The aircraft that crashed, killing former Indian Aviation Minister Madhav Rao Scindia, was misidentified in last week's issue (AW&ST Oct. 8, p. 20). The aircraft was a Raytheon Aircraft King Air C-90.
USAF Gen. Joseph W. Ralston, commander-in-chief of the U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe, has been named to receive the H.H. Arnold Award for military contributions to national security, from the Arlington, Va.-based Air Force Assn. Other winners are: W. Stuart Symington Award for civilian contributions to national security, U.S. Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyo.) and U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.); John R.
With crew time extremely tight on the International Space Station, the Italian Space Agency (ASI) has selected Tecnospazio SpA., a unit of Finmeccanica subsidiary Officine Galileo, for a 14.6-million-euro contract to develop the Europa robot to manage external station payloads. Rather than send station crewmembers outside in time-consuming extravehicular activities, Europa will use Tecnospazio's Spider seven-degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator (shown), which can handle loads up to 250 kg., to shift payloads on an Express Pallet Adaptor on the ISS.
The Pentagon should consider taking electronic-warfare programs away from the military services and give them to a new, centralized organization. So argues Air Force Maj. Gen. (ret.) John Corder, who has been leading an analysis of EW options. EW has been so mismanaged ``it cannot be fixed from the inside,'' he says, adding the Pentagon should contemplate something along the lines of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office.
MiG Corp. has unveiled a two-seat MiG-29 upgrade intended to give the light fighter an expanded multirole capability. The aircraft, designated MiG-29M2, was demonstrated in the air for the first time at the LIMA defense show at Langkawi, Malaysia, last week. The warplane's first static display was at the Moscow air show in August as the MiG-29MRCA (AW&ST Aug. 20, p. 24). It made its maiden flight on Sept. 26 at the Zhukovsky flight test center, near Moscow.
LapFEA Release 7 finite element modeling and analysis software includes enhanced contour presentation, including eight schemes, each with up to 32 contour levels. Also added is automatic mesh refinement of surface models, which quadruples the model density while at the same time converting all triangular elements to quadrilateral elements. The software includes a graphical preprocessor, a solver and a graphical post-processor. Models created with LapFEA can be saved in the .DAT text file format for solving with MSC.NASTRAN.
France's Helisim will supply up to 11,500 hr. of Cougar Mk.2 full-flight simulator training to the Royal Neth- erlands Air Force from 2003-18. Helisim is jointly owned by Euro- copter, Thales Training&Simulation and Defense Council International.
D-Greeze 500 LO degreaser/cleaner for spray applications is designed for portable applications such as degreasing individual parts, removing oil and grease from large surfaces such as machinery and oil stains from floors and walls. The company says it cleans as well as or better than trichloroethylene and is noncorrosive and non-HAP, meaning it is a nonhazardous air pollutant. It is compatible with ferrous and non-ferrous metal, including magnesium, carbon steels, stainless steels, copper and brass; it has no chlorinated components and is nontoxic.
The AR9012 mechanically timed faucet for commercial/regional aircraft and business jets offers one-step, push-knob operation, self-draining and self-venting. Height is 4.70 in., while cutout size is 2.30 X 0.79 in. Flow rate varies from 1-2 qt. per min. at 20-50 lb. per sq. in. gauge through a flow-regulating, ``shower head'' style aerator. Flow duration is adjustable from 3-10 sec. without removal of the faucet. For maintenance, the functional components are in a single cartridge that can be replaced in less than 5 min.
Shelly Jones, managing director of the Seattle office of executive recruiter Korn/Ferry International, has been named head of its aerospace search practice.
Michael J. Becker has been promoted to senior vice president-human resources from vice president-international of Northwest Airlines. He succeeds Tom Momchilov, who has resigned.
Star One, which operates a fleet of five C-band spacecraft--Latin America's largest--serving the Brazilian broadcasting and telecommunications market, has ordered a Ku-band satellite from Alcatel Space to serve broadband users. To be launched in the first quarter of 2004 to 67 deg. W. Long., the 38-transponder spacecraft will cover a swath from the Andean region to the U.S., said CEO Edson Soffiatti.
Regional airlines want to be part of the Phase Two service expansion at Washington Reagan National Airport. Phase One involves only mainline carriers, but the second phase set to begin next month would allow activity to increase to 57% from 24% of the level prior to Sept. 11. Regional Airline Assn. (RAA) President Deborah McElroy said at least some regional carriers flying to Reagan National before the terrorist attacks last month should be allowed to resume service, and that RAA members are ready to provide the same level of security as major airlines.
Pete C. Garcia has been appointed staff vice president-sales and marketing for Latin America and the Caribbean for Continental Airlines. He held the same position for Central America and the Caribbean.
Capt. Cevin D. Kehm has been reelected chairman of the Air Line Pilots Assn. Master Executive Council at American Eagle. Also reelected were: Capt. George Sadler, vice chairman; and Capt. Ken Paulson, secretary-treasurer.
Boeing Vice Chairman Harry Stonecipher says the company is trying to work with financially strapped airlines, but that Boeing Capital Corp. ``will not be a lender of last resort.'' Boeing Capital, the financing and leasing arm of the corporation, is ``trying to be smart'' about how it supports carriers that have faced sudden drops in passenger traffic, Stonecipher said on Oct. 11. ``We won't write any bad business.'' While some delivery dates for new aircraft have been postponed, he said he was not aware of any order cancellations.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center has received competing proposals from teams headed by Lockheed Martin and TRW to build the Next Generation Space Telescope, the less-costly yet operationally-more-flexible companion to the Hubble Space Telescope. Goddard expects to choose a winner by early next year. However, the Phase 2 proposals Goddard received Oct. 10 may not be the last word on the NGST's design, program manager Bernie Seery said. ``That would require a perfect proposal. More than likely we will have questions.''
Sweden has linked its two northern test ranges into a single facility for testing advanced aerospace systems such as unmanned-aerial vehicles and reusable-launch vehicles. Next summer, Japan plans to use the North European Aerospace Test Range (Neat) to test the aerodynamic performance of its proposed Hope-X reentry vehicle in a series of model-drop tests conducted with the French Space Agency (CNES). The 3.5-meter (11.5-ft.), 500-kg. (1,100-lb.) High Speed Flight Demonstrator will be lifted by balloon about 30 km.
Di Ann Sanchez has been named vice president-diversity and talent management of American Airlines. She was head of human resources for the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group.
The Engine Services organization of General Electric Aircraft Engines has established two new businesses, one aimed at increasing the company's share of aftermarket services, the second targeted at capturing new business. To boost aftermarket offerings, GE Rotable Solutions will own powerplant line replaceable units (LRUs) such as electric, hydraulic, fuel and lubrication systems, and then manage their maintenance, repair and overhaul.
Controllers scheduled a second extravehicular activity at the International Space Station Oct. 15 after Cosmonauts Mikhail Tyurin and Vladimir Dezhurov conducted a 5-hr. EVA there a week earlier. During their excursion the pair began connecting the new Pirs docking module they used as an exit to the station date network, and installed handrails, a ladder and a 40-ft. Strela crane for future assembly work. It was the first EVA at ISS without a space shuttle present.
CMC Electronics of Montreal has won a follow-on contract valued at up to $9 million from the U.S. Army to supply AN/TRC-190 communications shelter upgrades including the AN/GRC-245 high-capacity line-of-sight radio.
