Regional airlines are striving to improve their competitive edge by aggressively marketing seamless service and upgrading airport facilities while struggling to meet a growing consumer preference for jet-powered aircraft.
New white papers on Air Force planning predict the number of countries operating the most advanced, Soviet-designed SA-10 and -12 surface-to-air missiles will increase to 21 from 14 by 2005. The white papers, which serve the political function of justifying the service's weapons modernization plans, say SAMs under development include the Russian SA-X-17 and SA-19 follow-on, the European SAMP/T and the Chinese HQ-9, which combines SA-10 and Patriot technology.
John Kerr, a former senior aviation negotiator for Australia's Transport and Regional Development Dept., has become general manager of international relations for Qantas.
An efficient, telerobotic surface inspection is being tested by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. The technique, originally developed to periodically inspect the exterior of the international space station, uses a video camera mounted on a robotic arm to scan surfaces to be inspected. Image-data processing circuits within the apparatus compare the video with reference images taken when the surfaces were new and known to be in good condition, according to J. Balaram, JPL technical staff.
A fight over service rights may cause Italy to revoke its bilateral air services agreement with Japan. The culprit is Tokyo's Narita airport, the city's international gateway. Passenger traffic between the countries is growing by 30% annually. The present agreement gives each country seven weekly flights between Tokyo and Rome. The problem is that Alitalia can get only five slots at Narita. It has proposed sharing two of Japan Airlines' daily services, but JAL is flying with 80% average load factors. With numbers like that, JAL has said no.
Clifford F. Lindholm (see photo) has been named vice president of the Falstrom Co., Passaic, N.J. He succeeds Francis J. Vucci, who has become president. Lindholm was human resources manager.
A McDonnell Douglas Delta 2 7925 launched the Hughes Communications Galaxy 9 television satellite from here late last month. The vehicle lifted off from Pad 17B at 9:10 p.m. EDT. The $150-million satellite separated from the booster's upper stage over the Pacific Ocean 1 hr. 21 min. after the May 23 liftoff. The launch was delayed 35 min. while a shrimp boat cleared the range-safety area off the Florida coast and the space shuttle Endeavour, passing overhead, cleared the booster's flight path.
Douglas H. Smith has been appointed director of sales and marketing for the single engine business of the Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan. He was director of sales for Aerospatiale General Aviation. Other recent Cessna appointments were: Donald A. Perry, Jr., and Michael D. Kolman, area sales managers, and Tom Zimmerman, regional sales manager, all for Cessna Citations. Perry was a corporate pilot and aviation department manager for Poly-America Inc., Grand Prairie, Tex.; Kolman manager of data and custom applications for Fibertel Inc., and Zimmerman Western U.S.
Michael K. McDonald (see photo) has been named vice president-business development for Rockwell International's Collins Avionics and Communications Div., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was director of domestic marketing.
Safety officials investigating the crash of ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 are scrutinizing working conditions and operations at the airline as well as ValuJet's ability to ensure the quality of major work farmed out to contractors. Investigators from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board spent last week at ValuJet's Atlanta headquarters interviewing executives and employees and reviewing records about conditions at the carrier. They also are assessing how ValuJet's operations adhere to the FAA-approved procedures.
The Pentagon's space architect doesn't believe current U.S. launch vehicles will be able to compete against Europe's Ariane 5 in three to four years if the new booster, scheduled to make its maiden voyage June 4, performs as advertised. ``The fact that it's about ready to do first launch is a far cry from . . . being the workhorse of the [Ariane] fleet,'' says Air Force Major Gen. Robert S. Dickman. But, he acknowledges, ``the infrastructure that they have put in place to operate Ariane 5 . . . is going to be very, very efficient.'' Nevertheless, he believes upgraded U.S.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. is in the midst of a $150-million restructuring and modernization program that has gutted its World War 2-era factory areas as well as eliminated staid production methods.
