A possible deterrent for unruly passengers--AD Aerospace's FlightVu Witness system--is under test by several undisclosed U.K.-based airlines. The Manchester, England, designer and manufacturer of security/safety systems, including external systems for VIP aircraft, developed FlightVu Witness for airline cabins--the site of an increasing number of violent inflight incidences (AW&ST Dec. 21/28, 1998, p. 123). FlightVu Witness is a system of covert CCTV cameras connected to a digital video recorder.
Thomas Swift, retired chief scientific/technical adviser for fracture mechanics at the FAA Aircraft Certification Service, has received the 1998 John W. Lincoln Award for contributions to advancements in aircraft structural integrity, during the USAF Aircraft Structural Integrity Program.
TEXTRON SYSTEMS' MOBILE MICROWAVE LANDING SYSTEM has been tested in Antarctica and provided precision-approach-radar guidance to Air National Guard and Navy LC-130 aircraft landing at Williams Field, McMurdo Station. MMLS is a rapid deployment, microwave, PAR landing system, that can provide Category 2 guidance in less than an hour after arrival.
Raytheon Co. has delivered two F-16 simulators to the Royal Danish Air Force (RDAF) as part of the Mid-Life Update training program for F-16A/B pilots. The RDAF is upgrading its fleet of Block 15 fighters with new avionics suites, improved radar and weapons systems. The simulators will be used chiefly to teach a variety of advanced tactics including electronic jamming and countermeasures procedures, and air combat maneuvering. The units are portable and can operate within a typical squadron office environment, according to Raytheon.
Networks that need to carry large bandwidth for long distances--up to 75 mi.--can use Finisar's new FLX-2000 family of Gigabit Ethernet extenders. They work with single-mode fiber-optic cable and use a digital signal conditioner to retime the signal over lengthy connections to reduce jitter caused by electronic devices and the broadening of the optical wavefront. They also have a powerful laser transmitter, sensitive receiver and special optics for long range. The result is a bit error rate of less than 10-12 at 1.25 gigabit/sec. rates over a 75-mi. distance.
The Pentagon has discovered that undocumented air traffic at night deep in Colombia is much heavier than believed only a short while ago. Use of the long-range, Relocatable Over-the-Horizon Radar based in Virginia has revealed points of aircraft origin and destination ``not previously known through available intelligence sources,'' a new Pentagon report said. The radar is designed to operate at up to 2,400 naut. mi., although that level of performance is achieved only 10% of the time. However, a range of 1,800 naut. mi. has been regularly posted.
The Meyers Combina 303 is designed for highly precise application of pressure sensitive adhesives. It has a tolerance of +/-0.004 in. Applications include computer hard drive seals, sequential bar coding, die cut components and seals. Meyers Applied Components, 7277 Boone Ave. N., Minneapolis, Minn. 55428.
Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airlines and Japan Air System are combining their information and communications networks, thereby decreasing costs to each. JAL is to start sharing with ANA late this year and JAS will begin in 2001. . . .KLM Cargo has chosen IBM Global Services to replace its computer system with the PC-based Cargo WorkStation. More than 2,000 IBM PCs and Netfinity servers will be installed in the first year. Correction: Raytheon is using existing software to manage spare parts for two Defense Industrial Supply Centers (AW&ST Feb. 8, p. 17).
Dean Anderson has been appointed national director of quality control and standards and George Andrews national director of product supply for Signature Flight Support, Orlando, Fla. Anderson was global service center manager for the Raytheon Aircraft Co. and Andrews was North American manager of spares operations for Raytheon Corporate Jets. John (Cy) Farmer has been named general manager of the West Palm Beach, Fla., flight support operation. Other new general managers are: Phil Doherty in Albany, N.Y., and Delvin Fogg in Las Vegas.
The F-22 Raptor can be easily tailored for foreign sales, says J.A. (Micky) Blackwell, Lockheed Martin's aeronautics honcho. ``Take off the leading edges, screw on new ones and take off the radome. They are very special things in terms of RAM [radar absorbing materials] and the way they are composed and built.'' For the U.S. Air Force, the F-22 will be very stealthy. The radar return will be smaller than JSF's, which is that of a golf ball (AW&ST Feb. 8, p. 27).
U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command planners want to replace AFSOC's aging EC-130E Commando Solo II radio and television broadcast aircraft with larger Boeing 767-300s, rather than with Lockheed Martin C-130Js that are now being bought.
The Pentagon has deployed 12 F-117A stealth fighters to Aviano, Italy, for possible NATO air strikes against Serbian targets. NATO has threatened Serbian officials with strikes if they cause negotiations about ending the violence in the province of Kosovo to fail. The F-117s will bolster NATO forces already on 48-hr. alert in Europe. Also being deployed are 10 EA-6B jamming aircraft plus four KC-10 and 25 KC-135 tankers.
