The Court of Amsterdam is to decide within the next two weeks whether to authorize Fokker to produce additional aircraft or close production facilities by the end of June. The court's action would grant the bankrupt company about six more months to negotiate an agreement with potential buyers such as Dutch investors or a Russian industrial grouping that includes Tupolev and Yakovlev.
Theodore U. Marston has been appointed president/chief executive officer of PLG Inc., Newport Beach, Calif. The company recently promoted William R. Fuller to senior vice president, Willard C. Gekler to vice president and David H. Johnson to vice president/chief scientist.
Howmet Corp. is wrestling with a management challenge to which many U.S. aerospace concerns can relate: how to raise the performance of its non-U.S.-based operations in step with its own improving competitiveness. The Greenwich, Conn.-based company hopes to implement in its manufacturing facilities in France and England similar initiatives that have led to dramatic improvements in the performance of its U.S. operations in the last four years.
A FINAL REPORT might be ready late this week on the fatal air crash in April that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown near Dubrovnik, Croatia. Air Force officials predict it will focus in part on terminal instrument landing procedures and leadership lapses. Three mid-level officers were relieved last week ``as the result of facts developed during the investigation,'' the Air Force said. Those named were Brig. Gen. William E. Stevens, commander of the 86th Airlift Wing at Ramstein AB, Germany, vice wing commander Col. Roger W. Hansen and Col. John E.
Lisbeth Mack has been appointed staff vice president-advertising and consumer marketing and Helen P. Tirone director of military programs for Trans World Airlines. Mack was vice president-North American sales for British West Indies Airways and Tirone manager of government contracts for TWA's overhaul base in Kansas City, Mo.
Researchers at Optiphase, Van Nuys, and the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake, Calif., are closing in on a low-cost design approach to manufacturing interferometric fiber-optic gyroscope (IFOG) navigators. Applications include missiles and other small, mobile platforms. Goal of the cooperative research agreement is to integrate IFOG optics, an accelerometer and inertial measuring unit circuits onto a single hybrid silicon chip, according to Michael Bramson, section head, guidance technology, NAWC Weapons Div.
THREE AIRCRAFT ARE now flying in the Navy/McDonnell Douglas F/A-18E/F test program at NAS Patuxent River, Md., with the recent delivery of the No. 1 two-seat -F model. Ship F-1 was delivered on its fourth flight on May 21, and is expected to start carrier suitability tests in early 1997. Altogether, the three aircraft had flown 78 flights and 129.7 hr. as of late last week.
``Hangar rash'' and other nonflight-related accidents cost major U.S. airlines a cumulative $850 million a year, according to the Air Transport Assn. The average direct cost for a narrow-body transport involved in a ramp, towing or hangar incident is $70,000, according to Michael Laylock, chairman of ATA's Ground Safety Committee. ATA member airlines now are sharing ground-damage prevention strategies with a goal of reducing related costs by 10% during 1996.
Mission 77 tested two different types of metallic thermal protection system panels by mounting them at the base of the vertical tail, where they were exposed to moderate reentry heat. The Inconel and titanium panels were built by Rohr Inc., which is using this sort of material for the Lockheed Martin X-33 experimental rocket proposal. Company officials believe the panels are more durable and lighter than normal shuttle orbiter thermal protection, but the internal temperatures will be higher due to lower insulation properties.
Aerospace companies have been under intense competitive pressure in the 1990s, unlike anything experienced in the heady 1980s when the Cold War military buildup was in full swing. The face of competition is changing rapidly as the industry continues to undergo drastic changes. In this report, AVIATION WEEK&SPACE TECHNOLOGY explores the many aspects of the ongoing battle among all companies to outperform their rivals.
A B-2 BOMBER was apparently struck by lightning during a training mission, damaging its wing surface. The U.S. Air Force said it was ``the first known lightning incident involving a B-2.'' The aircraft, assigned to the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman AFB, Mo., was climbing out of a low-level training route and was in the clouds about 10,000 ft. over South Dakota when its crew saw a flash of light. The rest of the May 24 flight was completed without incident. The damage was discovered during a post-flight inspection.
