The decision by Boeing and European manufacturers, suspending a cooperative study of a Very Large Commercial Transport (VLCT), has refocused energies at Boeing and Airbus Industrie toward several competing superjumbo programs. Airbus managers, having ``no official comment'' on the VLCT decision, said they are moving ahead with the Airbus A3XX concept of an aircraft that would seat up to 850 people (AW&ST May 22, p. 26).
THE TREND TO SELF-FUNDED pilot training soon may extend to recurrency training. Simulator Training Inc. of Seattle is offering a plan to offload small and regional airlines of most recurrency training costs. As envisioned, pilots employed by a participating airline would be required to remit a monthly payment to STI to maintain currency in their assigned position. STI would perform the training when needed.
ALL NIPPON AIRWAYS WILL PULL THE PLUG on its World Air Network charter subsidiary at the end of August. The airline could not compete with low-cost competitors elsewhere in Asia. It carried just 78,000 passengers on 398 international charters since beginning in 1990, losing $4.8 million.
The five-member crew of the Apollo-Soyuz mission will receive the 1995 Thomas O. Paine Memorial Award for the advancement of human exploration of Mars from the Planetary Society. Honored will be: Vance Brand, Valeri Kubasov, Alexei Leonov, Donald (Deke) Slayton (posthumously) and Thomas Stafford.
U.S. MANUFACTURERS ARE SPENDING too much research and development money on designing innovative products, and should invest more in process technologies. Although developing advanced process technologies can be costly and high-risk, companies gain substantial long-term cost, cycle time, productivity and quality advantages, according to the National Center for Manufacturing Sciences of Ann Arbor, Mich. Programs should allow companies, particularly small manufacturers, to share the costs and risks of process research, NCMS said.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is urging the FAA to issue an airworthiness directive to inspect the seventh-stage steel, high-pressure compressor disk of Pratt&Whitney JT8D-series engines overhauled or maintained by Turkish repair station Turk Hava Yollari (THY).
The dd.400 Docking Station and di.400 Disk Containers are designed to provide secure, high-volume, transportable data storage. The system can store 2-8.5 gigabytes, depending on the capacity of the disks. The disk containers snap into the docking station, which holds them vertically to save desk space and promote cooling. The systems are available with narrow or fast-and-wide Small Computer System Interface or SCSI mounts. They also can be configured for redundancy with either striping or mirroring. The disk containers use either Seagate Barracuda or Micropolis drives.
U.S.-Japan talks moved from Washington to Tokyo last week as negotiators attempted to resolve a bilateral dispute against the discipline of the clock. The talks are now clouded by the threat of U.S. sanctions against all-cargo flights of Japan Airlines and Nippon Cargo Airlines. Japan has warned that it would pose countersanctions against Federal Express and Northwest Airlines if the U.S. acted.
Cathy Medeiros has been promoted to vice president-human resources for Parker Hannifin Corp.'s Seal Group, Irvine, Calif. She was human resources manager for the Racor Div., Modesto, Calif.
William C. Euler has been named vice president-commercial satellite communications for Magnavox Electronic Systems Co., Torrance, Calif. He was vice president/general manager of Magnavox's Navigation Systems Div.
Mohammed al-Kassimi has been named director of engineering and maintenance for Gulf Aircraft Maintenance Co. of Abu Dhabi. He was director of engineering for Gulf Air.
These across-the-line X and Y capacitors are designed for a.c. input power filtering. The polyester dielectric film capacitors are supplied in epoxy boxed radial configurations for printed circuit board applications. Elpac Components, 1562 Reynolds Ave., Irvine, Calif. 92714-5812.
The U769E single-frequency infrared flame detector automatically tests its optical surfaces and can be programmed in the field to virtually eliminate false alarms potential while maintaining the ability to respond to a ``flash'' fire signal in less than 50 millisec. The sensor will ignore arc welding, lightning and the Sun. An automatic optical integrity feature guards against blinding from ice, water or salt films by bouncing infrared energy from an internal source off the sensor.
Elbert Wolter is the new president of RotorWay International, Chandler, Ariz. He succeeds John Netherwood, who has returned to England to assist with European sales.
The Kollsman Div. of Sequa Corp. has won a $36-million contract for 44 night targeting systems for U.S. Marine Corps AH-1 Super Cobras with options through 1998 for 100 additional systems for U.S. and foreign military sales customers.
A NEW PROCESS THAT APPLIES a thin-film ceramic coating to integrated circuits prior to conventional plastic overmolding can increase reliability in high-humidity environments substantially. Previously, electronic integrated circuits were encased in heavy and bulky air-tight cases of metal or ceramic to safeguard against humidity-caused corrosion. The new process is 80% lighter, significantly less bulky and protects nearly as well as hermetic sealing.
Kansas City International Airport and Manchester (England) Airport now have representatives on the International Air Cargo Assn.'s board of trustees. They are: Russell F. Scherer, manager of cargo development for the Kansas City Aviation Dept., and Gordon Bevan, cargo business manager at Manchester Airport.
The U.S. nuclear weapons community is embarking on one of the most challenging, uncertain technical efforts it has undertaken since the atomic age dawned at the Trinity test site in New Mexico 50 years ago this week.
NASA astronaut Bernard Harris, the first African-American to walk in space, will receive the Dr. Calvin W. Rolark Achievement Award, a proclamation and key to the city from Washington Mayor Marion Barry at the United Black Fund's Annual Victory Luncheon.
James C. Johnson has been appointed corporate vice president/secretary of the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles. He was senior corporate counsel/assistant secretary. Johnson succeeds Sheila M. Gibbons, who is retiring.
Art Koppin (see photos) has been appointed vice president/deputy general manager of the Midwest Div. of the Magnavox Electronic Systems Co., Fort Wayne, Ind. Bruce K. Menshy was named vice president/director of human resources, and John H. Oglesby was appointed vice president/division director of business development.
George C. Zettler has been named vice president-Asia/Pacific sales of FedEx, and Nicholas J. Read has been appointed vice president-finance for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. David A. Colondres has been named vice president-systems development for FedEx Logistics Services (FLS). He was vice president-information technology of USCO Distribution Services. William L. Conley has been appointed vice president-FLS Asia. He was managing director of air freight systems. Michael W. Janes is now vice president-FLS electronic commerce and logistics marketing.
Dave Coreson has been appointed vice president-manufacturing operations for the measurement business of Tektronix Inc., Beaverton, Ore. Also, Richie Faubert has been named general manager of the television/communications test business unit and Rick Wills has been promoted to general manager of the instruments business unit from director of marketing. Kermit Yensen will become director of marketing. Al Miksch has been named general manager of the tools business unit.
ISRAEL'S FIRST AMOS geosynchronous orbit communications spacecraft is undergoing final integration and test at Israel Aircraft Industries facilities. Also heavily involved in the program are Daimler-Benz Aerospace and Alcatel Espace. Following IAI assembly and checkout, the 2,000-lb.-class spacecraft will be shipped to French Intespace facilities at Toulouse for thermal tests in September and November. Amos, which will carry seven Ku-band transponders, is set for launch on an Arianespace Ariane booster in January.
The Pentagon is planning to conduct joint exercises this fall to demonstrate the Hunter UAV's ability to provide targeting information and battle damage assessment for Tomahawk cruise missiles.
