Although passenger screening technologies have advanced well beyond the limited metal detection systems deployed in today's airports, human involvement will remain central to screening functions for some time.
THE U.S. FEDERAL Communications Commission has denied applications by cable television giant TeleCommunications Inc. (TCI) and TelQuest Ventures to use Canadian direct broadcast satellite (DBS) slots to beam TV programming to the American market. Hughes, AT&T and MCI--the latter of which paid $682 million in January for a U.S. DBS slot--opposed the applications, which essentially would have let TCI and TelQuest enter the lucrative U.S. market through the back door (AW&ST May 13, p. 26).
Spurred by the election looming in the fall, a series of new Pentagon studies is emerging that will attempt to focus the inevitable, budget-driven, post-election reforms of defense. The most recent is Joint Vision 2010, a product of the Joint Chiefs of Staff due out Sept. 1. Two years in the writing, it is to be both a guide for slashing redundancies among the services--including tactical aviation--and a tool for preempting outside cutback initiatives, particularly from Congress.
TARRED BY ATTENDANCE at Tailhook in 1991, Cdr. Robert E. Stumpf, former commander of the Blue Angels flight demonstration team, has decided to end his 22-year Navy career by retiring effective Oct. 1. After a three-year fight to win promotion to captain, Stumpf elected to retire rather than endure yet another investigation into activities associated with the Las Vegas aviators' convention. Since Tailhook, Navy promotion boards had twice selected Stumpf for advancement only to have their decision sidetracked by Navy Secretary John H. Dalton.
ROLLS-ROYCE WILL OFFER a reduced-flow, increased-efficiency derivative of the Trent 800 engine series for stretched versions of the Boeing 747 and for the evolving Airbus A3XX. Rolls and Boeing last week signed a memorandum of understanding covering development of the new powerplant, designated the Trent 900. But detailed engine design will go ahead only after each company's board approves its own plan for the project. (Rolls' board could agree to the program in late August.)
Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., has developed a new type of phosphate glass that could allow aerospace electronic components to be hermetically sealed in lightweight aluminum casings. Currently, the high furnace temperatures used to flow and melt critical silicate-based glass pin seals necessitates the use of steel hermetic cases. The molecular structure of phosphate glass is modified through the incorporation of aluminum oxide, according to Richard Brow, principal developer.
Some lawmakers want to enact legislation that could deal a serious blow to the consolidation of the U.S. aerospace/defense industry. And this is only one of the possible repercussions if an amendment to the House version of the Fiscal 1997 defense appropriations bill (H.R. 3160) were to become law.
Sabotaged or not, TWA Flight 800 raises security issues because it evokes powerful memories of Pan Am 103, Oklahoma City and the recent terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia.
Japan Aircraft Development Corp. has repaid the $133.2-million government startup subsidy it received for Boeing 767 co-production. The consortium, led by Mitsubishi, Kawasaki and Fuji, builds fuselage sections and other components for the 767 and 777, and was subsidized from fiscal 1978-82. This is the first time such a subsidy has been completely repaid in Japan The move is expected to induce rapid government approval of similar startup funds for JADC partnership in Boeing's proposed 747-500X and -600X programs.
New air traffic control and navigation improvements in Singapore, Manila, Jakarta, Beijing and Sydney underscore improvements in Asia/Pacific aviation infrastructure as the region moves into the era of using satellites for communications, navigation and surveillance.
Four months after opening services to Beijing and Shanghai, Federal Express still is finding China a ``challenge,'' but it also is seeing a ``positive'' change in attitudes among customs officials toward fast clearance of documents and parcels. ``It is still a challenge to convince them that tomorrow isn't good enough, the customer wants it today,'' says FedEx Managing Director-China E. Brooke Harwood. Customs officers at Beijing's Capital Airport now are using preclearance procedures for documents and low-value parcels that arrive by 8 p.m.
Mark Steinman has been appointed senior vice president/chief financial officer of Spar Aerospace Ltd., Mississauga, Ontario. He succeeds John Lanaway, who has left the company. Steinman was group vice president-finance for Bell Horizon Services.
Alexandre de Gunten (see photo) has been named Miami-based vice president-North America, Central America, Caribbean and Asia for Lan Chile. He was general manager in Latin America for Canadian Airlines International.
U.S. SENATE LAWMAKERS wanted to spend $10.2 billion more on the military than the Administration in the final version of the Fiscal 1997 Defense Appropriations Bill being debated late last week. The $244.74 billion spending measure is $1.33 billion more than in 1996. A $6 billion congressional plus-up increased the procurement portion of the budget to $44.1 billion, but it is still far short of the $60 billion that Pentagon leaders believe necessary for modernization.
