JAPAN'S SCIENCE&TECHNOLOGY AGENCY, National Space Development Agency (NASDA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) have agreed that NASDA's H-2A launcher will carry ESA's Artemis communications satellite as a payload on its first launch in early 2000. NASDA will not charge a launch fee, although the H-2A is to be a commercial vehicle. The Artemis agreement pushes back earlier plans to put Japan's ETS-8 engineering test satellite on board the first of the new-generation H-2 vehicles. The switch also diminishes the performance risk for the mission.
The FAA has ordered the removal of six first-stage fan hubs from service because they exhibit potential for fatigue cracks similar to one that caused the catastrophic failure of a JT8D-200 hub earlier this month. The agency's action was prompted by additional evidence from the investigation of an uncontained failure on July 7 of a first-stage fan hub on a JT8D-219 turbofan engine. The JT8D was installed on a Delta Air Lines MD-88 and the hub failed during the initial takeoff roll (AW&ST July 15, p. 29).
Antony J. Blinken has been named special assistant to the President for national security affairs and senior director for strategic planning of the White House National Security Council.
Lockheed Martin's winning X-33 bid envisions the U.S. government providing significant financial backing for the commercial launcher to follow--raising doubts about NASA's oft-stated hope that industry will finance the new vehicle on its own. NASA believes the nearly $1 billion it plans to pump into the X-33 to test reusable launch vehicle (RLV) technologies and low-cost operations will lay the groundwork for building an RLV so attractive it can be privately financed.
A new bilateral with the U.S. has raised expectations that the Portuguese enclave of Macau's year-old airport can make its mark against Kai Tak in nearby Hong Kong. Macau International is offering U.S. carriers extensive fifth-freedom beyond rights for passenger flights and some seventh-freedom beyond rights for all-cargo carriers. It's all part of what airport Chairman Jose Queiroz says is Macau's ``unprecedented access'' to the Pearl River Delta in southeast China (AW&ST Nov. 6, 1995, p. 31).
There was a lot of finger-pointing last week during Senate Commerce Committee hearings into FAA oversight of ValuJet Airlines. Mary Schiavo said her recent resignation as Transportation Dept. inspector general was driven by the apparent lack of concern by FAA Administrator David R. Hinson, Transportation Secretary Federico Pena and members of Congress. Pena retorted that he expected Schiavo to report her concerns to him or to Hinson first, but she never did. Hinson said he knew nothing of her concerns with ValuJet and the U.S.
With modern equipment, it only takes a minute to detect the telltale signs of explosives on aircraft wreckage following a crash even if the debris has been submerged.
An interim rapid response team led by the FBI has been named by President Clinton to deal with terrorist and electronic attacks on U.S. soil. Responding to widespread calls for better coordination of federal programs against such threats, the President issued an executive order last week creating the team, officially named the Infrastructure Protection Task Force (IPTF). The order went out prior to the TWA crash. Membership includes the Pentagon and the National Security Agency.
Production of U.S. hardware for the international space station has hit its peak, posing a rising challenge to NASA managers to keep the project's assembly schedule on track. With work on key U.S. components well into the manufacturing and testing stages, NASA engineers have found themselves having to overcome a variety of obstacles, ranging from a need to redesign components in the station's advanced power system to contractor bottlenecks in delivering simple but vital hardware such as cable connectors.
Indian Airlines, the state-owned domestic carrier, and nearly a dozen privately owned competitors have demanded the right to raise fares by 10% following the Indian government's decision late last week to raise government-set prices on petroleum products (except kerosene) by 10-30%. The increase is the first since February, 1994, and does not affect foreign carriers or Air India, the government-owned international carrier.
Rescue aircraft and boats responded immediately because they happened to be in the area, and their crews watched the TWA Boeing 747 plunge into the ocean 10 mi. east of here.
Eurofighter 2000 development work is accelerating as British Aerospace, Daimler-Benz Aerospace, CASA and Alenia prepare for a production investment decision by the four partner nations later this year.
