Lufthansa Technik will support Asiana's single-aisle twinjets over the next 10 years. The component support agreement signed covers the South Korean carrier's Boeing 737s and Airbus A321s.
About 13,000 aircraft mechanics at American Airlines approved a contract Oct. 5 that provides short- and long-term pay raises as well as increased benefits and retirement provisions. According to the Dallas Morning News, many of the mechanics, who are represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), probably will lose their jobs as American cuts up to 15,000 workers from its payroll in the aftermath of terrorist attacks last month. American already has secured a contract with the Assn.
Air Canada will introduce a no-frills alternative, Tango by Air Canada, modeled after the U.S.' JetBlue, to stimulate lagging traffic. Tango will operate 13 dedicated Airbus A320s on nonstop flights between major Canadian cities starting Nov. 1 and to Florida later this year. Air Canada had planned for the low-fare operation, but its introduction is being timed to meet changing consumer demand and boost traffic in the post-Sept. 11 business environment, said President/CEO Robert Milton.
Charles W. Mathews, who was program manager for the NASA Gemini program, which developed manned flight techniques for the Apollo landings on the Moon, died of kidney failure on Sept. 10 in Gainesville, Fla. He was 80. Mathews, an aeronautical engineer and graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, became Gemini program manager in 1963 and led the project through 10 manned missions flown by most of the astronauts who later traveled to the Moon. He subsequently held management positions in the Apollo program and headed NASA's office for space applications.
NTT DoCoMo Inc. plans to expand its new aeronautical-mobile-satellite system (AMSS) to business jets and helicopters operating over the Japanese archipelago, according to a paper presented by company executives at the International Astronautical Federation congress in Toulouse, France. Launched on July 1, AMSS uses the NSTAR-a and NSTAR-b maritime and mobile-land-service satellites to deliver two-way voice and data to airline passengers over Japan. The system will replace a terrestrial service which has a more limited range that is restricted to altitudes above 15,000 ft.
Europe and Japan are jockeying for position should an upturn in the space-launch market later in the decade kick off a race to build reusable-launch vehicles.
Standards for certifying airport baggage screening companies and their workers have gotten tangled in the congressional debate over whether to federalize the process. (The bone of contention is whether the entire workforce should be civil servants.) Once upon a time, the FAA planned to issue standards the week of Sept. 10. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the agency said there would be a brief re-evaluation of the requirements. The question is who should screen passengers, and under whose supervision? Now, that's not for the FAA to decide. The latest wrinkle: Rep.
AAR Corp. has received more than $16 million in U.S. military orders since Sept. 1. The orders are for various types of containers, shelters and integrated-command posts, as well as for spare parts mainly to support U.S. Air Force tanker aircraft and U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy helicopters. In fiscal year 2001, government sales were about 16% of total sales.
France and Germany are proposing a joint mission to obtain a digital elevation model (DEM) of the world's land and ice surfaces using a constellation of passive microsatellites in tandem with a conventional-radar spacecraft. The mission, called the Interferometric Cartwheel, would feature X- or C-/L-band antennas on three or more 120-kg. (264-lb.) microsatellites rotating in an orbital plane within 50-150 km. (164,000-492,000 ft.) of a radar illuminator.
Russian Space Forces launched a Raduga-class military communications satellite on a Proton-K rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome Oct. 8, according to Russian press accounts. The geostationary relay satellites are built by NPO-PM.
Innovation and new product development are the lifeblood of aerospace and defense. Hundreds if not thousands of patents are issued each year for advances in aerospace research and development, manufacturing, materials, information technology and myriad other disciplines.
American Airlines plans to complete installation of reinforced metal bars on cockpit doors early next month. Technicians will install the devices on more than 870 jets operated by American and TWA.
