TUPOLEV HAS BEGUN CERTIFICATION TESTS of a cargo version of its Tu-204 twin-engine transport with the goal of introducing series production next year. The Russian manufacturer is seeking foreign partners. At this stage, Tupolev contemplates using Russian Aviadvigatel turbofans rather than Rolls-Royce RB211-525s or Pratt&Whitney PW2240s as are planned for passenger aircraft. The aircraft will have a range of 2,900 mi. carrying 32.2 tons of payload.
A HIGH-RATE, LOW-COST pressure infiltration process that can make cast metal matrix composites 25 times faster than current techniques is being commercialized. The process, pioneered by Metal Matrix Cast Composites, Inc., of Waltham, Mass., results in near-absolute net-shape, defect-free parts with excellent control of directional solidification, company President James Cornie said. Potential uses range from bearing and built-in lubricity materials to electronic packaging and heat sinks.
SOUTH AFRICAN CARRIER AVIA AIRLINES will begin flights between London and Johannesburg next month, offering new competition to established carriers British Airways and South African Airways. The airline, an established cargo charter operator, will operate three times a week from London Gatwick Airport using a Boeing 747-SP. Within South Africa, Avia operates Douglas DC-3s converted from piston to turboprop engines. Avia is promising fares that are 15% below the going rates.
Congress gave final funding approval last week to Air Force operation of the Lockheed SR-71 reconnaissance aircraft, and the first flight is expected in May, five years after the service halted the program. The prospects appear good because of two changes in how the aircraft will be operated. First, SR-71 funds are now being given to the Air Force by Congress, so that they no longer compete with high-priority Air Force programs (AW&ST Jan. 22, 1990, p. 38). Second, the aircraft will have a data link for near-real-time transmission of radar images.
Compromise on the Fiscal 1995 Defense supplemental indicates reining in the deficit and cutting taxes will outweigh support for higher military spending Defense hawks in Congress are still groping to find the right formula for increased military spending after the latest test of wills over the Fiscal 1995 Defense supplemental spending bill.
The new Boeing Spares Distribution Center adjacent to Seattle-Tacoma International Airport consolidates five parts warehouses in the Puget Sound area. The $100-million facility provides next-flight response for critical and Aircraft-On-Ground (AOG) parts requests while increasing parts receiving, sorting, storage and retrieval efficiency, according to William R. Wilkins, senior manager for the center.
First of four 747-200 Combis modified by Boeing's Wichita facility was delivered late last month to cargo carrier Atlas Air. The work included removal of the passenger interior, strengthening the main deck and installing a powered cargo handling system. The freighter will go into regular scheduled service under contract to KLM Royal Dutch Airlines in April. Atlas, based in Golden, Colo., anticipates the delivery of five more 747-200s over the next year, bringing its all-747 fleet to 12. Boeing has performed 65 cargo conversions of 747 transports at Wichita.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group will complete almost 18 months of low-speed wind tunnel testing of its next-generation 737 family of aircraft this month.
GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER WILL GET new leadership soon. Joseph Rothenberg, executive vice president of the Maryland-based space company CTA, Inc., is expected to be named deputy director. He won kudos as Goddard's Hubble Space Telescope program manager through the space shuttle's successful 1993 servicing mission. Center director John Klineberg has announced he is leaving too, and insiders expect his successor to come from the science community, to balance Rothenberg's strong industry experience.
John Pittman has been named executive director of the Control Systems Integrators Assn. He was president of the Process Controls Div. of Computer Products, Inc.
The company that has taken the lead in the satellite launch business away from American firms has a novel solution for updating U.S. launch capabilities--pay Europe for rights to the Ariane 5. Arianespace, Inc., President Douglas A. Heydon proposed here last week that the U.S. license the technology for the big, new launch vehicle, instead of upgrading its own boosters.
GUANGZHOU MAINTENANCE ENGINEER CO. (GAMECO) will become Boeing's parts maintenance base in China. Boeing has 200 transports operating in China, including 60 with China Southern Airlines, Gameco's majority owner. Boeing opened a major spare parts center in Beijing late last year that stocks 15,000 parts. The center can ship within 2 hr. of receiving an order. By using Gameco, Boeing keeps its parts inside China when they need repairs.
