Pan Am clipper, Vol. 7, No. 4, April 1981

              JUAN TRIPPE DIES AT 81 s,o^
The Columbia space shuttle mission will be launched this month with the support of Pan Am World Services. Operation of the Eastern Test Range and data gathering from Defense Department global radars head the list of World Services support activities.
World Services set to support Columbia
Pan Am, which pioneered round-the-world air travel in the mid ’30s today helps America’s space shuttle encircle the globe.
Pan Am World Services, Inc., is assisting the Air Force and NASA in following the flight of America’s -newest space craft “Columbia.”
On launch day, and throughout the 55-hour mission, World Services will send flight path information from a worldwide radar network to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston.
From their console positions in the Lead Range Control Center at Cape Canaveral, World Services engineers and technicians will oversee the collection of flight data from U.S. Defense Department radar stations and ships around the world. High-speed computers will transmit the information to controllers at Houston.
Aerospace Support
For 28 years the Aerospace Services Division of Pan Am World Services has provided general and technical support to all missile and space programs launched from Cape Canaveral. These include all manned launches, deep space probes and commercial satellite programs.
As prime contractor for the U.S. Air Force Eastern Test Range (ETR), Pan Am operates radar tracking stations from the Grand Bahama Islands to the South Atlantic Ocean. It plays a vital role in ensuring the safety of people and property along the flight path within the ETR. This is particularly important for tracking the course of spent boosters or rockets.
Because of the experience World Services gained during earlier manned space flights, the Air Force Eastern Space and Missile Center
selected the company to assist in coordinating Defense Department ranges for the shuttle mission.
Consequently, the Space Shuttle Support Group—a specialized engineering unit of World Services and its subcontractors—was born. The group assisted in developing procedures to coordinate tracking the shuttle by Army, Air Force and Navy radars in the U.S. and South Pacific. Their role includes all points of flight—launch, orbit and landing.
And Pan Am contributes to the space shuttle in other ways. Through its aerospace division and work force of 4700, it:
Provides occupational medicine and environmental health services to NASA at nearby Kennedy Space Center.
Conducts facility operations and range tests at the National Space Technology Laboratories, Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, where space shuttle engines were test fired.
Handles plant maintenance and operations, as well as engineering support at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Operates a logistics program at Patrick Air Force Base, Florida, that supplies items for Eastern Test Range and groups connected with shuttle support.
Is in charge of technical and base support at Arnold Engineering Development Center, Tullahoma, Tennessee. The huge complex contains wind tunnels, space chambers and other test facilities used in development of space shuttle and other aerospace systems.
Specializes in certain launch activities at Kennedy Space Center that include ordnance handling, meteorological services and launch pad illumination. □ -Roland Little
Cronkite named to Board of Directors
Walter Cronkite, the anchorman and managing editor of “CBS Evening News” for the past 19 years, has been elected a member of Pan Am’s Board of Directors.
Cronkite’s election, which fills a vacancy, was voted at the regular meeting of the Pan Am Board of Directors on March 3 to be effective March 9, 1981.
One of the most renowned figures in American journalism, Cronkite served as anchorman of the nightly television newscast since April 1962. During this time he also served as a news corespondent, covering the major developments in government, politics, foreign affairs, aerospace and science.
An expert in the field of aviation, Cronkite had his first flight in 1923 at the age of 6 as a passenger in the open cockpit of a Curtiss bi plane.
In 1937-38 he served as district traffic manager and a public relations assistant for Braniff in Kansas City, Missouri. As a far-ranging correspondent for United Press, he participated in operational missions of the U.S. Eighth and Ninth Air
Force and the RAF in the European air war of World War II.
An acknowledged expert in the journalistic coverage of the U.S. manned space effort, Cronkite’s coverage ranged from the Alan B. Shephard first flight in 1961 through the space shuttle test flights in 1977. He received the Second Annual Skyline Foundation Award (1978) for “distinguished contibu-tions to the understanding of aerospace progress.”
As one of the most distinguished journalists in the history of the United States, Cronkite has covered national events in eight presidencies. A recipient of virtually every honor available to a journalist, he is universally applauded for his objectivity and accuracy in the coverage of news of the nation and of the world. □
Polished planes defy drought
Mayor Koch. . .have we got news for you!
Pan Am, responding to the call for water conservation by Mayor Edward I. Koch of New York, has successfully found a way to save 600,000 gallons of water a year.
How? Use 2500 gallons of metal polish, instead.
During the past few months, Pan Am has stopped the traditional washing of its aircraft—a procedure which requires, for example, about 1000 gallons of water and soap to scrub down a 747 jumbo jet. Instead of soap and water, Pan Am is now polishing its jetliners with a special non-polluting metal polish.
Under the old washing routine, each jet got a bath about every 45 days. With a fleet of 51 Boeing 747 and Lockheed L1011-500 jets, that meant 11,000 gallons of wash water per week at Pan Am’s Jet Center maintenance facility at JFK.
It takes about 15 gallons of metal polish to do a 747.
Usage Down 17.2
The change in aircraft washing procedures, plus other water conservation programs by Pan Am at its JFK facilities, has resulted in a water usage reduction of 17.2 percent in 1980 compared with 1979, according to Wallace D. Russell, vice president property and facilities.
Russell pointed out that Pan Am water usage in 1980 at JFK amounted to 155.1 million gallons compared with 188.6 million gallons in 1979.
“In fact, ” Russell says, ‘Pan Am has reduced its water consumption at JFK by 40 percent over the past eight years from a high of 258.3 million gallons in 1973.
Pan Am is the largest single “tenant” at JFK, occupying some 195 acres of land.
Besides its contribution to quenching New York’s current dry spell, the aircraft polish-for-water-substitute has some better qualities,
according to Louis Schettino, Pan Am’s unit manager aircraft appearances programs:
—The polish is biodegradable, thus having no pollution factors sometimes prevalent in soap and water.
—Use of polish eliminates the “runoff” characteristic of a soap and water cleaning.
—The polish lasts longer— thereby reducing the number of times the aircraft has to be cleaned.
—The polish gives the aircraft fuselage a “slick” surface. . .a fac-
tor which reduces aerodynamic drag. . .and, therefore, contributes to fuel savings.
Schettino explains that the polishing takes a little longer than the soap and water treatment, but the end result is a “better looking aircraft . . . with shine and sparkle. . . and that ‘new plane’ look.”
The aircraft polish, applied with brushes and buffed with cloth, contains a cleaning agent similar to that used in automobile polish or common household metal polish. □
—James A. Arey
PAN AM’S ANSWER TO THE DROUGHT—USE POLISH INSTEAD. Pan Am is saving 600,000 gallons of water a year by polishing instead of washing its fleet of jetliners. A year ago it required 11,000 gallons of water to scrub down a 747 (inset photo). Today, planes are polished with a special non-polluting, biodegradable compound which not only saves water but has better results. An important part of Pan Am’s total water conservation program at JFK, the polish substitute netted a savings of 33.5 million gallons in 1980. Mechanics Glendon Larcher (left) and Carmine Russo put the finishing touches to the polished blue ball of a 747 at the JFK maintenance base.
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