Singapore Airlines Group has reported a 12.3% increase in operating profits for the 1995-96 fiscal year, but the gains reflected more positively for its subsidiary operations than the airline itself. The airline (SIA) was buffeted by greater regional competition and a 3.6% appreciation in the Singapore dollar. Traffic was up 11.2% but overall yields dropped 5.3%.
Federal investigators are pressing their efforts to determine what role more than 100 oxygen generators in ValuJet Airlines Flight 592's belly may have played in creating or intensifying the conditions that caused that aircraft to plunge into the Everglades.
A NORTH KOREAN PILOT defected to South Korea in his MiG-19. The aircraft caused a brief air-raid panic after it crossed into South Korea on May 23. South Korean air force jets intercepted the MiG-19 and escorted it to the Suwon military airport near Seoul after its pilot, 30-year-old Capt. Lee Choi Soo, dipped the MiG's wings to signal his intention to defect.
The failure of a Russian SL-4 Soyuz-U booster carrying a military/commercial imaging reconnaissance satellite will test the capability of the fledgling Russian space insurance industry to make good on a space loss claim. The SL-4, launched May 14 from Baikonur Cosmodrome, was carrying a Vostok-class imaging spacecraft. Initial analysis indicates the accident occurred because the vehicle's payload shroud failed 49 sec. into the flight.
House Republicans quickly scuttled a vote set for last week on whether to require the Pentagon to deploy a National Missile Defense (NMD) system by 2003. It appeared the votes weren't there to pass the measure. Supporters beat a retreat after the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) said the ``Defend America Act of 1996'' would cost $10 billion over five years, $3 billion more than Republican leaders have advertised. The CBO also estimated total acquisition costs for a layered ground/space NMD system would run $31-60 billion through 2010.
USAir must stop downsizing and begin expanding if it intends to become more competitive against airlines challenging its territorial markets, according to Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Stephen M. Wolf.
A consortium of U.S. government laboratories is in the early stages of developing an autonomous ``microsatellite'' that would intercept three Earth-orbit-crossing asteroids during a year-long mission. Called Clementine 2, the spacecraft would collect multispectral images and fire small probes into each asteroid to determine its composition.
John J. Sciuto (see photo) has been appointed president/chief executive officer of Comptek Research Inc., Buffalo, N.Y. He succeeds John R. Cummings, who is retiring, but will remain chairman of the board. Sciuto was president/CEO of subsidiary Comptek Federal Systems Inc.
The ValuJet Airlines DC-9 crash has stirred up a spate of preliminary safety issues that cut broadly across the field of aviation and extend to the government's oversight role. Evidence of fire, the presence of possible hazardous cargo on the aircraft and the FAA's precrash critical reviews of ValuJet have raised many questions. The media blitz that has followed the crash has been unprecedented, and U.S. airline officials are manning the barricades to defend the industry's safety record and procedures.
French equipment suppliers are having increasing success in the world's aerospace markets, but they still measure success by penetration of the U.S. markets, meaning sales to Boeing and McDonnell Douglas. Teaming with a U.S. manufacturer is the most common strategy. Messier-Dowty paired with Menasco to receive a share of the Boeing 777 work and a landing gear contract for the U.S. Navy's McDonnell Douglas F/A-18s. Ratier-Figeac teamed with Hamilton Standard to supply propellers for Lockheed Martin C-130-Hs.
AERO INTERNATIONAL REGIONAL this month delivered the first enhanced ATR42-500 twin turboprop transport to Air Littoral, a French regional carrier based in Montpellier. Last year, Air Littoral concluded an order for 15 ATR42-500s that are scheduled to be delivered in 1996-97. Last week, AIR also delivered an ATR42-500 to Houston-based Continental Express, a Continental Airlines affiliate that has ordered eight aircraft and optioned 12 (AW&ST May 20, p. 54).
Edward Lim has become manager for Australia and New Zealand for the Dubai-based airline, Emirates. Geraldine Hunt has been named sales manager in Australia for Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania; Marie Norris station manager in Melbourne, and Russell Minke cargo manager for Australia.
Les Bishop has become major accounts sales manager for the Unitrode Corp., Merrimack, N.H. He was strategic accounts manager for Philips Semiconductors.
