Michael M. Sera (see photo) has been named general manager of the Special Products Group of Philips Semiconductors, Sunnyvale, Calif. He was wireless marketing manager.
THE WORLD HEALTH Organization and ICAO are calling for a complete ban against on-board spraying of pesticides before passengers leave aircraft. Spraying can pose unnecessary health risks to some passengers, according to the U.S. Transportation Dept. Of the 25 countries using pesticides in 1994, only Argentina, Grenada, India, Kiribati, Madagascar, Trinidad and Tobago still mandate spraying.
John Rose, managing director of Rolls-Royce Plc.'s Aerospace Group, will become chief executive of the company on Apr. 30. Rose will succeed Sir Terence Harrison, who will retire. Colin Green, currently vice president-business operations of the Allison Engine Co., will succeed Rose. Lord Moore has been named non-executive deputy chairman.
Honda R&D has begun test flights of an experimental, 1,800-lb.-thrust-class turbofan engine at California's Mojave Airport. The powerplant, called the Honda R&D Experimental Turbo Fan, made its first flight on Dec. 18 mounted on the starboard, forward fuselage area of a Boeing 727-100 test aircraft. The pilot for the 2.5-hr. initial flight was Roger Wolfe.
THE FAA'S GPS LOCAL AREA AUGMENTATION SYSTEM (LAAS) could be delayed if key decisions on requirements and standards are not made soon, according to the Air Transport Assn. of America (ATA). LAAS is being developed to provide the accuracy needed for automatic landings to touchdown under the worst weather conditions. But without decisions on LAAS standards, the first aircraft operators who install GPS equipment run the risk of having to redo their installations when the characteristics are nailed down. Choice of data link is a key issue.
Frederick W. Gluck has been appointed vice chairman and Adrian Zaccaria president/chief operating officer of the Bechtel Group Inc. of San Francisco. Riley P. Bechtel will continue as chief executive officer and add the title of chairman. Gluck was group executive vice president and Zaccaria president of Bechtel's Global Energy Industries.
THE FAA HAS APPROVED A GENERAL ELECTRIC PLAN to increase clearances between GE90 fan blades and case-mounted abradable strips to eliminate potential fan blade rubs and subsequent engine surges. The modification was prompted by an incident in early December, when the right engine of a GE90-powered 777 destined for British Airways experienced a fan blade rub and engine surge during a predelivery test flight. The engine recovered with no crew intervention following the incident, and the aircraft landed safely.
John G. Claiborne has been appointed vice president-marketing of the Sherpa Corp., San Jose, Calif. He was vice president-marketing and international sales of the Ascent Logic Corp.
AIRBUS HAS MADE AN A340 BREAKTHROUGH IN CHINA. Air China is in final negotiations to acquire three aircraft. Whether the A340s will come from the stock of six that China Aviation Supplies Corp. (CASC), the country's purchasing agent, already has on order is unclear. Also unclear is whether they will be configured for VIPs or passengers. Airbus wants the aircraft in passenger configuration to broaden its market impact beyond the five A340s ordered by China Eastern.
U.S. officials are weighing an inquest into pilot training at American Airlines and its regional affiliates in the wake of a 757 crash that appears to have been caused in part by poor cockpit discipline. Senior National Transportation Safety Board officials believe the Dec. 20 crash of American Flight 965 into a mountain near Cali, Colombia, warrants a probe of training at American's Flight Academy. American and its four American Eagle affiliates train pilots there.
Lockheed Martin capped a record year of space launches in 1995 when its Atlas-Centaur successfully orbited Hughes' Galaxy 3R satellite to serve the direct-to-home television market throughout Latin America. Atlas-Centaur 120 lifted off Pad 36A here on time at 1923 EST, Dec. 14. The Atlas 2A vehicle had a smooth ascent, and about 29 min. after launch the Centaur upper stage separated to leave the HS-601 satellite in its geosynchronous transfer orbit.
CREW RESOURCE MANAGEMENT TECHNIQUES can be modified and effectively incorporated into training for single-pilot helicopter operations, according to a report by the Flight Safety Foundation, Arlington, Va. Although concepts must be applied differently when only one pilot is involved, the basic CRM principles of efficiently seeking and evaluating information, overcoming communications barriers and being assertive at appropriate times remain the same.
Boeing is planning an air drop and water retrieval of a propulsion system containing a Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) to demonstrate the viability of using recoverable components for a new launch vehicle family. The air drop will be part of a series of tests the company plans to perform this summer as part of a $30-million contract it won last August to validate its concept for the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.
Aero International Regional, a company jointly established by Aerospatiale, Alenia and British Aerospace, is paving the way for a major consolidation in the regional aircraft market. AIR will be formed this week to streamline the three partners' wide range of 29-115-seat regional commercial transports. In the long term, AIR plans to launch all-new aircraft, although no specific timeframe has been determined yet. Aerospatiale, Alenia and British Aerospace each own a 33.3% stake in AIR, a company headquartered in Toulouse.
Werner Aerne (see photo) has been promoted to vice president/general manager of Jet Aviation Zurich from head of customer service and airline line maintenance. He succeeds Rudei Kraft, who has been named head of Jet Aviation Singapore.
PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON vetoed the $265-billion Fiscal 1996 defense authorization bill late last week, which was $7 billion more than he sought. He cited objections to costly, unneeded weapon systems and congressional pressure to build and deploy a national missile defense system by 2003. Clinton said the latter would violate the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with Russia and damage arms control efforts. The President also objected to provisions requiring him to ask Congress for funding within 45 days of ordering an overseas troop deployment.
Lockheed Martin Tactical Aircraft Services technicians have completed a rush installation of upgraded modems in 38 Block 40 F-16s to improve the aircraft's close-air support capabilities for NATO operations in Bosnia.
SCHEDULED AIRLINES WORLDWIDE carried more than 1.2-million passengers and 20-million tons of cargo in 1995, according to estimates by the International Civil Aviation Organization. Passenger, cargo and mail traffic for the year increased 7% compared with 1994. Domestic travel reported by ICAO's 184 member states rose about 5% and international traffic increased 8%. Load factor was up slightly.
John T. Lemley has been appointed vice president/chief financial officer of Evans and Sutherland of Salt Lake City. He succeeds Gary Meredith, who has been promoted to senior vice president from CFO. Lemley was senior vice president/chief financial officer of the Megahertz Corp., also of Salt Lake City.
ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS has shifted its engine choice for the 10 Airbus A321s that it will begin receiving in 1998 to the IAE V2530-A5. The order is valued at $120 million (out of $650 million for the total aircraft). ANA said it chose CFM56-5s for its A320 fleet but shifted to the V2530s for the stretch A321s because of better fuel efficiency and lower noise levels. Specifically, ANA said that with the IAE engines it is less likely to face noise restrictions at airports with short runways.
Gulfstream is spooling up its G5 flight test program with a goal of obtaining FAA certification in October and comparable European authorization by year-end. A second G5, serial no. 502, already has begun ground-based static testing at Gulfstream Aerospace's Savannah, Ga., factory. The next G5 to become airborne, serial no. 503, is scheduled to lift off later this month.
TRW Inc. is preparing to take action to increase shareholder value substantially. Among other things, the company is considering repurchasing a block of its own stock as well as acquisitions.
PHILIPPINE AIRLINES has said it plans to order $4 billion in new aircraft from Airbus Industrie and Boeing as part of a fleet modernization program. The purchase includes eight Boeing 747-400s, four Airbus A340-300s, eight Airbus A330-300s and an Airbus A320.
