Ozone Industries Inc., a member of the U.K.-based APPH Group, has been selected by VisionAire Corp. to supply the landing gear for its Vantage business jet.
Frederick L. Allen has been promoted to director of airline service sales from manager of turbine sales for Piedmont Hawthorne Aviation, Winston-Salem, N.C.
John F. Cassidy has been named senior vice president-science and technology of the United Technologies Corp., Hartford, Conn. He succeeds Robert Hermann, who has retired. Cassidy was vice president/director of the United Technologies Research Center.
ADP Paris airports authority and regional authorities plan to invest an estimated $727 million to establish an all-new, nonstop train service between downtown Paris and Charles de Gaulle (CDG) airport. The existing line is part of the region's rail network. The new link is scheduled to begin operating in 2004, according to an ADP official. The trains are expected to be similar in design to TGVs and would depart from Paris East station and have a 124-mph. maximum speed to cut travel time to 17 min.
Airbus Industrie plans to complete a full-scale, 237-ft.-long mockup of the A3XX-100's fuselage by late 1999--``the first-time a mockup of such dimensions will be built,'' Philippe Jarry told Aviation Week&Space Technology. He is vice president of marketing of the European consortium's Large Aircraft Div. Airbus, with no room for expansion, recently acquired and razed a soccer stadium located next to its corporate headquarters, where it will erect a building devoted exclusively to airplane modeling.
Boeing, Pratt&Whitney and General Electric have slowed research efforts aimed at developing a supersonic transport chiefly because of difficulties overcoming technical obstacles including engine noise, harmful emissions and airframe strength and weight. NASA, which has spent more than $1 billion in support of SST research, plans to commit another $400 million toward a 1-year program aimed at studying new technologies to reduce noise and weight, according to Alan Wilhite.
Octant Technologies Inc. has been awarded a $7-million contract by the U.S. Air Force Flight Test Center to implement the Micro-Satellite Integrated Software Development program, which provides research and development for software engineering, analysis, simulation, design, integration, test, launch support and on-orbit operations support for space control micro-satellites.
Michael P. Coyle (see photo) has become vice president of the Janesville (Wis.) Center of Excellence for Fuzes and Low-Cost Electronics of Alliant Techsystems' Defense Systems Group. He was manager of the group's barriers business.
This point should be clear. The American Society of Testing and Materials is not responsible for the safety of passengers on U.S. aircraft. The FAA is. That society may have neglected to fix shortcomings in flammability standards for aircraft thermal and acoustic insulation, as first reported last week in The Washington Post. But the notion that the FAA simply overlooked inadequacies of that standard strains credulity.
The two Russian cosmonauts on the Mir space station conducted a 6-hr. extravehicular activity (EVA) on Nov. 10 to install a French meteoroid collection device on the exterior of Mir to capture comet dust particles from Leonids meteoroid storm this week. While outside Mir they also hand-launched a small amateur radio satellite which is broadcasting recorded statements from schoolchildren in three languages. The crew also retrieved a number of Russian experiments that had been positioned outside earlier.
Tony Edwards has stepped down as a director of the TI Group and head of its Dowty Aerospace Div. to become head of Defense Export Services for the U.K. Ministry of Defense on Dec. 14. He will replace Sir Charles Masefield who is joining the General Electric Co. of the U.K. as vice chairman and head of marketing.
Richard W. Zurek has been named manager of the Earth and Space Sciences Div. in the Engineering and Science Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He succeeds Daniel J. McCleese, who has been named chief scientist/manager of the Office of Strategy and Science Program for JPL's Mars Exploration Directorate. Zurek will continue as project scientist for the Mars '98 mission. McCleese has been principal investigator on the Pressure Modulator Infrared Radiometer program.
Turkish Airlines has received the first six of 26 Boeing 737-800s on order, which were handed over at a ceremony at Istanbul's Ataturk airport following their delivery from Seattle. The remaining 20 are to be delivered by 2002. The carrier, which plans to retire its Avro RJ70 and RJ100 aircraft, also has options on 23 more 737-800s. If the options are exercised, the entire order will be worth $2.5 billion.
Claudio Mastracci has been appointed director of the European Space Agency's applications programs. He was senior vice president of Alenia Aerospazio's Space Div.
The FAA has certified FlightSafety International's Cat. 3 Low-Visibility Training Program for the Dassault Falcon 2000. The approval centers on use of the Flight Dynamics' head-up guidance system installed in the Level D Falcon 2000 simulator at FSI's Teterboro, N.J., facility. The program trains pilots flying HGS-equipped Falcon 2000 business jets to meet FAA standards for low-visibility operations including a 50-ft. decision height and 700-ft. runway visual range.
System Resources Corp. and Booz-Allen&Hamilton have won a $44.9-million communications, electronics and advanced technology contract for the U.S. Naval Air Warfare Center Aircraft Div. at Patuxent River, Md.
A new maintenance venture with Canadian Airlines International and expanded cooperation with Pratt&Whitney should reinforce MTU's goal of becoming the world's leading supplier of independent aero-engine maintenance services and civil engine subsystems. The first of these objectives, part of a new corporate strategy called Vision and Corporate Principles launched last year, is intended to double maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) turnover within the next 5 years, President/CEO Rainer Hertrich said.
Dennis Walden (see photo) has become Van Nuys, Calif.-based vice president/general manager of Western U.S. operations for Garrett Aviation Services. He was vice president of Marathon Coach Inc.
Meanwhile, Europe's Arianespace is ``totally convinced'' the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs) under development by Boeing and Lockheed Martin will be successful. Still, Chairman Jean-Marie Luton says Arianespace isn't about to give up its leading market share without a fight. The Air Force has committed nearly $3 billion in contracts and development funds for the new rockets, which aim to reduce U.S. launch costs by nearly 50%.
