Saab Aircraft has intensified its marketing of the 50-seat Saab 2000 to airlines in the U.S. The company is winding up a three-week tour of special presentations to potential customers with a Saab 2000 wet-leased from Crossair. The Swiss regional currently operates 21 Saab 2000 turboprops. Other operators include Germany's Deutsche BA, with five in service, France's Regional Airlines with four, Air Marshall Islands with one, and General Motors Corp., which operates three 2000s in a 36-seat corporate configuration.
Charles H. Kaman, founder/chairman/ chief executive officer of the Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn., has been inducted into the Hall of Honor of the National Museum of Naval Aviation, Pensacola, Fla. Kaman was recognized as a ``visionary in the development of rotary-wing technology.'' Kaman also has received the Connecticut Medal of Technology for 1995 in recognition of his contributions to the state's technological development.
British Airways will shift its Latin American services from Heathrow to Gatwick airport next March. Three Boeing 747-400s will be transferred to Gatwick to operate the airlines' 13 weekly flights to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela. The move is part of the airline's strategy to develop Gatwick as a complementary hub to Heathrow, and follows the transfer of its East and Central African service to Gatwick in March.
A Japanese court has said All Nippon Airways can send Fumio Kutsumi a 53.6-million-yen ($487,300) bill for hijacking a Boeing 747 in June, 1995. A bank clerk, Kutsumi hijacked a flight from Tokyo to Hakodate on Hokkaido Island, where he was arrested. The hijacking closed the airport for 16 hr., caused ANA to cancel 10 flights and prompted 105 of the 365 passengers on board to cancel trips. Regardless of whether Kutsumi is able to pay, issuance of the judgment is considered an important precedent.
More than a century ago, the English Darwinian scholar, Thomas Henry Huxley, wrote: ``The known is finite, the unknown infinite; intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land.'' Now 20 years after two Viking spacecraft made the historic first soft landings on Mars, the U.S. and Russia are poised to return to the planet, go exploring and reclaim a little more ``land'' from Huxley's ``infinite unknown.''
MORE DISCIPLINARY ACTION has been announced in the crash of an Air Force aircraft that killed Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown and 34 others near Dubrovnik, Croatia, on Apr. 3. Gen. Mike Ryan, commander of U.S. Air Forces, Europe, has announced punishment for ``a number of disciplinary actions to individuals involved in the crash'' ranging from Article 15s, which can stop promotion and limit assignments for a commisioned officer, to counseling and reprimands. Officers have 7-30 days to respond.
A NASA-developed wingtip swivel probe aligns itself with the local flow of air. The probe provides accurate measurement of total air temperature during high angle of attack research flights, according to Tom Moes, aerospace engineer at Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif. Performance has been evaluated over 70 flights with NASA's F-18 High Alpha Research (HARV) at angles of attack as large as 70 deg.
A new U. S. Air Force/Rockwell Navstar Global Positioning System navigation spacecraft launched here July 15 is being positioned specifically to aid U.S. and NATO forces in Bosnia as well as U.S. forces in southwest Asia. The mission launched here at 8:50 p.m. by a McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 7925 booster is the second USAF launch to begin replacement of older spacecraft in the original GPS constellation. The first replacement mission was launched in March.
The B-2 bomber's continued reliability has prompted USAF's Air Combat Command to increase flight time between phase inspections to 400 hr. First B-2 operational inspections were performed in September, 1994, after 200 hr. of flight, and the inspection interval subsequently was increased to 300 hr. The doubled phase check period, considered exceptional for a new weapon system, will significantly reduce maintenance costs, according to Col. Larry Conkle, 509th Logistics Group commander.
PAN AMERICAN WORLD AIRWAYS has reached a tentative agreement to buy Carnival Air Lines and merge the carrier's operations with its planned services. Although Pan Am expects U.S. Transportation Dept. approval to begin flying later this summer, the acquisition would give it the necessary certificates to begin services. Pan Am plans to operate Airbus A300s; Carnival has a fleet of 26 jet aircraft, including eight A300s.
Some aerospace analysts have been projecting a pronounced turnaround for the Hexcel Corp. since the company emerged from bankruptcy last year, but JSA Research analyst Paul Nisbet believes the about-face will be even more dramatic than what he had been predicting.
A THAAD anti-missile interceptor came close to hitting its target, but ultimately flew past it after an apparent malfunction in the seeker's electronics. The test marked the third time in three tries that the U.S. Army/Lockheed Martin/Raytheon THAAD (Theater High-Altitude Area Defense) system failed to intercept a simulated ballistic missile target. The interceptor self-destructed after flying past the target during the July 15 test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M. All of the debris landed within the range.
