THE FAA PLANS TO ISSUE an Airworthiness Directive requiring inspections for cracked fuse pins on Boeing 757s that could cause separation of the engine and strut from the wing. FAA's proposed directive, which would supercede a notice issued in 1993, would affect 273 Pratt&Whitney-powered Boeing 757s in service worldwide. Of these, about 237 are registered in the U.S. The directive requires operators to perform an eddy current inspection on straight fuse pins to detect cracks before the pins have accumulated 3,800 flight cycles.
THE FAA LAST WEEK COMMISSIONED the first two installations of its $1.4-billion Voice Switching and Control System at Seattle and Salt Lake City, and plans to commission the system at 18 other airports in the next 18 months. Commissioning at the two centers occurred following a short period of initial operating capability (IOC) for the systems that was attained at Seattle on May 15 and at Salt Lake City on May 21. Denver Center reached IOC on June 14.
Intense competition and growing pressure from international regulators and airline executives are spurring civil aviation authorities in Latin America and the Caribbean to weigh drastic steps to verify the safety of commercial operations, including collective inspection and enforcement of safety standards and the use of private firms to perform that work.
George F. Fratto, president of Electro Insulation Corp., Arlington Heights, Ill., has been elected president of the Electrical/Electronics Materials Distribution Assn.
IRVINE SENSORS CORP. IS WORKING to develop a module with millions of interchip optical interconnections, under a $1-million contract from the Ballistic Missile Defense Office. The company plans to merge its 3D stacking process with optical interconnection technologies pioneered by Georgia Tech University and the Naval Air Warfare Center at China Lake, Calif. The intent is to eliminate circuit boards and permit chips with different functions and interconnection structures to communicate directly within a module.
Aerazur of France and Vibro-Meter of Switzerland have teamed to develop a deicing boot with a miniature ice detector embedded in it so the pilot does not have to guess when to operate the system. Antoine Grimbert of Aerazur, a major supplier of deicing boots, said the miniature ice sensor was tested recently in a French wind tunnel and flight tested on an ATR72. Aerazur is currently arranging additional flight tests. The goal of the joint effort is to certify a boot with an ice sensor this year for use on new production aircraft.
Lew Allen, chairman of the board of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory Inc., has received the Goddard Astronautics Award from the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. Other winners were: Wolfgang Herbst (posthumous), former director of advanced design at Daimler-Benz Aerospace, Reed Aeronautics Award; James Harford, AIAA executive director emeritus, International Cooperation Award; U.S. Rep. George E. Brown, Jr.
The 640.480 EL is a 10-in. diagonally measured, color VGA flat panel display. The display has an operating range of -25-65C and is less expensive than active matrix, TFT displays. It features long life, high brightness, a wide viewing angle and fast response. The display can present eight colors on a black background and features a contrast ratio of 8:1 with an ambient light of 1,000 lux. Planar America Inc., 1400 N.W. Compton Drive, Beaverton, Ore. 97006.
Modified U.S. Navy E-6 TACAMO aircraft will start taking over the Looking Glass airborne command post mission in 1998, displacing Air Force EC-135s in a consolidation expected to save about $250 million in annual operating costs.
Hughes planned to launch its third DirecTV satellite on June 9 from the Guiana Space Center on an Ariane 42P booster. The DBS-3 direct broadcast television satellite is to be maneuvered to the same 101 deg. W. Long. orbit as DBS-1 and DBS-2, where it will serve as a backup and increase broadcast capacity.
This family of miniature stainless steel diaphragm pressure sensors is designed for applications that require small size and environmental ruggedness. They are available in various styles, including a cylindrical probe of 0.125 in. dia., a 0.04-in. low-profile surface mount and a 10-32UNF or M5 X 0.8 threaded unit with either a flush or recessed diaphragm. They are available in full-scale pressure ranges of 5-5,000 psi. and are useful for both static and dynamic measurements. Applications include flight testing, process control and brake and transmission testing.
The ADS-CCD1202 analog-to-digital converter is designed for electronic imaging. The 12-bit, 2-MHz. device features a differential nonlinearity of 0.45LSB maximum, noise of 600 millivolts, signal/noise ratio of -71 dB. and a dynamic range of 4,000:1. Applications include photo-CD, military and commercial infrared imaging, high-quality graphic scanning and astronomy. The SDS-CCD1202 operates from a single +5-v. and either 15 v. or 12 v. power supplies. Power consumption is 1.95 w. at 15 v. The device is packaged in an industry standard, 24-pin ceramic DDIP.
The 41st Paris air show opens this week in parallel with a new Clinton Administration initiative to bolster the U.S. aerospace industry's ability to penetrate European markets and cooperate with Europeans in defense conversion. The Commerce Dept. plan will refocus government support of U.S. aerospace companies working in Europe.
