Douglas Rasmussen has been appointed vice president/general manager of CTS Reeves Frequency Products, Sandwich, Ill. He held the same position at Honeywell Optoelectronics, Richardson, Tex.
BFGoodrich and Coltec Industries--their merger finally consummated last week after months of delay--are now concentrating on what to call their newly combined enterprise and how to achieve the most efficient integration possible. Executives of the two companies were able to turn their attention to actually melding their operations only after clearing two remaining obstacles: settlements with AlliedSignal and Crane. They vehemently opposed the merger on antitrust grounds, despite earlier FTC and Defense Dept. approval.
NASA and Boeing completed negotiations on a $173-million cooperative agreement on July 14 to build a reusable spaceplane testbed that can stay in orbit for 21 days before it reenters for a landing.
David Scofield has been named vice president-public relations for the Jacksonville (Fla.) Port Authority. He was executive director of corporate and marketing communications for AT&T Solutions Customer Care in Jacksonville.
In a landmark action that could for the first time criminalize an aviation accident, a federal grand jury in Miami has handed up indictments against SabreTech Inc. and three employees in the May 11, 1996, crash of ValuJet Flight 592 in the Florida Everglades that killed all 110 people on board.
MICHAEL MECHAMContributing Editor Eiichiro Sekigawa added to this story.
For all of the attention given to the growth of Asia's airlines, the size of Japan's market dwarfs the rest of the region. All Nippon Airways, Japan Airlines and Japan Air System are the only non-U.S. carriers counted among the world's top 10 domestic passenger airlines. Japan is in its second year of airline deregulation, with another round to go next year. In the past 10 months, two new carriers have challenged the incumbents with discounts, but they are struggling to make ends meet and discovering that passenger loyalty is not easy to come by.
Members of the Apollo astronaut corps will gather at the Smithsonian's National Air&Space Museum July 20 to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the first manned lunar landing by Apollo 11. But everyone's thoughts will be with Apollo 12 commander, retired Navy Capt. Charles (Pete) Conrad, Jr., who died July 8 after a motorcycle accident near Ojai, Calif. He was 69.
Korean Air President Y.T. Shim declared that ``failure is not an option'' last week as he announced a 10-point plan to ``regain the confidence of the world's traveling community and our alliance partners.'' The carrier's poor safety record has prompted sanctions by the South Korean government and caused Air France and Delta to suspend code-sharing agreements. Shim said nearly 100 instructors will begin work next month under the $30-million, five-year pilot training contract Korean Air recently signed with FlightSafety Boeing.
The European Space Agency has inaugurated a new center to familiarize potential users with the facilities on board the International Space Station, and in particular on the Columbus orbital laboratory--part of Europe's contribution to the ISS. The center, located at ESA's ESTEC engineering complex in Noordwijk, Netherlands, features a full-size functional model of Columbus, providing interactive, 3D, virtual reality simulation of the facility.
What will be the hottest area of science for aerospace in the 21st century? At least two top government officials think it's biology. Hans Mark, the Pentagon's research honcho, says warfighters want ever smarter and smaller sensor packages. That has the defense researchers looking at DNA. Mark says, ``Somewhere in that chain there is hidden the architecture of the human mind . . . Once we un-encrypt that code we will have the means at our disposal to develop the unmanned vehicles we will need.'' NASA Administrator Daniel S.
Iridium, the struggling, high-end satellite telephone venture based here, may be liquidated unless other investors in the $4.85-billion project are willing to ante up to help cover huge losses. So says its progenitor and largest investor--Motorola. Robert Growney, Motorola's president, told Wall Street analysts he sees only three options for Iridium: debt restructuring, protection under bankruptcy laws or liquidation.
Carlo Mirra has become head of the joint customer support office in Leiden, Netherlands, opened by Spacehab Inc. and Intospace Gmbh. Mirra was deputy director of the Microgravity and Advanced Research Support Center, Naples, Italy.
Engineers at Boeing's Phantom Works here have developed a lightweight ``smart'' flight test sensor system that significantly improves the accuracy of wing loads measurement while reducing installation and removal time.
Telstra Corp. is a dissenting voice on claims that the market for satellite mobile communications has a multibillion-dollar potential. The Australian telecommunications giant does a lot of business in fiber optics, so its prejudices might be showing. But Michael Smith, who heads its mobile communications operations, says the market is about $1.4 billion. ``It's a very difficult market,'' he said. ``Its margins are not attractive.'' The bulk of today's mobile revenue comes from offshore work, as is likely in the future.
Spurred to record levels by consumer demand for new products, business jet sales in the next 10 years are forecast to reach 4,887 aircraft worth $62.4 billion, according to a market analysis conducted by the Teal Group.
British Airways says it will appeal a European Commission ruling fining the airline 4.5 million pounds ($7 million) for the use of anticompetitive loyalty schemes with travel agents which the commission found to be an abuse of the carrier's dominant position in the U.K. market. The investigation was triggered by a complaint originally filed by Virgin Atlantic in 1994, and renewed in 1997, when BA modified its commissions policy. Virgin argued that BA's commission scheme effectively discouraged agents from selling tickets on competitor's airlines.
Final Analysis. ViaSpace. SpectraSensors, Astrovision, TiVo Inc. Space Technology Development Corp. These and dozens of other relatively obscure names pepper the burgeoning commercial space industry like so many faint stars in the night sky, and their number is growing.
Fairchild Aerospace has named Gunter Kappler as vice president of engineering, replacing Reinhold Birrenbach who will move into an advisory role after 30 years of service with Fairchild and Dornier. Kappler is stepping down on Sept. 30 as director of research and development at BMW Rolls-Royce, where he headed development of the BR700 family of engines.
THE GREEK MINISTRY OF DEFENSE HAS SIGNED A CONTRACT with the Ericsson/Thomson-CSF Detexis consortium valued at 4 billion Swedish krona ($470 million) for four airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft and systems. The Embraer EMB-145 aircraft will be equipped with Ericsson's Erieye radar and AEW&C monitoring systems and with Thomson-CSF's communications, identification suites, self-protection systems and IFF. Deliveries are scheduled to start in 2002.
No matter what Congress eventually decides following a House subcommittee's stunning move last week to defer production of the F-22, the next-generation fighter program is bound to suffer serious damage unless there is a boost in the overall U.S. defense budget.
Lufthansa Technik will acquire a controlling 51% stake in Brussels-based Belgavia Maintenance in an initiative expected to further boost third-party business. Lufthansa Technik is Lufthansa German Airlines' arm in the maintenance and overhaul market. Belgavia Maintenance is a subsidiary of AviaPartner, a cross-border airport services operator.
FIRST FLIGHT TEST OF THE NEW INTEGRATED Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) system, intended for the F/A-18E/F and B-1B, was recently successfully conducted at the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Div. at China Lake, Calif. The test, using an F-18D outfitted as an avionics testbed, included the ALE-55 fiber-optic towed decoy (FOTD), developed by Lockheed Martin/Sanders--the IDECM prime contractor (AW&ST May 17, p. 74).
