Lynn Hughitt has been appointed vice president-financial controls, Dave Dykstra chief investment officer for UAL benefit plans and Jeff Kawalsky assistant treasurer, all of United Airlines. Hughitt and Dykstra were assistant treasurers, and Kawalsky was director of tax and financial reporting.
The Auto Rod and Level uses an infrared laser to gather elevation profile data for airport pavements. The laser is placed on a tripod off the side of the runway. The laser's beam establishes a horizontal reference plane, while the mast of the cart is lined with photosensitive cells that detect the plane, providing an accurate measurement of the runway surface's elevation as the cart is pushed along. A data point is taken every 1 ft. Measurements are accurate to within 0.01 ft. The device can measure a 10,000-ft. runway in less than 1 hr.
Chinese carriers have made another breakthrough in their effort to team with Westerners. Qantas Airways will code-share with Shanghai's China Eastern Airlines, operating three round-trip Boeing 767-300 flights a week from Sydney to Shanghai. China Eastern will fly a like number of Airbus A340 flights from Beijing and Shanghai to Sydney. Qantas now flies to Beijing via Shanghai, but under the new agreement China Eastern will carry the Qantas passengers on the domestic leg of the trip. Pending regulatory approval, the code-sharing commences Mar. 28.
A UKRAINIAN COMPANY IS SEEKING U.S. PARTNERS for a project to produce AH-140 aircraft, including their control systems. The 72-year-old company, Production Assn. Komunar, has been involved in the production of spacecraft equipment and control systems for missiles and satellites. Contact Olexandr O. Asmolov, general director, Tel. +380-(572) 47-62-40.
In the past year, the number of airlines using or signed up to use Boeing's Portable Maintenance Aid software has doubled to 95. The digital maintenance tool was introduced 3 years ago and can be loaded into a laptop computer for fast troubleshooting at the gate. PMA software allows easy access to the contents of the Aircraft Maintenance Manual, Fault Isolation Manual and Illustrated Parts Catalogue as well as other key maintenance information.
Tera Computer's four-processor multithreaded architecture computer scored the fastest time ever to perform a NASA benchmark problem--0.87 sec. versus 1.2 sec. set by a 256-processor IBM SP2. The problem was the NASA NAS Parallel Integer Sort benchmark, Version 2.3-serial, Class B, which taxes a computer's memory bandwidth and is applicable to many aerospace problems. Tera has been upgrading its two-processor computer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center to the four-processor MTA-4 configuration, which was recently accepted by SDSC.
The Stand is a collapsible magnetic blueprint and information holder for machinists, fabricators, welders and engineers. It frees up bench space, and keeps drawings clean, organized and away from spills. It comes fully assembled and offers more than 100 lb. of magnetic holding power. It can be attached magnetically to any toolbox, roller cabinet, workbench, desk or other metal surfaces, and holds from "A" to "D" sized drawings with the four magnets supplied. Adkins Innovative Enterprises, 4622 Skyline Drive, Rockford, Ill. 61107.
Aerospatiale, Alenia Aerospazio and Fairchild Dornier are attempting to forge a strategic alliance in the regional transport market. The three aircraft manufacturers, which in the last few months aggressively promoted rival twinjet concepts, now are attempting to combine Fairchild Dornier's proposed 728JET and ATR's AIRjet in an effort to give birth to a unified family of 60-90-seat commercial transports. An agreement is tentatively scheduled for the next few weeks.
Microchip Technology Inc. has developed RF identification chips with good performance for the price. Each passive chip will emit a 154-bit code when illuminated with a 13.56-MHz. signal and waste little parasitic power for a long range. They have an ``anticollision'' algorithm so multiple chips can be read in the same RF field. Uses include identifying several objects inside an unopened carton, airline baggage and parcel shipping, and work-in-process management. Cost is 30-35 cents in quantities of 10,000.
NASA Langley Research Center's new Boeing 757 Airborne Research Integrated Experiments System (Aries) touches down at Northern Michigan's K.I. Sawyer Airport to support the U.S./Canadian International Joint Winter Runway Friction Program.
