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Aviation History
1988
1988 - 0005.PDF
WORLD NEWS IAI reshuffles TEL AVIV Israel Aircraft Industries' board of directors has decided to merge two of the company's five divisions as the first phase of a larger reorgani sation resulting from the termination of the Lavi project. The engineering and air craft manufacturing divisions will be brought together into a new division with four units—engineering services, civil aircraft manufacturing, structure subcontracting, and unmanned aircraft. Since Lavi was terminated 2,200 of IAI's employees have left the company, most of them after getting special separation fees. An additional 80Q employees will have to leave the company by the end of March, and it is now obvi ous that this number of employees will not leave will ingly and at least a few hundred will have to be dismissed. This is expected to cause a confrontation between management and unions. Flight understands that, as a result of the reor ganisation, changes will also soon be made in IAI's top management. Shuttle flights again postponed BRIGHAM CITY Flights of the US Space Shut tle, which were due to resume on June 2, have been post poned indefinitely by Nasa following the discovery of a potentially serious problem after a full-duration firing of a solid rocket booster at Morton Thiokol on December 23, reports Tim Furniss. Part of an outer boot ring in the booster's nozzle, which helps anchor the nozzle to a flexible component in the thrust vector control system, was missing after the firing. The nozzle itself was undamaged. Nasa believes that the cause is related to the assembly of the affected booster, rather than to an inherent design fault. The agency expects a launch delay of "weeks" rather than months. In earlier tests, the outer casing of the booster cracked. Although it was redesigned after the Challenger disaster, the ring component is not related to the field joints or nozzle-to-case joints, which were also changed. The agency was expected to announce on January 9 any changes to.be made and the consequences for pre-launch qualification motor firings, originally set for April. Should a possible STS 26 launch date be delayed to late summer, there is concern that it will be postponed until 1989 because of the impending US presidential election. Should that occur, the mission to deploy the ^Magellan Venus radar mapping satellite, set for April 1989, will almost certainly be cancelled. Another recent blow for Morton Thiokol was the explosion of MX missile solid propellant on December 30, which killed five. Swissair boosts MD-11 sales ZURICH ~ Swissair, a continually faith ful McDonnell Douglas customer, has become the largest MD-11 customer, with an order for six of the type in addition to the six already contracted. This latest order is a conversion of options, and the carrier still has six remaining options on the MD-11. The engines will be Pratt & Whitney PW4000s. All 12 aircraft will be delivered during 1990-91. Swissair has also ordered an additional MD-81 for delivery in February next year. MDC says that its order/option total for the MD-11 trijet stands at 93 from 14 customers. • The International Lease Finance Corporation of Beverly Hills, California, one of the world's larger airliner leasing organisations, has ordered five 757-200s, six 737-300s, and has delivered a letter of intent on two 767-300ERs. Condor 737 crashes IZMIR ~ A Boeing 737-200 of Lufthansa charter subsidiary Condor crashed while on approach to Izmir Airport, Turkey, on January 2 at about 1935hr local time. All five crew and 11 passengers on board were killed. The aircraft was on a flight from Stuttgart to Izmir to pick up Turks resident in West Germany after their new-year holiday. While the aircraft was on approach in high wind and rain, air traffic control contact was lost. Turkish authorities have suggested sabotage as a possi ble cause because of widely scattered wreckage, but this is speculation. Pan Am and Aeroflot pool WASHINGTON D.C. In an unnoticed footnote to the recent summit meeting between the United States and the Soviet Union, foreign ministers of the two countries signed final papers author ising Pan Am and Aeroflot to begin their combined US- Moscow service. The agreement provides that the two airlines will oper ate a single aeroplane on the route, sharing costs and revenues. The USA has, in the past, opposed such pooling arrangements, but now finds that this is the only practical arrangement with the Eastern Bloc countries, where traffic is so tightly controlled. Soviet satellite launches climb MOSCOW The launch of Cosmos 1907 on December- 29 took Soviet satellite launches during 1987 to 94. Just 13 satellites of other nations were placed in orbit during the year. The latest satellite, iTor photo-reconnaissance, was one of six Soviet satellites launched last month. The others were for commu nications, resource location, and military use. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL NEXT WEEK The latest generations of Boeing's 737 and 747 dynasties, the -400s, are examples of careful devel opment which ensures that the two products remain successful both for pro ducer and customer. J. M. Ramsden examines the new variants. /" •' IB *&&* wL 4* • '-L" '»>.* ^iS fw^iM ^p i t V ft i *» Ariane 5 was given the go- ahead at the ESA Council meeting at the Hague last November. Tim Furniss describes Europe's new launch vehicle. Peter Middleton looks at Japan's struggle to recon cile military taboos with pressure from the USA to bear a greater defence burden, in proportion to the nation's economic power and trade surplus. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 2/9 January 1988
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