Several enabling technologies are needed before free flight can be implemented in a workable air traffic management system. Aviation Week&Space Technology examines how the U.S. and Europe are coming to grips with some of the technical challenges. European research organizations have been working on new systems for years. See p. 30. The FAA and airlines in the U.S. are strongly behind the concept of ``Free Flight'' but the idea will go nowhere unless certain key technologies are fielded including a new type of automatic data link network.
Robert R. Moore (see photo) has been named executive vice president-aircraft products of Hamilton Standard, Windsor Locks, Conn. He succeeds Hansel E. Tookes, who has been named president of the Pratt&Whitney Government Engine Business. Moore was senior vice president-production operations of Sikorsky Aircraft, Stratford, Conn.
Researchers working on the Lean Aircraft Initiative will complete the project's first phase this summer, a three-year-long assessment of the industrial and managerial practices now in use by industry participants. The LAI is an Air Force-sponsored research project charged with uncovering, quantifying and disseminating manufacturing and managerial practices that could dramatically improve the affordability of U.S. military aircraft.
The Clinton Administration and congressional Republicans are closer to a consensus on deployment of a National Missile Defense system than their rhetoric suggests, according to the outgoing director of the Pentagon's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization. Retiring U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Malcolm O'Neill said the Administration's current plan and the Republican-sponsored Defend America Act both converge with deployment of an National Missile Defense (NMD) system to protect the U.S. in 2003, a date he personally is ``very comfortable'' with.
THE U.S. HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS VA, HUD and Independent Agencies subcommittee voted May 29 to fund $14.162 billion for NASA in Fiscal 1997. The most significant change from NASA's request was a $220-million cut to the Mission to Planet Earth program, which the panel funded at $1.2 billion. The committee agreed to a Clinton Administration request to fully fund the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite Replenishment Program through its out years at $558 million, but refused a similar request for the New Millennium advanced spacecraft program.
Final assembly of wings for the first F-22 air superiority fighter has begun at Boeing's Seattle facilities. Each of the primarily titanium and composite wings has an 18-ft.-long leading edge and will weigh about 2,000 lb. Initial delivery to partner Lockheed Martin, Marietta, Ga., is scheduled for September.
Douglas Aircraft Co. is nearing completion of a development effort with Alitalia, Sextant and Honeywell in which a head-up flight display system is being installed in the airline's 90 MD-82 transports to provide Category 3B takeoff and landing capabilities. Joe Ornelas, general manager for Douglas Aircraft avionics and simulation design and technology, said the modifications also are intended to enable the Italian flag carrier's MD-82 aircraft to meet future European air navigation requirements.
The U.S. Defense Dept.'s new space architect is looking at ways to protect military satellites against electronic and later physical attacks that he believes are inevitable. Air Force Major Gen. Robert S. Dickman said American forces should expect an enemy to try to disrupt satellite communications through electronic attack the next time they go into a combat environment.
A widespread electrical problem onboard a transatlantic Martinair Boeing 767 last week blacked out the pilots' electronic cockpit displays and resulted in a no-flaps emergency landing at Boston's Logan International Airport. While none of the 204 passengers and crew on board Flight 631 were injured, the incident opens questions about the safety of aircraft on long-range, overwater flights despite having highly redundant electrical and hydraulic systems. The Martinair transport was en route from Amsterdam to Orlando when the problem occurred.
Chris Ruhl and James Walker (see photos) of Unisys Federal Systems' Space and Information Systems have received NASA's Space Flight Awareness Award. Ruhl developed and maintains software for laptop computers used by space shuttle crews on missions. Walker is a senior software engineer who built and implemented ``firewalls'' to prevent unauthorized access to Johnson Space Center computer systems.
The FAA is proposing its Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) concept to help reduce airline accidents by making key safety data available worldwide.
BOEING HAS NOT OPTED to continue its partnership with McDonnell Douglas on NASA's X-33 single-stage-to-orbit prototype competition. The company says it will instead offer its services to the winning bidder. McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin and Rockwell International have submitted X-33 design bids, with a winner expected to be chosen this summer.
