Gulfstream Aerospace expects to have a definite advantage over the Bombardier Global Express by delivering close to 40 G5s before the Canadian aircraft is certified, but after that the competition for the long-range business aircraft market will become much more equal.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Federico Pena is summoning chief pilots and other top operations officials of U.S. airlines to meet with him and FAA Administrator David R. Hinson in Washington Jan. 9-10 in one of the biggest air transport safety conferences in memory. Every airline that operates aircraft with 10 passenger seats or more is being asked to send three senior executives to the meeting, which is being called ``Zero Accidents--The Challenge.'' FAA principal inspectors also will attend.
THE GENERAL ACCOUNTING OFFICE (GAO) has thrown fresh fuel on the fire for Congressional opponents of NASA's beleaguered space station. A GAO report called ``unrealistic'' NASA's budget plans to expand and fund the scientific research effort needed to support the manned facility. The space agency scrambled to respond, saying that science remains the first priority of the station, and that issues raised by the GAO that have not already been addressed by NASA will be dealt with later. The report was requested by Sen. William S.
FlightSafety International of New York has appointed Calvin Myers manager of its St. Louis Airline Training Center. He was a TWA first officer on McDonnell Douglas DC-9/MD-80 aircraft and a Boeing 727 flight engineer and check airman.
The overall design of the Global Express long range business jet is nearly complete, and the detail design phase is about to begin on schedule as Bombardier aims for a first flight in the third quarter of 1996 and certification by May, 1998.
The demand for fast, flexible, high-fidelity simulation systems will grow steadily through the turn of the century, spurred by military officials seeking efficient options for honing force readiness amid shrinking budgets.
The U.S. and Russia have moved well beyond talking about merging their manned space programs and are shipping hardware to each other for joint flights this year.
GENERAL ELECTRIC RESEARCH&DEVELOPMENT CENTER will seek to develop optoelectronic interconnects and packaging to use transparent polymer strands to replace glass fibers for optical transmission of data within advanced electronic systems. Beneficiaries could include satellite, aircraft flight controls, phased array radars and medical diagnostic imagers. Researchers think using plastic ``wires'' could produce significant savings in fabrication costs compared with optical fibers, which are necessary for widespread use of optoelectronic technology, according to GE.
ROGUE STATES ARE BUYING earth-borers to move nuclear, chemical and biological weapon production deep underground to protect them from conventional bombing, according to Harold P. Smith, Jr., assistant to the Defense Secretary for Atomic Energy. Because he does not advocate using deep-penetrating nuclear weapons to destroy such complexes, Smith has challenged the Defense Nuclear Agency (DNA) to ``come up with conventional solutions'' to disable them. Power grids, entrances, air shafts and computer controls would become likely targets, possibly for nonlethal weapons.
Three years of data from a NASA satellite have apparently closed the case on ozone depletion, indicting chemicals that humans dump into the air and exculpating nature. What NASA is calling conclusive evidence that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) are responsible for destruction of Earth's protective stratospheric ozone layer was discovered by the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS).
SENIOR U.S. AIR FORCE OFFICIALS said they are pleased with the Fiscal 1996 budget, which will be made public in February. The often-threatened EF-111/F-111 wing has been given a short reprieve. Retirement will be delayed at least through Fiscal 1996, while Air Force officials try to figure out how they will operate without penetrating jammer aircraft.
JAPAN'S CO-CURED composite materials technology has attracted the attention of the U.S. Defense Dept. The Pentagon has asked Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Mitsubishi Electric and Kawasaki Heavy Industries to consider participating and sharing costs in a joint development program. In related news, Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries will begin using an advanced composite material, developed by Mitsui Tohatsu Chemical Corp., for guide vane supports in IAE V-2500 turbofan engines.
Convergent Energy, Sturbridge, Mass., has appointed Srikanth Venkat (see photo) applications manager. He was an intern at the Bhabha Atomic Research Center, Bombay, India.
U.S. AIR FORCE CONTROLLERS are checking out the newest Defense Support Program satellite following the spacecraft's launch on a Titan 4/Inertial Upper Stage vehicle late last month. Controllers at the 50th Space Wing at Falcon AFB, Colo., assumed authority over the early-warning satellite after it and its Boeing-built Inertial Upper Stage reached what Air Force officials said was an initial parking orbit of 86 X 116 naut. mi.
NEW HOUSE SCIENCE Committee chairman Robert S. Walker (R.-Pa.) strongly supports the space station, but so does the chairman of the space subcommittee, F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R.-Wis.). Look for him to play chaperone in NASA's love affair with Russia (see p. 59); Sensenbrenner has warmed to the relationship lately, but still worries about the risks. Also, there is no love lost between Sensenbrenner and Daniel S. Goldin, NASA administrator. Under Walker's leadership, Republicans will try to steer federal research away from industrial policy and back to basics.
The caption accompanying the upper photo on p. 39 of the Dec. 26 Photo Contest issue was incorrect. The caption should have said the aircraft is a North American T-28D-10 flying over Lake Tahoe, which straddles the California-Nevada border. The aircraft is owned by Ben Scott and Neil Weaver of Carson City, Nev. It was named Judges' Choice Aircraft at the 1994 Experimental Aircraft Assn. exhibition at Oshkosh, Wis.
Page Avjet Corp. executives are searching for means to generate cash from the company's assets following the suspension of operations at its Orlando maintenance base. Company officials shut down the operation at Orlando International Airport Dec. 16. They blamed weak demand for heavy maintenance and refurbishment services, and intense competition, which they said has driven prices so low that they barely cover the cost of the work.
Delta Air Lines, Inc., whose shares received a big lift last week following a favorable court ruling involving Pan Am Corp.'s estate, will have to come by future stock-price gains the old-fashioned way: It will have to earn them, Wall Street analysts are advising investors.
Simula, Inc., Phoenix, Ariz., has promoted Donald W. Townsend to president/ chief operating officer. He was executive vice president/treasurer/secretary/ chief financial officer, as well as a director. Kevin W. Clark, who was vice president-finance, succeeds Townsend as chief financial officer.
Arianespace and its Ariane booster contractors will initiate a major effort to improve contamination control following review board findings that failure of an Ariane 4 mission on Dec. 1 was probably caused by the clogging of a third-stage oxygen line. Arianespace hopes to resume launches by the second half of February, but will not set a date for its next mission until 13 key recommendations from an accident review board have a chance to be implemented.
Martinair Holland has named Mari Scott manager in Orlando, Fla. She was an operations manager for KLM. Susan Trachy Williams, previously South Florida sales manager for Avis, is now district passenger sales manager in Orlando.
British Caledonian Fight Training, Crawley, England, has promoted Josephine Tyrrell (see photo) to customer service manager from customer service executive at the London Gatwick training center.
Investigators at the U.S. Air Force's Wright Laboratory are poised to begin evaluations of an advanced, swept-blade fighter/attack engine fan with projected performance levels that are expected to rival the 1997 goals for the Defense Dept.'s Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology initiative.
AIRLINE EXECUTIVES are pleading with President Clinton to extend an exemption from the 4.3 cent/gal. tax on jet fuel that expires Oct. 1, 1995. If Clinton refuses, airlines will have to ante up another $527 million per year to pay the bill. The tax was enacted in 1993 as part of the Administration's deficit reduction plan, but airlines were given a two-year reprieve.
