October 27, 1980

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Aviation Week Pilot Report

Specific Engineering Goals Sought in HS.748-2B

Manchester, England—Carefully selected engineering goals, aimed at specific improvement needs rather than a major redesign, have enabled British Aerospace Corp. to put what it believes will be new economic life into the company’s HS. 748 turboprop transport, while at the same time retaining and in some cases improving the aircraft’s flying qualities.

By David A. Brown

Missile Engineering

Alternate MX Basing Concepts Weighed

Washington—Alternate basing concepts are being considered for the USAF/Martin Marietta MX advanced intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) by high-level Pentagon officials as possible hedges to the linear grid system in the southwestern U. S. now favored by the Carter Administration.

By Clarence A. Robinson

Avionics

Research Into Equipment Malfunctions Intensifies

Unexplained malfunctions of electronic equipment, dubbed “ghosts,” “glitches” and “gremlins,” may be manifestations of sneak circuits and analogous anomalies in timing and system software, according to a hunter and exterminator of these conditions.

By Benjamin M. Elson

Editorial

The Democratic Platform

(Continuing the series started with excerpts from the Republican Party and Anderson platforms on defense and aerospace issues [AW&ST Aug. 25, p. 9; Oct. 13, p. 11], AVIATION WEEK A SPACE TECHNOLOGY is reprinting similar excerpts from the Democratic Party platform.

Space Technology

Large Space Structure Work Advances

San Diego—Full-scale prototype of a deployable space truss beam has been developed by General Dynamics Convair Div. to demonstrate a design that could be used as a basic building block for large space structures. The beam, an adaptation of a geodetic truss design, was built to achieve maximum structural strength while minimizing weight of the structure and the space it would occupy when stowed in the cargo bay of the space shuttle prior to deployment.

By Bruce A. Smith

October 201980

November 31980

October 27, 1980

October 27, 1980