Beginning in June and July, American Airlines will remove its code from selected routes flown by American Connection regional carriers at St. Louis. Removing the codes will keep American from violating its contract with the Allied Pilots Assn., which limits available seat miles flown by regional affiliate American Eagle (AW&ST Feb. 11, p. 48). The removal will obviate the sale of Executive Airlines (owned by Eagle) or Eagle's Miami operation, at least until September.
American Airlines Vice Chairman Robert Baker will retire at the end of March after a 35-year career with the carrier. He joined American in 1968. Baker, 57, headed operations at American, and later was promoted to vice chairman. He also was chairman of Trans World Airlines during its integration into American's system.
The first versions of sophisticated new radios that will start linking everyone in the air over a future battlefield will likely first appear on 40 KC-135s if Air Force leaders can wring the funding out of Congress. The radios are called Robe (roll on beyond-line-of-sight enhancement) and are intended to meld the communications links now used by tankers, transports, AWACS, bombers, intelligence-gathering and strike aircraft, and space-based systems.
Airbus A300-600 and A310 series aircraft involved in future inflight upsets resulting in high lateral loads of 0.3g or more will require certain inspections under an airworthiness directive published on the Federal Register last week.
Richard Mastoloni, who was vice president/assistant treasurer of New York-based Loral Space&Communications, has succeeded Nicholas C. Moren, who has retired as senior vice president/treasurer.
Pratt&Whitney has launched an aggressive development and test program to bring the first systems development and demonstration version of the F135 engine to test in October 2003. This milestone is expected to occur just 24 months after the award of the powerplant's development contract and about two years before scheduled first flight of the engine in an SDD version of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
An Aerojet solid rocket booster (SRB) for the Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 program malfunctioned during a ground test near Sacramento, Calif., Mar. 15. The 67 X 5-ft. solid performed normally for about 30 sec. of its planned 95 sec. firing, but then its thrust and chamber pressure dropped and there were changes in the motor's rocket plume. The motor did not explode, enabling instruments to obtain good data which is being examined to determine the cause of the malfunction.
The Lufthansa-led Global Cargo Alliance--now named Wow--is seeking a new dedicated cargo carrier to fill in gaps in its worldwide coverage, primarily in North America and Northeast Asia. The partner would not necessarily have to belong to the Star Alliance like the other Wow members Singapore Airlines and SAS, ``but it would be preferable,'' said SIA Cargo President Hwang Teng Aun. A top prospect is thought to be Japan Air Lines, which is currently unaligned and already has a bilateral agreement with Lufthansa Cargo.
The Pentagon and National Reconnaissance Office begin a space industrial base assessment. ``We are analyzing this sector to ensure U.S. space technology provides a solid foundation to feed our defense industrial base in order to maintain tactical and strategic advantages,'' said Suzanne Patrick, the Pentagon's industrial base czar. The multiphase study, due to be finished late this year, will examine critical technologies, export controls, ``best practices,'' the health of the supplier base, and R&D spending.
Michael Gordon-Smith , a senior engineer specializing in air traffic management systems at CMC Electronics in Montreal, has received the Volare Award from the Airline Avionics Institute. He was cited for his work on advancements in ``cockpit avionics systems, particularly in the application of state-of-the-art navigation systems to the real environment of airplane operators. His crowning achievement was his concept and architecture for a fully integrated, triple GPS/Flight Management System as the heart of the Boeing 747 `Classic' Cockpit Upgrade Program.''
Goodrich is developing its EMC-100 full-authority digital engine control for a variety of turbine engine applications, and will use Green Hills Integrity-178B real-time operating system (RTOS) and Multi integrated development environment. The software will run on a PowerPC processor. Because of the flight-critical nature of the engine control, some parts of the software will be certified to DO-178B Level A, the highest standard set by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics.
AN AUSTRALIAN COMPANY IS DEVELOPING ``JACK,'' software intelligent agents that attempt to give the pilot of an unmanned aerial vehicle a higher level of, and more versatile control than, direct steering, while avoiding the complexity of programming language. Agent Oriented Software's aim is to allow a pilot to control a UAV as an automated wingman. It uses belief, desires and intention agent models that the Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization have been pursuing for a decade.
