The ``Asian flu'' has spread to Portland (Ore.) International Airport. Delta Air Lines discontinued service between Boston and Portland last month, concurrent with its suspension of service between Portland and Seoul, South Korea, due to Korea's faltering economy and devaluation of its currency. The Boston flight connected to the Seoul service. Delta previously announced it would delay the start of Portland-Osaka flights until the Japanese economy improves.
The U.S. Air Force has stopped work on the Discoverer-2 space-based radar program in response to a bid protest from Northrop Grumman. The company, one of four losers in the competition, has challenged USAF's selection process with the General Accounting Office. The protest will delay the program at least several weeks.
Boeing Co. has signed a $5-million contract with Spacehab Inc. for the use of its integrated cargo carrier to support Boeing's role in assembling the International Space Station.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines late last month ordered an additional four 747-400 Combi and five Boeing 737-800 transports in a deal valued at about $1.2 billion, including spares.
Pentagon cost-cutting during the last decade, which virtually eliminated ``Red-air'' adversary units, is having a serious impact on Navy air combat training. Recent attempts to resurrect dedicated adversary squadrons and equip them with tactical aircraft sufficiently different from those flown by U.S. pilots have been frustrated by chronic funding shortages.
A subsidiary of the Kansai International Airport Corp. (KAIC) has applied for a permit to begin a 1.14-trillion-yen Phase 2 expansion of the airport that includes construction of a second runway, new passenger and cargo terminals. The $11.6-billion project is part of the original airport plan and is to be completed in 2007. The second runway is to be 4,000 meters (13,123 ft.) long.
Virgin Atlantic is expanding in the U.S., with plans for a new daily London-Chicago O'Hare service starting in August and the addition of a fifth flight to New York on June 9, which will operate six times a week between Heathrow and JFK International airports. Virgin also plans to inaugurate a new, twice-weekly service to Shanghai from London Heathrow on May 22--following the U.K. Transport Minister's rejection of an appeal by British Airways, which also sought to operate the route.
Dassault Aviation will soon complete a wide-ranging in-house restructuring meant to increase the company's competitiveness, facilitate agreements with partners and, in the longer term, float additional shares in France or in the U.S.
China Southern Airlines said it will invest $250 million in pilot training facilities at the Western Australia Flying College in Perth over the next 20 years. The college was founded in 1993 as a joint venture between the airline and Barney Fernandez, its director. China Southern holds a 65% interest. More than 300 graduates have completed their 18-month ab initio training at the center since it opened. After graduation, they take advanced training at China Southern's Flight Training Center in Zhuhai, China.
SANDERS FIBER-OPTIC TOWED DECOY (FOTD) WILL SOON be available in a high-altitude version for the U-2 aircraft. Recent test flights from the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, Calif., showed the special high-altitude fins gave a mass model of the FOTD stable flight at altitudes up to 68,000 ft. For the test, the FOTD was mounted in the GPS pod of a test aircraft, while a two-seat U-2 trainer flew chase. The FOTD is the off-board component of the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures (IDECM) Radio Frequency Countermeasures (RFCM) program.
NASA's request for an annual $10-million aviation safety budget increase over 5 years specifically to spur synthetic vision technology development is considered a breakthrough by graphic-display advocates. Concerted efforts by the Allied Pilots Assn. and American Airlines First Officer Phil Brooks elevated NASA, FAA and industry awareness of the significant safety benefits that ``highway-in-the-sky'' cockpit displays--when combined with digital terrain databases--could bring to air transports.
The FAA is examining an apparent ``pilot deviation'' that caused two U.S. Marine Corps F/A-18s and a United Express Jetstream 41 to pass 300 ft. vertically and 1 mi. horizontally apart near Washington Dulles International Airport. on Feb. 25.
Pratt&Whitney has acquired a used Boeing 720 to conduct flight tests of its PW6000 engine, which is planned to power the Airbus A318 transport. Schedules call for the 16,000-20,000-lb.-thrust PW6000 to begin ground tests in July, with about 100 hr. of flight tests to follow starting in February 2000. The 720 and engine flight test program will be based in Plattsburgh, N.Y.
Thomas Mutryn has been appointed to the board of directors of Galileo International Inc., Rosemont, Ill. He is senior vice president-finance/chief financial officer of US Airways.
William R. Sumser, vice president-finance of AirNet Systems Inc., Columbus, Ohio, has been named acting chief financial officer. He succeeds Eric P. Roy, who has resigned.
The Fastrac engine for NASA's X-34 test vehicle completed its first full-up hot-fire test on Mar. 2. During the 5-sec. test at NASA's Stennis Space Center, the 60,000-lb.-thrust liquid oxygen/kerosene engine reached full thrust and safely shut down. A second, 20-sec. test was slated for late last week, after which the engine was to be dismantled for inspection. Rollout of the Orbital Sciences Corp.-built X-34 is slated for late next month.
Jeannine M. Davis has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president/general counsel/secretary of the CTS Corp., Elkhart, Ind. Philip G. Semprevio and George Harding have been named group vice presidents and Todd Rumsey director of information systems. Semprevio was president of the Justrite Manufacturing Co. Harding was vice president/general manager and Rumsey management information systems manager, both of CTS Microelectronics.
Approach and landing accidents and controlled flight into terrain are ``two killers that remain at large'' as the primary types of fatal airline crashes worldwide and are the foremost challenges to improving commercial aviation safety, according to a report issued by the Flight Safety Foundation.
The U.S. Navy's elite Top Gun advanced fighter training school no longer exists as a separate command, but its culture is very much alive and integral to the Naval Strike and Air Warfare Center. The same training intensity and standards of excellence have been retained, but Top Gun has broadened its outlook somewhat since becoming a part of NSAWC.
Louis J. Giuliano has been appointed president/chief operating officer, Heidi Kunz executive vice president/chief financial officer and Richard J. Labrecque executive vice president, all of ITT Industries, White Plains, N.Y. Giuliano was senior vice president of ITT Industries and president/CEO of ITT Defense and Electronics, McLean, Va. He has been succeeded by Marvin Sambur, who was president/general manager of ITT Aerospace/Communications. Kunz was senior vice president/CFO and Labrecque corporate senior vice president and president/CEO of ITT Fluid Technology.
The European Space Agency, Aerospatiale and other partners plan to complete by year-end an in-depth review of the Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator. Aerospatiale's suborbital ARD, which was launched on Oct. 21, 1998, by an Ariane 5, provided atmospheric reentry data crucial to Europe's envisioned plan to develop reusable launch vehicles (AW&ST Mar. 1, p. 31).
DAIMLERCHRYSLER DORNIER HAS BEGUN flight testing of an upgraded CL 289 reconnaissance drone fitted with a GPS navigation system. The modernization effort, contracted by the German government, also includes a modified on-board computer and new software. The development and test program is expected to be completed in 16 months. Jointly developed by Canada, France and Germany, the CL 289 has been in service with the German and French armies since 1992 and is currently being used by the Bundeswehr in Bosnia and Kosovo.
AEA Technology Engineering Software has updated its CFX-5 computational fluid dynamics software. The new version can be run in parallel on several Unix or NT workstations for faster execution, has better visualization for rotating machinery and time-varying flow, and has improved techniques to generate the computational mesh. . . . The F-22 software being tested in Boeing's Avionics Integration Laboratory has 690,000 lines of code for the avionics and 210,000 lines for the fighter itself.
