Africa's Air Namibia has acquired a new Boeing 747-400 Combi that Boeing is remarketing for an Asian carrier. The airplane will be configured to accommodate up to 284 passengers in three classes and carry as much as 40 tons of cargo. Delivery is scheduled for October. The 747 would be used chiefly on routes from Windhoek to Frankfurt and other European destinations.
Taiwan has signed a letter of agreement to purchase three new Boeing CH-47 ``Super D'' Chinooks and procure long lead-time parts for six more. The order, being conducted under the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, should be officially completed by year-end. Delivery of the first three CH-47SDs is scheduled for 2002. The Super D has double the operational range of the Chinook D, an updated cockpit and a nose that can accommodate radar antennas.
The failed separation of a payload shroud kept the commercial world's first 1-meter-resolution Earth-imaging satellite from reaching orbit last week and raises questions about the business plan for Lockheed Martin Astronautics' Athena small launcher program. Telemetry and flight data analysis indicate that the $25-million Athena II failed to achieve sufficient velocity to place Space Imaging's Ikonos 1 satellite into orbit. The Apr. 27 launch was from Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
Charles H. Edmondson (see photos) has become executive vice president, Don Berlin vice president/general manager of marketing and product support, Frank Hummel general manager of the Research, Development and Engineering Div. and Ken Wise director of quality and reliability, all for the Universal Avionics Corp., Tucson, Ariz.
Three U.S. Air Force information warfare aircraft are flying missions daily to jam Yugoslav military communications, a task NATO planners consider so critical that the classified, closely guarded aircraft are expected to remain on patrol even if there is a ceasefire.
Details continue to emerge about the shooting down of an F-117 by Yugoslav air defenses during the first week of the Kosovo campaign. Air Force officials say they are concerned about the activities of RC-135 Rivet Joint signals intelligence aircraft and the F-16CJs specialized for attacking air defenses. The Rivet Joint apparently was not able to locate the SA-3 missile battery that shot the F-117 down and may have failed to pass on indications of Yugoslav air defense activity. ``It was a Scott O'Grady-like thing again,'' said an electronic warfare specialist.
The U.S. House of Representatives last week approved a bill that would allow satellite television systems for the first time to carry local stations, eliminating a key advantage of the cable industry. The long-sought legislation also would suspend the ``must carry'' rule for satellite TV systems until 2002, giving them time to expand capacity. Two bills with similar provisions are pending in the Senate and could be taken up later this month.
Christine Aguilera, Scott Dastrup and Mark Schneider have been appointed executive vice presidents, Robert Digan chief operating officer of the Internet subsidiary and Stephen Peterson chief financial officer, all of SkyMall Inc. of Phoenix.
Flight attendants at Midwest Express Airlines have voted for representation by the Assn. of Flight Attendants. The National Mediation Board said 204 votes were cast for the union from among the 360 employees eligible for balloting. Midwest Express' pilots are represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn.
Richard Mortimore has been named sales and marketing manager, Eric Mathieu customer service manager and Bill Clark business manager at US Airways' European headquarters in London.
There's a fundamental change underway in U.S. operations of its small force of E-8C Joint-STARS airborne radar aircraft that direct strikes against Yugoslavia. Military planners are broadening operational schemes for Operation Allied Force from supporting only the air campaign to also aiding Army ground and helicopter units now forming in Albania.
MAASTRICHT UPPER AIR CONTROL CENTRE IS USING THREE DIFFERENT air/ground data link technologies during live operations, the first air traffic services facility to do so. Aircraft operators can communicate using either prototype VDL mode 4 or FANS-1/A data links with a ground system that is compliant with the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) architecture. Simultaneous use of multiple technical infrastructures, termed ``multistack'' internationally, was implemented under the Preliminary Eurocontrol Test of Air/ground data Link, Phase II (Petal-II).
The FAA has brokered a compromise plan for its terminal air traffic system, which has gained support from unions representing both the air traffic controllers and technicians who maintain ATC systems. In exchange for the unions, support of the Raytheon Stars program, the FAA will equip five locations with the Lockheed Martin ARTS Color Display, nicknamed ``Ollie,'' that controllers had demanded.
THE NAVAL AIR SYSTEMS COMMAND PLANS TO SUBSTITUTE four AMLCDs for the CRTs used in the multifunction displays in the Marine Corps V-22. In addition to the usual savings of weight, volume and heating, the AMLCDs will cut the CRT glow which interferes with the pilot's vision outside the cockpit at night. The change is expected to save $500 million in procurement costs over the life of the program, according to the program office, which said: ``For the cost of one CRT display, we will be able to buy 10 flat panels and have change left over.''
A story last week incorrectly described the flight profile of NASA's X-34 test vehicle (AW&ST Apr. 26, p. 79). The vehicle will fly at Mach 2.5 during early powered flights.
U.S. Air Force investigators are beginning to narrow the inquiry into the $682-million failure of a Titan IVB Boeing Inertial Upper Stage to a possible separation malfunction between the IUS first and second stages during launch of a Defense Support Program missile warning satellite on Apr. 9.
Five significant launch failures over the last year are renewing military officials' concerns about the U.S. capability to access space, and whether cost-reduction efforts are inadvertently degrading launcher quality and reliability.
Aerospatiale and FiatAvio last week jointly formed Italy-based Vegaspazio to develop the European Space Agency's proposed Vega three-stage solid-propellant light booster. Arianespace would have commercial and launch responsibility for Vega set to launch 1 metric-ton (2,200 lb.) telecommunications satellites and Earth observation spacecraft into circular polar orbit. Vega, which is tentatively scheduled to be qualified in 2003, is expected to obtain go-ahead during the European space ministers' summit scheduled for mid-May in Brussels.
Jeff McClelland has been named senior vice president-controller, Neal Cohen senior vice president-treasurer and Doug Birdsall senior vice president-alliances, all of Northwest Airlines. Doug Podolak has been appointed vice president-fuel and corporate services and Dan Matthews vice president-assistant treasurer.
Tanker aircrews and technicians are the majority of 2,100 Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve personnel placed on active duty for up to 270 days. They are part of a presidential select reserve call-up to allow acceleration of operations in the Kosovo conflict.
Canada's CHC Helicopter soon could be the largest commercial helicopter operator in the world. The Saint John's, Newfoundland, Canada-based company has made a $90-million bid for the 70% of Norway's Helikopter Services Group it doesn't own or control. If the bid is successful, the joint company would have a fleet of about 375 helicopters. Helikopter Services Group, based in Stavanger, adjacent to Norway's North Sea oil fields, has annual revenues of $340 million, roughly twice those of CHC.
Heavy cloud cover and rain over Yugoslavia have forced NATO warplanners to rely on a mix of standoff air-to-ground weapons during the first few weeks of the air war, stretching U.S. reserves of some systems.
The Air Force Electronic Warfare Evaluation Simulator in Fort Worth has received High Level Architecture (HLA) compliance certification from the Defense Dept. AFEWES, which is managed by Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems, is being used for the Defense Dept.'s Joint Advanced Distributed Simulation Electronic Warfare program. The HLA protocol electronically links the AFEWES with government test facilities at Patuxent River, Md., and Albuquerque, N.M.
Funded and proposed upgrades for the C-5 Galaxy fleet should boost the aircraft's availability rates, enhance its performance, reduce its operating costs and allow the transport to fly safely in the next century's air traffic control environment. Modernization efforts now underway are centered on equipping each C-5 with a Honeywell TCAS (traffic alert and collision avoidance system) and with an upgraded cockpit avionics suite. Future plans anticipate reengining the aircraft and incorporating about 40 structural and system modifications and upgrades.