The Aviation Workstation Import Utility is designed to ease the importation of comma-delineated files from spreadsheet and database programs into Aviation Workstation, a pilot and aircraft logbook program that features more than 20 reports and charts. The new utility is free to users of Aviation Workstation and can be downloaded from http://www.aviationworkstation.com. ediSys Corp., 8333 Douglas, Suite 550, Dallas, Tex. 75225.
Trans World Airlines last week reported a net loss of $79.1 million, or $1.30 a share, for the fourth quarter of 1998. It was more than double TWA's loss in the prior year's fourth quarter. The airline also reported a loss for all of 1998 totaling $120.5 million, or $2.35 a share, on revenue of $3.26 billion, compared with a loss of $110.8 million, or $2.37 a share, in 1997. Fourth-quarter revenue dropped more than 8%, to $747 million.
Airbus Industrie has rescheduled the tentative service entry date of the A3XX until 2005, a year later than previously expected. The market will not be ready for an earlier entry into service of the proposed 455-656-seat long-range transport, according to a consortium official. ``This is not a `delay,' but our answer to the market's revised requirement. But the market still really needs such an ultra-high-capacity aircraft,'' the official told Aviation Week&Space Technology. The first A3XX would be delivered 5 years after the program is launched.
Germany will seek to lead development of Europe's first global satellite navigation system and will urge the European Space Agency to make a major commitment to the public-private partnerships that Bonn sees as essential for getting the project off the ground. Officials here hinted they might use a dispute over science funding within ESA as leverage to advance their goals for the navigation system, formerly known as GNSS-2 but recently dubbed Galileo.
Air Technical Industries designed this helicopter blade testing system. A trolley loads the blades onto an elevator that raises the blades more than 50 ft. into the air, where they are positioned on an extra-long Tandem Scissor Lift Table with a capacity of 4,000 lb., a table size of 63 X 432 in., a vertical travel of 147 in. and a total raised height of 165 in. Air Technical Industries, 7501 Clover Ave., Mentor, Ohio 44060.
The growing number of companies that have enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems is causing a boom for consulting companies that support the systems. Besides helping to implement complex ERP software, consultants can maintain the system, support the database, provide training and a help desk, provide security, control software version and configuration, perform upgrades and extend ERP within the company and outside to suppliers.
The Boeing Aerospace Support Center at the former Kelly AFB near San Antonio, Tex., has begun major programmed depot maintenance on KC-135 Stratotankers aimed at upgrading systems and extending service life of the U.S. Air Force's fleet of KC-135 refueling aircraft. The first tanker to undergo the modifications and maintenance is shown after completion of the depaint process. Similar work is being accomplished on other large military and commercial transports, including the KC-10, C-17, and conversions of passenger-configured DC-10/MD-10s to freighters.
Finnair started talks with employees late last week about temporary layoffs, as negotiations between Finnish civil aviation authorities and striking air traffic controllers failed to make any headway. The strike, which started Feb. 1 over a proposed pay package, has caused extensive flight cancellations throughout the country, which have already cost Finnair an estimated 70 million markka ($13.8 million). A government-appointed mediator hoped to resume negotiations on Feb. 23, the same day that Helsinki-Vantaa airport is set to be closed for 24 hr.
The European Commission last week confirmed that duty-free sales in the 15-member states of the European Union will be abolished on June 30. Airport authorities in the last few weeks desperately tried to delay or kill the EC's ban in an attempt to protect revenues and jobs linked to duty-free sales.
Germany's border guard agency has ordered Hellas laser radar obstacle warning systems from DaimlerChrysler Aerospace/Dornier to equip the guards` 25 Eurocopter EC 135s and EC 155s. The systems detect cables, pylons or towers in poor visibility flight conditions.
Less than a year after they pledged more aggressive and in-depth efforts to improve aviation safety, top FAA managers are cutting their staff of inspectors committed to such tasks and paring the training and travel budgets of those that remain. In a Feb. 3 letter to senior managers, FAA Administrator Jane F. Garvey noted that ``significant program reductions are being taken'' in the agency's regulation and certification, air traffic services, security, and research and acquisitions units.
Anew financing structure supported by the Export-Import Bank of the United States is expected to allow Boeing commercial aircraft to compete more favorably against Airbus jets in future sales campaigns outside the U.S.
LOT Polish Airlines has agreed to lease six Embraer ERJ-145 twinjets--the first to be ordered by an airline from Central or Eastern Europe. Two will be delivered this year and four in 2000.
