The Pentagon's decision to buy more than 40 C-17 transports may rest in large part on the results of two almost unknown studies, one by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the other by the staff of the Defense Dept.'s senior civilian leaders. Like heavy bombers and long-range strike aircraft that are available only in limited numbers, airlifters will have to swing from one theater to another in order for the U.S. to win two almost simultaneous major regional conflicts.
CLARK FIESTER, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition, and Maj. Gen. Glenn Profitt, director of plans and operations for the Air Education and Training Command, were killed in a C-21 Learjet crash near the Alexander City, Ala., airport Apr. 17. The 332nd Airlift Flight aircraft may have been experiencing fuel transfer problems before it crashed about 2 mi. short of the runway.
Performance of the nine major U.S. airlines declined for the fifth consecutive year in 1994, but is showing signs of stabilizing this year as financial recovery accelerates, according to the Airline Quality Report released here this week. For 1994, the AQR results indicate that American Airlines was rated as the most consistent performer of the group, with Southwest Airlines taking second--despite an overall decline for the year because of determined competition from United's Shuttle and other carriers.
ANCHORAGE-BASED MarkAir has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the second time since 1992. Creditors oppose restructuring and want to close the low-fare airline while there is still some chance of recovering their money. Management said the carrier was turning an operating profit and had strong summer bookings. The airline has been struggling under a $135-million debt load and last month laid off 300 workers and cut service after Alaska refused to guarantee $40 million in loans.
Inaugural winners of the Australian Aviation Safety Awards for general aviation include Richard Scott of Tropicair Services Pty., Ltd., for training procedures for pastoral aviation, Ralph Nicholls for developing a training reserve parachute for trainee skydivers, Henry Millicer for his design of the Victa Airtourer and cockpit design for the CT4 military trainer and Jack Funnell for student pilot training.
Noel Isotta has been appointed interim director-general of the International Maritime Satellite Organization. Isotta, who recently retired as deputy director-general, succeeds Olof Lundberg, who resigned to serve as chief executive officer of affiliate Inmarsat-P.
PROMINENT U.S. INDUSTRY executives have banded together to lobby Congress for continued ``robust'' support of university research. The group believes funding cutbacks will quickly erode basic research efforts in the U.S., affecting national technology leadership. Top aerospace and defense executives involved in the effort include Norman Augustine, president of Lockheed Martin; Joseph T. Gorman, chairman and chief executive officer of TRW, Inc.; Gerald Greenwald, chairman and chief executive officer of United Airlines; and John F.
IN THE WAKE OF RECENT ACCIDENTS and insistent pleas by the National Transportation Safety Board, the FAA agreed last week that the nation's airlines should install upgraded flight data recorders in their aircraft. Many aging but airworthy transports have obsolete machines that record no more than 11 measurements. The board wants a minimum of 32.
First Navy/McDonnell Douglas F/A-18E/F strike fighter is about to receive a 580-gal. fuel cell at Northrop Grumman's El Segundo, Calif., facility. The 7 X 7-ft. cell is installed through a 1 X 2-ft. fuselage opening. The cell, one of four major fuel tanks, is constructed of a more flexible, lighter, tear-resistant and easier-to-repair material than that used in earlier F-18s.
A Lear 31A testbed aircraft flies with a new AlliedSignal Engines' TFE731-20 powerplant, which will power the new eight- to 10-passenger Lear 45 business jet. The 50-hr.-long test program began in mid-February and was recently completed. The flights evaluated a new inlet configuration and fine-tuned engine digital fuel control system software, Lear said. The engine also was tested to the Lear 45's planned 51,000-ft. certification ceiling.
Western Pacific Airlines has received its certification from the U.S. Transportation Dept., clearing the startup carrier to begin scheduled service Apr. 28.
A federal grand jury has indicted two former executives of Chromalloy Gas Turbine Corp. of Orangeburg, N.Y., on charges that they conspired to defraud airlines and the FAA in repair of engine parts. Indicted were James M. Gabriel, a former Chromalloy executive vice president who headed up production at the company's Research and Technology Div., and Gerard E. Vitti, former executive vice president in charge of nonairfoil products. If convicted, they face heavy fines and imprisonment.
