Airbus Industrie will decide soon whether to launch increased-capacity derivatives of existing wide-body long-range transports. The envisioned 310-380-seat stretched-fuselage commercial transports, which could enter service within five years, could play a major role in the consortium's long-term goal of capturing a 50% share of the world market. During the 2000s, the aircraft are expected to complement the proposed 550-650-seat ultra-high-capacity A3XX (AW&ST June 17, p. 27).
Unable to wait for government action, British companies are putting up their own money to start a series of technology demonstrator programs to sustain the U.K.'s technological competitiveness. Senior aerospace executives have agreed to commit 20 million pounds ($30 million) to the project and want to increase the total to 200 million pounds by the end of the decade, with half coming from government. Technology demonstrations seek to take promising technologies and verify design and manufacturing issues by building prototypes.
The cockpit voice recorder from the Garuda Indonesia DC-10-30 that crashed and burned at Fukuoka airport reveals no unusual conversation or warnings between the time of takeoff and the crash 10 sec. later. An interim report by Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Committee (AAIC) does not draw any conclusions from the CVR or digital flight data recorder (DFDR), or from examination of the burned fuselage or engines. The June 13 crash killed three and injured 99 of the 275 on board (AW&ST June 24, p. 34).
Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson made the rounds in the halls of government here last week, bringing his campaign to stop the proposed alliance between British Airways and American Airlines to the U.S.
Aldis Grinbergs has been named technical director and a member of the management board of Luxembourg-based Societe Europeenne des Satellites. He was system control segment manager for Motorola's Iridium program.
Russia is expected to accept Airbus Industrie's pending offer of a strategic partnership in developing the A3XX 550-600-seat civil transport. Anatoly Bratukhin, who is responsible for the civil-military aviation sector in Russia's Ministry of the Defense Industry, expects his government to approve the Airbus offer and send an official acceptance in coming weeks to Airbus headquarters in Toulouse. Airbus Industrie Managing Director Jean Pierson made the partnership offer to Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin in late April.
William K. Ris, Jr., has been appointed Washington-based vice president-government affairs and Scott D. Nason chief information officer of American Airlines. Ris was executive vice president of the Wexler Group of Washington. He succeeds Edward P. Faberman. Nason was vice president-operations planning and performance. He will be succeeded by Timothy J. Ahern, who has been managing director of ground operations.
Lawrence Schmidt has been appointed senior vice president/Missile Systems Div. manager/Lewisville site manager, of Texas Instruments Defense Systems and Electronics. He was manager of the Advanced Programs Div.
Massive consolidations of French aerospace are expected within days, as the Aerospatiale-Dassault Aviation merger nears completion and Lagardere and Alcatel Alsthom weigh rival bids to acquire state-owned Thomson defense-electronics group. Guidelines paving the way for the planned Aerospatiale-Dassault Aviation agreement are scheduled to be completed this week. The planned merger is expected to give birth to a streamlined company with annual sales of about $12 billion.
Bill Halkett has become director of operations and will head the U.K. office of Quantum Magnetics, San Diego, Calif. He was general manager of Thermedics Detection Ltd.
Kenneth D. Root has been named director of the Little Rock (Ark.) Jet Center of the Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. Root succeeds Earl Philpott, who has returned to being director of production engineering. Root was manager of component repair for Garrett Aviation Services, Augusta, Ga. Dale A. DeMent has been promoted to sales manager in Little Rock from sales representative.
China National Aviation Corp.'s Hong Kong chairman, Wang Guixiang, General Manager Yao Sahaoxian and Deputy General Manager Thomas H.K. Tsang have been named to the board of Hong Kong Dragon Airlines. Wang is the new chairman, succeeding airline founder Chao Kuang-piu. Retiring from the board are Citic Pacific Deputy Managing Director Vernon Moore and Director Robert Adams and Swire Pacific Director Yao King.
Unexpected deployment of ground spoilers on final approach resulted in significant damage to a ValuJet Airlines DC-9 last January when it made a hard landing at Nashville, according to reports released by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board.
