American Airlines Flight 587 accident investigators--who have not ruled out mechanical malfunction and structural defect as causal or contributing factors in the Nov. 12 crash--last week said they discovered delamination in the tail section of the Airbus 300-600 as well as a filtering system on the flight data recorder that is slowing the gathering of ``true readings.''
EchoStar continues to tap European technology for its plan to expand satellite-delivered broadband interactive programming. After securing an alliance with Paris-based Vivendi Universal that will allow EchoStar to benefit from the French media giant's interactive technology, the U.S. operator turned last week to Thomson Multi-Media of France to supply set-top decoders.
AgustaWestland has concluded an agreement with the Denel Group allowing Denel to market and produce the Agusta A109 Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), A109 Power and A119 Koala models in South Africa for customers in specified markets.
Joseph Clayton, president/CEO of Sirius Satellite Radio of New York, has been appointed to the board of governors of the Electronic Industries Alliance and board of directors of the Consumer Electronics Assn.
European leisure travel leader Preussag is reportedly ready to mount a new assault for Club Med. The German company failed in a bid for Club Med 18 months ago, but is in a stronger position this time. Club Med is ailing, and a major shareholder, the Agnelli Group, is now a Preussag ally, following the latter's acquisition last year of 10% in Italian travel leader Alpitour, controlled by Agnelli (AW&ST May 28, 2001, p. 18).
Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta has ringers among his gurus on how to fix airline security. Advisors include entertainment experts from Disney. Folks from the Magic Kingdom--legendary among theme-park mavens for moving long lines quickly and pleasantly--will work on some of Mineta's 36 security overhaul ``go-teams'' to come up with ways to cut airport checkpoint waiting times. The first acid test of whether overhauling security will sit well with fliers was set to play out late last week. The new aviation security law requires that by Jan.
U.S. military facilities in Saudi Arabia are being devalued by restrictions on operations and personnel, says Senate Armed Services Committee chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.). Levin said, ``We may need to move that base,'' referring to Royal Saudi AB, located south of the capital of Riyadh. ``The Saudis have trouble keeping us there visibly. [U.S.] women are not comfortable.'' Off base, service women must have male escorts and wear head-to-toe robes--to accommodate what the Pentagon calls ``host-nation sensitivities.'' It's prompted fighter pilot and USAF Lt. Col.
Susan H. Skemp (see photo), manager of advanced technology planning at Pratt&Whitney, has been named president of the New York-based American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
The Galileo spacecraft missed taking images on its final pass of Jupiter's moon Io on Jan. 17 (AW&ST Jan. 7, p. 61). The spacecraft detected a computer reset and automatically went into a standby mode that froze the scientific instruments, a process that is similar to prior events and is probably caused by radiation. Galileo in its extended mission has been exposed to 3.5 times the design amount of radiation. Controllers hoped last week to reactivate the systems before the Io encounter ended on Jan. 20.
The Pentagon wants to craft a space plan that would project needs to 2020-25. Unlike a previous Space Command study that was fiscally unconstrained, this document would take into account budget realities, says the new space architect, Army Brig. Gen. Steve Ferrell. The analysis will take 6-12 months and should lead to a roadmap that would govern near-term spending. Ferrell also wants to review the military's and spooks' intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs--not just those in space, but also airborne collectors and others.
Kollsman's Enhanced Vision System on the Gulfstream V, due to enter service later this year, offers the opportunity for corporate aircraft operators to drastically reduce controlled-flight-into-terrain and runway-incursion accidents.
Mike Toms has been appointed group planning and regulatory affairs director of London-based BAA plc, effective Feb. 1. He was head of airport economics for BAA and was seconded to Airports Council International as chief economist.
Scientists using data from the Hubble Space Telescope believe they have found evidence that stars began forming in a manic flash of light much sooner after the big bang than previously thought, a discovery that--if true--will notch another zeitgeist leap for the 12-year-old orbiting instrument.
Simple rudder motions on the Airbus A300-600R, the aircraft type in the American Airlines Flight 587 crash, can create forces exceeding ultimate load on the vertical stabilizer and possibly break it off, according to an engineering analysis by Aviation Week&Space Technology. The study was prompted by the loss of the A300 last Nov. 12 after takeoff from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, but the principle applies to transport aircraft in general.
Martin Sweeting, CEO of Surrey (England) Satellite Technology Ltd. and director of the Surrey Space Centre, has been awarded a knighthood in The Queen's New Year's Honors for services to microsatellite engineering. Sweeting was cited for pioneering the concept of cost-effective spacecraft engineering as leader of researchers at the University of Surrey in the design and construction of Britain's first microsatellite (UoSAT-1), which was launch- ed into low-Earth orbit in 1981.
Air Canada on Jan. 14 resumed service between Montreal and Washington Reagan National Airport, operating two daily round trips with 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet aircraft. Because of special security requirements at Reagan National, Royal Canadian Mounted Police will be on board the flights. In November, the carrier resumed Toronto-Reagan National. The carrier service now offers four daily round trips between those two cities on Sundays and five daily round trips other days of the week.
The automated explosives-detection business of PerkinElmer, with its sizable European customer base, will be sold to L-3 Communications Corp. The acquisition will cost $100 million in cash, about equal to Detection Systems' annual sales. The transaction is expected to close by Apr. 1, based on clearance by the government.
European nations supporting the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan continued their buildup last week with troops and other units being flown into Bagram airport. The British-led ISAF will eventually total some 5,000 personnel from the 16 nations so far committed to the effort. The ISAF is intended to act as a stabilizing force on behalf of the interim authorities in Afghanistan.
Lockheed Martin Space Systems-Astronautics Operations will cut approximately 700 people from its workforce this year, many through normal attrition. That amounts to about 10% of Astronautics' total employee count. Most of the reductions, which will occur at Denver-area facilities, are attributed to closing down Titan rocket production. The last Titan IV heavy-lift launch vehicle is scheduled for shipment from Denver to Cape Canaveral in April. Six Titan IVs and three Titan IIs are yet to be launched.
National and military leaders are reviewing U.S. homeland defense and security measures implemented since the terrorist attacks last September, seeking a balance of air-protection measures that could decrease the domestic workload for Air National Guard, Reserve and active duty forces.
What's going on? First, the pro-business Bush Administration's Justice Dept. challenges the proposed American Airlines/British Airways alliance, arguing (among other things) that the carriers should first divest slots at London Heathrow Airport (AW&ST Dec. 24/31, 2001, p. 47). Then, last week, it files to overturn a federal judge's dismissal of the government's earlier complaint that American used predatory practices against low-cost carriers that were trying to establish footholds at American's Dallas-Fort Worth hub. Wow!
Honeywell and Pelorus Navigation Systems demonstrated auto-land flight procedures to each of four runways at Moses Lake Airfield in Washington using GPS and a Local Area Augmentation System. The LAAS monitors signals from GPS satellites and checks them against a specific, surveyed site, then broadcasts corrected data to aircraft equipped to receive the transmissions. In addition, LAAS allows aircraft to fly instrument approach procedures while maintaining proper separation from other traffic.
An orbiting NASA satellite has provided U.S. Air Force researchers with before-and-after hyperspectral imagery of bombing targets in Afghanistan that may simplify targeting and bomb-damage assessment in the future.
Quietly working through its service-level space components and computer network operations teams, U.S. Space Command (USSC) has been a significant behind-the-scenes player in America's war on terrorism.
