Taiwan will support China Airlines' bid to resume flights between South Korea and Taiwan that were suspended in 1992 following Seoul's recognition of China. Taiwan's Transport Ministry says it is up to China Airlines to initiate the talks with the Koreans. Currently, air services between the two countries is provided by Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific and Thai Airways International. The fact that both countries have been hit by the Asian recession is apparently behind the drive to reopen flights.
Michael E. Hicks has become acting chief financial officer of GenCorp, Fairlawn, Ohio. He has been treasurer/director of investor relations. Hicks succeeds Michael Steuert, who has resigned to become senior vice president/CFO of Litton Industries.
Jeffry Milrod has been named president/CEO of BittWare Research Systems, Concord, N.H. He succeeds James Bitt- man, who will remain chairman. Milrod was founder of Ixthos.
With the Marine Corps showcasing in Monterey, Calif., how it expects to conduct future combat in cities, U.S. Air Force planners are developing an alternative approach to urban warfare that will rely much more on aircraft equipped with new capabilities.
Boeing has consolidated the marketing of trade-in, lease return, repossessed and canceled new-build aircraft into a single sales organization that also helps promote orders for its new aircraft.
A NATO air campaign against Yugoslav air defenses would be difficult and would likely involve the loss of allied aircraft, U.S. military officials believe. NATO is again considering air strikes after Serbian officials refused to sign an agreement to grant autonomy to Kosovo. But the Yugoslav military has a very capable air defense system, says Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Michael Ryan, who commanded the air strikes in Bosnia several years ago. The Bosnia operation included the 1995 shootdown of F-16 pilot Capt. Scott O'Grady by an SA-6.
Alan H. Epstein, R.C. Maclaurin professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who was recognized for time-resolved flow and heat transfer measurements in turbomechanics, and for conception and development of smart engines and microengines; and David R. Heebner, owner of Heebner Associates, McLean, Va., for aerospace systems engineering accomplishments that have substantially improved our national security.
To aid accident investigation, Boeing has programmed a motion-base simulator here to develop crash scenarios, with the controls ``back-driven'' to match investigators' hypotheses. This Aviation Week&Space Technology editor flew through simulations of two Boeing 737 rollover accidents--the USAir Flight 427 near Pittsburgh in 1994, and the United Airlines Flight 585 at Colorado Springs, in 1991.
Boeing expects to issue a 737 service bulletin later this year to add rudder pedal force to flight data recorder parameters to better detect rudder malfunctions. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has been pushing for this parameter for more than four years.
Korean Air's efforts to improve its safety image suffered another blow last week, when a MD-83 skidded off the runway during a heavy rainstorm at Pohang injuring 13 of the 150 passengers on board. The aircraft was landing Mar. 15 at the coastal city, which is about 370 km. (230 mi.) south of Seoul. It overran the end of the runway, and after hitting a barbed wire fence, came to rest down an embankment. There were six crew on board.
Baan's Enterprise Resource Planning software is now running on a mainframe computer instead of the usual Unix server. The first mainframe installation was recently completed at The Aerostructures Corp. on an IBM S/390 parallel enterprise server. By running both the ERP and database software on the S/390, Aerostructures hopes to have programmers spend more time developing new applications and less on system maintenance. It is a 225-seat installation that will expand to 300 seats at three sites.
The European Commission's political crisis is not expected to affect the U.S.-Europe dispute on hushkitted commercial transports (AW&ST Feb. 15, p. 47). The EC's plan to ban hushkitted Stage 2 aircraft from the European Union's airports from Apr. 1, 2002, has been approved by the EC and only requires the Council of Ministers' final approval, which is tentatively scheduled for Mar. 29. In the wake of the EC commissioners' collective resignation, an attempt to negotiate a compromise with the U.S. Transportation Dept. could be delayed.
Maggie McDermott has become vice president-acquisition and upgrade marketing for DirecTV, El Segundo, Calif. She was division vice president-marketing for the Playboy Entertainment Group.
British Aerospace's program to upgrade Royal Air Force Nimrod maritime reconnaissance aircraft has fallen nearly two years behind schedule. The original April 2003 in-service date for the Nimrod MRA4 is now likely to slip to early 2005 as a result of BAe underestimating the time, management resources and systems integration engineers required for the $3.9-billion program.
Boeing's Michael Sears expects production of C-17 airlifters to grow to 180 aircraft from the current projection of 135. In Washington recently, the Boeing military aircraft and missiles honcho said the Pentagon added the latest 15 for special operations forces. Boeing hopes for a multiyear extension in production, Sears says. ``We think there are requirements out there for about 180.'' Some of these may come about if C-5 upgrades prove to be too expensive, he says.
Cincinnati Machine has received an order from Construcciones Aeronauticas (CASA) of Madrid for a seven-axis Viper 3000 fiber placement system to enable automated lay-up of large, complex geometry, composite structures.
The information warfare threat continues to mount and the Pentagon will be struggling to cope with it indefinitely, despite an array of counteractions in recent months, high-ranking defense and security officials told Congress last week. In particular, increased attention is being given to well-placed insiders who have legitimate access to Pentagon computer networks, but might be disgruntled employees or suborned by an adversary.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Thomas McInerney (Ret.) and Thomas Skelly have been appointed to the board of directors of the Signal Technology Corp., Danvers, Mass. McInerney is president/CEO of Washington-based Business Executives for National Security. Skelly is retired as senior vice president-finance/chief financial officer of the Gillette Co.
Kyle T. Alfriend, professor and head of the Aerospace Engineering Dept. at Texas A&M University, has been elected to the Washington-based National Academy of Engineering. He was cited for theoretical contributions, applied research and leadership in satellite orbital mechanics and spacecraft altitude control. Other new members are:
Aero Vodochody is betting on the L-159 advanced light combat aircraft trainer and future aerostructures work from major shareholder Boeing and other potential Western manu- facturers to link it to the global aerospace industry. The company, which will celebrate the 80th anniversary of its founding this year, has sold more than 6,000 military trainers to more than 25 countries around the world. The latest addition is Yemen, which signed a contract in late February for 12 L-39C trainers.
Bombardier Aerospace has selected Group Intertechnique to design, build and integrate fuel and electrical systems for the new Continental business jet now under development. AlliedSignal will be responsible for design and integration of its auxiliary power unit into the airplane, and the company's AS907 turbofan engines will power the twin-engine business jet. First flight is set for June 2001.
AMR Eagle Holding Corp.'s American Eagle Airlines has completed its acquisition of Business Express Airlines through a stock purchase agreement. The transaction will strengthen Eagle's position in the Northeastern U.S. market, according to Peter Bowler, American Eagle's president. Terms of the agreement include the delivery positions for 20 Embraer ERJ-135 regional jets as well as options for another 40 of the 37-seat, twin-engine transports. In addition, 41 Saab 340 turboprop aircraft leased by Business Express are being absorbed by American Eagle.