The much ballyhooed Bankruptcy Reform Act of 1994 became law on Oct. 22, when President Clinton executed the House version of a compromise bill that had barely squeaked its way out of Congress in the last minutes of its regular session. The new law brings about changes designed to ease the burdens of creditors who have suffered abuse during the first 15 years of the Bankruptcy Code, especially in the so-called ``mega bankruptcy'' cases.
EXPECT EVA AIR TO TAKE A STRONG MANAGEMENT POSITION in Taiwan's Great China and Makung airlines, now that it has bought minority holdings in the two domestic carriers. A division of the Evergreen Group, Eva Air was founded three years ago and competes against Taiwan's government-owned China Airlines in international services--it flies only one domestic route. Eva will open its 24th international route and sixth to the U.S. in May when it begins flights to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport.
DEPUTY DEFENSE SECRETARY JOHN DEUTCH'S MOVE to the CIA is expected to roil the Pentagon's acquisition process, particularly since he is expected to take with him Nora Slatkin, the Navy's chief acquisition official. Losing Deutch, officials believe, will change the tenor of debate on both the B-2 and C-17. Defense Secretary William Perry has sat on the fence while Kaminski supports both programs. Deutch wants to limit both. John P.
Managers and creditors of Piper Aircraft Corp. are completing negotiations on a plan to bring the aircraft maker out of bankruptcy this summer by selling it to a major creditor and investors from Philadelphia. Piper President Chuck Suma met in Miami last week with attorneys for creditors and for Teledyne Industries, Inc., and the Philadelphia investment firm of Dimeling, Schreiber and Park, to complete a disclosure statement and ancillary pacts to support their joint plan to reorganize the Vero Beach, Fla.-based manufacturer.
Nearly three years after beginning flight tests of its prototype RP-1 twin-engine helicopter, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries has launched the program for the civil market. Flight tests of basic technologies were completed in March, and a request for a type certificate was to be filed this month. First deliveries are expected in late 1997. Final design criteria have not been established, however, and company officials say the first test vehicle (right) does not necessarily reflect their ideas for a production model (AW&ST Feb. 20, p. 25).
Aerojet expects to receive its first two Russian NK-33 rocket engines this month and start preparing them for ground test firings in September or October. A possible candidate for powering next-generation U.S. expendable launchers, the engine will sell for about $4 million.
The French carrier Aeropostale is implementing an aggressive strategic plan to operate additional postal services on the domestic route system and acquire increased passenger business. Societe d'Exploitation Aerospostale, usually known as Aeropostale (a reference to its historic pioneer-era predecessor), is jointly owned by the Air France group and La Poste postal service.
The captain's decision-making and crew resource management skills will figure prominently in the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board's report on the Dec. 13, 1994, crash of an American Eagle Jetstream Super 31. NTSB officials expect to determine a probable cause of the accident late this summer. The board's investigation is focusing on the final 30 sec. of the flight, when an apparent engine problem distracted the crew and may have led to a loss of situational awareness.
Two Mikoyan MiG-29s were flown on board an Antonov An-124 Ruslan late last month for delivery to the Malaysian air force. The air force will operate the Russian fighters as well as McDonnell Douglas F/A-18s (AW&ST Apr. 10, p. 56).
Land and facilities left behind in the wake of base closures initially may sound like a windfall to regional governments, especially those hard-hit by financial problems.
THE UNCHECKED RISE IN THE YEN is starting to bite into aerospace profits at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. With Boeing's approval, MHI has named China's Shenyang Aircraft Manufacturing Co. to produce machined parts for the Boeing 777 transport on a subcontract basis because production in Japan is too expensive. The yen's appreciation previously hurt MHI's 767 subcontract. Company managers thought they had built exchange rate safeguards into their 777 program but now acknowledge that increased outsourcing is likely.
Commercial and military aviation in Russia is threatened with ``total collapse''unless the government acts swiftly to provide funding for new programs and protection from Western competition, according to industry officials here. Although airframe and engine manufacturers have heavily lobbied the Russian Parliament for action, it is unlikely the government will be able to provide much-needed support for the country's aircraft industry, officials said.
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY, Pasadena, Calif., is developing fully functional prototypes of a real-time, in-situ life prediction/fault detection, isolation and response system for complex electromechanical systems. The technology, which operates autonomously, uses integrated neural nets and fuzzy logic to track and process a broad class of nonlinear signals in noisy and chaotic environments, according to Sandeep Gulati, technology inventor.
