Herley Industries Inc. has won a five-year, $16.5-million contract from the U.S. Navy to deliver tactical landing systems for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft.
Adacel Inc. has won a $2.17-million contract to upgrade NAV Canada's existing 180- and 360-deg. air traffic control tower simulators and provide ATC simulation software.
Fractional aircraft ownership providers are relying on increasingly complex software programs to orchestrate their growing operational requirements as jet fleets continue to expand and the job of pampering owners becomes more competitive.
Lista International describes its mobile cabinets as ``mini-workstations on wheels,'' that are designed for aviation service and repair applications. Each cabinet comes with handles, as well as two rigid and two swivel heavy-duty bearing casters. Their narrow width and shallow depth are made for maneuverability in confined areas. Each cabinet has a locking system, and each drawer has individual latches that lock drawers closed when moving. The drawers feature a 440-lb. load capacity each, and are available in seven different full sidewall heights.
HONEYWELL'S PROGRAM TO RETROFIT Dassault Falcon 50 business jets with TFE731-40 engines has been approved by both the DGAC in France and the FAA. The conversion, which brings the older jets up to Falcon 50EX configuration, costs about $5.3 million, plus another $2.3 million to install a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 4 avionics suite. The new engines still produce 3,700-lb. static thrust at sea level, but have been flat-rated to ISA +17C to provide improved takeoff/climb performance. In addition, the airplane can cruise at speeds up to Mach 0.80 instead of Mach 0.75.
The FieldGo R9 portable PC brings workstation power to field environments. With seven expansion slots, including four full-length PCI slots, the computer is configurable for power-hungry applications in aerospace, industrial, test and data acquisition markets. The unit is powered by what Broadax Systems says is full ``industrial spec'' Intel Pentium III or IV processors for redundant fault reliability providing up to 1.5 GHz. with 133 MHz. front-side bus speed. It is designed for tough environments with an all-aluminum chassis, NEMA 4/12 keyboard, plus a 15.4-in.
Thomas W. Nunn has been named director of aviation safety and regulatory compliance and David Minnelli director of pricing and revenue management for Frontier Airlines. Nunn was director of emergency management for Northwest Airlines and succeeds Wayne Elliott, who has retired. Minnelli was managing direct- or for yield management for Trans World Airlines. Beckie Mogensen, Bob Wyn- koop and Kim Byrd-Newkirk have become city managers in Kansas City, Seattle and Washington, respectively.
In an unanticipated move, Thai domestic carrier PB Air has received a license to operate international flights and has teamed with Swedish investors to form PB Air International. The new carrier will use two leased Airbus A340s to provide twice-weekly scheduled services from Stockholm to two of Thailand's top tourist draws, Phuket and Bangkok. Thai civil aviation authorities have, in the past, reluctantly provided international licenses to private carriers as a way of protecting Thai Airways International.
U.S. satellite broadband service providers are entering into the Internet consumer marketplace with existing on-orbit hardware, looking for a customer base and the revenue that goes with it even before custom-built Internet-delivery satellites are launched.
GPS Trainer is a tutorial to help pilots master GPS from their computers. The most popular GPS receivers are included on a single CD-ROM. Pilots will learn to use the KLN 89B, GNS 430 and GX 50/60 from their desktops, and the manufacturer's operating manuals and simulators are included on the CD, as well as FAA documents pertinent to GPS operations. Applicable to both VFR and IFR operations, the tutorial is organized into five sections to reflect each phase of flight: theory, preflight, en route, terminal and approach.
A critique of the National Reconnaissance Office capabilities five years ago found that the agency, a premier U.S. intelligence organization, was not up to par in providing ``global information superiority'' on critical intelligence matters (AW&ST Feb. 9, 1998, p. 26). Major NRO changes were recommended in the 1996 report led by Navy Adm. (ret.) David Jeremiah, former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ``The current path and current process will not get us there,'' the report said.
UPS AVIATION TECHNOLOGIES HAS IMPROVED its MX20 multifunction display (MFD) by adding capability to view Jeppesen instrument approach charts and surface maps in an integrated moving map presentation. According to the company, the MX20 is the first panel-mounted MFD to offer this feature. In addition, users can uplink weather services through AirCell's Flight Guardian 1000 or Data-Comm 500 communications systems. Pilots can receive up to five high-resolution weather maps, Nexrad radar data, weather depiction charts and Airmet/Sigmet warnings.
