and ``revolutionary'' often are abused. But it is no exaggeration to apply them to Sir Frank Whittle. Today's air transport industry--and the vast economic and social benefits wrought by the ease and speed of global travel--simply would be inconceivable without the contributions of Sir Frank. Whittle, one of the two independent coinventors of the aviation gas turbine, or turbojet--along with Germany's Hans von Ohain--died on Aug. 8 after a bout with lung cancer. He was 89.
TRW has started testing a prototype module for an anti-ballistic missile airborne laser, and claims the device met Air Force requirements on its third firing on Aug. 6.
The Russian/French Soyuz TM-24 mission to the Mir space station was being prepared for liftoff from the Baikonur Cosmodrome late last week with a backup cosmonaut crew after the flight's primary crew was grounded because of a medical problem discovered only a week before launch.
NATO is looking for new weapons that can inflict intense damage on very small targets. An almost-finished study of the available technologies, called ``Minimizing Collateral Damage in Peace Support Operations,'' addresses the issue of designing weapons with less explosives, no explosives or directed-blast warheads. The study examines how best to attack personnel, equipment (particularly tanks and air defense weapons) and structures (such as bridges). NATO officials are looking for cheap weapons that will minimize or eliminate long-term effects on civilians.
U.S. Naval Research Laboratory scientists are exploring the impact of VHF microwaves on ceramic materials. If successful, the research would help produce denser and stronger ceramics that could replace metal parts in turbine engines and allow the powerplants to run hotter and more efficiently, according to Arne Fliflet, project principal investigator for NRL's Plasma Physics Div. Such materials also could be used by the Navy for coatings to protect metals exposed to harsh ocean environments.
Andrea Van has been named sales manager for the Precision Castparts' PCC-France division in Ogeu-les-Bains. She was marketing and sales manager for the company's Large Industrial Business Unit.
Higher resolution and broader spectral coverage are again helping the Galileo mission extract more information from the Jupiter system than the quick Voyagers 1 and 2 flybys in 1979. The new pictures include the moons Europa and Io, and Jupiter's Great Red Spot (AW&ST July 22, p. 16). They were taken by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Galileo orbiter in late June, and scientists have only been able to give them a quick examination.
Rebecca Blackman has been appointed vice president-human resources for Rolls-Royce Inc., Reston, Va. She was director of human resources in Rolls-Royce's Atlanta office.
Infrequent travelers to Washington Dulles International Airport should be forgiven for thinking they're seeing double. Nestled in the Virginia countryside 26 miles from downtown Washington, the soaring, elegant terminal designed by the late Eero Saarinen has been extended to more than double its original size--and to the dimensions the Finnish-born architect had in mind from the beginning.
THE TAIPEI FLIGHT INFORMATION REGION is now operating with a new integrated Air Traffic Control Automation System (ATCAS), provided by Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management of Rockville, Md. The system consists of one en-route center--the Taipei Area Control Center--and three tower/terminal centers at Chiang Kai-Shek, Taichung and Kaohsiung airports. The system architecture has been designed to be upgraded from an ATC to an Air Traffic Management system, according to Lockheed Martin.
Aero International Regional is expected to decide within the next few months whether to launch an all-new 70-seat regional twinjet, tentatively scheduled to enter service in mid-2001.
John J. Driscoll, executive director of the Los Angeles Airports Dept., and Jim Hartigan, vice president-cargo of United Airlines, are new members of the board of directors of the Miami-based International Cargo Assn.
Phil Layton has become corporate attorney/staff physicist of Space Electronics Inc., San Diego, Calif. He was a staff physicist at Maxwell Laboratories' Blackjack-5 Pulsed Radiation Facility.
Harry Halamanadaris has been appointed corporate senior vice president of Litton Industries Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif. He was corporate vice president-electronic warfare systems operations.
