Aug 6 1976
From The Space Library
The jumbo jet-"a revolutionary class of elephantine airliner" carrying twice as many passengers as the biggest narrow bodied aircraft-was a jumbo bust, said the Wall Street Journal reporting on declining business in the aircraft industry, especially on a 3-way battle among U.S. manufacturers for British Airways orders. The government owned British airline would buy 6 wide body jet liners valued at about $165 million with possible options on 3 more, to replace an aging fleet of Boeing 707s and Vickers VC1 Os on its long-distance routes, and there was no British-made aircraft of the size British Airways needed.
McDonnell Douglas had been advertising in London papers "the difference to Britain" of $537 million and 13,000 jobs if the DC-10 were chosen, because it would use the Rolls Royce engine now used in Lockheed's slightly smaller TriStars. Lockheed, also competing for the order, said the engines on its L-1011 TriStars had already provided more than $750 million of business for Britain, and buying a long-range version of the TriStar for overseas routes would be simply an extension of a proven relationship. The Boeing Company had also been competing for the order, although its 747 was said to be too big for the British Airways' long-distance routes: it would carry about 400 passengers, compared to 260 for the DC-10 and 240 for the L-1011. Boeing, however, had been talking with Aerospatiale of France on a smaller version of the latter's widebody twin-engine jet, to be marketed in the U.S. with a revised Boeing-built wing in return for French participation in a bigger version of Boeing's 737; the French were reported wary of Boeing and leaning toward an agreement with McDonnell Douglas on a modification of the French 150-seat Mercure.
The WSJ reported 10 Aug. that U.S. manufacturers' sales of widebody aircraft had fallen "billions of dollars behind original projections." McDonnell was producing DC-1 Os at only 20% of capacity; Boeing had cut output of 747s from 84 a yr to 18; and Lockheed's production of L-1011 s was "even lower." U.S. airlines, for which the wide bodies were originally designed, had not placed a single new order for passenger jumbos since 1973, and planned to buy "only a handful" before 1980. The jumbo was industry's answer to the problem of carrying the passenger load predicted for 2 decades without clogging runways, skyways, and airports; the traffic growth had been curtailed by economic recession and the oil embargo that increased fuel prices unexpectedly. Also, the rise in nonstop service between medium-size cities whose traffic formerly was funnelled through major airports had cut into the traffic of the jumbo jets. Makers of the wide bodies were far from breaking even on their design and development costs, which had run over $4 billion; about 1200 planes would have to be sold to cover that investment, the WSJ said, and so far the 3 makers reported only about 700 firm orders and deliveries, with another 80 options that might or might not materialize. (WSJ, 6 Aug 76, 12; 10 Aug 76, 1)
NASA announced award of a $7-million contract to General Electric Co. and the Hamilton Standard Div. of United Technologies Corp. for design and construction of the world's largest windmill to be located at one of 17 possible utility-company sites where it could produce energy for as many as 500 homes a yr [see 30 July]. Sponsored by the Energy Research and Development Administration and NASA, the project would be directed by LeRC's wind-power office. Richard L. Puthoff, program manager of LeRC's wind-power office, said that wind as an energy source could provide 5 to 10% of U.S. needs at maximum efficiency and usage. The 100-kw system built in 1975 at LeRC's Plum Brook test area had been used as an experimental apparatus in developing the large windmill. (NYT, 8 Aug 76, 20; WSJ, 6 Aug 76, 6)
INTELSAT (International Telecommunications Satellite Organization) announced that its board of governors, meeting in Washington 21-28 July, had approved the loan of a cesium ion thruster to NASA under a 1-yr no-cost arrangement, for use in research on inert gases (argon and xenon) as propellants for auxiliary propulsion in spacecraft and groundbased applications. Like the nickel-hydrogen battery for the Navy's navigation-technology satellite to be launched later this year and an echo canceller to be licensed for use in satellite communications, the INTELSAT thruster was developed under a series of contracts managed by COMSAT Laboratories at Clarksburg, Md. It had exhibited higher electrical and propellant efficiency than other thrusters of comparable size. (INTELSAT Release 76-22-M)
The board of governors of INTELSAT-the International Telecommunications Satellite Organization-announced award of a 14-mo $2.9 million contract to the Societe Des Telecommunications Internationales du Cameroun for additional tracking, telemetry, command, and monitoring services to be provided by a new antenna collocated at Zamengoe, Cameroon, with existing standard communications and antennas. The new facilities, to be operational by October 1977, would augment service as the global satellite system became more complex, providing redundant service especially in the Atlantic and Indian Ocean areas. The contract included an option for extended service for an additional 24 mo. The Cameroon facilities had monitored INTELSAT IV-A satellites since 1 April 76. (INTELSAT Release 76-23-1)
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