The National Research Council is urging the FAA to exert stronger leadership in providing improved weather information to pilots and air traffic controllers.
After more than a month, American Airlines has renewed contacts with USAir. This may indicate that American is mulling an offer to buy the ailing Arlington, Va.-based airline or merely attempting to spoil a rival bid from United Airlines by increasing the price of USAir stock.
Maxwell E. Schauck, chairman of the Aviation Sciences Dept. at Baylor University, Waco, Tex., has received a Special Recognition Award from the U.S. Energy Dept. for his work in developing and promoting ethanol as an aviation fuel.
FRENCH TRANSPORT MINISTER BERNARD PONS last week formed the air transport user committee, an initiative scheduled to respond to the traveling public's quest for enhanced relations with airlines, airports and civil aviation authorities. ``The newly formed committee must play a mediatory role,'' Pons said.
Patricia J. Ryan, director of aviation education for the Teacher Resource Center at Embry-Riddle University, Daytona Beach, Fla., has received the Aviation Distributors and Manufacturers Assn. Janice Marie Dyer Aviation Education Award.
BOEING EXPECTED to deliver late last week the first GE90-powered 777 transport to British Airways. The handover followed the Nov. 9 certification of the new airframe/engine combination by the FAA. Europe's Joint Aviation Authorities had certificated the GE90-powered 777 the week before.
In many ways, Atlantis' upcoming flight to Mir is the closest thing yet to what life will be like when the long-awaited international space station era begins. Together the crews on board the U.S. space shuttle and the Russian station will represent all but one of the partners involved in the coming station project. With European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter on board Mir and Canadian Chris Hadfield flying on the shuttle, only a representative of Japan will be missing.
NOT OFTEN NOTED FOR BEING CIRCUITOUS, Norman R. Augustine has complained obliquely to the Federal Trade Commission about rules laid down before the Lockheed/Martin Marietta merger. The Lockheed Martin president politely suggested the FTC review mergers after two years to see if its decisions turned out as intended. Out in the hallway, he explained the thorn in his side. He said the edict that Lockheed give up a teaming arrangement with Hughes on a classified sensor satellite before merging with Martin Marietta ended up unfairly benefiting Hughes.
NASA engineers and the astronauts of shuttle Mission 73 last week checked out key components for returning Columbia to Earth after its stint of more than two weeks as an orbiting microgravity research laboratory. While the seven astronauts on board Columbia worked around the clock in two shifts supporting that research, engineers at NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston and at its Goddard Space Flight Center tested a new method for getting data on the orbiter's trajectory to ground controllers.
Air India plans to wet-lease two Lockheed L-1011-500s and three Airbus A310-300s as part of a program to expand its route system. The leased transports would serve four new destinations that include Amsterdam, Brussels, Entebbe and Tel Aviv.
On p. 26 of last week's issue, an article on the firing of the Russian NK-33 rocket engine incorrectly stated its selling price. The price is $4 million.
The United Kingdom and France, amid the backdrop of international criticisms of France's nuclear tests in the Pacific and budget problems at home, have pledged increased cooperation on nuclear policies and doctrine. At a summit here last week, Prime Minister John Major and President Jacques Chirac said that while the two countries would retain independent forces, they would ``pursue and deepen'' nuclear cooperation.
The near-term market for commercial space launch services is strong and appears primed for explosive growth, but overcapacity could become a problem shortly after the turn of the century. Robert Cowls, general manager of McDonnell Douglas Commercial Delta Inc., can envision such a situation. But that assumes nonmarket competitors, such as China, more firmly establish themselves, and space-based communications systems now being developed fall short of all the market hype.
Mesaba Aviation is near a decision on the structure of its fleet and is expected to order between 25 and 40 aircraft by the end of the year. The proposed order from the Northwest Airlines Airlink carrier offers heartening news to manufacturers of commuter aircraft with short order backlogs. Minneapolis-based Mesaba is primarily looking to replace its fleet of Fairchild Metro 3 turboprop aircraft.
