Also, Federal Express has appointed the following vice presidents: Mark R. Allen, Asia Pacific legal, was managing director of Canada legal; Debra L. Gray, U.S.-Canada financial planning, was managing director of financial planning and control; Joe D. Hinson, global operation planning, was managing director of operations research; Kenneth A. May, global operation control, was managing director of operations control and coordination; Matthew Thornton, 3rd, national hub operations-South for days and weekends, was managing director of operations in Atlanta; John E.
NASA AND McDONNELL DOUGLAS have agreed to a two-month extension of the DC-XA experimental rocket program to the end of September, in order to make four more flights to gather data on head-to-tail rotation maneuvers. They are considering a further follow-on to test an unpowered aerodynamic rotation using a new aeroshell in the shape of the company's X-33 proposal. The ``Clipper Graham'' may make its fourth and final flight under the current contract on July 31 to gather handling data (AW&ST July 8, p. 60). The flight was delayed from July 12.
The European Space Agency's unmanned Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator recently completed its first recovery qualification test over the Mediterranean. The ARD, the first large European spacecraft developed for reentry and recovery, is about half the size of the command module for the proposed Crew Transfer Vehicle that would carry astronauts to the international space station (AW&ST Mar. 25, p. 51). The test simulated the final phase of the planned suborbital ballistic trajectory and validated the parachutes and recovery system.
Three months after seven-year-old Jessica Dubroff was killed in an unofficial cross-country record attempt, the House has voted overwhelmingly to prohibit a person from attempting to set an aviation record without a valid pilot's license and medical certificate. The bill, which has been sent to a sympathetic Senate, would not ban youngsters from otherwise manipulating the controls of an aircraft if a licensed pilot is supervising the flight. In addition, the measure directs the FAA to complete a study within six months on the effects of children flying small aircraft.
THE DOUGLAS AIRCRAFT CO. has completed the first MD-11 fuselage barrel sections built at the company's Long Beach, Calif., plant. The fuselage sections for the trijet previously were produced by General Dynamics' San Diego, Calif.-based Convair Div., which has been closed. The Convair Div. had been building barrel sections since the late 1960s.
Spar Aerospace is negotiating to build two satellites for China similar to Canada's Radarsat synthetic aperture radar spacecraft. But the Montreal-based company says reports of a $600-million contract being completed are premature. Spar's top executives were in China earlier this month to negotiate with the Chinese Ministry of Aerospace and the Commission on Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. A contract might also benefit Colo.-based Ball Aerospace&Technologies, which built Radarsat's bus under a $50-million contract.
Three ``next-generation'' fighter aircraft are slated to demonstrate their capabilities for the first time together at a major international air show, at Farnborough later this summer. The four-nation Eurofighter 2000, French Rafale and Swedish Gripen are all scheduled to participate in the flying display at Farnborough International '96 which opens Sept. 2.
The careful placement of salvage vessels and other assets paid off last week as U.S. Navy divers searching around a 45-ft.-long section of wreckage from TWA Flight 800 found both the cockpit voice and flight data recorders.
Pentagon and industry officials were playing down the possibility that a small, shoulder-fired surface-to-air missile (SAM) played any part in bringing down TWA Flight 800. However, NTSB and FBI investigators and Army researchers were continuing last week to explore the possibility and to analyze missile capabilities while awaiting definitive proof from examination of the wreckage.
THE FAA HAS CERTIFIED Lockheed Martin's Microprocessor Enroute Automated Radar Tracking System, (Micro-EARTS), which is now approved for deployment. Micro-EARTS is Lockheed Martin's solution for the FAA's standard terminal automation replacement system and uses off-the-shelf equipment. The FAA decided in December, 1994, to use Micro-EARTS as the radar tracking system for the Oceanic Integrated Product Team. Capabilities include conflict alert, minimum safe altitude warning, Mode C intruder and approach path monitoring.
Michael F. Rioux will become senior vice president-operations and safety of the Washington-based American Transport Assn. when J. Roger Fleming retires Oct. 1. Rioux has been vice president-engineering, maintenance and materiel.