Oman is seeking to buy 12 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 50+ fighters powered by either Pratt&Whitney F100-PW-229 or GE F110-GE-129 engines. The request also includes APG-68(V)XM radars, Lantirn targeting pods, AIM-120C Amraam and AIM-9M-8/9 Sidewinder missiles as well as AGM-65D/G Maverick missiles, Harpoon antiship missiles, GBU-10 and GBU-12 laser-guided bomb kits and GBU-31/32 Joint Direct Attack Munitions. Estimated value of the sale would be $1.2 billion.
After a week of public outrage over the two-day grounding of the Swissair fleet and a failed alternative rescue plan, executives of Crossair and Swissair have initiated a series of meetings on transfering people, routes and aircraft to the regional carrier in time for the winter timetable.
Colorado Springs city officials are considering taking over the local airport's security after two incidents of firearms getting through checkpoints. On Sept. 3, a security employee apparently mistook an unloaded carbine in a hard-sided case for a camera tripod. Even after tighter controls were put in place, a man with a disassembled shotgun and shells in a nylon bag successfully cleared an airport security checkpoint on Oct. 2. The shotgun was discovered only after the passenger went through security a second time and his bag was hand-searched.
Richard L. Frymire has been appointed vice president-finance for Atlantic Southeast Airlines. He was a financial consultant for ASA parent Delta Air Lines.
Lockheed Martin is studying an invitation by the Austrian government to offer the F-16 in a competition for 24 fighters to replace Saab interceptors. Competing fighters invited include the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab JAS 39 Gripen and Dassault Mirage 2000.
Lindgren, an ESCO Technologies Co., has teamed with Trusted Systems to produce what the companies say is the first Full Tempest Information Processing System (TIPS) security container for high threat classified applications. The container combines the strength of a GSA-approved, Class 5 security container with shielding. It is offered in two depths, 45 in. and 52 in. It is designed for unattended, closed-door operation. Remote high-threat sites and lock-and-leave posts can maintain 24/7 network availability for message traffic or overnight processing.
Airbus has chosen Eaton to provide the 5,000-psi. hydraulic power generation system for the A380 transport now in development. The 5,000-psi. pressure is higher than the 3,000 psi. systems commonly in use and is intended to save weight. It is a first for civil aircraft, according to Eaton. The system includes eight Vickers engine-driven pumps, four electric pumps, ground service hardware and associated controls. The contract could be worth $200 million over 20 years.
Scott Ernest has become vice president/general manager of global overhaul operations for GE Engine Services of Cincinnati. He was general manager for sourcing.
These corrosion inhibiting poly film bags for packaging large and bulky metal components are designed for aerospace components and assemblies, heavy equipment parts and odd-shaped and intricate metals that need corrosion protective packaging. The 4-mm. bags are transparent, tear-resistant, and sold perforated on a roll. Bags are made with Clear Pak 3000, a multimetal corrosion inhibitor formulation extruded into the film, rather than applied to the surface.
The Security Committee of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Assns. is convening in Tokyo this week to reconsider its policy regarding cockpit crewmembers carrying weapons while flying. A statement by officials of the London-based organization, which represents 95 member associations and 100,000 pilots, said the committee will ``examine every possibility to ensure the safety of passengers and crew and to guarantee that aircraft are never again used as weapons.''
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has begun studying the feasibility of a national alert system that would order all aircraft to land at the nearest airport in the event of a terrorist attack or hijacking. Currently, air traffic controllers would contact each aircraft individually, but Ministry officials are concerned that this method is too slow. The problem is how to coordinate landings, especially in bad weather.
Top NASA managers have taken another whack at the ``Strategic Resources Review'' ordered by Administrator Daniel S. Goldin to look for ways to cover the big shortfall in the International Space Station account, but there's no resolution yet. The agency has a long list of possible ``actions,'' headed by privatizing the space shuttle fleet (AW&ST Oct. 8, p. 23). But officials want some input from the outside before they actually do anything. NASA's independent Advisory Council gets a look at the options this week.
A United Nations Mi-8 helicopter was shot down Oct. 8 over the Kodori Gorge controlled by Chechen and Georgian guerrillas. All nine people on board were killed.
