With enactment of the $243-billion Fiscal 1996 appropriations budget, Pentagon officials now have to deal with an unrequested $6.9 billion tucked into the act by Congress. The conflict concerns whether to spend the money as directed--on unrequested B-2s, amphibious assault ships, F/A-18s, F-16s and F-15Es, remanufactured AV-8s and the Comanche attack helicopter program--or go back to Congress and ask that it be applied to other, more pressing needs. One of these needs is paying for the impending peacekeeping operations in Bosnia.
JetTrain Corp. later this month expects to become the Northeast's newest startup airline, with hopes for success pinned in part on USAir's high cost of operation. The Pittsburgh-based carrier is anticipating FAA certification within the next two weeks. It expects to begin daily service between Pittsburgh, Newark and Orlando with DC-9-31 aircraft by the end of December.
The $775-million European/U.S. SOHO satellite began its journey to plumb the secrets of the Sun with a smooth launch from Pad 36B at Cape Canaveral. The Lockheed Martin Atlas 2AS booster carrying the 4,125-lb. (1,875-kg.) Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft lifted off the pad at 3:08 a.m. EST on Dec. 2. The launch had been delayed nine days after a precision pressure regulator on the Atlas failed during preparations for a Nov. 23 launch.
Bob Staib has been named vice president-Western sales for Executive Jet Inc., Montvale, N.J. He was vice president-sales for Raytheon Aircraft, Wichita, Kan.
The cash strapped Russian Space Agency is expected to propose to NASA this week that scientific modules on the Mir space station be substituted for new research modules Russia had said it would provide to the international space station.
The FAA plans to issue a series of airworthiness directives later this month to improve detection of cracks in the wings of McDonnell Douglas DC-10, U.S. Air Force KC-10A, MD-11 and Airbus A300-series transports. The aft, lower spar caps of DC-10-10s must be inspected for fatigue-related cracks both visually and using eddy current equipment before 15,000 landings have accumulated. Modifications to reinforce the structure are required by Dec. 27, 2000. The cracks were found during normal fatigue tests of a DC-10-10 wing.
Keith McGann has been named manager of maintenance resource management for FlightSafety International and will be based at Teterboro (N.J.) Airport. He was the maintenance training services marketing representative.
A growing emphasis on maritime defense, as well as economic and environmental monitoring at sea, is expected to lead Malaysia to modernize its military helicopter fleets. Construction of 27 offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) is expected to be the next major purchase for the Malaysian Defense Ministry. In addition, the navy has already ordered two frigates for delivery in late 1996 that will need attack helicopters.
THE U.K. PLANS TO INSTALL Rockwell Collins low-cost Joint Tactical Information Distribution System terminals on a number of Royal Navy aircraft including the Sea Harrier and Sea King AEW Mk. 2 helicopters. The terminal distributes secure voice and data, identifies users and locations of participants. The low-cost terminal is a derivative of the company's IDS-2000 JTIDS, which was tested on a USAF F-15 last summer. The U.K. version adds a 200 w. power amplifier and voice module to the standard IDS-2000. Initial deliveries are scheduled for April, 1997, to the U.K.
Requests have gone out to industry from the U.K. Ministry of Defense for a new, medium-range air-to-air missile to equip the Eurofighter 2000. Called the Future Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile (FMRAAM), it is to be a radar-guided, ``fire-and-forget'' weapon. FMRAAM will be employed in tandem on the Eurofighter with the Advanced Short Range Air-to-Air Missile (ASRAAM) now being developed by British Aerospace.
THE ASIASAT-2 SATELLITE launched Nov. 28 on a Chinese Long March rocket successfully completed deployment Dec. 6 and was scheduled to reach its geostationary orbit this week. In related news, Vietnam leased capacity on the new satellite for a very small aperture terminal (VSAT) network.
Ruth E. Nimmo (see photo) has been appointed head of business and information services at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. She was vice president-administration at the ITT Research Institute in Chicago.
