The qualification unit for the football field-length E-wing solar panel array for the space station undergoes tests. The apparent curvature is due to the fisheye camera lens used for this photo. Assembly and initial deployment of the test unit took place in May at Lockheed Martin Missiles&Space's Sunnyvale, Calif., facility. An intense regimen of inspections, solar cell flash tests and 84 deployments and retractions will continue through next month. The mat and blanket assembly shown here is 108-ft. long and about 19-ft. wide.
China is getting comfortable with the Su-27. The air force used it in March exercises near Taiwan to shoot M1 versions of the AA-11 Archer air-to-air missile at parachute flares, according to the Heritage Foundation's Richard Fisher. The M1 can be fired up to 60 degrees off boresight, used with a helmet-mounted sight and has a range of 18.6 mi. U.S. short-range, infrared missiles have a far more limited capability, which has led to heavy reliance on beyond-visual-range AIM-120 AMRAAM.
The first Boeing 777 flight simulator developed and built by FlightSafety Simulation, Tulsa, Okla., incorporates 225-deg. panoramic cockpit views, flat-panel instrument displays and the aircraft's rear-cockpit Maintenance Access Terminal (MAT). Like the aircraft, the simulator's MAT can be queried by the cockpit crew in-flight or by maintenance personnel ``on the ground'' to check maintenance status or troubleshoot.
BMW Rolls-Royce reached an important milestone in its short six-year history with the certification of the first all-new German turbofan engine. Late last week, the 14,750-lb. maximum takeoff thrust BR710 obtained European Joint Aviation Authorities' certification. FAA certification is scheduled for September. During the manufacturer's test phase and JAA's certification program, preproduction BR710s accumulated 5,000 running hours. First flight on a Gulfstream 5 was in November, 1995.
A $2-billion capital development program is transforming the airports serving the U.S. capital--Washington National Airport, the close-in, short-haul airport across the Potomac River; and Washington Dulles International Airport, the capital's international gateway. The two airports are operated by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, an independent interstate agency created in 1986 by Virginia and the District of Columbia with the consent of the U.S. Congress.
The Russian/U.S. crew on the Mir station is this week completing the transfer of nearly two tons of supplies from a new Progress vehicle and preparing for the planned Aug. 17 launch to the station of a joint Russian/French mission. The new Progress and Soyuz missions signal the start of a busy period of Mir docking and undocking activity with both manned and unmanned vehicles.
PENTAGON INVESTMENTS IN INFORMATION technology (IT) will remain steady through the end of the century as military officials rely more and more on it as an ``enabler for the war fighting mission,'' according to the latest five-year forecast by the U.S. Electronics Industries Assn. IT spending would remain stable despite a continued decline in the overall Defense Dept. budget and a real-dollar drop in defense IT spending, the association found.
Mountain Air Express (MAX), a spinoff of Western Pacific Airlines, will begin service to six Colorado ski resort areas on Dec. 4, initially flying four Dornier 328s. MAX executives expect to be operating a full schedule of 50 daily flights with 12 aircraft by Dec. 18. Several of the 328s will be painted with logos of ski equipment manufacturers. Based in Colorado Springs, Colo., the regional carrier will be owned and financed by a combination of WestPac and private investors.
This series of customized, flexible, electrodeposited nickel bellows is designed for cryogenic applications. They are ideal for dynamic sealing applications in space-limited applications or where life expectancy is critical. The bellows can be designed for a range of -423-350F. Spring rates as low as 0.35 lb./in. are attainable, as are compression strokes equal to 60% of the free length. Limited life applications can use both compression and extension strokes. Servometer Corp., 501 Little Falls Road, Cedar Grove, N.J. 07009-1291.
India's Earth imaging program was born 20 years ago when Hasselblad cameras loaded with infrared film were flown on aircraft to study coconut wilt disease. Today, with five Earth-imaging satellites in operation and plans for at least twice that many, India has become a major supplier of multispectral imaging data throughout the world. This progress reflects the use of satellite imagery by India's agricultural, economic and social planners as a basic tool for improving its economy and relieving population pressures.
India plans to begin offering commercial launches by the end of the decade from a new Ariane-class booster now in development. Called the Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), the launcher is largely a derivative of the Indian Space Research Organization's (ISRO) Polar SLV, which completed its development testing last March and has now entered service with three launches scheduled over the next three years.
