President Clinton released $1.1 billion in military readiness funding last week and said a comprehensive readiness review would undergird the Administration's Fiscal 2000 budget request, due early next year. The readiness add-on, adopted by Congress in the Fiscal 1999 omnibus appropriations bill, will be used in part to shore up Air Force and Navy spare parts, reduce maintenance backlogs and revive recruitment efforts.
Six U.S. airlines urged the U.S. Transportation Dept. to dismiss the application from American Airlines and British Airways to form a global alliance. The U.S. last month terminated negotiations with the U.K. on an open skies agreement, considered essential for the partnership to go forward, and the Transportation Dept. canceled hearings it planned on the carriers' proposal. The carriers seeking dismissal were Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, Continental Airlines, US Airways, Trans World Airlines and Tower Air.
Wichita, Kan.-based Matrix Aviation has been appointed Sextant Avionique's worldwide distributor of regional/business aircraft Line Replaceable Unit spares. Matrix Aviation is a subsidiary of Banner Aerospace.
Frontier Airlines has rounded the profitability corner, posting record earnings during the past 6 months. The quarter that ended Sept. 30 produced $9.9 million in net income, a strong reversal from a net loss of $2.0 million in the same period last year, when the Denver-based carrier was competing with now-defunct Western Pacific. Operating revenues were up 51.3% as well. A record 63.7% load factor in the last quarter reflected strong summer demand, a slight benefit from the Northwest Airlines strike and a stronger focus on attracting corporate business.
Bell Helicopter Textron and Italy's Agusta signed an agreement last week formally creating the Bell/Agusta Aerospace Co. The venture will center on development and marketing of the BA609 civil tiltrotor and the AB139 medium-lift helicopter.
Ralph H. Harnett (see photo) has been named president/CEO of Ensign-Bickford Industries Inc., Simsbury, Conn. He succeeds Herman J. Fonteyne, who has retired. Harnett was senior vice president of the Raychem Corp.
Dimmer switches on MD-11s must be inspected within 30 days under an airworthiness directive issued by the FAA on Nov. 12. The switches can overheat and produce smoke, although there is no evidence that they contributed to the problems experienced on Swissair Flight 111, an MD-11 that crashed off Nova Scotia on Sept. 2. Operators must check whether suspect models of the dimmer switches are installed on their aircraft, and replace or modify the switches if they are of the suspect type. The order affects 65 U.S.-registered MD-11s.
The FAA may have its own horn o' plenty come Thanksgiving. Administrator Jane F. Garvey is wagering she will have three key appointees named by then--a new head of the Flight Standards Service, a budget director and a deputy to the associate administrator for security. The Flight Standards post has been vacant for 19 months. Agency officials from regional offices are rotating through that post on an acting basis. The rotation provided no comfort to critics in Congress or an industry seeking fresh leadership.
BFGoodrich Avionics Systems expects to win approval this month for a radar graphics computer that will allow pilots of general aviation and regional airline aircraft to present lightning and traffic data on weather radar displays. The Model RGC250 computer is compatible with both the company's TCAS 1 and Skywatch traffic avoidance systems, as well as Stormscope WX-1000E (429 EFIS) or WX-500 lightning sensors. The data can be presented on a variety of radar indicators made by Honeywell, Rockwell Collins and AlliedSignal.
Enigma Inc. of Waltham, Mass., has introduced an extension of its Insight electronic publishing software to make it easier for airlines and others involved in aircraft maintenance to update and customize digitized field publications from original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). Called Xtend, the new product is part of the industry's push to rid itself of paper and achieve seamless updates of documents across an enterprise, Enigma Vice President Randy Clark said. The new product can work with CD-ROMs, local and wide area networks, or over the Web.
Joseph C. Berenato (see photo, p. 12), president/CEO of Ducommun Inc. of Los Angeles, is scheduled to also become chairman on Jan. 1, upon the retirement of Norman A. Barkeley. Michael W. Williams has been appointed vice president-corporate development. He was vice president-operations of H.R. Textron.
Deregulation in Europe has spawned a handful of low-cost, no-frills carriers looking to emulate the successful formula of Southwest Airlines in the U.S., but they are only beginning to have a widespread impact on the overall European aviation market.
After several hundred hours of rigorous flight testing that bordered on abuse of the aircraft, a U.S. Air Force test team determined there is nothing wrong with the T-3A Firefly pilot-screening trainer, and recommended it be returned to limited service.
The shuttle orbiter Discovery was set to return to Earth late last week with a harvest of new commercial biotechnology information, solar and ultraviolet astronomy images, and technology data to aid the Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station. Weather permitting, mission commander USAF Lt. Col. Curt Brown and copilot USAF Lt. Col. Steve Lindsey were to land Discovery on the 15,000-ft. runway here on Nov. 7 at 12:06 p.m. EST, without the use of the orbiter drag chute.
Southwest Airlines has started equipping its fleet with a system that pulsates the landing lights to make its transports easier to spot by pilots of other aircraft.
Swissair's historical monopoly will vanish--but not until 2008--under the Swiss federal government's initiative to deregulate the nation's airline industry. This week, Swiss carriers are expected to obtain unlimited traffic rights between Switzerland and foreign destinations. But Swissair will remain the sole operator on its route system during a 10-year transition period. The government's move is tied to Swissair's decision to eliminate long-haul services from Geneva and center its efforts on Zurich, its main hub.
The Air Force Academy has started an ``introductory flight training'' program by contracting with seven local FAA-certified flying schools to screen USAF pilot candidates. Since use of the T-3A Firefly as a pilot-screening trainer was suspended, washout rates in Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training have almost doubled. USAF officials, realizing some type of pre-SUPT flight training was necessary, looked at several options in recent months (AW&ST Sept. 7, p. 184).
Ekkehard Tschirner has been named head of the Lufthansa AG Executive Board unit for industry and commerce, politics and the environment. Tschirner succeeds Hemjo Klein, who has resigned.
Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) engineers are being sent to Eurocopter's facilities in Marignane, France, for training as the companies launch their joint venture for licensed production of 28 Cougar helicopters. The companies have set up a consortium called EUROTAI to run the $430-million program to deliver 30 Mk.1 Cougars, fitted with Mk.2 version cockpit systems, to the Turkish military. The first two Cougars will be delivered directly from Eurocopter. The first Turkish-built aircraft is set to be delivered to the military in October 1999.
The Globalstar venture, which lost a quarter of its constellation on Sept. 10 when 12 satellites were destroyed in a Zenit launch failure, is now facing a new threat to its business: the U.S. Government. Globalstar had arranged for three replacement launches on an improved Russian Soyuz booster marketed by the European Starsem consortium, the first in December (see p. 42). But the State Dept. has stopped issuing ad hoc permits--known as ``diplomatic notes''--that allow satellites with U.S. components to be launched on Russian boosters. The State Dept.
There are rising concerns about security at Turkish airports following the recent hijacking of a Turkish Airlines 737-400--the carrier's third this year. An armed hijacker, protesting the Turkish government's crackdown on Kurdish separatists, took over the aircraft while it was en route to Ankara from Adana during celebrations marking the 75th anniversary of the Turkish republic. He demanded the aircraft be diverted to Lausanne, Switzerland. Telling the hijacker they were landing in Bulgaria to refuel, the crew touched down instead in Ankara.