Richard C. Ernst, Pratt&Whitney's RL10E-1 project manager in the Atlas Reliability Enhancement Program, West Palm Beach, Fla., has received NASA's Public Service Medal.
AN X-RAY TIMING EXPLORER has been shipped to Cape Canaveral for launch into low Earth orbit Aug. 31 on a Delta 2. XTE will gather data about X-ray emitting star systems in the Milky Way and beyond. The 6,700-lb. satellite was built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. The X-ray sky is highly variable over time, so the mission will carry out in-depth timing and spectral studies across a wide range of X-ray energies.
Embraer is planning on cutting the EMB-145's flight test program to half that of the Brasilia's by use of new test equipment and an additional flight test aircraft.
The MSC-252 is a Pentium-based PCI/ISA all-in-one-slot computer. It supports a wide range of high-speed central processing units, including Intel's 75/90/100-MHz. Pentium microprocessors and the Cyrix M1 CPU. Its on-board PCI-based video driver features a fully integrated 32-bit display memory that supports standard and extended video modes up to a maximum of 1,280 X 1,024-pixel resolution with 256 colors.
FliteMap for Windows is a flight planning and cockpit moving map program for personal computers. Users can select Jeppesen NavData, WAC charts or NOS Approach plates and quickly display full-color charts. CD-ROM versions of charts are included. The system also provides seamless integration of the front and back of each chart. This allows a pilot to fly over an entire area covered by a WAC chart without loading additional files. Information on navigational aids can be obtained by pointing the cursor and clicking on the airport, VOR or NDB.
United Airlines began the first Boeing 777 commercial service last week with three of the twinjet aircraft on London-Washington, Frankfurt-Chicago, Chicago-Denver and Washington-Chicago routes. Beginning July 2, United will use the 777 on its Paris-Chicago route, and on July 18 it will begin 777 flights between London and Newark.
A measure that could put the decade-old international space station project on a stable funding path in the U.S. until it is completed has cleared the first hurdle in Congress. The House space and aeronautics subcommittee overwhelmingly approved a bill to authorize $2.121 billion in annual expenditures for the station in Fiscal 1996-2002 on a voice vote last week. The lone dissenting voice was Rep. Tim Roemer (R.-Ind.), whose earlier move to kill the project had failed 18-3.
The CT 550 and LT 100 thermometers are designed for use in metallurgy laboratories and industrial applications. The dual-channel CT 550 has a range of -200-800C and is accurate to 0.01C. It can display in Celsius, Fahrenheit and Kelvin. The LT 100 dual-channel digital thermometer (shown) measures absolute temperatures or temperature differences over the range of 0-100C absolute. It is designed for use as a primary calibration reference. Electro Optical Industries Inc., 859 Ward Drive, Santa Barbara, Calif. 93111.
IPEC RG series highly integrated thin-film resistor networks are designed for line termination applications for Intel P5 and P6 Pentium chips, as well as high-end Motorola Power PC or reduced instruction computer-based processor applications. The RG Series integrates 22 thin-film resistors in a single, 25-mil pitch package and features center-placed ground pins to achieve low lead inductance and reduce ground bounce effects. They can replace individual discrete resistors and thick film technology-based surface-mounted packaged networks.
JAPAN'S SPACE COMMUNICATIONS Corp. (SCC) is expected to use Lockheed Martin's Atlas 2AS to launch its Superbird C, a Hughes HS 601, in August, 1997. The contract signing is expected next month and represents a win for Lockheed Martin against Arianespace, which has provided the launchers for the four previous SCC satellites. Officials indicate that Lockheed Martin beat Ariane on price. Exact figures have not been disclosed, but total program costs are about 35 billion yen, including 9 billion yen for launch costs, or $410 million and $107 million, respectively.
Anyone who wishes to see the international space station effort completed must agree that reducing the annual squabbles about the program in the U.S. Congress would be a good thing. So, too, would assuring developers level funding until their work is done. Budget squeezes and political uncertainty are major reasons for the false starts and inefficiencies that have plagued the project.
Tra-Duct 2917 is an electrically conductive, silver-filled epoxy adhesive that is recommended for electronic bonding, coating and sealing applications that require high flexibility in combination with good electrical and mechanical properties. It cures at room temperature and is ideal for ``cold solder'' applications. Tra-Duct 2917 achieves a volume resistivity of 0.003 ohms/cm. at 23C when fully cured. It has a glass transition temperature of 4C and a Shore A hardness of 86. The moderately thixotropic adhesive is free of solvents and copper or carbon adhesives.
