PILOTS FOR IBERIA CALLED OFF a planned 12-day strike after reaching agreement to take an 8.5% pay reduction in exchange for a larger role in managing the ailing state-owned Spanish carrier. The pay cuts were substantially below the 15% originally being sought from the highly paid pilots. Other union groups already had accepted a cost-cutting plan which included an average salary reduction of 8.5%. The pilots' agreement is contingent on European Commission approval of a large cash infusion from the Spanish government, which is not assured.
AEROSPACE INDUSTRY OFFICIALS BELIEVE the U.S. Air Force will defer as long as possible buying off-the-shelf transport aircraft like the Boeing 747-400, while securing as many C-17s as possible. Air Force chief of staff, Gen. Ronald Fogleman, will eventually have to yield, they predict, but only after a long delaying action. In anticipation, Boeing is planning an upgraded 747 transport weighing 920,000 lb. with a range of 7,800 naut. mi. The service's most immediate need, however, is a replacement for its aged VC-137 VIP transports that fly senior U.S.
Douglas Aircraft Co. is evaluating several concepts for MD-11 derivatives aimed at reducing direct operating costs and increasing payload/range capabilities for airline customers in the late 1990s. The designs include both trijet and twin-jet versions of the MD-11, which to date has been offered to airlines in only one fuselage length. The designs currently under study at Douglas include:
Tests of AlliedSignal's common core engine will position the company to have a family of powerplants available for the regional aircraft market in the late 1990s. The common core began tests in early December at Stratford, Conn. The tests are expected to continue through March and will focus on technology validation.
The U.K., after a heated internal political battle, has become the launch customer for the Lockheed C-130J Hercules 2 military transport, with orders for 25. The contract, valued at 1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion), will give a strong boost to three dozen U.K. aerospace companies, which have an estimated 15% share in the program and stand to gain substantial business through expected sales worldwide.
THORN EMI TENTATIVELY has agreed to sell its Defense Group to the Thomson Group of France for 15 million pounds ($23.4 million). The group, which accounts for 40% of the sales of Thorn EMI Electronics, makes fuzes for missiles and ordnance, and electro-optics.
ABOUT 8,300 PILOTS were hired by U.S. major, national and regional airlines last year, up 45% from 1993, according to Air, Inc., an Atlanta pilot career services firm. Prospects for this year also look promising with most major airlines hiring or recalling pilots, including United, Northwest, Southwest, FedEx and America West. As expected, jet and non-jet regionals were the most active new pilot employers in 1994, picking up more than 5,000 of the 7,547 new pilots hired through November.
Pratt&Whitney, East Hartford, Conn., has named Karl J. Krapek executive vice president and president of its Large Commercial Engine business. He was senior vice president-Americas.
The Russian Military Space Forces are seeking final government approval for a new domestic launch site, which would be on a former intercontinental ballistic missile installation in the Amur region of Russia's Far East. The facility, known as Svobodnyy-18, would provide an in-country alternative to the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Russian Military Space Forces officers said Svobodnyy-18 is to be the base for the new Angara booster under development by the Khrunichev enterprise.
AT&T BELL LABORATORIES WILL BE ABLE TO TEST electroacoustic and signal processing systems in an anechoic chamber with variable dimensions. The room boundary conditions of the digitally controlled ``varechoic'' chamber can be changed in a fraction of a second from its maximum dimension of 6.7 X 6.1 X 2.9 meters (22 X 20 X 9.5 ft.). The first tests of the chamber were conducted recently.
Speakers at technical symposiums still are constrained to an unhealthy degree, despite a relaxing of Cold War concerns about sensitive defense information.
AIR NIPPON AIRWAYS, a regional airline subsidiary of All Nippon Airways, is beginning its first international services in a joint operation with Eva Air of Taiwan. The airlines will use Boeing 767s to fly between Fukuoka in southern Japan and Taipei. The International Air Transport Assn. expects the Japan-Taiwan country pair to lead all others in Asia in passenger growth rates through 1998. The carriers expect 90,000 passengers on the new joint route in 1995.
General Electric has named Herbert D. Depp vice president-marketing and sales for GE Aircraft Engines, Evendale, Ohio. James T. Johnson, formerly of Pratt&Whitney's Large Commercial Engine business, succeeds Depp as president of GE Capital Aviation Services, Stamford, Conn.
Swissair is set to begin negotiations to acquire a major stake in Sabena, an initiative that should strengthen the Swiss airline's position in the unified European Union market. Swissair has not yet determined the size of the envisioned share in the Belgian flag carrier, but it could be as much as 49%--an investment valued at about 7 billion Belgian francs ($220 million).
JAPANESE AND PHILIPPINE investigators are concentrating on the likelihood that an explosive device was smuggled on board a Philippines Boeing 747-200 on Dec. 11. The aircraft suffered what appears to be an in-cabin explosion as it was flying about 185 mi. east of Okinawa.
Kiwi International Airlines' preholiday suspension of operations dashed the carrier's hopes for posting a profitable fourth quarter. Kiwi officials this week expect to complete the job of tabulating the full financial impact of the Dec. 15 suspension. While management already had projected net losses of as much as $8 million for the full year, there was a chance the airline might break even or show a modest profit in 1994's last quarter.
Computer Sciences Corp., El Segundo, Calif., has named Van B. Honeycutt (see photo) chief executive officer. Previously president/chief operating officer, Honeycutt succeeds William R. Hoover, who will retire in March.
This past April, Ben Ullings found himself realizing every photographer's dream: the perfect photo subject flying over Wadi-Rum in Jordan in perfect weather conditions, with the morning Sun trying to break through the haze. With virtually no wind, the aircraft's exhaust left a near-perfect trail over the desert. Ullings, who was in the rear ramp of a Royal Jordanian Air Force CASA 212, captured this image with his Nikon F4 camera on 400 ASA Ektachrome film. The camera had a 35-70-mm./2.8 zoom lens and operated at 1/125 sec.
Form and function are nowhere more inextricably linked than in the realm of aerospace. An old aircraft designer's adage holds that an aircraft that looks beautiful generally will fly beautifully. With rare exceptions, ugly, blunt shapes are foreign to aerospace, especially on systems that operate in the Earth's atmosphere. In the airless vacuum of space, function leads form on most satellite payloads.