RAJ CHOTRANI HAS joined Aviation Week&Space Technology as a contributing editor, based in Singapore. Chotrani has previously written for Asia-Pacific Aerospace and Vietnam Business News. He will report on aerospace news developments in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam. Chotrani joins Hong Kong Bureau Chief Michael Mecham and contributing editor Eiichiro Sekigawa in Japan as part of the magazine's growing presence in the Pacific Rim.
More than a few people think reporters in this town live on a planet of their own. Now there's new evidence of the White House press corps' especially bizarre perspective on the relative importance of things. Scores of their brethren were jammed in an auditorium at NASA headquarters across town, awaiting an historic briefing on life on Mars. But first, the President of the United States expounded on the subject: ``If this discovery is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most stunning insights into our universe that science has ever uncovered.
Aircraft Safety: Accident Investigations, Analyses&Applications by Shari Stamford Krause examines more than 40 accidents or incidents involving airline and general aviation flights. The case studies are examined from the perspective of pilots, crewmembers, air traffic controllers and the National Transportation Safety Board. Case studies include Air Florida Flight 90, American Airlines Flight 170, Eastern Airlines Flight 66, USAir Flight 1016 and Avianca Flight 052. The cases are grouped by cause: human factors, weather, mid-air collisions and mechanical failure.
THE F-18E/F HAS BEGUN catapult launch tests at the Patuxent River (Md.) Naval Air Station. Commander (Sel.) Tom Gurney piloting F/A-18F1 made three catapult launches from a land-based system on Aug. 6.
The fourth H-2 launch is to carry the largest scientific observatory Japan has ever developed. The Advanced Earth Observation Satellite (Adeos-1) will weigh 7,800 lb. at liftoff and has a basic modular shape of 13 X 13 X 23 ft.. With deployment of its solar panel and antennas for the NASA Scatterometer, Adeos-1 will measure 36 X 23 X 95 ft.
North Korea will open its skies to international air traffic--including airlines from South Korea--beginning this December. The move represents further thawing of flight rights across northern Asia in the past few years. China and Russia have opened north-south routes over Siberia to U.S. carriers and east-west routes to European and Asian carriers. The International Air Transport Assn. (IATA) said airlines are expected to save $125 million a year by flying more direct routes that take them over North Korea.
A FRENCH MILITARY SATELLITE traveling at about 20,000 mph. collided with part of a 10-year-old Ariane rocket stage in a virtually unprecedented space accident. The French defense ministry and the French space agency CNES have yet to release information on the accident, which happened in late July.
AIR FORCE OFFICIALS punished 16 officers involved in the April crash of a CT-43 aircraft near Dubrovnik, Croatia, that killed U.S. Commerce Secretary Ron Brown. Brig. Gen. William E. Stevens, former commander of the 86th Airlift Wing, and his operations commander, Col. John E. Mazurowski, were punished with Article 15 reprimands for dereliction of duty. They constitute the most serious punishment short of a court martial. They lost their commands in June, but criminal charges will not be brought and the Article 15 punishment closes the cases.
Every pilot knows the FAA is less than perfect, so Administrator David R. Hinson was startled when he found many think he is doing something right. During his final visit to the Oshkosh air show as FAA chief, he was urged last week to remain at the helm of an agency that many believe is in dire need of stable leadership. At his annual ``meet-the-boss'' session at the show, Hinson was urged by hundreds of pilots to sign up for another four-year stint.
The Asian/Pacific nations are jumping in to lead the world in the use of satellite navigation and digital data communication for air traffic management. Ironically, the U.S., which developed the Global Positioning System of navigation satellites, lags Russia, China, Hong Kong and Singapore in preparing to use GPS and digital data links operationally for enroute control.
Two Japanese leasing companies have signalled their recovery from a prolonged gulf war slump by ordering 22 Boeing 737-800s, with deliveries planned from 1998 to 2000. C. Itoh Trading Co. will buy 12 aircraft valued at $600 million, and Kanematsu Corp. will buy 10 valued at $500 million. C. Itoh says most of their purchases will be leased to an unidentified European carrier. Kanematsu has not disclosed where its aircraft are destined, but says it is forming a joint leasing company with a U.S. firm.
MOUNTAIN AIR EXPRESS, Colorado Springs, Colo., a Western Pacific subsidiary, concluded an order for 12 30-seat Fairchild/ Dornier 328-120 twin-turboprop regional transports and optioned 12 additional aircraft. First delivery is scheduled for next month.
