Michel Scheller has been appointed head of ONERA, France's aerospace research agency. He succeeds Marcel Benichou, who has retired. Scheller was managing director of DGAC, the French civil aviation authority.
A Massachusetts company has certified a conventional cyclic as a replacement for the teetering cyclic in the Robinson R-22 helicopter. The four-bar cyclic, developed by Altair Corp., allows two pilots to hold the stick in a normal flying position. It eliminates torsional and axial loads on the cyclic system, while adding inertial dampening to reduce stick shake. The design also limits stick movements to the two dimensions in which the control changes helicopter attitude, eliminating a third degree of motion found in the R-22's original cyclic.
R. Paul Ryan, deputy administrator of the Defense Technical Information Center, was elected chairman of the NATO Advisory Group for Aerospace Research and Development's Technical Information Committee.
Following are excerpts from a recent speech by U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R.-Ga.) on the 21st century outlook for high technology, international trade and national security. He spoke at the National Policy Conference of the Richard Nixon Center for Peace and Freedom in Washington. We think we are in the middle of the computer revolution. We are in the toy stage. And it's not just computers. It's the whole genetic breakthrough and biology. It's the capacity to organize miniaturization. It's materials technology.
This TVSD-1 video adaptor is available as an option with the Titan F Series borescope. Features include a halogen light source, fiber-optic bundle, video camera and adaptor. The video adaptor is designed to be compatible with 95% of comparable borescopes. Other features include a focusable eyepiece and 24-in. viewing tube with straight forward and 90-deg. vision. It can be used for internal inspections of parts with an aperture as small as 0.312 in. Titan Tool Supply Co., Inc., P.O. Box 569, Buffalo, N.Y. 14207-0569.
FUNDING HAS NOT KEPT PACE with the demands of aviation workers and safety analysts using the Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS), according to a top-level watchdog panel. NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said the number of reports submitted to the ASRS has nearly doubled since 1988 and has consistently exceeded projections since the system was set up in 1975. However, funding for analysis of those reports and upgrades of the system has remained flat.
Clark H. Onstad has been named senior vice presiden t/general counsel of Atlas Air, Golden, Colo. He was a partner in the Washington law firm of Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson and Hand.
EXPECT SPEEDIER PROCESSING OF PASSENGER AND FREIGHT at international airports if proposals recently presented by Airports Council International and International Air Transport Assn. to the International Civil Aviation Organization are adopted. ACI and IATA want to set a 45-min. limit for departing passengers to clear government controls after check-in, and a 4-hr. limit to clear import cargo from time of arrival and presentation of documents. The proposals are being made at the 11th session of the ICAO Facilitation Div., which is winding down in Montreal this week.
Delta Air Lines is betting that a $150-million annual investment in seats on Virgin Atlantic Airways flights will increase its share of traffic on the heavily traveled transatlantic and spill over into other markets. A special target is the lucrative business market between the U.S. and U.K.
Michael D. Farge has been named managing director of Coltax Aerospace, part of U.K.-based Meggitt Aerospace. Farge is former managing director of Danish-owned, British-based FLS Aerospace Engineering and also served previously as senior vice president-customer support at British Aerospace.
Hassan M. Nagib has been appointed dean of Armour College and vice president of the main campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He was chairman of the ITT Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Dept.
Jim Worsham has joined the board of directors of Advanced Technology&Research, Inc., of Clearwater, Fla. He owns Aircraft Marketing, Inc., Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif., and was president of Douglas Aircraft Co.
Frederick W. Sine (see photo) has been appointed vice president-engineering services and quality assurance for Intertrade, Ltd., Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was executive-level aircraft maintainenc e/operations leader with United Parcel Service.
Russia's most powerful operational launch vehicle, the 2-million-lb.-thrust Proton, is being upgraded with new propulsion capabilities and a U.S. commercial business foundation that will increasingly pit the 200-ft. booster against the Arianespace Ariane. While most Russian space programs are fighting for survival, the Khrunichev-led Proton effort is being reinvigorated. The likely relaxation of U.S. government commercial Proton quotas should further enhance marketing prospects for the vehicle.
ORBCOMM'S first two operational satellites were experiencing problems late last week. One of the Orbital Sciences Corp. spacecraft had a malfunction in its gateway receiver, which prevents it from responding to ground commands. The other satellite subscriber communications subsystem is not performing properly.
GAO CRITICS of the F-22 say the program should be limited to production of about six to eight aircraft per year because of high concurrency between low-rate production and initial operational testing. The Air Force wants to build up to 36 aircraft per year in low-rate production. GAO analysts said the aircraft's integrated avionics, super cruise propulsion and stealth technologies hold a high potential for expensive problems. A total of 80 F-22s, 18% of the total, will be built before testing is complete, a new GAO study contends. Defense Dept.
The Grob Strato-2C long-endurance aircraft first flew late last month for about 1 hr., but has had only one other short flight because of extended bad weather in Germany. The aircraft will begin high-altitude test flights up to 80,000 ft. beginning in May or June from the Grob factory near Munich. Flights will be lengthened by 5-hr. increments until the aircraft reaches its maximum expected endurance of 80 hr.
A KAMAN K-MAX HELICOPTER leased to Louisiana Pacific is expected to return to service by the end of the month following repairs to correct major rotor-blade damage. Earlier this month, during logging operations near Navarro, Calif., the K-Max's right rotor struck a tree, shearing 30 in. from one blade and 13 in. off the other. The pilot, who was flying below the local forest canopy, was able to safely release his underslung load, fly approximately 1/4 mi. to a landing site, perform a fly-by and land safely.
Boeing is using an advanced conceptcomputer-aided design system to help engineer wing structure parts for new 737-600, -700 and -800 transports. This advanced software takes current CAD systems one step further--quickly and automatically designing individual parts by capturing various Boeing design rules, manufacturing criteria and stress analyses. Human intervention only is required in creating initial rules, defining a part's intent and reviewing results.
With the Bombardier Global Express ready to enter critical design review, its new management team is taking a more aggressive stance in defending the ultra-long-range business jet's ability to meet performance goals and program deadlines. The review will begin June 1, and follows the joint definition phase, which ended in February. Global Express team members Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Canadair have started cutting metal for the 6,500-naut.-mi.-range aircraft.
THE PENTAGON increased security measures at military installations last week following the bombing of a federal building in Oklahoma City. Several Army and Marine personnel staffing recruiting offices in the building were either injured or unaccounted for, as well as five personnel assigned to the Defense Investigative Service. U.S. military units responded to the emergency, including a rescue squad from nearby Tinker AFB, an Army explosive ordnance disposal team and two medical evacuation helicopters from Ft.
Jet Propulsion Laboratory is scheduled to begin receiving components from international partners later this year for the Cassini planetary mission to Saturn in preparation for the start of integrated spacecraft testing early in 1996. Richard J. Spehalski, JPL Cassini project manager, said design of the spacecraft has been completed and component parts are in various stages of fabrication, assembly and test. The program currently is on schedule for launch in late 1997 for arrival at the planet in 2004.
David W. Welp has been promoted to executive vice president from senior vice president of Texas Instruments Defense Systems and Electronics Group. Lawrence G. Schmidt has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president.
The prototype Tupolev Tu-334 is under construction at the company's Moscow facility. Rollout and start of flight test of the new short-haul transport are scheduled in 1996. An estimated 35% of the Tu-134s in service are to be retired the same year.
H. Wayne Hanks, presiden t/chief executive officer of Control Products Corp., Grand Prairie, Tex., has won the Individual Appreciation Award from the Aerospace Lighting Institute.
