HUGHES ASIA PACIFIC will provide Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok Airport with what should be the world's most advanced communications galaxy integrating various airport computer systems. The $42.4-million ``master systems integration'' contract is for the building of an information and communications system that will connect all airport services, yet let each stand alone as a separate computer system.
WOODPECKERS have brought NASA's armchair advisers and critics out of the, uh, woodwork. Television's David Letterman asks, ``You get the feeling these days that NASA could not plan a mission to Planet Hollywood?'' Smiling through clenched teeth, the space agency welcomes the suggestions for keeping the critters from poking holes in Discovery's external tank insulation. For many shuttle workers, ``yellow shafted flicker'' sounds like enough of an epithet.
Thomas Betenia has been named general manager for cargo in the Southeast U.S. for Lufthansa German Airlines, based in Atlanta. He was Lufthansa cargo service manager at Chicago.
The SK-6000-CF is a continuous feed solvent recovery system that automatically processes a batch of spent solvent. It automatically pumps spent solvent from the waste drum into the distillation chamber and can process up to 55 gal. of solvent per shift. The system eliminates the need for manual pumping, pouring or lifting of waste solvent drums. Closed-loop technology prevents vapor emissions and spillage. A low-voltage control board eliminates the need for costly electrical modifications. Solvent Kleene Inc., 1311/2 Lynnfield St., Peabody, Mass. 01960.
Kenneth T. Guss has been appointed general manager of the Fluid Control and Actuation Div. of Vickers Inc. of Los Angeles. He was director of contract administration.
SNECMA, MTU AND FIAT have joined to produce a turboprop engine for the European Future Large Aircraft commercial transport. The powerplant has been designated the M138, and it is to be based on the core from Snecma's M88 engine, which powers the Rafale.
C-Images 3-D is a general-purpose, multi-dimensional image processing and analysis package. Advanced filtering techniques allow the program to remove noise, sharpen edges and smooth irregularities in an image. Objects are characterized in terms of volume, surface area, length, gray-level distribution and other selected measurements. The software allows a region of interest to be processed and allows large images to be broken into smaller ones for processing. It allows image sampling and histogramming, linear and nonlinear filters and Fourier analysis.
Richard Brandon has been named general manager of the Tubetronics unit of Eaton Leonard Inc., Carlsbad, Calif. He succeeds Paul Howard, who has become corporate director of manufacturing for Eaton Leonard.
Mooney Aircraft Corp. will expand its business base this year by increasing its work manufacturing parts for major aircraft makers and refurbishment centers. Mooney Chief Executive Officer Jacques Esculier told AVIATION WEEK&SPACE TECHNOLOGY subcontracting work accounts for about a quarter of annual sales of about $26 million, a percent that is increasing.
The MX Airmix is a nonelectrostatic spray gun designed for coating surfaces such as metal and plastic. The lightweight, medium-pressure gun comes standard with a fluid tube with filter. It features specially designed, fast-flush stainless steel passages that reduce material and solvent waste. The gun is well balanced and incorporates an improved trigger and grip design to reduce operator fatigue. Kremlin Inc., 201 S. Lombard Road, Addison, Ill. 60601.
THE CURRENT CONSENSUS IS THAT ROCKWELL and Cessna have the lead in the JPATS (Joint Primary Aircraft Training System) competition. But Hill staffers and industry officials are convinced any announcement will come later than expected. One sign: losing contractors are not yet hounding congressional advocates to review the competition. Odds on an early announcement-- initially planned for June 21-23--are only 50/50 before the start of Capitol Hill's July 4 recess.
Continental Airlines is exceeding its targets for improving performance laid out in a plan to make 1995 its first profitable year in a decade, but a dispute with its pilots threatens to scuttle that progress. The airline's president and chief executive, Gordon R. Bethune, told stockholders at their annual meeting in Houston last week that Continental has exceeded revenue and expense targets every month since its performance plan was launched in January.
Canadian Airlines International is taking a calculated risk this summer, with preliminary support from labor after a disappointing C$108.6-million ($78.2 million) first-quarter loss. The Calgary-based carrier has launched an aggressive summer schedule, boosting capacity by 15%. Key unions have agreed to productivity improvements under an interim agreement that allows Canadian to operate additional frequencies this summer at virtually no increase in labor costs.
The X-31 program appears to have reached its conclusion with the exhaustion of funds in March, but participants have contributed to this week's planned flight demonstration at the Paris air show.
William R. Cutter, Col. Gerald Brown (USAF, Ret.) and Dixon Speas have been inducted into the Arizona Aviation Hall of Fame in Tuscon. Inducted postuhumously were William P. Cutter and Col. Joseph A. Moller (USAF, Ret.)
WASHINGTON The Rockwell Ranger 2000 has the inside track in the competition for the U.S.' new primary trainer aircraft, according to pilot evaluations. Political and business factors, however, leave the final selection in doubt, and critics are already worried that any aircraft in the competition will be obsolete by the time it is delivered.
Jack Hess has been promoted to Southeast sales manager from sales administrator for BFGoodrich Aerospace's Aerospace Avionics Systems, Grand Rapids, Mich.
Ira Kaplan and J. Douglas Moore have been promoted to vice presidents of the Edo Corp., College Point, N.Y. They headed the Defense and Space Systems and Industrial Products Divs., respectively.
Ronald C. Jones (see photo) has been appointed vice president-marketing of Systems Research Laboratories, Dayton, Ohio. He was director of marketing and business development for Harris Corp.
ADA 95, THE LATEST VERSION of the Defense Dept.'s higher order programming language, has reached another key acceptance milestone. The American National Standards Institute has stamped the 95 revision as an ANSI standard. The ANSI acceptance is the third in a series of major Ada 95 standardizations. It follows a February approval by the International Organization for Standardization and, shortly after, Ada 95 was accepted as a Federal Information Processing Standard by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Senior officials of the Civil Aviation Authority of China are describing ambitious plans to improve China's airports over the next decade, especially the 40 international and domestic facilities that serve 95% of the nation's passengers. In a ``Come one, come all'' attitude toward foreign investors, they describe a nation eager to modernize its facilities but short of capital.
