The U.S. government has opened the door for further international sales of the AH-64D Apache fire-control radar. The Northrop Grumman/Lockheed Martin team that builds the AN/APG-78 millimeter wave radar has been granted State Dept. approval to export the system to Singapore, an industry official said. Radar sales to NATO and a few other countries had been approved earlier, but the State Dept. was reluctant to allow much wider export of the system that allows Apache attack helicopters to accurately track and target multiple targets.
Bombardier Aerospace has selected the Collins Pro Line 21 avionics package to equip its new Continental business jet that is scheduled to fly in June 2001. Transport Canada certification is tentatively set for September 2002 with initial customer deliveries to begin in December of that year.
The LaserCam 2 is a charged coupled device camera designed for beam diagnostics applications for beams as small as 100 mm. It is available in 1/2 and 1/4 video formats for pulsed or continuous-wave beam analysis over a range of 190 nanometers to 1.1 millimeters. The device's think housing design allows measurement in confined beam train spaces. An electronic shutter allows single-pulse analysis up to 10 KHz. Coherent Auburn Group, 2303 Lindbergh St., Auburn, Calif. 95602-9595.
New, remote-control video cameras located at the San Carlos, Calif., airport enable weather forecasters and controllers to better track the onset and dissipation of fog and low clouds at nearby San Francisco International Airport. Fog is a leading cause of flight delays at SFO, a major domestic and international hub. Installed by engineers from NASA's Ames Research Center, the Airport Approach Zone Camera System operates 24 hr. a day and has a 220-deg. field-of-view, with rotation, zoom and tilt capability.
SR Technics, an SAirGroup subsidiary, has signed a 15-year contract with Cathay Pacific Airways to overhaul the Hong-Kong-based carrier's CFM56-5C4 turbofan engines.
The DLCDU is an Arinc 739 display for airborne applications that combines a standard computer keyboard with an intuitive user interface and a high-speed processor. It can interface with existing Arinc 739 systems such as ACARS. The DLCDU's panel measures 4.5 in. high and 3 in. deep, allowing it to be installed even in small cockpits such as helicopters. The unit can control up to eight subsystems, provides for an optional ethernet or telephony modem and is software upgradeable. Pentar Avionics, 16770 N.E. 79th St., Suite 203, Redmond, Wash. 98052.
Satic, an Aerospatiale/DaimlerChrysler Aerospace joint subsidiary, has awarded a contract to Sogerma to assemble a fifth A300-600ST outsize cargo aircraft. It is scheduled to be delivered to Airbus Industrie in December 2000.
Brazilian carrier Transbrasil laid off about 300 workers and is seeking price concessions from suppliers as part of a restructuring. One goal for this year is to increase sales to business travelers.
Sikorsky Aircraft has expanded the S-92 Helibus certification program to include a variety of equipment options aimed at potential military and search-and-rescue customers. The helicopter manufacturer now plans to certify the aircraft with military avionics systems, such as approach-to-hover-hold, and a wide range of search-and-rescue features including a rescue hoist, sliding cabin door, Flir, Nightsun rescue lights and alternative fuel-tank configurations for greater range.
AVIDYNE CORP OF LEXINGTON, MASS., and Avrotec of Portland, Ore., will lead a team to design a ``Highway-in-the-Sky'' glass cockpit for general aviation aircraft under NASA's Agate Alliance (advanced general aviation transport experiments). NASA is looking for leadership in open system architectures and commercial-off-the-shelf components for future gen-av cockpits. The first stage focuses on a two-display system with Attitude Heading Reference, and an air data computer selling for about $30,500 is to be demonstrated in 2000.
The DT-A1 is a desktop training device for teaching, demonstrating and practicing basic use of flight instruments and navigational procedures. Designed for IBM PC-compatible desktop or laptop computers, it uses an external control box and a joystick to set radios and instruments. Radio and instrument settings may be changed during flight in the same way as in an aircraft. Diamond Aircraft Industries Inc., 1560 Crumlin Sideroad, London, Ontario, Canada N5V 1S2.
Admitting that he drank three double whiskeys and took Valium during a Jan. 15 British Airways flight from London to Bangkok, a 29-year-old man last week pleaded guilty on Feb. 16 in London to endangering the flight by attacking other passengers and smashing the first layer of a three-layer window on the 747 during cruise at 35,000 ft. The defendant suggested to magistrates that airlines consider limiting passengers' alcohol consumption on board. He is to be sentenced on Mar. 31.