THE RUSSIAN GOVERNMENT has approved Yak Aviation Corp.'s proposal to purchase the controlling share of bankrupt Fokker and organize joint Russian-Dutch production of Fokker 50 and 70 short-haul aircraft. Final approval now awaits the outcome of an economic feasibility review by a special commission made up of Russian and Dutch finance and economic ministry officials. Yak President Viktor Glukhikh predicted it will take several months to complete auditing, legal documents and a joint production modernization plan.
Embraer's newest offering for the commuter airline market, the EMB-145, has excellent performance and is being priced to sell, although it has to compete with other 50-seat aircraft already entrenched with established regional carriers. The Brazilian aircraft had its genesis at about the same time in the late 1980s as the Bombardier Regional Jet and the Saab Aircraft 2000. While Embraer engineers were deciding whether to mount the Allison engines over the wings, and then under the wings, the other two aircraft manufacturers were well into development.
Italy's Alenia has agreed to support the initial production and certification of Russia's Be-200 amphibian aircraft, under a $1.6-million program financed by the European Union. Alenia's share of the work, which is scheduled to be completed in January, 1997, will support Russia's Taganrog Aviation Scientific-Engineering Complex (TANTK). The Italian company is a longtime partner in the development of the Be-200's business plan.
Eurowings plans to start new services between Cologne/Bonn and Amsterdam Schipol Sept. 1 with code-share partner KLM Royal Dutch Airlines. The German regional carrier will operate three flights a day on the route using ATR42 turboprops. After two years of losses, revenues increased by 36% in 1995 with Eurowings posting net profits of DM2.1 million ($1.4 million), versus a loss of DM7.7 million ($5.2 million) in 1994.
Air shows are big business and continue to grow in popularity. Attendance at North American shows last year reached 27.4 million, up 1.1 million from the previous year, according to the International Council of Air Shows, Jackson, Mich. Last year, civilian shows made up 75% of the schedule, and average spectator draw was 60,627, ICAS said. There are at least 338 North American air shows planned and another 160 set internationally for this year. Since 1989, attendance tracked by ICAS has grown at almost a 4% annual rate. Average air show take is $307,000.
Preliminary investigations by an FAA-funded industry-university consortium have demonstrated the potential for locating greater numbers of defects in the titanium billets used to fabricate forged components for aircraft engines. The consortium, named the Engine Titanium Consortium or ETC, has demonstrated new ultrasound techniques that have doubled the number of potential defects found in a specially-flawed titanium billet.
The Pentagon is making both financial and tactical mistakes by planning to buy too high a proportion of precision-guided weapons, according to a congressional investigation. A 3 1/2-year study by the General Accounting Office (GAO) has reached the startling conclusion that precision-guided munitions (PGMs) ate up the bulk of munitions costs in Desert Storm without providing an equal payoff in targets destroyed.
ALLEGATIONS THAT SOME PILOTS from South Korea's Asiana Airlines received preferential treatment while training in the U.S. are being probed by the U.S. Justice Dept. with assistance from the FAA. A mid-level FAA official who was recently fired and a designated FAA flight examiner are under investigation. The probe was uncovered by the Wall Street Journal. U.S. officials are trying to determine if the Asiana pilots logged the required number of flight hours or completed mandatory check rides. Asiana Managing Director H.L. Kim said, ``FAA safety inspector Jack A.
Air France, for the first time since 1989, has posted an operating profit--about $80 million for the fiscal year ended Mar. 31. The carrier lost $174 million on an operating basis in the prior year. Because the 1994-95 fiscal year had an exceptional duration of 15 months, year-to-year comparisons are with pro forma accounts covering Apr. 1, 1994, to Mar. 31, 1995. Air France executives said the airline is on track to break even in the 1996-97 fiscal year. Gross operating revenue totaled $7.6 billion, down 1.8% from the previous year.
Ausburg Airways, the first German carrier to ban smoking on its flights in 1991, is now offering passengers complimentary ``cigarettes'' on selected domestic flights. But there's a catch--Ausburg is experimenting with a smokeless and odorless cigarette. The charcoal tip is lit, heating the tobacco and releasing its taste. The cigarette does not burn, however, or leave an ash residue. Rather, the taste diminishes after 6-8 min. ``We have tried these cigarettes, and we believe they are not going to bother the nonsmokers,'' Managing Director Olaf Dlugi said.
