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.
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.