The PHP-24 Personal Hydropress is designed to economically produce small aircraft parts. The unit has a cycle time of less than 30 sec., allowing a single operator to produce as many as 500 parts in an 8-hr. shift. The PHP-24 exerts 340 tons and has a forming envelope of 24 in. in diameter. It has a maximum forming block height of 3 in. Other presses in the PHP line range from a 98-ton version with a 12-in. forming diameter to a 680-ton press with a 24 X 56-in. forming area. Personal Press Inc., 948 W. 53rd N., Wichita, Kan. 67204.
The European travel market remains strong and has not been significantly hit by the Asian financial crisis, but cargo volume is threatened, according to statistics compiled by Airports Council International's (ACI) European Region. Last year, Europe's 33 main airports, which represent two-thirds of total European traffic, handled 555.5 million passengers, a healthy 6.4% increase over 1997. However, cargo volume only increased by 1% to 8.4 million metric tons. Traffic at London Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport, increased by 4.4% to 60.6 million passengers.
To educate Congress on esoteric military technologies, Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.) is leading an effort to turn some U.S. Capitol office space into a ``virtual reality hearing room'' that can be linked via wide-bandwidth data link to the Pentagon, military laboratories and technology demonstrations.
Double-crossing bureaucrats sought to help Japanese defense companies caught up in a billing and bribery scandal by lowering the amount of money they are to reimburse the government in exchange for future jobs. The complicated story emerged from records of Tokyo District Court in the case of Toyo Communication Equipment Co., which is accused of inflating bills to the Japanese Defense Agency (JDA) between 1989 and 1993.
American Airlines resumed normal flight operations last week in the wake of a job action by pilots that cost the carrier more than $150 million, enraged hundreds of thousands of stranded passengers, and crippled public confidence in the carrier that will be difficult to restore in the near-term.
Calgary, Alberta-based WestJet Airlines is in talks with Air Canada over a limited alliance between the carriers. WestJet officials said an exchange of any equity or ownership is not under consideration.
This customized work platform was developed for maintaining the Ericsson Eyieye radar on a Saab 340 turboprop aircraft. The extended platform, lengthened so technicians can work anywhere along the antenna without repositioning, is mounted on a standard MaxMove AB chassis that offers millimeter-level positioning accuracy. MaxMove AB, Skeppargatan 13, Box 4061, S-904 03, Umea, Sweden.
Weak revenue trends already had led some market professionals to lower their first-quarter earnings estimates for AMR Corp. by the time American Airlines pilots decided to stage a sickout, starting Feb. 7. In the days ahead, analysts will get a much better handle on just how costly the illegal labor action was for the U.S.' No. 2 carrier (see p. 62). As they do, look for another round of revised downward estimates.
Jacques Rossignol (see photos) has become director-general of Arianespace. He was managing director of Snecma's SEP Div. Also named were: Jean-Max Puech vice president-strategy, Philippe Berterottiere vice president-sales and Jerome Paolini vice president-international affairs and communications.
This new line of radomes is designed for housing both CAL's AMT-50 Inmarsat satcom antenna and DBA-1150 direct broadcast antenna on either Canadair Challenger or Gulfstream business jets. The radomes are designed to be added to the top of the aircraft's vertical stabilizer. The radomes come with a supplemental type certificate and installation kit. An STC for mounting the DBS antenna is optional. CAL Corp., 1725 Woodward Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2C OP9.
Eastwind Airlines is doubling its hub operation at Greensboro, N.C., adding daily nonstop service to Boston's Logan International Airport and increasing service to Orlando, Fla.; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh, and Trenton, N.J.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command is discontinuing public tours of the Cheyenne Mountain Operations Center as of Apr. 2. There have been no specific threats against the facility, which is buried deep inside a granite mountain in Colorado, but legal and monetary restrictions do not allow Cheyenne Mountain personnel to provide an appropriate level of security to the approximately 10,000 annual visitors, according to a Norad statement. A heightened threat of global terrorism has prompted increased security measures at many U.S. military installations.
Messier Services has concluded a $5-million contract with Ansett Australia to maintain and overhaul the landing gear on the carrier's Boeing 737s and Airbus A320s.
Improved results have lessened the sense of urgency at Czech Airlines (CSA) to find a strategic partner. The state-owned carrier estimates net profits for 1998 will be 400 million crowns ($11.7 million) compared to 89 million crowns in 1997.
France-based Groupe Zodiac will acquire a 50% stake in DBC of Vancouver, British Columbia, which develops and produces emergency passenger escape systems.