U.S. defense officials have begun a two-pronged response to the attacks on New York and Washington. They are helping national intelligence agencies determine who is responsible and simultaneously readying forces to deal out retribution.
Space Systems/Loral will build DirecTV-7S, a high-power spot beam satellite for extending local channel services in the U.S. A SS/L 1300, the spacecraft is to be completed in the second half of 2003, although a launcher has not been named. The satellite will be built to be reconfigured in orbit so it can operate with varying bandwidths either from 101 deg. W. Long., DirecTV's primary orbital slot, or 119 deg. West. In the former.
The Integrity real-time operating system gives designers of MIPS32-based defense systems a secure, reliable, royalty-free target environment for deploying their applications. Integrity builds a firewall between the kernel and user task, preventing errant or malicious tasks from corrupting user data, the kernel, interprocess communications, device drivers and other tasks. It also guarantees the availability of system resources in both the time and space domain, making it more advanced in this area than other operating systems that employ simple memory protection schemes.
Like a casual flick of a finger on a stack of dominoes, terrorist-pilots sent a Manhattan landmark tumbling into hell. On 8:45 a.m. on Sept. 11, American Airlines Flight 11, a Boeing 767, with 65 passengers and 11 crewmembers onboard, crashed into the North Tower (No. 2) of the World Trade Center.
Leigh Orlov has become senior vice president-worldwide field operations for NetVendor of Atlanta. He was senior vice president-sales and services of Neoforma Inc., San Jose, Calif.
Mark McCulloch has been appointed CEO of the XTRA On-Line Corp. of Dallas. He succeeds William S. Diffenderffer, who was also chairman. Diffenderffer has resigned but remains a director. McCulloch was senior vice president/chief technical officer.
Offering 60% faster cutting performance, the ability to cut metal 25% thicker and an up to 400% longer tip life than the previous model, the new Spectrum 375 CutMate air plasma cutter from Miller Electric Mfg. Co. replaces the Spectrum 300 CutMate. The new machine minimizes nuisance trips, withstands a 15% voltage drop (a 50% improvement) and expands work area because it can use an extension cord up to 133 ft. long. The Spectrum 375 CutMate weighs 49 lb., operates on 115 or 230 volts power, and has a suggested list price of $1,475.
Engineers at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio are preparing to test a pulsed plasma thruster (PPT, shown) on the EO-1 Earth science testbed in hopes the old technology will prove useful in an era of small spacecraft that need to be controlled with great precision. First used on satellites in the 1960s, PPTs are essentially a spark plug that generates a plasma ``slug'' when it arcs across a solid propellant.
The AirForce 400 air plasma cutter cuts any electrically conductive metal faster, cleaner and with less stress on the operator than flame cutting or mechanical methods. According to Hobart Welders, it cuts 60% faster, cuts metal 25% thicker and its tip lasts up to 400% longer. It includes an extension cord up to 133 ft. long to reduce the possibility of tripping the circuit breaker. Even at that length it is less susceptible to nuisance trips because it draws 20% less current than the company's previous model.
Don't expect builders of super midsize business jets to be singing the blues at this year's National Business Aviation Assn.'s annual convention in New Orleans.
Greg Atchison has become assistant general manager of the Seattle center of FlightSafety Boeing Training International. He was senior manager for corporate program management and contracts.
Jetline Engineering, an ITW company, has developed what it says is the first microprocessor-based arc length control system for GTAW AC or DC. The microprocessor control uses a proven welding environment design coupled to a reliable slide actuator. The arc length control measures the actual arc voltage of either a GTAW or plasma welding arc and makes mechanical adjustments to maintain the predefined arc length or voltage. The ball screw slide actuator gives accurate mechanical control and a weight capacity of 40 lb. to handle large torches and wire feed heads.
John Sponyoe has been named chairman, and Conny Kullman will remain CEO, of the now-privatized Washington-based Intelsat. Wolfgang Wagner of Germany will be deputy chairman. Sponyoe is CEO of Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications. Others appointed as directors are: Brian Dailey, vice president-Washington operations for Lockheed Martin; Herbert Baptista Fiuza, consultant for Sky Brasil and Distel Holding SA; Hans Fjosne, chief technical officer of Telenor Broadband Services of Norway; Serge Fortin, president for global markets of the Teleglobe Communications Corp.
