JAPAN'S MAJOR AIRLINES ARE CONTINUING TO BAND TOGETHER to cut all possible costs. Japan Airlines, Japan Air System and All Nippon Airways expect to save about $1 million a year in their latest effort--a jointly held subsidiary, to be formed later this year, to buy, operate and maintain air cargo containers and freight equipment. They have already tried out the idea through a joint maintenance and engine spares purchasing agreement for the Boeing 777. ANA will be the first of the three to get the 777, with delivery scheduled in October.
Delwyn B. Strandburg (see photo) has been named vice president-sales and marketing for carbon fibers for the Zoltek Cos. in St. Louis. He was vice president/director of sales at Prime Alliance, Inc.
Increasing cooperation with the National Reconnaissance Office and streamlining top-priority launcher and satellite programs are the latest weapons for cutting space operations costs, according to U.S. Air Force leaders.
Leaking hot gases from the firing of a pyrovalve caused an explosion that ruined the $200-million AT&T Telstar 402 mission last September, an investigation by Martin Marietta Astro Space has concluded. Based on the Astro Space findings, the next customer for the new Series 7000 satellite is ready to proceed. Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co., Ltd., will launch its AsiaSat-2 spacecraft this summer, General Manager-Marketing Sabrina Cubbon said last week.
FAA officials are confident that ``funds will be found'' to extend overtime pay at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control (Tracon) facility and obviate the threat of lengthy ground delays during the busy summer travel season. As a direct result of a current staffing shortfall, the Tracon experienced a 312% increase in operational errors in 1994. An operational error occurs when less than minimum safe separation exists between aircraft. Minimum separation is 1,000 ft. vertically and 3 mi. horizontally between aircraft.
Advanced, high-fidelity simulators and a reliable six-aircraft B-2 fleet are key contributors to efficient, accelerated flight crew training. Sixteen operational pilots at Whiteman AFB, Mo., are qualified in the bomber now, and three are cleared to fly conventional combat missions.
Airline equity analysts expect other U.S. carriers to follow United Airlines' lead and keep capacity fairly tight for the remainder of the 1990s, with new aircraft deliveries geared primarily toward replacement--not growth. That should prove beneficial for airline stocks, which are up 20% since the start of 1995.
INDUSTRY OFFICIALS HERE BELIEVE the Air Force will finally name the winner of a pending trainer aircraft contract on July 1 with no more delays. But the winner of the program, known officially as the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System, will have to find overseas buyers in a hurry. Their purchases are needed to shore up the low production rates for the first four years of the restructured program. Contractors are hoping for a market of about 1,500 aircraft, with possibly 800 or more going abroad.
Melinda McGinty (see photo) has been promoted to manager of client services for SimuFlite Training International, Dallas/ Ft. Worth International Airport. She was supervisor of account representatives.
NASA's shuttle launch team here is preparing the orbiters Atlantis and Discovery to be launch-ready in early June to preclude delays of a critical Russian spacecraft's launch from disrupting U.S. space operations--including initial construction of the international space station more than two years hence.
A German-built laser geodetic spacecraft (right) transported to the Russian Mir by the unmanned Progress M-27 tanker will be ejected this week by the station's joint Russian/U. S. crew. Progress M-27 docked with Mir late Apr. 11, following its launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome Apr. 9. In addition to the laser spacecraft, the tanker/transport carries about 400 kg. (880 lb.) of food and 500 kg. (1,100 lb.) of maneuvering propellant for the station.
U.S., Russian and Ukrainian aerospace companies and a Norwegian ship builder have formed a team to offer space launch services from a pad converted from an offshore oil platform. The partnership, called Sea Launch, will establish a U.S. home port for its operation, which will use a Zenit-based vehicle to launch satellites from international waters in the Pacific Ocean. Boeing Commercial Space Co. has overall responsibility for development of the Sea Launch system and operation of its business.