Sea Launch program officials late last week were determining a new target date for the first launch of a demonstration payload at the equator. The previous target date was Mar. 14, but the combined impact of software, weather and marine system problems encountered before and during recent integrated sea trials is forcing managers to look at rescheduling the target date for later in the month.
In a confirmation of the strength of the business jet market, Gulfstream Aerospace, Bombardier and Dassault posted record results for 1998. Market leader Gulfstream booked a record 90 new aircraft orders (50 Gulfstream IV-SPs and 40 Gulfstream Vs) last year, including 12 for a fractional shares program in the Middle East. This compares with 46 new aircraft orders in 1997. The company plans to increase production to 65 new aircraft in 1999, up from last year's 60.
Boeing has delivered the aft fuselage for the fourth F-22 ``Raptor'' flight-test aircraft to program partner Lockheed Martin. Scheduled to fly next year, Aircraft 4004 will be the first F-22 with advanced avionics installed. The 5,000-lb. aft structure was delivered to Lockheed's Marietta, Ga., facility on board a Boeing C-17 transport. There it will be mated with fore- and mid-fuselage sections. In video footage recently screened by Boeing, chief F-22 test pilot C.G.
Carolyn K. Purvis, retired distinguished research associate at the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, has won the Atmospheric Sciences Award from the Reston, Va.-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Other recent honorees are: History Manuscript Award, Deborah G. Douglas, visiting historian at the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va.; Lawrence Sperry Award, Robert D. Braun, an aerospace technologist at NASA Langley; National Faculty Adviser Award, Frederick H.
American Airlines last week began a code-sharing agreement with Air Pacific of Fiji. American is listing Air Pacific's four-times-a-week 747 flights between Los Angeles and Fiji's principal international airport, Nadi. Air Pacific serves 17 cities in the Pacific Rim, including destinations in Australia, New Zealand and Japan with Boeing 737, 767 and 747 aircraft.
After ferrying U.S. National Science Foundation scientists and supplies to the icy southern continent of Antarctica and to interior research sites for more than four decades, the U.S. Navy's Antarctic Development Sqdn. 6 is hanging up its skis. The southern summer was all but over on Feb. 16, when VXE-6's last LC-130 took off from Williams Field, McMurdo, for Christchurch, New Zealand. The squadron will be disestablished on Mar. 27.
Calls for an airline passengers' ``bill of rights'' could herald battles between carriers and the FAA over who is to blame for what appears to be a rising tide of air traveler dissatisfaction. That tide seemed to crest early in January after a Midwestern snowstorm resulted in planeloads of passengers stranded in their aircraft for up to 8 hr. on taxiways and ramps at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. But air travelers were aggravated again this month when a sickout by American Airlines pilots disrupted itineraries for thousands of flights (see p. 62).
Photograph: Pointer's Aeropt tool is used for detailed aerodynamics design on aircraft wings. It can use a variety of design codes for analysis. Engineers at DaimlerChrysler Aerospace Airbus say design optimization software is playing a significant role in the development of next-generation transport aircraft. The program, called Pointer, was developed by Synaps Inc. of Atlanta.
With commercial satellites slated to return to the U.S. Munitions List and State Dept. oversight in just 3 weeks, American satellite builders are deeply concerned that the government is ill-prepared and insufficiently staffed to manage its new export regulations.
Northwest Airlines' $1.3-billion order for 54 Canadair Regional Jets will give the Midwest U.S.-based carrier a boost in the growing competition between major airlines and between airport hubs. The 54 CRJs will be Series 200LRs, with ranges of 2,300 mi., designed for use on long-haul flights to relatively small markets. The aircraft will build traffic feed to the carrier's three hubs at Minneapolis/St. Paul, Detroit and Memphis, Tenn. The CRJs will replace turboprop-powered aircraft on some services and will be deployed in new markets.
The SpectraVideo system is a high-efficiency charged coupled device/spectrograph system. It integrates 16-bit, thermoelectrically cooled front- and back-illuminated CCD with KestrelSpec data acquisition, imaging, three-dimensional display software and support for most spectrographs. Options include a hermetically sealed, ``no maintenance'' detector head, multi-head fibers, 1 in. and area detector arrays and chilled fluid or liquid nitrogen cooling. PixelVision Inc., 14964 N.W. Green Brier Parkway, Beaverton, Ore. 97006.
United Technologies Corp. has won an $18-million contract from the U.S. Air Force for 2,110 retrofit kits to update the F100PW229 engines on F-15 and F-16 aircraft.