Britain will deploy a 1,700-person battle group in support of U.S.-led combat operations against Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. The core of the force will be 45 Commando Royal Marines. The unit is embarked on the helicopter carrier HMS Ocean, already in region, at the heart of a Royal Navy task group. RAF Chinook helicopters are being deployed into theater by C-17 airlifters.
The Pentagon's plans for an expanded anti-missile shield should crystallize this summer when a recently anointed team of industry experts is to express its views on a new missile defense architecture.
Becoming a public company isn't a bed of roses, as EADS and Thales are discovering. Complying with reporting requirements last week, they had to tell stockholders that the bottom line sank well into the red last year. However, the future may be brighter. The outlook for the two companies is better than many investors realize, according to some analysts, who think the aerospace and avionics enterprises are underrated.
Robert J. Aaronson has been named director-general of the Geneva-based Airports Council International, effective Apr. 2. He has been executive vice president-Americas for Lufthansa Consulting. Aaronson succeeds Jonathan Howe, whose term of office has expired.
China's Xian Aircraft Co.'s MA-60 turboprop received a boost last week when Wuhan Airline Co. leased three of them--through Shenzhen Financial Leasing Co.--for services to begin in April. The 60-seat aircraft, a derivative of Xian's Yun-7, is similar to the Dash 8-300. Wuhan is to replace seven Y-7s with the MA-60.
Kenya Airways, as part of its long-haul fleet modernization program, last week placed a firm order for three Boeing 777-200 ER aircraft.The Nairobi-based carrier will retire its last Airbus A310 next month from its fleet that includes 767-300ER and 737-200/-300/-700 aircraft. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines holds a 26% stake in the carrier, international and local investors, 52% and the government, 23%. Kenya operates regional and international passenger and cargo services from Nairobi and Mombasa to Europe, India and the Middle East.
The first 10 Minuteman III ICBMs to be furnished with fresh propellant were declared operational by U.S. Air Force Space Command on Mar. 15. Now standing alert at Malmstrom AFB, Mont., the missiles are the first of 500 Minuteman IIIs being upgraded under a $2.4-billion Propulsion Replacement Program (PRP). The effort was undertaken to maintain the system's reliability by replacing aging propellant. Achieving initial operational capability also means the PRP is on schedule for completion in about 2008, ensuring the nuclear ICBM will be supportable through 2020.
Russia is reevaluating its ability to provide Progress resupply spacecraft to the International Space Station as a result of Russian budget cuts and industry layoffs. U.S. managers believe the planned launch of seven Progress missions through 2003, one less than planned earlier, should still be adequate for station support. The new Progress P-7 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on Mar. 21 was to dock with the ISS on Mar. 24, replacing the Progress P-6 that undocked from the station on Mar. 19 and was commanded into a destructive reentry.
The U.S. Navy Seal who fell from an MH-47 helicopter in Afghanistan survived that incident, but then died after fighting Al Qaeda forces single-handedly in a close-quarters pistol duel until he was almost out of ammunition.
Gordon Dudley has been promoted to general manager of the Planning and Communications Div. of The Aerospace Corp.'s Chantilly, Va., office. Scott Pozza has become general manager of the Facilities Div. in the El Segundo, Calif., headquarters. Dudley was principal director of the Planning and Communications Div. Pozza was corporate director of physical resources and administration for Logicon.
Nancy J. Knipp has become Tokyo-based managing director for Japan for American Airlines. She succeeds Katsuya Yonemoto, who has retired. Knipp was regional managing director for Asia and the South Pacific, based in Hong Kong.
Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems Sector has won a $20-million contract to provide AN/AAQ-24(V) Nemesis directional infrared countermeasures systems for Australian Defense Force AWACS aircraft being acquired under Project Wedgetail.
Joining an industry consensus, the FAA forecasts that U.S. airline traffic will pull through its decline this year, rebound strongly in 2003 and grow steadily during the rest of the decade and beyond. But devils threaten this optimistic outlook and, as usual, they are in the details.
