EUROSTAR, the Channel Tunnel rail operator, is holding talks with Air France, British Airways and British Midland about the possibility of offering combined rail/air ticketing on routes between London and Paris and Brussels. U.K. carriers are anticipating that tunnel rail service on these routes will reduce passenger loads by 15-20%, while the Paris Airports Authority is predicting a loss of 1 million passengers yearly (AW&ST Jan. 9, p. 17). But combined ticketing may help keep interest alive in both modes of transport.
Early export orders for the Tiger attack-escort helicopter could play a major role in European armed forces' enhanced interoperability and support Eurocopter's ambitious business plan. The Tiger, currently in the flight test phase, is expected to contribute significantly to the French-German firm's upturn, which company executives say will materialize by the end of the decade. Four Tiger prototypes have logged about 650 flight hr. First delivery to the French and German forces is planned in the late 1990s.
International Lease Finance Corp., Century City, Calif., has promoted both Alan H. Lund and John L. Plueger to executive vice president/chief operating officer. Lund was senior vice president/chief financial officer/treasurer. He remains CFO. Plueger was executive vice president-marketing.
THE MARKET FOR satellite-based, hand-held communications will grow to $10 billion within 10 years, Comsat Mobile Communications Corp. President Ron Mario figures. Comsat will invest $147 million in the new company Inmarsat is creating to offer Inmarsat-P satellite/cellular services by the year 2000. Handsets should cost less than $1,000, calls about $2/min. So far, the Inmarsat-P company has raised $1.4 billion from 38 investor companies.
GENERAL OFFICER ASSIGNMENTS ARE NOTORIOUSLY SUBJECT to last minute change, but current scuttlebutt is the Air Force has at least three major career shifts pending. Gen. Henry Butch Viccellio, commander of the Air Education and Training Command, would replace the retiring Gen. Ronald W. Yates as chief of Air Force Materiel Command. Lt. Gen. James A. Fain, Jr., former F-22 program director, is widely expected to retire as assistant vice chief of staff. Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Ralston is slated to replace Gen. John M. Loh, head of Air Combat Command, who also is to retire.
Midway Aircraft, Teterboro, N.J., has named Terrance J. Bacola vice president/ general manager of Midway Aircraft Instrument Corp. He was vice president-technical services for Worldwide Airline Services, Inc.
The 702 Computer Workstation manages total data collection requirements and functions as an inspection station for dimensional statistical process control. The unit features a multiplexer built into its drive bay, which reduces the need for patch cords and other cables. The system is IBM compatible, allowing it to use industry standard software. Workstations also are available with Ethernet and other network cards. Eight ports allow for connecting digital and analog measuring devices directly into the system. The 702 comes with a 14-in.
The USS Eisenhower Battle Group will begin a tactical evaluation next month of a new air defense sensor networkingsystem to help determine whether it can be applied for use against theater ballistic missiles.
Hughes Aircraft Co.'s development of a satellite for Afro-Asian Satellite Communications (ASC) could be the first in a series of regional communications systems Hughes will build to enable handheld telephone users to talk directly with spacecraft in geosynchronous or medium-Earth orbit. The $700-million system Hughes is to provide for ASC will include two enhanced versions of the HS 601 spacecraft and associated satellite and communications control facilities. Each spacecraft could be equipped with a 30-50-ft.-dia. transmit-receive antenna.
NASA has convened a safety board to investigate the crash of the multinational X-31 research aircraft at Edwards AFB, Calif. The No. 1 X-31 was returning to base after completing a 1-hr. mission to measure aircraft parameters at 22,000 ft. when it went out of control at about 2:40 p.m. on Jan. 19 (AW&ST Jan. 23, p. 29). The aircraft was flying at 22,000 ft. and 200 kt. in straight and level flight with the thrust vectoring and high angle of attack flight control mode turned off when German test pilot Karl Lang noticed erroneous airspeed readings.
AEROSPATIALE PLANS to use a new communications satellite contract with a private company in Thailand as a springboard for more business in the growing Asian communications market. The French company's sale of a Spacebus 3000 spacecraft bus for the Thaicom 3 mission marks Aerospatiale's first space contract in Asia and its first ever space sale to a private company. Shinawatra Satellite Public Limited Co. is purchasing the spacecraft for launch, probably in 1996, on an as-yet undetermined booster.
Airbus Industrie is expected to place greater emphasis on human factors in automated cockpit design than in the past, though this does not mean the consortium is backing away from its aggressive approach to advanced technology.
John Shepherd (see photo) has been named programs executive at Smiths Industries Aerospace's Civil Systems Div. He was design engineering manager and head of Boeing programs.
American Airlines is cutting hub operations at Raleigh/Durham International Airport and shifting operations there to Chicago-based Midway Airlines. American will slash operations at the North Carolina hub more than 70% by this summer and cut its workforce there by 60% or more to stanch losses that have long plagued the facility.
Raytheon Co. is consolidating all of its defense businesses into one operating unit in a major restructuring designed to save costs as commercial businesses begin to dominate the company's financial results.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is increasingly certain the rudder control system of a Boeing 737-300 contributed to the crash of USAir Flight 427 last September near Aliquippa, Pa. During hearings held here last week, expert testimony centered on effects of the rudder system on aircraft control and how wake turbulence may have precipitated an aerodynamic upset that led to the crash that killed 132 persons.
This motorized baggage loader is designed for operators of commuter aircraft and large corporate jets. It can reach cargo doors ranging in height from 48-84 in. Its lead-calcium, deep-cycle batteries allow up to a 12-hr. duty cycle. The frame is made of welded tubular steel. The tires are foam filled, allowing the loader to be used even when a tire is punctured. Tronair, 1740 Eber Road, Holland, Ohio 43528.
A Long March LM-2E launcher carrying a Hughes HS 601 satellite blew up about a minute after a predawn liftoff here Jan. 26, at this Chinese space center. The 164-ft. launcher lifted off about 6:40 a.m. carrying the 3,800-lb. Apstar 2 telecommunications satellite for APT Satellite Company of Hong Kong. APT has raised $110 million in project financing for construction, launch and insurance.
LEADING REPUBLICANS ARE URGING President Clinton to put talks with Russia on modifying the Antiballistic Missile Treaty on hold. They are concerned that technical changes to the treaty could hamper or block development or deployment of theater missile defenses. They solicited White House assurances that treaty revisions will not be rushed. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Strom Thurmond (R.-S.C.) were among those who wrote to Clinton.
TOP INDIAN SPACE OFFICIALS ARE DUE IN TOWN this week to wrap up two new agreements on communications and remote sensing satellites. Intelsat, the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization, will sign a long-term lease of capacity on the Insat-2E spacecraft, designed and built by the Indian Space Research Organization and scheduled for launch in late 1997.
A Canadian company has developed a system that uses visible light to find defects in aircraft surfaces that can be a sign of corrosion or disbonding underneath.
A SUCCESSFUL EUROSAM ASTER-15 surface-to-air missile test has helped clear the way for tests of the missile against actual targets and eventual deployment on the new French aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle in 1999. The Aster-15, fired from the Landes test center near Bordeaux, France, flew an attack profile against a simulated supersonic sea-skimming missile target. The test also demonstrated the Aster-15's ability to perform a high-g, pitch-down maneuver and target acquisition immediately after being fired vertically from a shore-based launcher.
