Edward J. Blot (see photo) has been named vice president-sales and marketing for the Specialty Steels Div. of Republic Engineered Steels, Massillon, Ohio. He held the same position at Baltimore Specialty Steels Corp.
Cessna Aircraft Co. will build a record 84 Caravans in 1995, following strong sales in 1994. Increasing international approval of the single-turbine utility transport for commercial passenger flights at night and under instrument meteorological conditions (IMC)likely will boost sales further. Cessna also has studied twin-engine and widebody Caravan versions, although cost and desired scale of the upgrades were prohibitive.
SOLAR-POWERED FLYING is scheduled again this summer at Edwards AFB, Calif., with delivery there last week of the modified Pathfinder flying wing UAV. The NASA-financed, 100-ft. wingspan, eight-engine aircraft now has 66% of its surface covered with solar panels (a full array), much of it space-grade, silicon cells, which is an increase from 25%. The UAV is expected to make day-long flights at altitudes up to 75,000 ft. After flying up to 12-hr. missions with a 50-lb. payload, it is planned for the Pathfinder to make night landings at Edwards.
Rockwell International's Collins commercial avionics business--the Boeing Co.'s principal avionics supplier--has raised by about 10% its estimates of the number of new aircraft deliveries it anticipates in 1996. Rockwell's decision was based on recent discussions it has had with executives of airlines about their avionics preferences. It's a good indication that the market for new commercial airframes is strengthening, which seems to be the sentiment of a growing number of investors.
Rising costs, more competition, increasing airport congestion and greater environmental restrictions will make it more difficult for Asian airlines to enjoy their traditionally high profits in the future, according to the new commercial director for the Orient Airlines Assn.
A HEAD-UP DISPLAY manufactured by Flight Visions Inc., recently certified on the Cessna Citation 2, is believed by the company to be the first HUD certified on a corporate aircraft and the first with a glareshield mount. The company manufactures both military and commercial HUDs.
Elimination of excess and nonproductive inventory--a huge financial burden on major airlines--is becoming a higher priority as carriers press their search for competitive cost advantages. Delta Air Lines, which has targeted cost savings of more than $2 billion by June, 1997, last week took a major step toward reengineering its inventory system. It sold about $360 million worth of spare parts--including accessories, avionics and engine components--to Avatar Alliance L.P. of Stratford, Conn.
INDONESIA HAS JUMPED from Ariane to Atlas for launching its first Palapa C communications satellite. PT.Satelit Palapa Indonesia and PT.Pasifik Satelit Nusantara signed a contract with Lockheed Martin to launch the Hughes HS601 spacecraft on an Atlas 2AS in January, 1996. Lockheed Martin had an opening in its manifest because AT&T gave up a slot for its Telstar 402R. AT&T decided to launch that satellite on an Ariane rocket instead.
WHILE THE FORCE PREPARATIONS FOR A BOSNIAN DEPLOYMENT of U.S. troops continue, Pentagon personnel officials say that, to date, the pressure is far less than two years ago when 35,000 soldiers were tapped for prospective operations. Presently, the number being considered stands at about 15,000, although the level is changing daily. The status of the airborne battalion in Vicenza, Italy, and the 82nd Airborne Div. at Ft.
ANSETT AUSTRALIA HAS CHOSEN Taipei and Kuala Lumpur as its next destinations in Asia after establishing itself over the past 18 months as a rival to Qantas in international services. It now serves Osaka, Hong Kong and Bali with two leased 747-300s (AW&ST May 8, p. 43). The next expansion phase will begin in November. Taiwan is especially favored because tourism forecasts predict it will be Australia's second biggest inbound market by 2000 (Japan is now No. 1). The carrier is in negotiations for a third 747-300 for the additional services.
A NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL study recommends that the Defense Dept. stop degrading the civil GPS signal. The Pentagon uses selective availability (S/A) to decrease GPS accuracy to 100 meters for civilian users, based on the rationale that the U.S. should not give potential enemies a more accurate system. But the civil side has developed differential GPS systems that give greater accuracy despite the dithered signal, thus significantly undermining the effectiveness of S/A.
Also, Thomas B. Sheridan, professor of engineering and applied psychology and head of the Human-Machine Systems Laboratory at MIT; Elisabeth Pate-Cornell, professor of industrial engineering at Stanford University; John D. Warner, president of Boeing Computer Services, Bellevue, Wash.; Jin Wu, H. Fletcher Brown professor of marine studies and director of the Air-Sea Interaction Laboratory at the University of Delaware at Lewes; Fawwaz T.
