The scandal in which the electronics manufacturer NEC inflated bills to Japan's Defense Agency has spread to the National Space Development Agency (NASDA). Tokyo prosecutors are investigating whether NASDA paid an extra 2-billion yen ($16.8 million) in 1995 for work done on the Japanese Experiment Module for the International Space Station. The investigation is covering payments to NEC for the past 5 years. The scandal has already prompted one executive to commit suicide and prosecutions have begun in the defense agency case.
Cathay Pacific Airways has received the green light from a government panel for a rescue of Philippine Airlines that is expected to see Cathay play a leading management role in PAL.
France's Alcatel has won a contract from the European Space Agency to study the use of geosynchronous mobile satellites to provide digital aeronautical data links. The study will examine possible architectures, bandwidths and cost tradeoffs for a future Satellite Data Link System to collect real-time data on aircraft position and technical operations. The study could be followed by development of a prototype system. Meanwhile, Italy's Alenia Aerospazio has begun flight trials of a broadband aeronautical communications link.
An independent consultant is advising NASA it could save a bundle with a human-rated reusable launch vehicle (RLV). Hawthorne, Krauss&Associates of Boston says replacing the shuttle with an RLV to service the International Space Station and launch payloads could cut NASA's launch costs by two-thirds, to $825 million a year, freeing up $1.6 billion annually for other space programs. The report estimated NASA would have to invest $1.75 billion to enable Lockheed Martin's planned VentureStar to carry humans.
Logicon Syscon Inc. has won a 6-year, $90-million contract from the NASA Ames Research Center to provide technical services for aeronautical simulation as well as operations, development, maintenance and modification of the simulation laboratory facilities at Ames.
Not long ago, many industry observers were questioning whether Atlas Air Inc. might be expanding its fleet of Boeing 747 cargo aircraft too rapidly. The concern was that the air-freight carrier might be taking on more capacity than it could efficiently put into revenue service, even with the growing demand for air cargo services.
Russell H. Heil and Linwood D. Lewis (see photos, p. 12) have been named senior vice presidents of AeroEquity Inc., Savannah, Ga. Heil was vice president-customer support and Lewis vice president-operations and engineering, both for American Regional Aircraft Industry Inc.
City Bird, a Brussels-based startup carrier, plans to inaugurate additional routes to the U.S. and to start all-cargo, long-haul services soon. City Bird's first aircraft was delivered in December 1996. During the first half of 1998, it carried nearly 200,000 passengers on scheduled services to destinations such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami and Orlando and operated charter flights for Belgian and French tour operators. An average 50-60% of the carrier's traffic originates from the U.S.
Former astronaut Sen. John H. Glenn, Jr., is completing his final medical post-flight science activities at the Johnson Space Center following the landing of the orbiter Discovery at the Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 7. Mission commander USAF Lt. Col. Curt Brown and copilot USAF Lt. Col. Steve Lindsey piloted Discovery through a smooth landing on Runway 33. As planned, the pilots did not use the orbiter's drag chute which ground controllers feared might have been damaged during launch. Inspection of the 1,300-lb. chute system showed no apparent damage, however.
James G. Brunke has been appointed president/general manager of Boeing Aerospace Operations, Cocoa Beach, Fla. He succeeds Frank Smith, who has retired. Brunke was Boeing program manager for privatization at McClellan AFB, Calif.
An insulation fire on a Delta Air Lines MD-11 is being investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. The fire broke out on Nov. 8 at Delta's base in Atlanta, as the aircraft was being loaded for a flight to London. The airline notified the safety board the next day, and two investigators were dispatched to examine the aircraft on Nov. 11.
The Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Deep Space 1 probe encountered several difficulties last week, going into a ``safe'' mode on Nov. 11 and only achieving 4.5 min. of ion engine thrust instead of the planned 17 hr. on Nov. 10.
Engineers and other employees at Boeing facilities in Kent, Wash., were stymied for at least two days earlier this month as two computer viruses invaded software and destroyed some files. The widespread viruses have infected terminals in the Sea Launch, B-1 bomber and Joint Strike Fighter programs. They also could spread through common computer links to the Defense Dept. and Boeing Sea Launch facilities in Long Beach, Calif. There was no ``work-around'' for the second virus, called a Laroux variant, at least two days after the infections hit.
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has gained a long-sought toehold in the market to launch U.S. government payloads, thanks to a partnership skirting policy restrictions that had previously blocked its Shavit launcher. IAI has teamed up with Coleman Research Corp. of Orlando, Fla., which plans to assemble a booster based largely on the three-stage, solid-fuel Shavit to launch small payloads from the U.S.
Lithuanian Airlines' Boeing 737s and Pratt&Whitney JT8D and CFMI CFM56-3 engines will be overhauled by Sabena Technics, Sabena World Airlines' MRO Div. The initial contract is valued at $4.4 million.
The Sea Launch program has finished initial testing with the command ship and launch platform on the open ocean in preparation for a demonstration launch near the equator currently targeted for Mar. 14. While the trials--conducted about 25 mi. off the coast of Monterey, Calif.--focused primarily on the vessels' marine systems, another test scheduled for January 200 mi. offshore will involve evaluation of Zenit launch systems. This will include fueling the booster and counting down to what would be about 10 sec. prior to launch in the countdown sequence.
Raytheon Co. will begin rolling out its six sigma quality initiative to all employees and suppliers in the first quarter of 1999. For both groups, the effort represents not so much a program as a new way of doing business, which tends to be the case at all companies implementing six sigma. At 3.4 defects per million, six sigma is getting close to perfection.
Matt Keegan has become senior manager of the aerospace and defense manufacturing revenue team at Ernst and Young. He was East Coast director of the aerospace and defense practice of Oracle Consulting.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense is preparing to launch a Defense Diversification Agency next year to speed the transfer of military-related technology from government laboratories to civil companies for developing commercial products. Joseph Carr, a TI Group executive currently working for the Defense Evaluation and Research Agency (Dera) as director of new ventures, has been named head of the proposed agency. It will be part of Dera and overseen by a council composed of industry, union and government officials.
The first element of the $30-billion International Space Station is set for launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome this week following 15 tumultuous years of design/redesign, development and debate over the cost and viability of the 16-nation project. Never before has the course of the U.S. space program and the fortunes of the world's space powers been so dependent on the success of a single Russian launch.
Former astronaut James F. Buchli has been named International Space Station program manager of the Houston-based United Space Alliance. He was Boeing's manager of ISS mission integration.
Six sigma and other quality-improvement initiatives that are helping aerospace companies become more responsive to their customers--and thus more competitive--evolved through trial and error. They were not overnight successes. Even among companies considered the leaders in the drive to improve quality, company officials can identify mistakes they made in the initial implementation. Here is a small sampling, which other contractors may find instructive:
