Airline Rotables, based at London Stansted Airport, has been fined $153,900 and ordered to pay $38,880 for shipping chemical oxygen generators in the cargo hold of a passenger-carrying aircraft in July 1997. Chemical oxygen generators have been banned from cargo holds of passenger aircraft following the 1996 ValuJet accident in Florida. The aircraft equipment and spare parts company pleaded guilty to charges, which were the result of a U.K. Civil Aviation Authority/FAA investigation.
Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) has returned to normal mapping operations after testing was conducted to determine the cause of an obstruction to a gimbal mechanism on the spacecraft's high-gain antenna. The gimbal remains obstructed, but the disabled antenna will be able to function normally in its steerable mode through February because of the alignment of Earth and Mars during that period. After that, if the antenna problem has not been resolved, the high-gain dish could be placed in a fixed position.
Brisk commercial sales and a strong backlog are sustaining the quest by French small/midsize aerospace companies for increased profitability and enhanced shareholder value. Company executives recently cited robust results for 1998 and indicated their faith in a vigorous 1999:
President Clinton ordered Defense Secretary William Cohen, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin and CIA director George Tenet to report to him later this year on what caused the recent spate of U.S. space launch failures and what can be done to fix the problems. Clinton said the report should take into account the results of separate reviews underway by the Air Force, Boeing and Lockheed Martin (see p. 61). Lockheed Martin already has sent Raymond S. Colladay, manager of its launch-related Astronautics unit, into immediate ``retirement'' and replaced him with G.
Air France has joined Delta Air Lines and Air Canada in suspending its code-sharing flights with Korean Air. Korean Air had hoped that Delta would soon resume its code-share agreement, but that is not expected for at least six months, especially now that U.S. agencies--the Transportation Dept., FAA and Defense Dept.--are looking into safety standards of airline code-share members. In a separate issue, Korean Air's well-publicized search for senior captains is not being well-received.
The Marine Corps has decided to subject the F/A-18 Advanced Tactical Airborne Reconnaissance System (Atars) to a real operational evaluation by deploying the day/night, all-weather reconnaissance system to Tazar, Hungary, as part of its contribution to the air war against Yugoslavia. The multisensor reconnaissance system is being deployed along with 24 F/A-18Ds belonging to VMFA(AW)-533 and VMFA(AW)-332 from the Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C. Two aircraft will be capable of using Atars--both assigned to VMFA(AW)-332.
A version of Meggitt Avionics' secondary flight display system has been chosen by British Airways for retrofit on all of its Boeing 737-300/400 aircraft.
United Airlines and Pratt&Whitney are working to improve the way flight simulators portray engine problems in an attempt to avoid conditioning pilots to react in ways that could turn minor malfunctions into inflight emergencies.
NATO's Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD) has endorsed a two-track approach to developing an airborne ground surveillance capability for the alliance. One group of five nations, including the U.S., will push ahead with studies based around the Radar Technology Insertion Program for U.S. Air Force Joint-STARS aircraft. Another group, which includes France, Germany and Italy, will pursue Sostar, an outgrowth of the Horizon and Creso programs.
The U.S. Air Force has identified 10 fixes to its prototype Lockheed Martin Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM) after the missile failed to deploy its wings and tail in its first flight test on Apr. 8. A safety device intended to ensure that control surfaces don't deploy while still on the aircraft detected a current after the weapon was dropped and blocked the wing and tail deployment.
Techstar-Demo Systems of Moorpark, Calif., plans to launch at next month's Paris air show a smaller version of its Portable Maintenance Access Terminal. Called the PMAT2000, the unit is a lighter, more capable, hand-held version of the Techstar-Demo PMAT used on Boeing 777 transports. The PMAT2000 is designed for ground-support use only and hosts digital maintenance documentation as well as performing Arinc 615 data loading functions. It also can interrogate on-board maintenance systems for fault information. The PMAT2000 has a 14-in. full-color screen, weighs 7 lb.
A preliminary study of head-up display performance under conditions simulating a smoke-filled cockpit indicates HUDs usually can be viewed by flight crews far longer than panel-mounted electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS).
U.S. Army Gen. Henry H. Shelton was nominated by President Clinton last week for a second two-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and was described as ``critical to our efforts in Kosovo.'' While the Senate must confirm Shelton, there is expected to be no congressional opposition.
Jim McCann has been appointed product manager for airborne video imaging systems and Carl De Bruine director of engineering of Securaplane Technologies, Tucson, Ariz. McCann held a similar position at Sextant In-Flight Systems. De Bruine was systems and display department manager for BFGoodrich Avionics Systems.
Bell Boeing delivered the first production MV-22A to the U.S. Marine Corps on May 14. The aircraft is the first of 11 MV-22As scheduled to be assigned to pilot training with VMMT-204 at MCAS New River, N.C., beginning this summer.
GE Engine Services won a $35-million, 10-year contract to maintain, overhaul and repair the Pratt&Whitney JT9-7 engines on PeaceAir's fleet of five Boeing 747-200 aircraft. The work is to be performed at the GE Aircraft Engines facility in Nantgarw, Wales.
The growing debate within NATO about using ground forces in the war against Yugoslavia may represent the best chance for U.S. Army AH-64 Apaches to see combat, as the fear of Serb air defenses has kept the attack helicopters out of action.
AlliedSignal Aerospace forecasts 7% revenue growth this year, up from the $7.5 billion the AlliedSignal Corp. group made in 1998. Sales of aftermarket services, which are increasing at a 15-20% annual rate, will be responsible for part of the increase, according to Robert D. Johnson, president and CEO. Aftermarket services account for about 50% of the Phoenix-based division's business. Safety avionics, such as the Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System, also are selling well and represented about $1 billion of group revenues last year.
The Space-Based Laser the Air Force wants to develop to zap ballistic missiles may be able to destroy the missile launchers as well, a new Defense Science Board study says. ``At some wavelengths, the SBL may be able to also target low-altitude aircraft as well as thin-skinned structures and vehicles on the ground,'' the board writes. Other missions the satellites might take on are laser-designation for precision guided bombs and attacking satellites in lower orbits.
The 47 member governments of Eutelsat have given final approval to a privatization package that will spin off the organization's commercial activities into a new company by mid-2000. The move is part of a worldwide trend that has already spawned a number of public satellite spinoffs, including NewSky Satellite NV (Intelsat) and ICO Global Communications (Inmarsat).
Airtours has made a rival bid for First Choice, threatening to upset a takeover deal with Kuoni of Switzerland (AW&ST Apr. 26, p. 21). First Choice is the U.K.'s No. 4 travel company, after Thomson/Britannia, Airtours and Thomas Cook/Carlson. First Choice management made a recommendation against the offer, saying the European Commission was unlikely to approve it, but Airtours said it had already secured control of 44.65% of First Choice shares. An EC decision is expected to take at least one month.
