NEED FOR BETTER 'BLACK BOXES' URGENT SAYS NTSB TO FAA, AVIATION WEEK REPORTS.NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb, 24, 1995--Spurred to action by two unsolved crashes involving Boeing 737 transports, the National Transportation Safety Board is calling for sweeping changes that would greatly expand capacity of flight data recorders on most U.S. airline aircraft, reports Aviation Week & Space Technology in its February 27th edition. Impetus for the safety board's action stems from the loss of a United Airlines Boeing 737-200 at Colorado Springs Colorado Springs, city (1990 pop. 281,140), seat of El Paso co., central Colo., on Monument and Fountain creeks, at the foot of Pikes Peak; inc. 1886. It is a year-round resort and a booming military, technological, and commercial city. in March, 1991, and the crash of a USAir 737-300 last September near Pittsburgh. The board has been unable to determine the probable causes of these accidents, in part because the digital flight data recorders of both aircraft lacked key inputs. Next week the NTSB NTSB abbr. National Transportation Safety Board is issuing its urgent recommendation to the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control . (page 32) The current issue also details the following: "French Flight Test Classified Rocket-Ramjet Missile" -- Even amid the flap about U.S. spying in France, the two nations are quietly cooperating on new, high-tech missile technology. The flight test of an advanced French rocket ramjet ramjet: see jet propulsion. ramjet Air-breathing jet engine that operates with no major moving parts. It relies on the craft's forward motion to draw in air and on a specially shaped intake passage to compress the air for combustion. has opened the way for possible development of a new French "Anti-AWACS" long-range air-to-air missile Noun 1. air-to-air missile - a missile designed to be launched from one airplane at another missile - a rocket carrying a warhead of conventional or nuclear explosives; may be ballistic or directed by remote control and new European high-speed air-to-ground weapons. The French aeronautics agency ONERA ONERA Office National d'Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (French Aeronautics and Space Research Center) and Matra are joint prime contractors for the "self modulating ramjet" project which has been a French "black program" for most of its 14 year history. Atlantic Research Corporation is involved with the U.S. Air Force in basic research with France on rocket ramjet hardware. The classified ramjet test was launched this week from a ground pad at the Landes Test Center in Southwest France. (page 22) "To The Moon" -- China's five-year space plan for 1996-2000 includes a satellite to orbit the Moon around 2000, according to Jiang Jingshan, director of the Space Centre of the Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (Simplified Chinese: 中国科学院; Pinyin: Zhōngguó Kēxuéyuàn), formerly known as Academia Sinica . In an address to the Academy, Jiang said studies are underway to determine the scope of such a mission. "China's space technology now has the capacity to probe the Moon," he said. Precursors to the Moon mission will be optical and microwave remote sensing satellites in Earth orbit. (p. 57) Aviation Week & Space Technology, published by McGraw-Hill, is the world's leading journal for technology, business and operations in the global aviation, aerospace and defense industries. CONTACT: Eileen Gabriele, 212/512-3852 |
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