James Doubek has been named general manager of signal processing systems for Smiths Industries in San Diego. He was director of advanced development for Boeing production programs.
Israeli defense electronics manufacturer Elbit Systems Ltd. is a company to watch as a likely buyer while consolidation among lower-tier suppliers plays out in the U.S.
Capacity among U.S. airlines is expected to increase significantly, starting in the second quarter, and sustain an aggressive rate of growth through 1999.
Ener-Tek Co. has been awarded a contract worth $3 million by the NASA Johnson Space Center to design, develop, qualify and deliver a rechargeable nickel-metal hydride battery to provide power for the experimental X-38 unmanned vehicle and Crew Return Vehicle for the International Space Station.
The 78 largest U.S. commercial airports face security reviews by the FAA during the next 6 weeks. The reviews follow audits in which investigators for the Transportation Dept. inspector general penetrated secured areas at will and gained access to aircraft at five airports. Investigators found problems cited in a 1993 audit still present today, including easy access to cargo facilities and airport and airline personnel that failed to challenge unidentified individuals in security areas or respond to alarms set off when security doors were opened.
The Boeing Co. will provide or arrange nearly $2.4 billion in financing to Trans World Airlines so the financially troubled carrier can implement its fleet modernization plan. The company expects to finance only a portion of that amount, however, since at least one third-party lender is likely to step in and shoulder part of the risk. Moreover, Boeing would be in a position to repossess any of the aircraft acquired by TWA if the airline were unable to make the payments.
Earle Marie Hanson is the new director of the Engineering Sciences and Applications Div. of the Los Alamos (N.M.) National Laboratory. She was deputy director of the Nuclear Materials and Stockpile Management Program Office.
Manned and unmanned aircraft are not the only options available to the U.S. for conducting electronic combat. Warfighters contend they still have a number of technological tricks and are awaiting only the right operational conditions for their use. ``There are plenty of programs that haven't been unveiled yet,'' said a long-time participant in the Navy's electronic warfare directorate. ``We have plans set for the use of different pieces in various parts of the world.''
The X-38 program has successfully completed its third drop test from a B-52 carrier aircraft using a prototype vehicle equipped with a fly-by-wire control system and electro-mechanical actuators to explore lifting body maneuvering. The Mar. 5 test was the first flight of the more capable X-38 prototype, called vehicle 132, in a test series at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, aimed at demonstrating aerodynamics and technology that could be used in a space station crew return vehicle (CRV).
Staff investigators are considering urging members of the National Transportation Safety Board to call for extensive modifications of Boeing 737s as a result of their probe of the September 1994 crash of a USAir 737 near Pittsburgh. Some investigators believe the aircraft's standby rudder actuator should be upgraded to a full-authority redundant system and that the one-piece rudder should be replaced with a split-panel device like those used on most other transports.
A television producer called last week seeking an Aviation Week editor to explain the various proposals for a ``passenger bill of rights'' that are afoot in Washington (see p. 24). Then he asked whether we could point him to some passengers who have had troubled journeys. Just go out on the street and grab somebody, we advised. Anyone who has flown very much at all in the U.S. has likely felt abused, refused or misused--perhaps repeatedly.
The Pentagon is assessing whether it wants to join Israel in expanding its Boost-Phase Intercept (BPI) missile defense program. Israel is working on a high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle that would fire a high-speed missile to intercept a ballistic missile immediately after launch. Washington supports BPI development as part of the Wye River Agreement, and now the system's role may be expanded to attack the mobile launcher as well as the ballistic missile itself, said Air Force Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles, BMDO director.
Hong Kong's Cathay Pacific Airways has posted its first loss in 36 years--nearly $71 million--underscoring the effect that Asia's recession has had on normally robust economies. For the 12 months ending Dec. 31, the airline recorded a net loss of HK$542 million ($70 million) compared to a net profit of $216.4 million in 1997 and $492 million in 1996. Cathay's 1998 revenue sank 12.9 % to $3.47 billion.
The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority and France's Chateauroux airport plan to jointly promote all-cargo traffic between Washington Dulles International Airport and Europe. In addition, MWAA and French regional authorities expect that the bilateral partnership, which was signed earlier this month, will gradually evolve into a global network of cargo-oriented airports.
Former FAA Administrator Langhorne Bond is scheduled to receive the 1999 Glen A. Gilbert Memorial Award from the Arlington, Va.-based Air Traffic Control Assn. The award honors lifelong achievements in aviation with a concentration on ATC.
Robert G. Loewy, chairman of the School of Aerospace Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, presented the 1999 Dryden Lectureship in Research at the 37th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics' meeting and exhibit. His topic was ``Avionics: A `New' Senior Partner in Aeronautics.''
A committee set to defend the rights of Swissair Flight 111's Swiss and French victims was formed last week in Geneva. It includes lawyers, officials of France's Justice, Transport and Foreign Affairs ministries as well as representatives of insurance companies. The committee's primary goal is ``to talk on equal footing with Swissair's management and insurers.'' The New York-Geneva Flight 111 crashed in the Atlantic Ocean on Sept. 2, 1998, killing all 229 passengers and crewmembers on board.
British Airways has acquired an Airbus A320 full-flight simulator from Thomson Training and Simulation. It will be delivered in September to the carrier's flight training department, which is near London Heathrow Airport.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics is exploring the possibility of ferrying its Atlas III and Atlas V boosters from Denver to East and West Coast U.S. launch sites on Antonov An-124 transports. The new rockets--to be powered by Russian-derived RD-180 engines--normally would be flown on Air Force C-5s. However, as the number of commercial launches grows in the next few years, the company wants a backup capability to ensure schedules are not threatened by C-5 availability. Flights would be acquired on an as-needed basis from companies that market the huge An-124's cargo services.
Charles Chambers has become senior vice president of Global Aviation Associates of Washington. He was a staff member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation.
With the decision to buy more Block 50 F-16s, Air Force leaders are considering a new powerplant competition between Pratt&Whitney and the current Block 50 engine supplier, General Electric. The service already plans to buy 30 new aircraft and has requirements for 20 more. If the Joint Strike Fighter project were delayed for more than a year, at least 100 new F-16s will be needed to fill gaps in force structure. Acquisition officials say purchase of such a large number of aircraft would benefit from renewed competition.
ASA Holdings Inc., the parent of Atlantic Southeast Airlines, has hired Morgan Stanley Dean Witter to identify alternatives for the company and its shareholders to the proposed buyout of the carrier by Delta Air Lines. ASA is a regional affiliate of Delta. In a related development, two ASA Holdings shareholders filed suit in Georgia last week to block Delta's acquisition of the 72% of ASA stock it does not already own.
Ground vibration testing for the Orbital Sciences Corp. L-1011 carrier aircraft and X-34 structural test article (shown in photo) is getting underway at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center. The series will include testing of the X-34 and the L-1011 alone and also when the two vehicles are mated. Dryden is also scheduled to conduct up to seven captive-carry missions with the X-34 test article in order to achieve FAA recertification of the L-1011 in May.
Frank Perna, Jr., has been appointed chairman/CEO of the MacNeal-Schwendler Corp. of Los Angeles. He succeeds George Riordan as chairman and Thomas Curry as CEO. Perna was chairman/CEO of the EOS Corp.
