James C. Bates (see photo) has become vice president/chief financial officer of Midcoast Aviation of St. Louis. He held the same positions at Sight and Sound Distributors Inc.
The U.S. Air Force is working hard to figure out how to mitigate the effects of the coming Leonid meteor shower. The worry is that when Earth intersects the orbit of Comet 55P/Tempel-Tuttle on Nov. 17-18, all sorts of spacecraft might be disrupted--or even destroyed. The 14th Air Force and its 50th Space Wing are developing concepts of operation to protect satellites from debris and electrostatic threats. Nobody knows what particle sizes to expect, but with debris velocities of 72 km./sec., it wouldn't take much mass to cause trouble. It's a complicated problem.
USAF has increased the active duty commitment for cadets starting specialized undergraduate pilot training from 8-10 years. The change will help address the service's limited pilot production capability of about 1,100 pilots a year, a problem exacerbated by the hundreds of military pilots now separating from the service to take high-paying commercial cockpit jobs. The extension also will provide more equitable payback for the $6 million USAF spends in training pilots during the first nine years of their career, according to Gen. Michael E. Ryan, Air Force chief of staff.
Scaled Composites officially rolled out the Proteus high-altitude aircraft on Sept. 23, after completing nine flights in a two-month period that began July 26 (AW&ST Aug. 3, p. 20). The twin-engine, two-place aircraft has reached 36,000 ft. and stayed aloft for 3.5 hr. so far. It is designed to loiter at 51,000-65,000 ft. for up to 18 hr.
In the brave new world of entrepreneurs trying to develop really low-cost launch vehicles, one concept that has consistently raised engineers' eyebrows is the Roton. Rotary Rocket Co.'s concept calls for a conical, 63-ft.-tall, single-stage-to-orbit rocket, much like the NASA/USAF/McDonnell Douglas Delta Clipper (DC-X). But the Roton would land not with rocket engines but with Sikorsky S-58 helicopter rotors (see picture). And there would be two pilots on board. A Rotary pitch-man in Washington says the reason they have to be on board is simple.
Lisa Cheyne (see photo) has become program manager for AlliedSignal TPE331 and TFE731 engines for Dallas Airmotive. She was a customer service representative.
The U.K. Ministry of Defense has issued invitations to seven companies for four ``C-17 equivalent'' transports to meet a short-term strategic airlift requirement starting in 2001.
Workers at Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya, Japan, inspect one of the first fuselage skins produced for Boeing's new stretched 767-400ER transport. The panel assembly will be installed just aft of the wing. The skin reveals the more oval-shaped 777 windows used on the -400ER, which saves more than 500 lb. per aircraft. The -400ER is scheduled to roll out in August.
U.S. officials are urging International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) member nations to set a July 1999 deadline for declaring whether critical aviation-related computers in their air transportation systems are free of Year 2000 problems. Those officials also want ICAO nations to be prepared to warn aviators of key computer-based services that could be crippled by ``millennium bugs.''
Melvin Brashears, president and chief operating officer of Lockheed Martin Corp.'s space and strategic missiles sector, has resigned. During his three years in the leadership role, the high-profile, $3.2-billion Theater High-Altitude Area Defense ballistic missile defense program suffered several test failures. Thaad's much publicized problems resulted in the program's funding being cut by Congress last week in the Fiscal Year 1999 defense budget. At the same time, competing antimissile programs received increased funding.
The Kosmos-2361 military communications satellite has been successfully orbited from the Plesetsk launch complex in Russia, using a Molniya M booster. The spacecraft was put into a highly elliptical orbit with an inclination of 62 deg., an apogee of 22,086 naut. mi. and a perigee of 242 naut. mi.
Thomson-CSF Communications on Sept. 29 concluded with the United Arab Emirates' armed forces a $200-million multiyear contract to supply a secured ground-to-air communications network dubbed Ground Air Transmit Receive. The contract includes ground stations and airborne systems that will be installed on UAE's Lockheed Martin F-16s, Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000s, British Aerospace Hawks and Boeing Apache helicopters.
Ron Woodard, removed last month as president of Boeing Commercial Airplane Group for production delay and continuing cost problems, will retire rather than accept a demotion. He was replaced by Alan Mulally, former head of Boeing's successful 777 transport development program.
Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI) has won a $70-million contract from Turkey's defense ministry to upgrade 48 Turkish F-5A/B fighter aircraft. IAI will be the prime contractor with subcontractors Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Elbit Systems.
Jean-Peter Jansen has been appointed to the executive board of Lufthansa Cargo. He was head of purchasing and properties management for Lufthansa German Airlines.
Rybinsk Motors, Lulka-Saturn Design Bureau and the Russian Ministry of Air Defense have signed an agreement for development and production of the AL-41F engine. Financing of $200-300 million is being sought from investors for the project, which could see first serial production engines built by 2005. Lulka-Saturn has already assembled 27 AL-41F prototype articles at its Moscow facility.
DynCorp Aerospace Technology has won a contract from the U.S. Army Aviation Center for aircraft maintenance and related services. With all options, the contract is worth $457 million.
Data continue to point to solid airline industry fundamentals, especially low fuel prices and relatively strong revenue growth among U.S. carriers. But it remains to be seen how long either one can be sustained in the face of the waning U.S. economy. As the global financial crisis spreads, economists know the U.S. will be hit harder than first expected. For airlines, the big unknown is just how much of an impact the slowdown will have on near-term traffic growth.
Embraer's attempt to introduce a family of turbofan-powered aircraft into the regional jet market appears to be succeeding, with a second large buy of the Brazilian manufacturer's newest addition, the ERJ-135.
MAGELLAN PLANS TO OFFER SOFTWARE UPGRADES to existing Ashtech G12 and GG24 receivers, permitting them to use WAAS, European EGNOS and Japanese MSAS augmentation signals when they become operational. Upgrading through software means users will not have to return those receivers to the factory to be able to track the geostationary satellites and implement their differential GPS corrections.
Aerotherm Corp. has received a $19.5-million contract to test and evaluate ballistic missile defense countermeasure concepts in support of the U.S. Air Force's Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's Countermeasures Hands-On Program.
In response to robust sales and growing backlog, Airbus Industrie is rapidly increasing the production rate of its commercial transports. In 1998, the European consortium is scheduled to deliver 230 aircraft, up from 182 in 1997, and will further increase deliveries to 285 in 1999. In 2000 and beyond, production is expected to average 334 aircraft per year.
LUCAS AEROSPACE'S VARIABLE FREQUENCY electric power generation and distribution system has received its first certification on a turbofan aircraft. Transport Canada certified the generator MDNM on Bombardier's Global Express business jet. Lucas has put variable frequency on turboprops, but this is its first turbojet application. The variable frequency generator eliminates the need for a constant speed drive, a heavy and complex hydro-mechanical interface that drives a generator at a constant rotation despite variations in engine speed.
A British Aerospace 146-100 operated by Spanish carrier PauknAir crashed into a ridge on the Moroccan coast as it initiated its approach into the airport at the Spanish enclave of Melilla. All 34 passengers and the crew of four were killed in the Sept. 25 crash. Spanish and Moroccan investigators, who have recovered the aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, are still trying to determine the cause of the crash. They are being aided by British Aerospace engineers and experts from the U.K.'s air accident investigation branch.