Unmanned aerial vehicles may again prove their worth in war, as Pentagon plans crystallize for deploying the Tier 2 Predator with joint special operations forces to Europe for flights over Bosnia.
SCIENTISTS AT LOS ALAMOS National Laboratory (N.M.) are testing a new way to detect explosives. The method, which lends itself to use in portable or hand-held devices, draws air samples into a sealed chamber and passes them across a fine screen heated to 500C. A light-sensitive photomultiplier tube and simple software detect and classify the flashes created by burning specks of particulate matter contained in the air. Preliminary tests indicate explosive materials produce a unique optical signature.
Minoru Toyoda has been appointed deputy transport minister of Japan following the resignation of Michihiko Matsuo. Succeeding Toyoda as director of the Transport Policy Bureau will be Yasutoshi Tsuchisaka. Succeeding him as director of the Civil Aviation Bureau will be Masahiko Kurono, former director of the Ministry of Transport secretariat.
The five astronauts on board Discovery will test out a redesigned shuttle main engine during their ascent to orbit on a mission to deploy a $125-million NASA geosynchronous data-relay satellite. Shuttle Mission 70 will become the 100th NASA flight to carry Americans to orbit if it lifts off from Pad 39B here as planned on June 8. Shuttle managers late last week were evaluating whether they needed to delay the launch to repair damage to Discovery's external tank.
A NEW TECHNOLOGY to economically display high-definition, three-dimensional images could find applications in air traffic control. The technique exploits the ``afterimage'' effect on the human eye when flashing successive images on a rotating two-dimensional screen. The Volumetric Image Display, under development by ACT Research Corp., Cambridge, Mass., uses an electro-optical device to ensure smooth image transfer to the eye.
CATHAY PACIFIC'S ACQUISITION of a second 747-400 freighter in July will allow it to open up the east coast of North America with joint-service flights to Toronto with Air Canada. Cathay has previously used 747-200Fs on nonscheduled cargo flights to Toronto, from which shippers can connect with flights into the U.S. Those flights required technical stops in Seoul and Anchorage, but the new aircraft will eliminate the need to stop in Seoul. For its part, Air Canada will use a 747-400 Combi when passenger services to Hong Kong begin in December.
IN AN EXPORT BREAKTHROUGH for India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd., Namibia's defense forces soon will begin operating a new helicopter air wing. HAL has sold two Chetaks (license-built Eurocopter SA-316B Alouette 2s) and two Cheetahs (license-built Eurocopter SA-315B Lamas) to Namibia for $5.5 million. A team of HAL pilots and technicians is providing training and support for the next six months.
Gerald J. Dittberner has been appointed manager of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite program. He was a program manager for Mentor Technologies, Inc., Lanham, Md.
Workers here are hustling to launch an Atlas booster this week so they can turn their attention to the next Atlas, which is to carry a critical defense communications satellite to orbit in late July. The Atlas, set for launch May 31 during a 2-hr. window that opens at 1527 GMT, also will carry a defense communications satellite. But that UHF Follow-On (UFO) F5 spacecraft is part of a new constellation the U.S. Navy is building to replace its aging constellation of Fleet Satellite Communications and Leasat spacecraft.
NEURAL NETWORK TECHNOLOGY is being developed to improve weather forecasting. Tests indicate computer neural network architecture designed by KTAADN, Inc., Newton, Mass., can predict cloud cover up to 4 hr. in advance using satellite image input. A related KTAADN project, to predict lightning strike probability at Kennedy Space Center, uses surface wind and electric field data, wind divergence, temperature, humidity and dewpoint inputs. It is being expanded to include NEXRAD weather radar information, according to Ilya Schiller, project manager.
U.S. INVESTMENT IN SCIENCE and technology is starting to recover after years of stagnation. R&D expenditures will rise to about $182 billion this year, up 3% from 1994, according to Battelle, a nonprofit research institute in Columbus, Ohio. Both industry and federal R&D spending will increase in 1995, Battelle said, up an estimated 3.6% and 2.4% to $107.4 billion and $65.5 billion, respectively. The recovery will extend past the year 2000.
DO NOT COUNT on taking in this art show. As if there were not enough things to keep track of on Mir, now the cluttered Russian space station is going to receive its own art ``exhibition.'' Over recent years, there have been various artistic projects in orbit. Here, cosmonaut Alexander Polischuk floats with ``Cosmic Dancer,'' a sculpture by Arthur Woods launched to Mir in May, 1993. The Ours Foundation in Switzerland, which sponsored that work, says it will send more art up on the EuroMir `95 mission this August.