Aggressive application of streamlined acquisition practices and an early commitment to teaming are credited with the success of Joint Standoff Weapon development to date. However, JSOW is unique in that it has seen acquisition reform from both sides. The program stemmed from the U.S. Navy's Advanced Interdiction Weapon System in the late 1980s and became JSOW in 1992 to reflect the Air Force's inclusion. When the baseline contract was signed in 1992, ``streamlining'' was simply a concept that had yet to be applied.
The European Commission is withdrawing an exemption allowing air cargo carriers within the European Union to consult on prices. The change is to take effect as of June 30, 1997. The exemption was granted in 1991 to allow carriers to gradually adapt to a more liberal and competitive environment and facilitate interlining between companies. The EC said, however, that the number of freight forwardings carried out under interlining agreements have dropped considerably. At the same time, prices resulting from tariff consultations are 50-70% higher than the market.
First quarter results from Airports Council International show passenger traffic up an average 7.7% compared with 1995, but cargo growing by only 3.5%. The total passenger count was 556.8 million, with cargo at 11.4 million metric tons. Asia/Pacific's growth rate was 7.1%--about the annual average rate that is widely projected to make the region lead the world's passenger count in another 14 years. Asia/Pacific now ranks third behind North America and Europe.
Scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory will refuse to design new weapons, according to Stephen M. Younger, the newly appointed director of the lab's nuclear weapons technology program. ``We are fully prepared . . . to decline the opportunity to do certain studies, because we believe they may cross the line between a legitimate modification of a weapon for reasons of safety and the development of . . . a new nuclear weapon system,'' he said here last week.
Ken Barley has been appointed to succeed Gerry Clemmow as director of flight operations for Cathay Pacific Airways. Mike Lowes will succeed Barley as general manager of flight crew and Ricky Fry, formerly Airbus fleet manager, will become general manager. Fleet managers named are: Dick Marsh, Boeing 747-400; Colin Pearce, 777; Greg Gibbins, 747-200; and Gerry Keogh, Airbus A330/ 340.
Two U.S. Air Force reservists, Capt. Daniel E. Gelinas and Staff Sgt. David F. Scott, have won Air Mobility Command and Control Awards for 1995. Gelinas is attached to the 439th Airlift Wing at Westover ARB, Mass., and Scott to the 459th AW at Andrews AFB, Md.
Michael Predmest has become vice president-marketing and John Canavan director of maintenance of Viscount Air, Tucson, Ariz. Predmest was vice president-marketing of Air Margarita and Liberty Airlines, and Canavan director of regulatory compliance of Continental Airlines.
NASA's decision to delay the launch of shuttle Mission 79 to Mir by six weeks from late July to mid-September because of solid rocket motor problems will have a ripple effect on shuttle and Mir operations extending well into 1997. The decision to delay Atlantis--made July 12--also reflects continued safety and management conservatism on the shuttle solid rocket boosters 10 years after a different Thiokol field joint problem caused the Challenger accident.
Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have patented a system of cueing lights to help helicopters perform low-altitude maneuvers and landings when flying over featureless terrain or water in poor visibility. Seven narrow-beam lights, such as commercially available laser aiming lights, are mounted on the forward fuselage of the helicopter in upper and lower groups. Six are aimed either directly at, slightly to theleft of or slightly to the right of points 410 ft. and 920 ft. ahead of the helicopter.
Terry Gibson has become vice president-finance/chief financial officer of GaSonics International, San Jose, Calif. He was vice president/controller of Lam Research. Pascal Didier has been promoted to vice president-worldwide sales and customer support from director of Asian sales.
David P. Storch has been appointed chief executive officer of the AAR Corp., Elk Grove Village, Ill., effective Oct. 9. He has been president/chief operating officer. Storch will succeed Ira A. Eichner, who will remain chairman of the board.
