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Aviation History
1985
1985 - 0664.PDF
WORLD NEWS All change at Airbus and Boeing TOULOUSE & SEATTLE" Former Aerospatiale director Jean Pierson will take over the helm at Airbus Industrie from Bernard Lathiere on April 1, announces the Euro pean consortium, following weeks of speculation. West German Johann Schaeffler, head of MBB's civil aviation division, is to succeed Roger Beteille as director general. Beteille, who is given the temporary post of administrator general, will retire at the end of the year, aged 69. Lathiere, who has steered the airliner manu facturer through the past ten years, was appointed vice- chairman of Airbus Industrie last month. Boeing chairman T. A. Wilson announces senior management changes. Frank Shrontz, president of Boeing Commercial Airplane, is elec ted president of the entire company, assuming respon sibility for the manufacturer's seven operating companies and taking a seat on the board of directors. He takes the title from Malcolm Stamper, who is promoted vice-chairman, responsible for Boeing exter nal and Government affairs, as well as sales and marketing strategies. Dean Thornton, senior v-p for Boeing Com mercial, becomes president. Lavi might be chopped TEL AVIV Despite assertions by Israel's Prime Minister Shimon Peres that the country's Lavi fighter project will definitely go ahead, Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin apparently has some doubts about the project's viability. Rabin has ordered another study to determine if the multi-role fighter should go ahead as planned. It is possible that Lavi could be chopped in favour of licence-building either the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon or Northrop's F-20A Tigershark. The defence minister is said to be worried that Lavi relies heavily on US financial and industrial aid, and that politi cal moves in the USA could jeopardise Lavi's US funding. Israel's aerospace industry points out that stopping the project now would involve heavy contractual penalties with US companies, the laying-off of skilled workers in the USA and Israel, and the loss of some $900 million already spent. Rebels shoot down Do. 228 WESTERN SAHARA One of Dornier's two Antarc tic 228s has been shot down over Western Sahara by The Polisario Front, which is said to be fighting for the indepen dence of that region. The aircraft (Polar 3) was en route Dakar-Lanzarote on February 24 on airways at FL90 some 5min behind Polar 2, which was at FL110. Both aircraft were destined for Dornier's Oberpfaffenhofen facility. Polar 3 was hit by anti aircraft fire at about 1630hr GMT south of Dakhla, which is on the Atlantic coast. The bodies of pilot Herbert Hampel, copilot Richard Moebius, and technician Josef Schmid have been recovered. Strike hits Pan Am NEW YORK Pan Am cancelled all US domestic flights and cut inter national services by 50 per cent after members of the Transport Workers Union (TWU), representing more than 5,700 Pan Am ground- staff, began an indefinite strike on February 28. The action came at the end of a 30-day "cooling off' period between the TWU and the airline, after the union had rejected a rise of more than 20 per cent over three years. The union wanted a 38 • 5 per cent increase on the three-year contracts and a 14 per cent "snapback" payment (which it claimed was owed to members who waived increases in the previous contract to help the company avoid bankruptcy). TWU executive vice- president Joseph Panetello tells Flight that members also objected to the company freezing pensions at 1983 levels of seniority, introducing higher medical insurance contributions, and changing work rules to include more part-time labour. "The TWU has woefully failed to recognise that Pan Am cannot compete in a low- cost, deregulated environ ment under the burden of archaic work rules and unreal istic compensation levels. To give in now would seriously jeopardise our recovery," says Pan Am chairman Edward Acker. "We have presented to the TWU a package which was determined 'equitable' by the Federal mediator." US Customs orders Cheyenne IDA VERO BEACH Piper Aircraft celebrated "ground-breaking" for its new production facilities at Vero Beach last Friday with news of a contract from the US Customs Service. The manu facturer is to supply eight Cheyenne IIIA aircraft for use in combating drug smuggling around the south-east coast. Valued at some $17 million, the deal also provides for options on a further eight machines. First delivery is slated for about six months' time; subsequent aircraft will follow at monthly intervals. The Cheyenne IIIAs are to be equipped with infrared sensors and long-range radar. New production facilities at Vero Beach are being set up to accommodate the manu facture of types previously built at Lakeland (see page 12). Polar 2, One of Dornier's two Antarctic research aircraft, has returned to West Germany. Sister-ship Polar 3 was shot down over the Western Sahara during the return flight 2 FLIGHT International, 9 March 1985
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