Timothy F. O'Brian of Syracuse University is one of seven winners of the 1996 Honor Undergraduate Student Awards given by Sigma Gamma Tau, the U.S. honor society in aerospace engineering. The other winners are: Eric C. Anderson, University of Virginia; Eric N. Burcsu, North Carolina State University; Stephen R. Norris, Purdue University; Jeffrey M. Wilson, University of Kansas; Jennifer D. Langston, University of Oklahoma, and Susana Munoz, California State Polytechnic University at Pomona.
THE POLAR SATELLITE has produced what NASA is calling the best images ever made from space of Earth's aurora. Polar also has acquired the first global images of the Earth's aurora in X-rays. The image here, the composite of a 57-min. sequence made Apr. 6 by Polar's UltraViolet Imager, shows the day and nightside auroras simultaneously. Filters in the UVI make it ``solar blind,'' allowing imaging on the sunlit side of the planet.
ValuJet Airlines Inc. has had more accidents and pilot deviations from air traffic control directives than any other low-cost carrier, according to a study conducted by the FAA. Of the low-cost airlines considered in the report, ValuJet dominates the data with five accidents since it began operations in October, 1993. The study also found that ValuJet is the only low-cost airline to have more than two accidents during the January, 1990, to May, 1996, time period.
Key senators hope to help focus and centralize the nation's non-proliferation and counter-proliferation efforts against weapons of mass destruction. Sens. Richard Lugar (R.-Ind.), Pete Domenici (R.-N.M.) and Sam Nunn (D.-Ga.) will offer language for the Fiscal 1997 defense authorization bill that would establish a ``National Coordinator'' to resolve what Lugar calls a ``scattered and unfocused'' American response.
Spar Aerospace stockholders should not expect a quick turnaround following the company's poor first-quarter results. That warning came from Colin D. Watson, the Ontario company's new president and chief executive officer, as he announced Spar's 34-cent Canadian (24.8-cent U.S.) per share loss for the quarter. Watson declared that ``shareholders should expect another one or two very tough quarters'' following the loss of C$5 million ($3.66 million) in the first quarter.
Daimler-Benz Aerospace and Fairchild Aircraft Inc. are close to an agreement that would transfer ownership of Dornier Luftfahrt GmbH. to Fairchild, according to Carl A. Albert, chairman and chief executive officer of the San Antonio-based company.
By moving ahead with plans to modify five Boeing 727-100 freighters for weekend passenger charters, United Parcel Service is taking a risk to gain some aircraft utilization and an improved payoff. Previously, airlines that have depended on the Quick Change kits to shift aircraft from cargo to passenger service did not perform economically. UPS officials believe the carrier will be able to eke out a profit by limiting the quick change--a 4.5-hr. operation--to once a week. UPS plans to deal with tour operators and cruise lines only, in effect offering wet leases.
Jean-Bernard Cocheteux (see photo) has been appointed chairman/chief executive officer of Turbomeca. He succeeds Sonia Meton, who died recently. Cocheteux was president.
Sandia Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M., is seeking partners to develop applications for a new fiber-optic sensor that determines the liquid level in fuel tanks, underground storage tanks or chemical containers. Unlike other sensors, no optical, wire or fiber components need come into contact with the liquid, according to Jonathan Weiss, senior technical staff member. Known as the Fiber Optic Liquid Level Sensor, the simple, low-cost device measures the light reflected off the dry side of a corrugated diaphragm mounted at the bottom of a tube.
Ed Kraft, vice president-Enterprise Development Group of Micro Craft Inc., Tullahoma, Tenn., has been named a 1996 fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, for his contributions ``that have revolutionized ground testing of aerospace systems.''
Dassault Electronique is continuing to diversify, applying electronic expertise gained from military systems into international commercial aerospace applications. Technology flow into the civil sector based on radio frequency, digital systems and computer experience for defense systems boosted civil aviation products to 40% of sales in 1995, or 1.6 billion French francs (about $311 million), according to Jean-Louis Michel, managing director of Dassault Electronique.
In the May 20 issue, the wrong name was listed for Lockheed Martin's proposed X-33 vehicle, which is pictured on p. 21. The correct name is VentureStar.