C.J. Silas has been named chairman of the board and Caleb B. Hurtt a director of the Comsat Corp., Bethesda, Md. Hurtt succeeds Melvin R. Laird, who has retired. Silas is a retired chairman/chief executive officer of the Phillips Petroleum Co. and is chairman of Comsat subsidiary Ascent Entertainment Group of Denver. Hurtt, who is a retired president/chief operating officer of the Martin Marietta Corp., will fill Laird's seat.
The longer Europe delays consolidating its overlapping aerospace/ defense industries, the longer the U.S. will enjoy a decisive competitive advantage in most market segments. While there are about the same number of component manufacturers on both sides of the Atlantic, there are more European end-product manufacturers than in the U.S. in every major product area, according to Lehman Brothers analyst Charles Armitage in London.
Ton Diening (see photo on p. 12) has been appointed director of technical support and Remy St.-Martin manager of field service of the Montreal-based Canadair Business Aircraft Div. of Bombardier. Diening was director of business development for the Bombardier Aerospace Group.
While heavy smoke can overwhelm a circulation system, the DC-9 system uses only air from outside the aircraft and therefore has the best potential of keeping the passenger cabin and cockpit clear of smoke under certain circumstances.
Roger D. Sperry (see photo) has been named vice president-marketing and sales of Learjet Inc., Wichita, Kan. He succeeds Ted Farid, who has resigned. Sperry was vice president-North American sales.
Hainan Airlines, the first in China to gain foreign investment, expects to be listed on the Shanghai stock exchange by late this year or in early 1997. The three-year-old airline has been profitable from the start and earned $9.8 million last year, according to Chairman Chen Feng. His target is a $14-million profit in 1996. Hainan Airlines flew 1 million passengers last year and expects to fly 1.5 million this year.
Theodore R. Spies (see photo) has become marketing manager for Image Information Programs of Eastman Kodak's Commercial and Government Systems. He was government marketing manager for Kodak Business Imaging Systems.
Airline pilot hiring continues to rise, with 1,026 applicants winning slots in April. This brings the total number hired for the year to date to 3,656, compared with the near-record level reached for all of 1995, 8,814. The most active hiring segments during April were the major carriers, with 328 pilots; nationals, 318; and regionals (jet/nonjet combined), 326. According to Atlanta-based Air Inc., a pilot career services firm, the current hiring rate could produce approximately 11,000 new pilot jobs during 1996.
The orbiter Endeavour completed a record four rendezvous and four station-keepings last week, including a marathon 8-hr. period trailing a wastebasket-sized satellite by 2,000 ft. Mission 77 commander USAF Col. John H. Casper called it a ``pilot's dream flight'' with the rendezvous and two satellite deployments and ``lots of hand-flying and maneuvering.'' The mission ended with a landing on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 33 at 7:09 a.m. EDT on May 29, 10 days and 39 min. after liftoff.
A task force created by the Washington-based Air Transport Assn. is looking for an in-place, nondestructive method for testing the structural integrity of pressurized oxygen and other cylinders used on board aircraft. One test technique being evaluated would use acoustic emissions in conducting the periodic checks, according to Mark Rudo, chairman of the ATA's Airworthiness Engineering Committee and representative from USAir.
Based on preliminary data from the cockpit voice recorder, flight data recorder and ATC communications, ValuJet Flight 592's final moments proceeded as follows: (1) Using the call sign Critter 592, the aircraft departs Miami International Airport (MIA) Runway 9 Left and is routed north over Biscayne Bay for noise-abatement purposes. The aircraft turns northwest abeam Opa Locka Airport, headed toward the Winco intersection. The flight is cleared to 16,000 ft.
Asia abounds in aviation ambitions. China, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Taiwan--all want to make their mark by leading a major aircraft program. Not Singapore. Its reputation was gained as a service center for an industry whose future is increasingly tied to the growing affluence of the Asia-Pacific region.