EMBRAER EXPECTS A THIRD AIRCRAFT to enter the EMB-145 regional jet flight test program in late January or early February, and a fourth to join in March. The second aircraft, equipped with a complete set of flight test instruments, joined the program on Nov. 17 with a 1 hr., 18-min. maiden flight, allowing a doubling of test flying to 60 hr. a month. The aircraft is equipped with an auxiliary power unit and a vane for flutter tests. By the end of November, the first two aircraft had accumulated about 100 hr. in flight.
Scobamat is a fiber glass-reinforced structured floor material designed for temporary use in difficult environments. Its high compressive strength and flexural rigidity allow scobamat to support the weight of a Boeing 747 on soggy ground. The 5-mm.-thick mats can be bolted together or attached with other materials. They are available in sizes up to 8 X 3.7 meters. The mats have a compressive strength of 13 tons/0.06 sq. meter. Scobalit AG, Alte Winterhurestrasse 80, CH-8309, Nurensdorf, Switzerland.
BARCO CHROMATICS WILL SUPPLY more than 500 graphics controllers for the Canadian Automated Air Traffic System and the Military Automated Air Traffic System under a multimillion-dollar contract. Hughes Aircraft of Canada Ltd., which awarded the contract, will integrate the Barco Chromatics IVS4600 graphics controller into the Common Controller Workstation (CCWS). The CCWS will provide situation and tabular displays for radar and non-radar environments with a high-resolution 2K X 2K pixel color display.
The EXMDS-2000 Motion Detection System is designed to prevent unauthorized people from entering airport boarding areas through exit lanes without assigning a guard to the area in compliance with Change 38 to the FAA's Air Carrier Standard Security Program. Savings in staffing costs can exceed $45,000 per year, according to the manufacturer. The system uses a microwave detector to identify an intrusion, then sets off two yellow strobe lights and a voice warning. A secondary detector sets off another set of strobes and a television camera.
THE FAA-INDUSTRY-LABOR Safety Summit 2 agreed in New Orleans last week that airlines will share flight operations data under the Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) program. A date of Jan. 22 has been set to meet in Washington to share that information. Participants said the safety forum was the first time that airlines agreed to share flight operations data. This meeting is viewed as the first step toward a network of data bases that could eventually become international, sharing airline and ATC data to enhance flight safety and management efficiency.
The heat shield that surrounded the Galileo probe on Dec. 7 experienced an estimated heat flux of 55 kilowatts per sq. cm.--about 10 times greater than the prior record-setting Pioneer Venus probes.
Like a fabled sleeping giant, California is beginning to stir. The state was lulled into complacency during decades of strong economic development that appeared robust even during difficult times. Then came the shock of massive defense cuts on top of a national recession which knocked California, and its vital aerospace industry, for a loop.
LAN CHILE SAYS IT HAS REACHED AGREEMENT with its pilots, ending a two-day strike. Most of the carrier's 200-plus unionized pilots walked off the job Dec. 4 after negotiations broke down. Talks resumed the next day. The walkout forced Lan Chile to endorse tickets of most travelers over to other carriers. The airline continued some service by renumbering Ladeco flights as its own. Lan Chile earlier this year bought out Ladeco, its main competitor.
As some of the world's most sophisticated aircraft are being readied for peacekeeping operations in Bosnia, a number of U.S. officials are quietly grumbling about the threat of unconscionable charges by Croatia and Hungary to permit the transport of NATO troops by air and rail to Bosnia.
CONFLICT OVER WHETHER TO BASE defense strategy on the ability to fight two wars at once still polarizes the military. Requirements and planning wizards want U.S. forces for sustained, high-rate operations such as those in Iraq or Bosnia. ``They're looking for objectives in terms more useful to a field marshal than an accountant,'' a senior Pentagon official said. However, a two-war hypothesis is easy for civilian leaders and Congress to understand. Therefore, he says, ``it will take a very clever thing to replace two major regional contingencies.
ROLLS-ROYCE RECEIVED a $250-million order from Gulfstream Aerospace for Tay engines to power Gulfstream 4-SP corporate jets. The order will take production of the Tay 611 for the aircraft into the next century. It also confirms Gulfstream's plans to build the 4-SP and the new Gulfstream 5 concurrently.
