Air Force Gen. Joseph Ralston, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, will put political ambitions on hold when he takes the post of supreme allied commander in Europe next spring. Ralston was planning a return to Alaska, where he once held a senior command, to be groomed to succeed his friend and patron, Sen. Ted Stevens, a powerful Republican. In the last 15 years, Ralston has endeared himself to senators of both parties. ``He would get things done for them behind the scenes,'' a senior USAF official said.
The battle between Air New Zealand (Air NZ) and Singapore Airlines (SIA) for Ansett, which has been called ``the best poker game in many years'' by Qantas Chief Executive James Strong, is in recess awaiting the next play by the New Zealanders. The outcome will stretch far beyond Australia's shores. Just as it determines SIA's route strategy, it also is likely to influence the lineup of world airline alliances in Southeast Asia and Australasia.
The U.K. is introducing a new law to crack down on incidents of ``air rage.'' The amendment to the U.K.'s Air Navigation Order is aimed at passengers who threaten aircraft crewmembers or interfere with their duties. The law, which will enable airlines and the police to deal more effectively with disruptive passengers, will come into effect on Sept. 1. The offense carries a maximum penalty of an unlimited fine and/or two years' imprisonment.
Prof. Sir Keith O'Nions of Oxford University has been appointed to succeed Prof. Sir David Davies as chief science adviser at the British Ministry of Defense in January.
Brian Allen, a Pittsburgh Institute of Aeronautics instructor from the United Technical Center, Clarksburg, W.Va., has received the Aviation Technician Educator of the Year Award from the Aviation Technician Educator Council.
The U.K. government plans to move ahead with privatization of National Air Traffic Services (NATS) despite opposition from the air traffic controllers union, which condemned the plan as ``dangerous and unnecessary.''
Age may not be the best measurement for determining mandatory pilot retirement, although flight simulator tests do show some decrease in pilots' performance with increasing age, according to a Stanford University School of Medicine study. But while statistically significant, the differences were not of large magnitude, according to Dr. Jerome A. Yesavage, who led the test. Statistically, age only accounts for 18% of the variation in performance, he said, suggesting that experience and other factors are more important.
Boeing has powered up its first Joint Strike Fighter demonstrator. The X-32A is undergoing final systems installation and assembly at Palmdale, Calif. Electrical power from an external source was used to check the operation of the cockpit interior lighting, multifunction displays, heaters and other panels. All were fully operational, Boeing said. Both of Boeing's X-32 demonstrators remain on schedule and within budget, the company said.
The Longbow Limited Liability Co. has received a five-year, $1.2-billion contract to build 10,397 Longbow Hellfire missiles and associated equipment for the U.S. Army for use in AH-64 Apache helicopters.
The need for the U.S. Air Force and contractors to improve Titan IV software quality control and test processes is highlighted in the accident investigation into the Apr. 30 failed launch of a Milstar communications satellite.
DaimlerChrysler Aerospace has signed a DM163-million ($89-million) contract to develop and test subsystems for the Automated Transfer Vehicle, which will be used to resupply the International Space Station and periodically reboost it to higher orbit. DASA will develop the propulsion system and integrate and test the propulsion/avionics unit of the ATV, to enter service in 2003.
Congress should ban passengers who harm airline employees from ever traveling on a U.S. carrier again, Continental Airlines' chairman and chief executive said. Gordon Bethune's comments to the Aero Club here followed the July 22 arrest of a passenger on charges that he threw a Continental gate agent to the ground at Newark International Airport, breaking the agent's neck. ``I can tell you this,'' Bethune said. ``This man will never fly on Continental again.''
A special two-month assignment for the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite has begun in the Kwajalein atoll of the Marshall Islands, a spot normally reserved as a target for U.S. ballistic missile tests. More than 200 experts have gathered at the atoll for studies of oceanic rainfall, using balloons, ships and aircraft flights. Data they collect will be compared with the large-scale view of precipitation that the satellite obtains.
A Sikorsky S-76B fitted with Universal Avionics landing and flight management systems and a Honeywell autopilot is demonstrating precision instrument approaches to a hover at Flagler County Airport in Brunnell, Fla. The preliminary demonstrations of the Precision Approach to a Hover (PAH) system will last until Aug. 6. The system is designed to allow pilots to perform PAH maneuvers in instrument meteorological conditions with 100-ft. ceilings and 600-ft. visibility.
Perry Bankston has received the 1999 Aerospace Power Systems Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is manager of device research and applications in the Space Avionics Systems and Technology Div. and manager of the Spacecraft Power Program at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. Bankston was cited for leadership ``in the research, development and application of space power technology, including solid-state microdevices and materials, electric space power sources and energy storage devices.''
An early model of the U.S. Army's four-engine RC-7 reconnaissance aircraft, which crashed in Colombia with seven people on board including two Colombian army officers, appears not to have been the victim of guns or missiles wielded by guerrillas or drug traffickers.
Top U.S. airline executives are launching a counterattack in the fight over passenger rights, charging that an inept and inefficient air traffic control system is to blame for worsening flight delays that infuriate travelers and cost airlines billions of dollars in wasted fuel and crew time.
Scientists at NASA's Ames Research Center in California do not expect to know immediately whether they created the ``splash'' they wanted on the Moon when they crash-landed the Lunar Pros- pector into one of its craters.
European aerospace company profits continued to increase last year, rising to 6.6% of total revenues in 1998, compared with 4.2% in 1997 and 2.1% in 1996. Some 25,000 new jobs were generated as the total number of employees rose to 420,000, continuing a growth trend begun in 1997 following nine straight years of shrinking workforces. At the same time, productivity has increased following years of restructuring and rationalization. Revenue per employee is now 150,000 euros ($159,000) annually versus 100,000 euros per worker 10 years ago.
Dilip Ballal, a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University of Dayton (Ohio) and leader of the gas turbine combustion and fuels group there, has been named the first Hans von Ohain Distinguished Professor in the School of Engineering.
NASA's long-awaited Chandra Observatory is being hailed as the Hubble Space Telescope of the X-ray field, designed to provide unprecedented insights into the ``hidden universe'' visible only in the X-ray wavelengths.
Aviation labor groups, government officials and airline executives are wrangling over how to boost the capacity of a strained air transportation system without destroying safety measures designed to keep aircraft from colliding on runways or in midair. The pressure to increase system capacity to handle more flights is intensifying. American Airlines' executive vice president of operations, Robert W. Baker, told a congressional hearing that delays and congestion are becoming critical.