PRESIDENT CLINTON MAY RELAX U.S. anti-nuclear policy against Pakistan, but his course is iffy. The four-year cutoff of military and economic benefits--including 28 F-16s-- has failed to persuade the South Asian nation to give up its nuclear program in the face of arch rival India's nuclear capability. With Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto visiting the White House early this week, it is clear Clinton would like to warm relations with Pakistan as he has succeeded in doing with India.
The Indian Parliament's Public Accounts Committee is urging India's Defense Ministry to expedite final development and production of the Advanced Light Helicopter. Of the13 program milestones originally scheduled for completion in 1991, only 10 had been finished by late 1994 despite assurances from the ministry that all 13 would be done by year-end. Each aircraft is estimated to cost $3 million. The ALH would be powered by a single AlliedSignal Light Turbine Helicopter Engine built under license by Hindustan Aeronautics, Ltd., in Bangalore.
Romania's civil aviation authorities are investigating why a Tarom Airbus A310 twinjet transport crashed shortly after takeoff from Bucharest's Otopeni international airport. Tarom's A310-300, scheduled to operate the Bucharest-Brussels route, crashed Mar. 31, at 9:11 a.m. local time, about 3 min. after takeoff, killing all 60 passengers and crewmembers on board.
LOOK FOR THE TRANSPORTATION DEPT. TO GET INTO THE ACT in the X-33 and X-34 reusable launch vehicle (RLV) programs. Frank Weaver, who heads the Transportation Dept. commercial space office, says his bureau would have to certify whatever vehicles come out of the NASA/industry programs, before they could be commercially operated. ``When it goes commercial, we're the only agency that will regulate it,'' Weaver adds, ``so it's best to get involved now.''
Boeing 757 undergoes Russian cold weather certification testing in Yakutsk, Siberia, earlier this year. During the tests, a 757 was exposed to temperatures down to --54-deg C. (--65-deg. F.), not unusual for eastern Siberia during the winter months. Previously, the 757 had been limited to takeoffs and landings in temperatures above --30-deg. C. (--22-deg. F.) in Russia.
Startup airline VIF Airways, Hyderabad, India, will begin service this month with 30-seat Dornier 328-110 aircraft from Begumpet airport to destinations in the south-central, coastal and western regions of the nation, including Bombay. The first of five aircraft ordered arrived at Delhi International Airport on Mar. 29 after flying from Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany. Indian regional airlines have ordered 12 Dornier 328s.
Israel's new Offeq-3 spacecraft is returning initial low-resolution test images of ground targets following launch on a three-stage Shavit booster Apr. 5. The solid-propellant Shavit, launched on an unusual ascent flight path, is a derivation of the Israeli Jericho intermediate range ballistic missile (IRBM). The 225-kg. (495-lb.) Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) spacecraft is returning both visible and ultraviolet wavelength images with resolutions no better than several feet, Israeli officials said.
SCIENTIFIC MONITORING of Tempe, Ariz., is in detailed design of neural network and ``fuzzy logic'' reasoning for an active, predictive blade tip clearance system for turbine engines. As envisioned, optimum blade tip clearance from the engine casing will be maintained by modulating centrifugal rotor longitudinal clearance using a magnetic thrust bearing. The software also will be able to anticipate blade ``rubs'' that happen so quickly they may not be prevented by state-of-the-art feedback-actuation technologies, the company said.
Peter Somaglia has been named chief executive of Swissair Cargo. He was head of Swissair Cargo in Central Europe. Somaglia will succeed Ernst Funk, who has become head of Market Intercontinental.
THE FAA COMPLETED certification of the Chinese Y-12 Harbin regional transport to Part 25 standards, paving the way for China to sell the 19-seat aircraft to U.S. operators. The turboprop-powered Y-12 is produced by the Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corp. located in the northern Chinese city of Harbin. FAA officials have been overseeing the Chinese certification system for three years to ensure compliance with U.S. regulations. The agency also certified production of Chinese aircraft tires that can be sold in the U.S.
Lawmakers continue to snipe at the need for the U.S. Air Force's F-22 fighter, its performance and its $71-million flyaway cost, while eyeing the stealth aircraft as a target for raids to fund other defense programs.
CROSSAIR'S DGPS EVALUATION PROGRAM is scheduled to begin this year--and may become the framework for one of Europe's first GPS-based IFR approach systems, according to the carrier. The two-phase program will be run by U.S. companies Interstate Electronics Corp. (IEC) and Airport Systems International, which formed a partnership last year to develop GPS aircraft landing systems.
