Michel Baril has become executive vice president-operations and Kerry Stirton vice president-strategic planning and business development for Bombardier Aerospace. Baril was president of the company's Mass Transit Div. and Stirton senior vice president of the Louis Dreyfus Corp.
Airline officials were cautious about blasting one new, aviation-related fee in the Clinton Administration's Fiscal 2000 budget proposal. The airline trade group did not criticize, at least initially, the call for $10 million in fees to pay for NTSB investigations of commercial aviation accidents. Air Transport Assn. officials late last week were weighing the wisdom of fighting a fee aimed at covering costs now borne in part by local governments in areas where crashes occur. The collected money would form a reserve fund if not spent in a given fiscal year.
Boeing's ``Part'' Web site on the Internet now accounts for more than half of all transactions received by the company's spare parts organization. The 24-hr., password-protected page is used by airlines to both order parts as well as specify and track their shipment. In 1998 the Part site handled 1.6 million transactions, more than double the year before, the company said.
The Teledyne Ryan Global Hawk reconnaissance drone last month used a Ku-band commercial satellite to relay imagery from its synthetic aperture radar and electro-optical and infrared sensors at a 30-megabit/sec. rate. The Jan. 22 flight was the first operation of the sensors with the link and marked the 10th Global Hawk flight. The drone was also connected by UHF satellite and a line-of-sight common data link from its Edwards AFB, Calif., operating area to Teledyne Ryan's San Diego headquarters.
Aviation Week&Space Technology presents its 42nd annual Aerospace Laurels selections, honoring individuals and teams who made substantial contributions to the global field of aerospace in 1998. Honorees were nominated by Aviation Week editors in the categories of Commercial Air Transport, Aeronautics/Propulsion, Government/Military, Space, Electronics and Operations. COMMERCIAL AIR TRANSPORT
Boeing's Phantom Works is conducting trials with a new Dynamic Battlefield Management testbed to build expertise in the structuring and command of an integrated air, space, land and sea force in future fast-paced, information-rich war environments.
Cessna's Citation Excel combines the economy and mission flexibility of a small, lightweight entry-level business jet with the stand-up cabin and performance of a larger and heavier midsize aircraft.
UNIVERSITY OF ROCHESTER RESEARCHERS have created a polymer solution that grows itself into thin films of optical devices called photonic crystals, which selectively filter certain wavelengths of light. Potential applications include optical data storage, telecommunications and optical processing. Molecules in solution first form hollow spheres, then billions of them come together in a precise and ordered self-assembly to form a thin film. Seen microscopically, it is a 3D structure similar to a honeycomb, but made up of spheres rather than cylinders.
When I was 10 or 12, I told my parents I did not want to go to college and instead wanted to be a beachcomber. They wisely countered that I could be a beachcomber, but that an education would provide me with flexibility to choose different vocations after I tired of walking the beaches. I did get an education, and instead became a pilot and a journalist, although I am sure some would say there is some correlation with my earlier desires.
Regulators on both sides of the Atlantic are having second thoughts about airline alliances, both the globe-girding international type and the domestic variety that is linking operations of U.S. major carriers. The safety aspects of airline alliances also have come under review.
James R. Wilson, chairman/CEO of Cordant Technologies, has been elected chairman of the board of governors of the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Assn. Other top officers for 1999 will be: vice chairman, Daniel P. Burnham, president/CEO of the Raytheon Co.; AIA president/CEO, John W. Douglass; and secretary-treasurer, George F. Copsey.
AlliedSignal Aerospace has upgraded its enhanced ground proximity warning system (EGPWS) display to show water and obstacles and has added a GPS-based geometric altitude function.
The reconstructed wreckage of Trans World Airlines Flight 800 would become the centerpiece of an international accident-investigation training center in the Northeast U.S. under a plan being developed by senior National Transportation Safety Board officials. NTSB Chairman Jim Hall and his managing director, Peter Goelz, are in talks with colleges in Virginia, Maryland and New York that have indicated an interest in hosting the center, according to safety board officials.
A pilot encountering smoke in the cockpit so thick he cannot see his instruments may be able to utilize a relatively simple and cheap device which could give him a clear view.
Cynthia Otis Brown (see photo) has been appointed executive director of Washington-based Be A Pilot. She was assistant vice president/director of pricing and product analysis for Avemco.
IBM and SITA have formed a joint venture to provide total information technology solutions for airports. Under the 3-year agreement, the two companies will cooperate to offer integrated packages of products and services to airports seeking to improve operating efficiencies.
An otherwise excellent GPS study by the Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory came up short because it didn't ask all the right questions. The analyses show that GPS must be augmented to meet the FAA's National Airspace System requirements. But while the benefits of Wide and Local Area Augmentation Systems were carefully presented, what was missing were the trade-offs if ground-based navigation aids were considered as a back-up. And what if jamming, unintentional interference or ionospheric disturbances should disrupt GPS navigation?
Russia is poised to initiate 1999 space launch operations with an ambitious schedule of Proton and Soyuz heavy booster flights, but these international commercial and Russian military/civil flights are clouded with uncertainty because of Russian funding shortfalls and U.S. trade restrictions. ``Russia is still wrestling with just what kind of space program it is going to have,'' said Marcia Smith, space policy analyst for the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service.
BOEING'S MESA, ARIZ., FACILITY is using a software system developed by Boeing in Philadelphia for the Comanche helicopter, to evaluate the effectiveness of the AH-64D Apache Longbow under battlefield scenarios. The company is using it to test battle and fire management--with digital terrain data from around the world--autonomously or with a pilot in the loop. One advantage of the Advanced Tactical Combat Model software is the ease of changing threats and sensors, so that hundreds of variations can be run overnight, according to company officials.
Roger S. Miller has become senior vice president-corporate sales and marketing for Osmonics, Minnetonka, Minn. He was vice president-marketing and strategy.
L.S. (Skip) Fletcher has been named to succeed Fredric Schmitz as director of aeronautics at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Fletcher has been a regents professor at Texas A&M University and Dietz professor of mechanical engineering. Schmitz is retiring.
Details are still sketchy, but Aviation Industries of China said it is still committed to splitting itself in two. Administrative functions are to be handed over to the State Commission of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense. However, the State Council, China's cabinet, is still considering how the split will occur. One possibility is for a break along civil and military lines. AVIC controls 100 large- and medium-size businesses, 30 research institutes and seven state-funded laboratories. Products include airframes, engines, electronics and components.
The Defense Industrial Supply Center has pilot programs to test just-in-time delivery at repair depots, to reduce inventory investments, decrease maintenance cycle times and ensure on-time parts delivery. Raytheon has been awarded two contracts to provide materiel supply chain management, including development of software to predict aircraft wear rates and track procurement and delivery requirements. The contracts are for the Naval Air Depots at Cherry Point, N.C., and North Island, Calif.
With the commercial aerospace sector likely approaching a business cycle peak, there is growing concern that AlliedSignal Inc. may need to acquire a major new business to sustain its current growth rate, according to Schroders analyst Eli Lustgarten. He perceives a fundamental shift in investor attitude toward the company as a result of its recent attempt at a hostile acquisition of $5.5-billion AMP Inc.
Antonio Martinez has been named senior vice president-sales and marketing and Carlos de Uriarte senior vice president-international sales of Mexicana Airlines. Carlos Caso and Linda Mansell have been named regional sales and service directors for the U.S. East and West Coasts, respectively.
