Britten-Norman has secured an order for its new Defender 4000 surveillance aircraft from the U.K.'s Hampshire Police Authority, the second law enforcement agency to order the twin turboprop. Delivery is set for December, and the order includes a five-year maintenance contract. The Garda Siochana Eireann of Ireland was the launch customer.
Several airlines in Europe and one in Asia have started using the Smartgel kit for field-testing jet fuel and other petroleum-based fluids for contamination by microorganisms. ECHA Microbiology of Cardiff, Wales, developed Smartgel under a Smart grant from the Welsh government and then used a Spur award from the government to bring the product to market.
The Pentagon is scrubbing the requirements of its National Missile Defense (NMD) system in anticipation of the mid-2000 deployment go-ahead review. The scrub has just begun and has focused so far on adding greater detail to existing requirements, not major changes to the requirements themselves, Costello said. A major milestone is drawing near with the first intercept attempt slated for Aug. 13--slightly later than planned because of the addition of ground testing.
Comair Aviation Academy in Sanford, Fla., is offering graduates of University Aviation Assn. (UAA) institutions free attendance at Comair's one-day Airline First Officer Pilot prescreening program. To qualify, a candidate must have graduated from a two- or four-year UAA-member school and logged 1,200 hr., including 200 hr. in multiengine airplanes. Comair is owned and operated by Delta Connection carrier Comair Airlines, which is providing transportation to either the Cincinnati or Orlando prescreening locations.
Sir Roy McNulty, chairman of Shorts Brothers PLC, has been appointed to the board of the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) as chairman of the National Air Traffic Services Ltd. Sir Malcolm Field has been reappointed as CAA chairman.
Thomas H. Davis, founder and retired chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Piedmont Airlines, died Apr. 22 in Winston-Salem, N. C., after a long illness. He was 81. Davis, who learned to fly at age 16 in the mid-1920s, began his career in 1939 as sales manager for Camel City Flying Service, a distributor for Piper and Stinson aircraft. In 1940, he changed the flying service into Piedmont Aviation, which made its first commercial flight in February 1948.
Seven of the U.S. aerospace industry's fastest growing small and microcap suppliers recently were assembled by Aviation Week&Space Technology as part of an executive finance symposium held near Wall Street.As expected, acquisitions will drive much of their future growth. More notable was the volume of potential deals on hold because valuations of target companies are considered too rich. As Ducommun Inc. President and CEO Joseph C. Berenato put it, ``We aren't willing to grow our top line at any price.''
Germany has sent a battery of unmanned reconnaissance aircraft to Macedonia to further beef up its commitment to NATO's air war against Yugoslavia. An army unit equipped with 18 Bombardier CL-289 drones is flying missions out of Tetovo, Macedonia. Germany has seven batteries of the Canadian-built UAVs, which usually have 16 aircraft each. But for this operational deployment the defense ministry decided to augment the unit with two additional aircraft, said a German military official.
BOEING HAS SELECTED ROCKWELL COLLINS ADVANCED Flight Deck Display System for the extended-range version of the 767, the -400ER. The flight deck is designed to have a common look with 777 and next-generation 737 models, and will use six 8 X 8-in. active matrix liquid crystal displays (AMLCDs) rather than the smaller CRT displays Collins used in older aircraft.
Sikorsky Aircraft has rolled out the first improved Pave Hawk helicopter designated the HH-60G Upgraded Communication/Navigation/Integrated Electronic Warfare (UNC/IEW) aircraft. The helicopter features an enhanced communication/navigation system integrated onto a Mil-Std-1553 data bus as well as an integrated electronic warfare suite. The Air Force plans to convert 49 of its 105 Pave Hawks, which are used for downed-pilot search-and-rescue, to the new configuration using retrofit kits.
U.K.-based Curtiss&Co. and Xavian Ltd. jointly concluded a $100-million contract with Aeronavali, a Finmeccania subsidiary, to convert 11 DC-10-30s into all-cargo configuration. The trijets will be operated by an undisclosed airline.
Northrop Grumman will build 22 E-2C Hawkeye 2000 airborne early warning and control aircraft for the U.S. Navy, under a $1.3-billion, five-year contract awarded last week. This includes one E-2C for France. The next-generation Hawkeyes are equipped with upgraded mission computers and workstations. First deliveries to the Navy are scheduled for October 2001. France will receive its E-2C in 2003, according to the company.
A water-collecting device for airport Jet A fuel tanks has been developed and is in service at the Huntsville (Ala.) International Airport. Called WaterMagnet, the lightweight device is weighted and lowered to the bottom of a tank on a tether. It contains polymer hydrophilic fibers that attract and absorb water while repelling fuel, according to Curtis Hughes, general manager of Flat Rock, Ala.-based AquaSorb Products.
Rich Schuller (see photo) has founded Schuller Aerospace Services International, Scottsdale, Ariz. He was business development director of Standard Aero Alliance.
Frederick A. Tarantino has been appointed a vice president of Bechtel National Inc. of San Francisco. He has been operations manager for the company's space and defense projects.
The U. S. Air Force has halted, at least temporarily, public performances of the USAF Thunderbird F-16 flight demonstration team in the wake of an incident where two of the Thunderbird aircraft bumped each other shortly after takeoff. The incident occurred during an airshow performance at Patrick AFB, Fla., on Apr. 25. Both pilots landed safely and damage was confined to scraped paint. The mishap occurred during the ``diamond takeoff'' maneuver by four members of the team. Shortly after liftoff, the No. 4 aircraft is to maneuver under the No.
Prescient Technologies' DesignQA program works with the Catia and Pro/Engineer design programs to check for modeling errors and deviations from corporate standards. For example, creating a new feature may inadvertently hide an existing feature, which may go unnoticed without a program like DesignQA. It also assesses the importance of the flaws and suggests corrective action. The new DesignQA version 2.3 for Catia records the types of errors made and reports them to management.
Photograph: The International Terminal at San Francisco, depicted in a computer-generated image, will meet a higher earthquake standard than any other U.S. airport. A wet winter and spring in 1998 brought plenty to think about in San Francisco, where the weather phenomenon called El Nino was blamed for extended flight delays. San Francisco International Airport (SFO) was already well along on a $2.5-billion landside improvement program from its 1989 master plan.
Rockwell Collins has received a $50-million order from the U.S. Air Force for avionics equipment to be used in the Pacer CRAG program, for retrofit of 550 KC-135 tanker aircraft.
Cessna Aircraft Co.'s derivative Citation CJ2 made its first flight Apr. 27 in Wichita, Kan. FAA certification is planned for early in 2000, with initial deliveries beginning in 2001.
U.S. airlines shifted out of the pattern of lackluster passenger traffic growth in March, recording a 4.6 percent increase over traffic of March a year ago. The traffic growth rate was the highest since April of 1998. Capacity rose 3.6 percent, a high since April 1997, and the system-wide load factor reached 73.2 percent, according to the Air Transport Assn.