MIDWAY AIRLINES WILL FIT OR UPDATE three of its Fokker F-100 transports with AlliedSignal Canada's pre-production icing Contaminant/Fluid Integrity Measuring System this winter. The four or six-sensor systems will generate data for planned certification in a dual advisory/primary role. The CFIMS system, which costs about $70,000 installed, enhances safety by reducing pilot icing-related workload.
A small Israeli company has developed an inexpensive cockpit computer which it says can be easily retrofitted into aircraft to reduce pilot workload while increasing operating safety.
MAGELLAN SYSTEMS CORP. IS OFFERING its new CNS-12--an integrated ACARS communication, GPS navigation and surveillance unit--to business aircraft operators. CNS-12 operates over ARINC's GLOBALink/CNS two-way data link system, allowing operators to downlink flight times and other information automatically to home computers. The unit offers considerable growth capability for receiving weather and ATC clearances and performing functions comparable to those of a flight management system, Magellan officials said.
As the strike at the Boeing Co. drags on--the job action has entered its fifth week--more attention is being focused on the impact on the company's near-term earnings per share. Even if the strike lasts for the duration of the quarter, Morgan Stanley analyst Pierre Chao believes the company can ship enough aircraft to keep the impact down to about a 30-cent reduction. His prestrike EPS forecast for the fourth quarter was 74 cents. Some analysts expect Boeing's net earnings in 1995 will decline by 6% to $2.35 a share but rebound in 1996.
AERMACCHI AND THE FINMECCANICA GROUP are forming a joint subsidiary to explore increased synergy in the military trainer market. Aermacchi produces the MB-339 attack-advanced trainer and is Yakovlev's partner in the Yak-AEM 130 advanced military trainer program. Finmeccanica owns the Agusta group that developed the S.211 light jet trainer and the SF-260 propeller-driven basic trainer. Aermacchi will have a 60% stake in the yet unnamed company, and Finmeccanica will own the remaining 40%.
THE NATIONAL SIMULATION FACILITY at Amsterdam's National Aerospace Laboratory will lift the dome on its research simulator to reconfigure the motion base from the full-mission F-16 mid-life update to another cockpit. Evans&Sutherland Computer Corp. designed the 17-ft.-dia. removable dome, which is smaller than its 24-ft. standard, to fit an existing building. The dome and VistaView visual system are mounted on a 6-degrees-of-freedom motion base, and subject to higher stress than other domes--25 Hz. and 2g--because this facility will be used for research.
Qantas Managing Director James Strong (see photo) has been named chairman of the Orient Airlines Assn. Others elected were: Malaysia Airlines Managing Director Wan Malek Ibrahim, vice chairman; and Cathay Pacific Managing Director Rod Eddington, Singapore Airlines Managing Director Cheong Choong Kong and Japan Airlines President Akira Kondo, members of the executive committee.
THE FOKKER F60 UTILITY twin-turboprop military transport made its first flight on Nov. 2 from Amsterdam-Schiphol airport. Certification is scheduled for May, 1996, after a 400-flight-hr. test program has been completed. The Dutch air force concluded a launch order for four F60s, equipped with two 2,750-shp. Pratt&Whitney PW127B turboprop engines. Fokker is currently considering offering the F60 in the civil market in a 60-seat cabin configuration.
The joint Russian/European Space Agency crew on board the Mir space station late last week was repairing a potentially serious problem with the unit that removes carbon dioxide from the station's atmosphere. The crew's repair of a leaking coolant line, which is part of the air regeneration system, was expected to be tested satisfactorily Nov. 3, clearing the problem. European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Reiter, a German, along with Russian cosmonauts Sergei Agdeev and Yuri Ghidzenko were scheduled to remain on the station until Feb. 29.
Lockheed Martin Corp. expects to select the winner of the Atlas 2AR main-engine competition in January, and all three candidates appear to have an equally good chance of winning. ``It's a horse race,'' James W. McAnally, president of Lockheed Martin Astronautics, said. ``Right now, they all appear to be in a tie.''
Japan's Defense Agency is seeking approval to develop a new medium-range surface-to-air missile as a replacement for the Hawk. The new missile will be developed by the Technical Research and Development Institute. Further details are not known, but the program is included in a $772.1-million budget request for fiscal 1996.