Matra Marconi Space is promoting a geostationary communications satellite system scheduled to cover southern and Eastern Europe, Africa and the Middle East. MMS' proposed Euro-African Satellite Telecommunications system (EAST) would have 6,000 mobile-telephone and 20,000 fixed-telephone circuits, a capacity that could fill the needs of about 1 million subscribers. Estimated price of a mobile telephone call would be about 80 cents/min., a company official said.
Designated by a U.S. Senate committee as one of the fastest growing airports in the nation, Colorado Springs logged 430,206 total passengers in June. It is one of 11 U.S. airports being considered for priority funding of airfield upgrades. More than 2.25 million passengers passed through Colorado Springs in the first six months of this year, 138% more than in the same period of 1995. Western Pacific, which has about a one-third share of the Colorado Springs market and is still expanding, continues to fuel the airport's rapid growth.
Andrew N. Ivan and Kenneth E. Weigold have been appointed materials manager and manufacturing manager, respectively, of Infodex Inc., Wolcott, Conn. They held similar positions with Pye&Hogan, Old Saybrook, Conn., and Loral/Unisys, Great Neck, N.Y.
EIICHIRO SEKIGAWA and MICHAEL MECHAMTOKYO and HONG KONG
Japan's accident investigators have split responsibility for the fatal crash of a China Airlines A300-600 at Nagoya Airport between the cockpit crew and the manufacturer.
Domestic defense companies swept the competition as the U.K. selected the winners of three contracts for aircraft and missiles valued at nearly 4 billion pounds ($6.2 billion).
UNITED AIRLINES has initiated direct Boeing 747-400 flights from Chicago to Hong Kong, overflying the Russian Far East and China to make the west-bound leg in about 15 hr. The 747-400s, equipped with the Future Air Navigation System (FANS-1) package of satellite data link and GPS navigation equipment, are communicating by voice and data link with the Russian air traffic control station at Magadan in eastern Siberia and by voice with Chinese and U.S. controllers.
All Nippon Airways is placing greater emphasis on cooperation with Asian carriers as it strives to pull even with the better-established international route network of rival Japan Airlines. Through its Air Nippon subsidiary, ANA code-shares with Taiwan's EVA Airways and is talking with Garuda Indonesia and Singapore Airlines about code-sharing agreements to expand flights between Japan and their markets.
Rockwell and NPO Yuzhnoye have signed an agreement to provide launch services for the three-stage Cyclone booster, developed from what originally were the first and second stages of the SS-9 ICBM. Rockwell's Space Systems Div. will provide marketing, sales and payload integration for Cyclone commercial space launches under the agreement. With a third stage added specifically for space launches, Cyclone payload performance is listed at 2,000 kg. at an inclination of 82.5 deg. to a circular orbital altitude of 1,500 km., or up to 3,600 kg.
BEIJING-BASED Air China broke the order logjam for Boeing with the purchase of three 747-400 transports earlier this month. The deal, valued at approximately $510 million, will bring to 19 Air China's 747 fleet. China held off on the order until after the U.S. renewed Most Favored Nation trading status in June. Further sizable Chinese orders for Boeing transports reportedly are pending.
Michael DiGirolamo has been appointed director of airport operations for the Los Angeles Airports Dept. He was deputy executive director of operations for Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport.
Sally K. Woolsey, Adam Psarianos and Scott K. Bunker have been named vice presidents-operations for the Mid-Atlantic, Southwestern and Southern U.S., respectively, all for Federal Express. They were managing directors of operations in Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco.
Roger Wright has been named president of Menasco Aerospace of New York, a unit of Coltec Aerospace Canada. He succeeds Pablo Prieto, who will remain a Coltec Industries group president. Wright directed the McDonnell Douglas MD-95 wing program in Canada.
Sea Launch, a multinational commercial satellite launching venture, is spooling up for a June, 1998, first launch from a platform at sea. Initial contracts totaling 15 launches from Hughes Space&Communications Co. and Space Systems/Loral will provide critical initial cash flow to the low-cost launch venture. The consortium must quickly build to a 6-8 yearly launch rate if it is to realize a profit on its half-billion-dollar investment (AW&ST Jan. 1, p. 26).
