Lockheed Martin received a $120 million initial development contract to integrate advanced flight control and communication/navigation systems on USAF C-5 transport aircraft. Work will take place at Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., facility.
Funding made available from Thailand's withdrawal, after major currency devaluations, from its $392 million contract for eight MDC F/A-18s, less its $74.5 million initial deposit, is now being applied to a low-cost upgrade of about half of the RTAF's 35 or so Northrop
Messier Services signed a $5 million contract to overhaul and repair the landing gear on Ansett Australia's entire fleet of narrowbody aircraft. Fleet comprises 22 Boeing 737s and 11 Airbus A320s.
Rockwell International Corp. named Clayton Jones president of Rockwell Collins. Jones, previously executive vice president of Rockwell Collins, replaces outgoing Rockwell Collins President Jack Cosgrove.
With nearly 3,900 deliveries since 1978, backlog contracts for at least another 200 into the next century, and anticipated sales of up to 500 more, the Lockheed Martin F-16 is establishing a unique record for production longevity among current Western combat aircraft.
Michael Barr, director of Aviation Safety Programs at the University of Southern California School of Engineering, discusses aviation safety program management and accident prevention with O&M's Donna Kaulkin. Edited for length and clarity. O&M: What drew you to aviation?
When it celebrates its 50th anniversary with its annual Open Forum March 29-April 1 in Baltimore, the ARINC-sponsored Avionics Maintenance Conference (AMC) will discuss some 300 basic but stubborn airline problems ranging from corroding connectors to leaking antennas. But new and emerging issues will shift focus away from nuts-'n-bolts to panel discussions about technology and regulation affecting the maintenance community.
FAA's issuance of final rules restricting weight loads on Boeing 727s converted from passenger to cargo configuration has caused a rush to get fixes approved before the restrictions start taking effect in mid-May.
Scapa Tapes North America introduced new line of pressure-sensitive tape products for aerospace service and repair. Dublfilm S3401 and S4927 are double-coated, flame-retardent cloth tapes for carpet installation and repair. Adhesive formula on these tapes is designed to meet FAR 25.853 specification. Aero-Shield P2604 is high-strength, abrasion-resistant protective tape designed to prevent erosion on leading edges of propellers, wings and tail fins. Product includes adhesive system that allows superior adhesion without using primer.
Contract negotiations were being finalized with Boeing late last year for a $630 million upgrade of the mission systems avionics in the remaining 71 McDonnell Douglas AF-18A and two-seat AF-18B combat-trainer Hornets operated by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) since 1985. The planned upgrade is based on F-18C/D standards through a two-phase program to extend RAAF Hornet operation until 2012-2015.
Lockheed Martin Aircraft&Logistics Centers' Greenville Aircraft Center completed modification of first NP-3D airborne surveillance command and control research aircraft. Modifications included installation of rotodome, 54-in. fire array antenna, new mission computer, satellite communications, and 15-ton vapor cycle environmental control system. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman are modifying two similarly configured aircraft for U.S. customs service.
Boeing received a $79 million contract to provide ``direct manning personnel'' in support of the Royal Saudi Air Force Peace Sun IX Program that will assist in operation and maintenance of Saudi Arabia's F-15 fighter fleet.
Visitors to RAF St. Athan, the center for virtually all depot-level maintenance on the U.K.'s fixed-wing military aircraft, are likely to be briefed on the station's 60-year history, wide-ranging activities and future prospects. The briefing concludes with a list of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats: The strength is the support provided for the front line in terms of speed of reaction, value for money and flexibility. The threat listed in the final weeks of 1998 was that the base's very success might provoke the risk of privatization.
AirNet Systems, Inc., named William Sumser acting CFO, replacing Eric Roy, who is resigning. Sumser currently is vice president-finance, controller and corporate secretary.
Equipment details were still being finalized at the turn of the year for the planned avionics upgrade of 48 Brazilian air force (FAB) Northrop F-5E/F fighters announced last October. As leaders of the aerospace industry group negotiating the $200 million contract, Israel's Elbit Systems and EMBRAER, in Brazil, have since been joined, however, by Singapore Aerospace Technologies, which will undertake up to 20% of various aspects of the FAB program.
On-going avionics modernization of USAF transport aircraft, in addition to more major glass-cockpit changes, have included an $8.9 million late-1998 Raytheon contract for integration of its Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) and Terrain Awareness Warning System (TAWS), in 33 Lockheed C-141Bs and 63 C-141C Starlifters. The C-141Cs had previously been upgraded from C-141Bs by Raytheon with new autopilots and GPS satellite navigation systems, and its new contract is scheduled for completion in 2000.
Lufthansa Technik (LHT) named James Stoecker to head its newly established marketing and sales office in Tulsa, Okla.; Hans Indlekofer sales representative for LHT's Executive Jet interior program; and Peter Huijbers product manager for Boeing 737-600/700/800 and 777 aircraft.
Delta Air Lines is reconfiguring its intercontinental fleet of 42 Boeing 767 and 15 MD-11 aircraft to two-class service. Modifications will include installation of seats from B/E Aerospace and personal video screens manufactured by Rockwell Collins, and should be complete by summer.
Every year, wildfires ravage vast amounts of timber and brush land throughout the U.S., particularly in the West, and routinely threaten countless structures in the ``urban interface'' between the homes of an expanding population and fragile timberlands.
Raisbeck Engineering completed FAA flight tests of its Boeing 727-200 heavy gross weight Stage 3 modification. Raisbeck said converted aircraft would achieve maximum takeoff weight of 209,000 lbs. and generate approach noise equivalent to that of a 757-200.
Photograph: A high-time Aerolineas Argentinas 737 undergoes a heavy check at the Aeroman/Grupo TACA maintenance facility in San Salvador, El Salvador. Aerolineas Argentinas is one of a limited number of third-party customers TACA has been able to attract. Jerome Greer Chandler Conflict can trigger unpredictable consequences. Case in point: El Salvador? civil war, ironically, laid the groundwork for one of the most stable airline groups in the Americas - and a maintenance operation with major league aspirations.
