Federal investigators will try to learn at a hearing next month if a rudder control system malfunction, contaminated hydraulic fluid or wake turbulence caused the crash of a USAir 737-300 near Pittsburgh in September, killing all 132 passengers and crew.
CHRISTOPHER C. KRAFT is forming an independent panel to review NASA's space shuttle workforce. Formed at the behest of Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, Kraft's panel will focus first on Kennedy Space Center shuttle management and contracts. The team also will look at the Johnson, Marshall and Stennis centers before issuing recommendations, due Mar. 15, 1995.
California is quickly learning how to compete for jobs. That's no small task for a state where dynamic economic growth in the past has been almost as predictable as the temperate climate. All that changed dramatically several years ago, when recession, defense spending cuts and out-of-state competition combined with a general erosion of the business climate and quality of life to bring California's economic machine to its knees. It took too long for state lawmakers and bureaucrats to realize this was not just another business cycle.
Applied Dynamics International, Ann Arbor, Mich., has appointed John D. McIntosh chief executive officer. Currently president/chief operating officer, McIntosh succeeds G.F. Graber, who is retiring as CEO. Graber will continue as chairman of ADI's board of directors.
America West Airlines, Inc., is soaring to the upper reaches of Wall Street's list of most attractive airline stocks, thanks to a stunning financial and operational turnaround. Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette recently reinstated coverage of the carrier, with a ``very attractive'' rating and a 12-18-month target price of $15 per share or 40% higher than where the stock was trading last Wednesday. That is based on10 times analyst Rose Ann Tortora's1996 earnings estimate of $1.50 per share.
SIMMONS AIRLINES canceled 14 early-morning flights on ATR72 regional aircraft at Chicago O'Hare International Airport on Nov. 27. The flights were canceled after 8-10 pilots demanded more data on freezing rain along routes in Iowa and Wisconsin prior to making a go/no-go decision. When the information was obtained, it was too late to launch the flights, a Simmons official said. Later in the day those routes were flown by the same pilots. An ATR72 operated by Simmons crashed Oct. 31 in Indiana, killing all 68 people on board.
The authority says airlines are hiding beyond the veil of IATA meetings to collude on fares and is threatening to take a stronger hand in regulation Price-fixing among international airlines on long-haul routes is widespread, even in the heavily traveled U.S.-U.K. market, and may require government intervention to protect the traveling public, Britain's Civil Aviation Authority alleged last week.
Lockheed Sanders has consolidated its electronic warfare simulation capability in one facility here and added new hardware-in-the-loop capability to gauge subtle effects of countermeasures on missile performance.
WITH GREAT FANFARE, President Clinton announced last week that he will seek a $25-billion increase in the Pentagon's six-year budget plan as part of an initiative to bolster military readiness, fully fund pay raises and increase procurement spending in the out-years. The move comes after months of Republican charges that Administration cutbacks in defense spending have eroded readiness. Clinton defended his record, contending that many of the problems stemmed from unanticipated military deployments.
The incoming U.S. Speaker of the House is signalling that Republicans are eyeing a seismic change that would return NASA exclusively to research and development and shift the bulk of the nation's civilian space program onto a commercial footing. Space equipment contracts would be radically simplified, and a path would be cleared to go forward again with a land- and space-based anti-missile defense, by abrogating the Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty of 1972.
MORE DC-10 TANKER CONVERSIONS may result if ongoing negotiations between KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, McDonnell Douglas and the U.S. government are successful. KLM's semi-autonomous Engineering and Maintenance Div. already is modifying two ex-Martinair DC-10-30CF transports into KC-10-like tankers for the Dutch air force. KLM is hoping to be approved to perform the tanker modification, which utilizes a McDonnell Douglas-designed refueling boom, for other countries.
As the demand for GPS products grows, manufacturers are vying to make smaller and cheaper receivers. A team of researchers from the Mayo Foundation and Motorola showed Institute of Navigation GPS-94 attendees here a GPS receiver designed for embedded applications that they believe is the tiniest GPS receiver to date. It occupies less than 0.8 cu. in.
The first Bell 430 twin helicopter prototype has completed its first 25 flights as part of a year-long program, which will lead to certification in November, 1995. Gilles C. Laflamme, Model 430 program manager at Bell Helicopter Textron in Mirabel, Quebec, said the first prototype incorporates an 18-in. plug in the aft cabin and all other aerodynamic modifications. The aircraft has a four-blade bearingless rotor system. It is powered by twin Allison 250-C40 engines with 10% more power than the engines on the Bell 230.
ALLIEDSIGNAL WILL reduce the workforce of its recently acquired Lycoming Turbine Div. by 1,000 employees over the next eight months, cutting current employment rolls almost in half. The company had expected to cut about 550 positions after it completed acquisition of the Stratford, Conn.-based company last month (AW&ST Nov. 7, p. 35).
A French independent carrier, Euralair, will challenge France's air transport policy in the European Court of Justice. Euralair last week filed complaints related to the following areas with the court: -- State aid. The independent carrier is joining British Airways, Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS), KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, TAT European Airlines and Air UK to challenge the French government's $3.7-billion capital injection in troubled Air France.
VALUJET IS EXPANDING operations at Dulles International Airport and intends to make Washington its second ``focus city.'' The Atlanta-based carrier plans to start non-stop service to Miami and Tampa on Jan. 5 and additional Florida destinations on Jan. 12. One-way fares will start at $89.
CONCLUSIONS DRAWN AT THE ICAO CONFERENCE, which ends this week in Montreal, soon may have a major impact on air transport. International Civil Aviation Organization delegates from 120 nations have been discussing a wide range of civil aviation regulatory issues in an attempt to define the future of regulatory arrangements in international air transport. Market access, air carrier ownership and subsidies are among the topics under discussion by more than 500 conferees.
AMERICAN AIRLINES' TRANSATLANTIC PASSENGERS can dodge the Heathrow queues by using a new ``moonlight'' check-in service. Passengers can now check in on the evening before departure, thereby avoiding delays on the day of travel. Although the service is mainly geared to travelers staying overnight in the Heathrow area, if it catches on, it could result in relieving morning peak-traffic congestion at airports.
MAYNARD L. PENNELL, chief project engineer for the Boeing 707 transport series and later head of the company's supersonic transport program, died late last month at the age of 84. Pennell joined Boeing in 1940 and in his 29 years there he was influential in the design and development of nearly every aircraft type produced by the company.
Photograph: APL's Near spacecraft will be launched early in 1996 to the asteroid 433 Eros . Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) is fabricating components and expects to integrate Near, which passed critical design review last week, by early June. Although it was the second mission approved in NASA's Discovery program, Near, short for Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, will be the first launched. To make a planned January, 1999, encounter with 433 Eros--a silicate rock asteroid--Near must launch within a two-week window opening Feb.
DASSAULT AVIATION'S Falcon 2000 business jet was certified by the European Joint Aviation Authorities on Nov. 30. The aircraft was certified to JAR 25 standards through Amendment 42. FAA approval under FAR Part 25 is scheduled to be granted by the end of the year. Production of the first 50 aircraft has begun at the company's facilities at Bordeaux, France.
McDonnell Douglas and Boeing, joining forces to compete for X-33 work with NASA, will apply their space booster and commercial transport expertise in a bid to lead U.S. development of a low-cost, reusable launch vehicle. The teaming might well be expanded into an overall merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas space activities, several industry officials speculated. Consolidation has been the trend recently among other major U.S. space manufacturers.
