The Transportation Dept. has stepped into the hornet's nest of suits and countersuits over airline service at Dallas Love Field. Urged to mediate which carriers can operate what service at what airports, the department has agreed to rule on four principal legal questions, such as whether a contract between two airport owners to limit carrier service is preempted by federal law. ``A ruling by us on these issues should eliminate much of the pending litigation,'' the department said.
Piper Aircraft has begun flight tests from its Vero Beach, Fla., facility with its new Malibu Meridian, a single-engine turboprop with an advanced glass-cockpit avionics suite. It is one of four Meridian prototypes under development. Piper has 90 orders for the aircraft, and deliveries are to begin by early 2000. The Meridian is an upgraded version of Piper's older piston-powered Malibu Mirage. The aircraft has a Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6A-42A engine flat-rated to 400 shp. for takeoff power and 350 shp. for cruise flight.
Boeing Commercial Airplane Group last week announced plans to open a new customer services center in late 1999 near Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport. The facility, to replace the Brussels-based center destroyed by fire last year, will serve European airlines and be stocked with $34 million in spare parts inventory to support the full Boeing jet transport family, including New-Generation 737s. The center will keep inventory for 32,000 part numbers.
Emirates, the international carrier of United Arab Emirates, will be sending new recruits for ab initio commercial airline pilot training to the School of Aviation Sciences at Western Michigan University (WMU) in Battle Creek. Until now, the carrier has trained its student pilots at British Aerospace Flying College at Prestwick, Scotland. Aside from the technical facilities and training, other factors in Emirates' decision to switch its basic training included the ``more challenging weather'' and the college's proximity to the large Arab community in Detroit.
Anthony Bommarito has become vice president-engineering of Airport Systems International Inc., Overland Park, Kan. He was director of engineering and product development for Airsys-ATM.
Students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have developed a novel cannon-launched reconnaissance aircraft that can provide real-time battlefield imagery for approximately 15 min. This Wide-Area Surveillance Projectile (WASP) could identify a target and relay its GPS coordinates to a ground station, enabling immediate firing of advanced precision weapons.
Joseph L. Galloway, owner of Trans-Continental Travel of Houston, has been elected president of the Alexandria, Va.-based American Society of Travel Agents. He had been vice president.
Silicon Graphics is assembling ``Blue Mountain,'' the latest parallel processor supercomputer at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. When finished, it will have 48 modules, each with 128 shared memory multiprocessors, giving an effective speed of 3.1 teraflops. The third module was shipped in August. The multiprocessors will be interconnected by 36 16-port high-performance parallel interface switches. Memory will be 75 terabytes of fiber channel disk and 1.5 terabytes of random access memory.
A prototype L-159 advanced light combat aircraft equipped with Boeing avionics made its first flight on Aug. 18 near Prague in the Czech Republic. Aero Vodochody chief test pilot Miroslav Schutzner flew the aircraft from Aero Vodochody airport for a 28-min. flight during which all systems performed as expected. Boeing is integrating the avionics system in the aircraft for prime contractor Aero Vodochody. First aircraft delivery to the Czech air force is expected next year.
If what U.S. leaders have said about the recent air raids in the Sudan and Afghanistan is correct--and we have no reason to doubt them so far--the attacks were certainly justified. There appears to be strong evidence that intended targets are connected to those people responsible for the ghastly Aug. 7 bombings of two American embassies in East Africa. And intelligence is said to have been unusually consistent in pointing to the imminent threat of further atrocities.
Three passengers were injured on board a Continental Micronesia Boeing 747 when the aircraft encountered severe turbulence at a point about 400 mi. north of Guam island in the Pacific on Aug. 22. The passengers were eating a meal when the turbulence incident occurred. Flight 967 was bound from Guam to Tokyo with 449 persons. It landed at Tokyo's Narita airport at 1900 local time and three passengers were hospitalized.
The next bomber roadmap the Air Force develops may call for a drastic departure from the traditional use of strategic aircraft for long-range power projection. ``Maybe it's not a bomber at all,'' said Lt. Gen. Marvin R. Esmond, the service's deputy chief of staff for aerospace operations. A space-based system might be the best B-2 follow-on, he said, and candidates would be a military spaceplane or the space-based laser. But comprehensive restrictions on space-based weapons under the provisions of the ABM Treaty would have to be resolved first, though.
After a 24-year absence, American Airlines on Aug. 31 is scheduled to begin intrastate flights from Dallas' downtown Love Field. Initial service includes 14 daily round-trip flights to Austin, using MD-80 and Fokker 100 aircraft. As part of an agreement between Dallas and Fort Worth, American and other major airlines abandoned Love Field in 1974 when Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport opened. In addition to American, Continental Express provides daily service to Houston from Love Field flying Embraer RJ-145s.
Jim Denneny has been appointed aircraft products business director for the Barber-Colman Co., Loves Park, Ill. He was engineering manager and has been succeeded by Chris Schlarman.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. is preparing its Premier 1 business jet for first flight in September or October, paving the way for an aggressive flight test program leading to FAA certification next summer. The company rolled out the first production airplane on Aug. 19 at its facilities here, and reports more than 120 orders have been received from U.S. and international customers. Raytheon Aircraft officials said the Premier 1's price is $4.15 million in 1995 dollars.
Tony Perillo has been appointed manager of new business development for customer support for Honeywell Commercial Aviation Systems of Phoenix. He has succeeded Dave Coleman, who now works in customer engineering for Honeywell Business and Commuter Aviation Systems.
The Russian Space Agency has decided to move up a scheduled Franco-Russian manned mission to Mir in February 1999, and to extend it from five weeks to 99 days.
In an effort to strengthen its competitive position and reduce operating costs, Northrop Grumman is creating two new organizations by realigning existing business units. The Integrated Systems&Aerostructures Sector combines the former Electronics and Systems Integration Div. in Bethpage, N.Y., and Melbourne, Fla.; the Commercial Aircraft Div. in Dallas, and the Military Aircraft Systems Div. in El Segundo, Calif.
U.K.-based Lucas Aerospace and AlliedSignal Aerospace of the U.S. are expanding their business base in the key Chinese market through autonomous, on-site joint ventures with the Taeco facility here. Lucas, here since Taeco's inception two years ago, services Lucas-made components for fuel systems, hydraulics, electric-power generators and control systems. Customers include Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways and Japan Airlines as well as China Southern Airlines, China Southwest Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and China Eastern Airlines.
As part of its ``Safer Skies'' initiative, FAA's General Aviation Weather Joint Safety Analysis Team (JSAT) is set to begin work this month with the goal of producing recommendations and commitments from the light aircraft industry and the agency to reduce fatal accidents related to weather. JSAT, which includes representatives from FAA as well as the general aviation industry, is scheduled to issue a report in April 1999.
To be effective, President Clinton's declared war on terrorism will require a sustained campaign using aerial bombing and ground forces, not just missile attacks like those against Sudan and Afghanistan, strategists say.
NASA's X-38 program is focused on developing and testing prototype crew-rescue vehicles for the International Space Station. The project is building a foundation of new technology and management techniques that can be used by U.S. and European contractors to assemble the operational crew-rescue spacecraft. The following articles review the program.
Unions representing 10 international airlineshave formed a coalition designed to protect the interests of each carrier's pilots from the future effects of code sharing and global alliances by major airlines.
The U.S. Navy has chosen Lockheed Martin Federal Systems to develop a common cockpit prototype for the H-60 helicopter. The contract is worth $61 million.