Barbados-based Carib Express is expanding its operations in the Caribbean this month with the entry into service of a third 76-seat British Aerospace 146-100 leased from British Aerospace Asset Management Organization. The new interisland airline began service in mid-February with flights linking Barbados with St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Grenada and Dominica. The carrier is 70.1% owned by private investors, 19.9% by British Airways, and 10% by the governments of Barbados; Dominica; Grenada; St. Lucia; and St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
Airlines that operate in European airspace will have to retrofit aircraft with very high frequency (VHF) air-ground radios that provide 8.33 KHz. channel spacing instead of the current 25 KHz. Operational use of the new ``triple-split'' channels to overcome radio spectrum congestion could come as early as Jan. 1, 1998, for aircraft operating in some of Europe's upper airspace sectors.
LOOK FOR INCREASED USE OF ADVANCED, high-speed computers and trend analysis tools by systems manufacturers to quickly identify and correct chronic in-service equipment problems. The practice reduces customer maintenance and spares stock costs, and often supplies a service cash-short carriers do not have the personnel or expertise to provide. Collins Commercial Avionics Reliability Evaluation Corrective Action Program (RECAP) recently tracked down a bad left-hand rudder servo feedback device as the source of problems occurring on a Boeing 747.
P. Douglas McKeen has been named vice president-labor relations for America West Airlines. He was managing director of labor relations for ground operations at Northwest Airlines.
The U.S. Army is starting qualification tests of terrain-following radar on Sikorsky MH-60K (above) and Boeing MH-47E special operations helicopters. The tests are being conducted by the service's Airworthiness Qualification Directorate at Edwards AFB, Calif., and will assess the capabilities and limitations of the Texas Instruments AN/APQ-174B radar, which is derived from that used in the Air Force's Lantirn targeting and navigation pod. The tests are to be completed by the end of this year.
NASA's Ames Research Center has developed head-up display formats and a flight control system that allow a Harrier V/STOL attack aircraft pilot to make ``blind'' landings on a 40 X 70-ft. pad.
Express package service's executives believe Asia's longer distances, faster growth will prevent another failure like FedEx's foray into Europe The McDonnell Douglas MD-11, the long-range freighter launched in 1991 by FedEx, is playing a critical role in the express carrier's new thrust into the lucrative international market. ``It was a while getting there,'' Theodore L. Weise, FedEx's senior vice president-air operations, said of the MD-11. ``But we're pleased where it is going.''
LOUISVILLE'S PRIMARY commercial airport last week acquired a new name, Louisville International Airport. The airport will continue to identify itself with the three-letter code, SDF, an abbreviation for Standiford. Elijah H. Standiford was a railroad man on whose property the airport was constructed more than 50 years ago. Largely due to UPS' presence at Louisville, the airport ranks fourth in the U.S. and sixth in the world in cargo handled. n
TRADITIONAL SOURCES of new pilots are drying up in the U.S., which could hurt chances for a prolonged rebound in the general aviation industry. In addition to rising flight training costs, younger persons' incomes have represented a falling percentage of national mean income since 1977, according to consulting firm GRA, Inc., of Jenkintown, Pa. This means the age group most likely to pursue recreational flying has less discretionary income, and increases the appeal of less-expensive substitute activities.
STRUCTURED MATERIALS INDUSTRIES, Inc., of Piscataway, N.J., has developed a method to make silicon shine when stimulated by an electric current. The technology may be an important step in integrating photonics with conventional microprocessor chips made of silicon and offer a lower-cost, lighter-weight alternative to full-color liquid crystal displays and other lighting. SMI's silicon-based Quantum NanoCrystals confine electrons within extremely small areas to permit efficient emission of light, SMI President Gary S. Tompa said.
Boeing has completed the exterior structure of the first pressurized space station module--a node that would connect laboratory and crew modules and allow the space shuttle to dock. The cylindrical pressurized module, which is 18 ft. long and 14 ft. in diameter, was built by Boeing Defense&Space Group at NASA's space station manufacturing building at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
A simple, yet novel propulsion concept for two-engine turbine-powered aircraft offers a more than 250% improvement in climb performance while cuttingdirect operating costs by 30% when compared with modern business jets, according to analyses.