Lauda Air is preparing for delivery of its first Boeing 777 transport next year while progressively expanding its European and international route networks. Europe's inflated aviation costs and competition from subsidized national carriers continue to pose major challenges to the small, Vienna-based carrier. Increased Lauda activity in Italy is helping offset Austria's limited population base.
Five USAF reservists have won transportation awards for 1995. Recipients and their awards were: Maj. Paul A. Bailey, 85th Aerial Port Sqdn., Hanscom AFB, Mass., field grade officer; Capt. Kent A. Valentine, 50th APS, March ARB, Calif., company grade officer; Senior MSgt. Ramon S. Rendon, 50th APS, senior non-commissioned officer; Tech. Sgt. Lennax F. Knowles, 70th APS, Homestead ARS, Fla., non-commissioned officer; and AIC Vanessa B. Patsch, 70th APS, airman.
ARABSAT II-A, THE FIRST spacecraft based on Aerospatiale's Spacebus 3000 platform, was orbited July 9 on an Ariane 44L rocket. The spacecraft will be positioned over Zaire to provide telecommunications and direct broadcast television services to all 21 Arab League nations. The same Ariane booster also orbited the Aerospatiale-built Turksat 1C satellite.
The recent delivery of 17 GPS-aided munitions (GAM) gives USAF's B-2 bomber an interim, near-precision direct attack weapon. By the end of the year, 128 GAMs are scheduled for delivery to the B-2 fleet at Whiteman AFB, Mo. The weapon, developed by Northrop Grumman and Hughes, uses both GPS navigation signals and input from the B-2's synthetic aperture radar to give modified Mk. 84 2,000-lb. bombs a consistent accuracy of 20-ft. circular error probable (CEP). A special GAM tailcone with movable fins and GPS/inertial guidance kit is added to each bomb body.
AlliedSignal says it has improved one auxiliary power unit for the Airbus A320 family and has developed another as an alternative. The new one, the 131-9[A], is a version of an APU now used in McDonnell Douglas MD-90s and selected for ``next-generation'' Boeing 737s. The company says it will offer improved cabin cooling and main engine start performance and be available in late 1998. Specifications include starts and operations to 39,000 ft.
Ronald A. Buchanan has been appointed president/general manager, Michael Milardo vice president-manufacturing and Patrick J. Rooney engineering manager, of Harco Laboratories Inc., Branford, Conn. Buchanan and Milardo held the same positions at Revere Aerospace, while Rooney was with AlliedSignal, Stratford, Conn.
AEROSPATIALE AND ARIANESPACE have signed an agreement with the Russian Space Agency RKA and Samara space center, which encompasses the TsSKB design bureau and Progress production facility, creating a new joint venture to take charge of commercial operations for the Soyuz family of launch vehicles. The new joint venture, called Starsem, will be in charge of industrial and commercial operations for Soyuz launch systems which will be offered to customers for launching small satellites into low or medium orbits.
Carl A. Albert, chairman/chief executive officer of Fairchild Aircraft, San Antonio, Tex., has been named chairman of the management board/managing director of Fairchild Dornier Luftfahrt Beteiiigungs GmbH. and chairman of the supervisory board of Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH. Also named a managing director was Harold J.M. Williams, president of Fairchild Aircraft. James A. Robinson has been appointed president of Dornier. He was president of Learjet, Wichita, Kan.
The tragic demise of Trans World Airlines' Flight 800 came during a week that otherwise would have been cause for celebration at the airline. Just hours before the deadly explosion, the airline--twice in bankruptcy--turned in a strong second-quarter financial performance and was preparing at the weekend to pick up the first of 20 new Boeing 757s as part of its fleet renewal plan.
Dean M. Flatt has been appointed vice president/general manager of Guidance and Control Systems, Rick Bennett vice president-health, safety and environment, and Raymond Wallace vice president-business development for Government Electronic Systems, of AlliedSignal Aerospace, Torrance, Calif.
Cape Air rapidly has grown to become one of the largest U.S. regional carriers not affiliated with a major airline by focusing on a single aircraft type--the Cessna 402. The Hyannis, Mass.-based regional, which also operates as Nantucket Airlines on its major route to the Massachusetts resort island of Nantucket, flew 285,000 passengers last year in its fleet of nine-passenger Cessna 402s. Its 28 C-402s will log a total of 24,000 flight hours transporting almost 320,000 passengers this year, according to Daniel Wolf, president.