THE UNITED KINGDOM'S MINISTRY of Defense has selected a Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS) produced by Smiths Industries for its CH-47 Chinook helicopters, which the ministry designates HCMK2. Forty-eight of the heavy-lift helicopters are slated to receive HUMS during the next three years, and the ministry may progressively accept options to install the system on up to 275 other U.K. military helicopters including the Sea King, Puma and Lynx. HUMS monitors nearly 200 parameters. Smiths plans a future upgrade to predict fatigue in real time.
The U.S. Navy is using a prototype digital Tactical Air Reconnaissance Pod System (TARPS) on an F-14 fighter to transmit near-real-time images of target damage to a ground receiving station.
Western Europe's security would gain needed strength if the NATO allies agreed to jointly manage their arms production and exports, according to an analysis by a private U.S. think tank. As a start, the Brookings Institution analysis says, the allies could establish a transatlantic forum to encourage equity and interdependence in arms production. Such a forum could consider how market shares might be divided among the allies during a five-year trial period.
If I am to believe Mary Fackler Schiavo, the U.S. Transportation Dept. inspector general, the FAA is suffering from a ``culture of unaccountability,'' the low-cost and regional airlines are unsafe to fly, and generally the FAA and U.S. air transportation system are in terrible shape. I have flown in the air traffic control system as a pilot for years. I also have conducted pilot evaluations of many of the regional aircraft Schiavo quickly discounts as being unsafe in commuter operations. I have been acquainted with the FAA for 20 years as a journalist.
GARUDA INDONESIA ORDERED six 777-200s and 17 737-300/500s last week during the Indonesia Air Show '96 as part of a fleet restructuring. The move expands by seven aircraft a 1990-91 order for 16 737-400s and nine 747-400s. The new order is valued at $1.6 billion and brings Boeing's 777 firm order count to 274 aircraft. Garuda has taken delivery of seven of the 737-400s and two of the 747-400s from the original group, plus an additional leased 747-400. It will now take 12 737-300s and five 737-500s because they can help it serve shorter runways in the region.
Improved single-engine performance, reduced crew workload and some unique training capabilities are all part of the package with Sikorsky's S-76C+, the latest iteration of the intermediate-twin helicopter family that had its origins in the late 1970s.
U.S. Air Force, Navy and contractor teams here are preparing to launch Titan 4, Delta 2 and Atlas 2 expendable booster missions this month, all carrying military payloads. The three flights to be launched between July 1-25 involve booster and satellite hardware worth about $2 billion. The three unmanned missions, coupled with the scheduled July 31 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis, will make July the busiest month of launch activity planned for Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center for the rest of 1996.
World Airways plans to cease its unprofitable scheduled charter operations from the U.S. to nine European cities beginning in September, citing a decline in bookings. The Herndon, Va.-based company is expected to concentrate instead on its core businesses--international aircraft leasing and the operation of U.S. military charters.World Airways expects to operate and continue to develop scheduled passenger services between New York and Tel Aviv and Johannesburg.
The U.K.'s Dept. of Trade and Industry has launched a new program to support British companies bidding for major overseas airport construction projects. The British Airports Group is intended to help plan and coordinate the efforts of individual companies within the industry to offer prospective customers a total package. Chaired by Sir Gilbert Thompson, former vice president of Manchester International Airport, the group's membership will be drawn from government and the private sector.
James P. O'Shaughnessy has been named vice president/chief intellectual property counsel of Rockwell International, Seal Beach, Calif. He was a partner in the Milwaukee law firm of Foley and Lardner.
The decision to ground ValuJet came down to management of maintenance, not dispatch, operations or training by the airline, Hinson told Aviation Week&Space Technology. Both ValuJet and the FAA fell down on maintenance oversight, he admitted. ``We have regulated the airlines and the repair stations from the top down, but did not previously look adequately at the link between the two.'' Hinson decided June 16 that the airline could no longer keep up with correcting the faults inspectors were finding.
