Galaxy Aerospace Corp. officials expect to obtain Israeli and FAA certification of the Galaxy business jet late this month, with initial customer deliveries scheduled to begin in the second quarter of 1999. ``We expect soon to have the world's only certified and available super mid-size jet,'' said Brian E. Barents, Galaxy president and CEO. He said the one-year, compressed certification program is in its final stages, and pilots from the FAA and Israel's Civil Aviation Authority have completed validation flights in the aircraft.
British charter/tour operator Airtours last week successfully issued a 250-million pound ($415-million) convertible bond to be used to finance future expansion, particularly in fragmented holiday travel markets such as the U.S. and France which have yet to feel the winds of consolidation blowing through the industry (AW&ST Nov. 23, p. 36). Airtours has spent more than $350 million on acquisitions this year, chiefly in the U.K. It recently took over German tour operator Frosh Touristik--thumbing its nose in the process at U.K.
Alain F. Maca (see photo) has become Terminal 4 operations director for International Air Terminal LLC at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. He was North American customer services director for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines.
Marshall H. Kaplan has become CEO of Computational Technologies Inc., Santa Clara, Calif. He has been on the board of directors and an executive consultant. Kaplan has succeeded company founder David M. Russell.
The T-7 primary trainer program may be an early victim of the on-going bribery scandal that has engulfed Fuji Heavy Industries (AW&ST Dec. 7, p. 84). The air force is seeking $4.76 million in fiscal 1999 funding for the T-7 program after selecting Fuji to build the T-7 last summer as a replacement for the T-3. But if the Japanese Defense Agency (JDA) implements a total business ban on FHI because it used bribery to gain a subcontract on the ShinMaywa US-1A amphibian upgrade program, then the T-7 program could be suspended indefinitely.
Marc C. Johansen, manager of military space requirements at Hughes Space and Communications Co., El Segundo, Calif., and former assistant deputy undersecretary of Defense for space acquisition and management, has received the Lloyd V. Berkner Award from the American Astronautical Society. The retired Air Force colonel was cited for leadership in the Pentagon and on the White House staff for developing policy that encouraged establishment of a viable U.S. commercial space transportation industry.
Gamco and Bahrain have signed an agreement, enabling the aircraft maintenance company to establish an opera- tion at Bahrain International Airport. Gamco also will enter a joint venture with Bahrain Airport Services.
TEAMS HEADED BY HONEYWELL AND RAYTHEON E-SYSTEMS have agreed in principle to fund the development of Local Area Augmentation Systems (LAAS) to meet FAA requirements for Category-1 precision approaches which can be certified for public use. In asking industry to fund the development with corporate funds, the FAA agreed to certify Cat. 1 promptly, to give the developers an incentive for significant export sales. (AW&ST June 1, p. 47). The agency hopes to certify LAAS for Cat. 1 public use within 2 years. The Cat. 1 LAAS design is to be upgradable to meet Cat.
The U.S. Air Force has resumed taking deliveries of F-16s to help meet force requirements of active-duty and Air National Guard squadrons. Sixteen fighters are scheduled to be delivered through the second quarter of 2001, according to an official of Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems (LMTAS) in Fort Worth. He said additional aircraft--configured for suppression of enemy air defenses--probably will be needed to equip 10 Air Expeditionary Force units that are to begin operations in January 2000.
Clayton M. Jones (see photo) has been appointed president of Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a corporate senior vice president of the Rockwell International Corp., Costa Mesa, Calif. He succeeds John D. Cosgrove, who will retire on Jan. 1. Jones has been executive vice president.
Air Force planners expect some Joint Strike Fighters to be capable of delivering nuclear weapons, a new Defense Science Board report states. The multirole fighters would be used for tactical nuclear warfare, not strategic missions. The board, headed by former Chief of Staff Larry Welch, recommends that USAF develop a decades-long plan to sustain its nuclear bomber force.
Far from stabilizing, the Asia-Pacific region is headed for more turmoil as 14 carriers seek various levels of outside investment, according to a report from the Sydney-based Center of Asia Pacific Aviation. Director Peter Harbison casts a bearish shadow on the more optimistic views expressed last month at the annual meeting of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines (AW&ST Dec. 7, p. 31). Rather than achieving stability, Harbison forecasts that national markets will experience flat or negative growth for carriers and weak yields.
LOCKHEED MARTIN FEDERAL SYSTEMS INTENDS TO CONVERT a commercial-grade digital signal processor (DSP) into a radiation-hardened and space-qualified product. The DSP is an IXD7232 VME board from Ixthos of Leesburg, Va. Several hundred of the boards are now in use in military and commercial applications. After modifying the design, Lockheed Martin will manufacture the board. Lockheed Martin recently successfully completed radiation testing of a new DSP chip-- RH21-020--a radiation-hardened copy of Analog Devices AD21020 processor.
Geoffrey A. Whiting (see photo) has been named director of maritime systems in the Information Dominance Systems Div. of Lockheed Martin Sanders, Nashua, N.H. He was manager of advanced programs in the Business Development Div.
Frayed wires found during heavy maintenance on MD-11s prompted the FAA last week to issue an airworthiness directive ordering operators of that aircraft type to inspect wiring above the forward passenger doors. The Dec. 9 order requires operators to check the aircraft within 10 days for nicked, frayed or chafed wiring above the left and right forward passenger doors, to repair or replace damaged wires and to report the results to the FAA within 10 days of the inspection.
The first International Space Station assembly mission and the subsequent control and management of ISS operations bring NASA into largely uncharted territory, said Frank Culbertson, deputy station program manager for operations. ``We have conducted a readiness assessment of the entire agency--because this is a significant change in how we are doing business--moving from the shuttle era into the international station era,'' Culbertson said.
Charles Edwards, chairman of Kiwi International Airlines, will also be CEO, and Jimmie Player, who is chief administrative officer, will also be president, succeeding Jerry Murphy, who has resigned.
The French government has engineered a compromise between four major aerospace companies that will considerably restructure France's avionics, space and missile sectors. The agreement resolves an acrimonious dispute that could have impeded European defense/aerospace industry consolidation.
Malaysia Airlines Executive Chairman Tajudin Ramli has denied he is selling his controlling stake in the national carrier after it announced a loss of $122 million for the last six months. The airline attributed the red ink--which came despite a 7.4% increase in revenue--to foreign exchange losses, heavier borrowing and sluggish regional traffic. MAS Executive Vice President Bashir Ahmad said the airline is trimming some routes but is expanding services to the U.S. and Australia, whose economy is thus far withstanding the Asian economic crisis.
Canada's National Research Council is collaborating with Bell Helicopter and U.K. company Stewart Hughes to develop a ``carefree handling'' helicopter. The first phase of the project will evaluate the effectiveness of various handling control and warning systems. The goal is to provide tactile feedback of available power margin through the helicopter's collective control which will increase safety and flight envelope utilization. A second phase calls for construction of a prototype and initial testing, according to Robert Erdos, NRC experimental test pilot.
The European meteorological organization Eumetsat and French space agency CNES have awarded Alcatel a FF1-billion ($180-million) contract to develop and build Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometers for the three spacecraft of the Metop polar satellite system. The devices will be used to record temperature and water vapor profiles in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, enabling chemical components such as ozone, carbon dioxide and methane to be quantified with greater precision. The first Metop satellite is to be launched in mid-2003.
Paul Welsh (see photo) has been appointed commercial segment program sales manager for Analytical Graphics Inc., Malvern, Pa. He was a program manager at the Lockheed Martin Corp.
