Sikorsky Aircraft Co

* Helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. plans to cut 1,100 jobs in Connecticut, citing a need to reduce overhead and become more competitive in a global marketplace.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with Gulf Helicopters of Qatar to consider building a major facility in the Middle East. The facility would provide maintenance, training and other services for the region's government and commercial operators of Sikorsky S-92 and S-76 helicopters, Sikorsky said. Gulf Helicopters, a unit of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, based in Doha, also signed a contract to buy the second of two VIP versions of the S-92.

Black Hawk Helicopter Contract Awarded: Sikorsky Aircraft said it was awarded a $1.54-billion contract to build 300 Black Hawk helicopters over the next five years, giving a much needed boost to Connecticut's battered defense industry. The company will build 60 UH-60 Black Hawks a year for the U.S. Army through 1996. The Army has an option to order up to 180 additional Black Hawks.

Nearly 3,600 Sikorsky Aircraft employees in Connecticut and Florida went on strike Monday, blaming higher health insurance costs in the company's contract offer as the reason for their walkout. Workers with Local 1150 of the Teamsters overwhelmingly rejected the contract and voted Sunday in favor of the strike, the company's first since 1963. The union represents 3,500 workers at the helicopter maker in Connecticut and 90 employees in Florida.

Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding with Gulf Helicopters of Qatar to consider building a major facility in the Middle East. The facility would provide maintenance, training and other services for the region's government and commercial operators of Sikorsky S-92 and S-76 helicopters, Sikorsky said. Gulf Helicopters, a unit of state-owned Qatar Petroleum, based in Doha, also signed a contract to buy the second of two VIP versions of the S-92.

Sikorsky Aircraft is studying the feasibility of building civilian helicopters capable of carrying up to 100 people on short- and medium-range flights, the company announced. The new helicopters would be introduced around the turn of the century and could help ease growing problems with urban transportation and airport congestion, officials said Saturday.

Relatives of four Marines killed in the crash of a presidential helicopter two years ago have filed a $48-million wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's manufacturer and others. The Navy helicopter, a Sikorsky VH-60N Black Hawk, crashed May 19, 1993, near Nanjemoy, Md. The craft was on a post-maintenance checkout flight. The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, named Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Technologies Corp., Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and General Electric Co.

Boeing and Sikorsky won the Army's $34-billion lightweight helicopter program Friday, dealing a tough setback to a competing team of McDonnell Douglas and Bell Helicopter Textron. The new helicopter, a twin-engine aircraft intended to replace several thousand scout and light attack models dating as far back as the Vietnam War, is among the Army's largest projects for the next two decades.

Nearly 3,600 Sikorsky Aircraft employees in Connecticut and Florida went on strike Monday, blaming higher health insurance costs in the company's contract offer as the reason for their walkout. Workers with Local 1150 of the Teamsters overwhelmingly rejected the contract and voted Sunday in favor of the strike, the company's first since 1963. The union represents 3,500 workers at the helicopter maker in Connecticut and 90 employees in Florida.

One of three helicopters assigned to ferry visiting Jordanian King Hussein and his entourage crashed in heavy rain and fog today, killing four helicopter company employees. Hussein apparently decided to make the trip by car to Connecticut for his daughter's high school graduation because the bad weather in Boston, where he had been staying. "There's been a very tragic accident," Hussein's American-born wife, Queen Noor, said as she left a Boston hotel.

* Helicopter maker Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. plans to cut 1,100 jobs in Connecticut, citing a need to reduce overhead and become more competitive in a global marketplace.

Relatives of four Marines killed in the crash of a presidential helicopter two years ago have filed a $48-million wrongful death lawsuit against the aircraft's manufacturer and others. The Navy helicopter, a Sikorsky VH-60N Black Hawk, crashed May 19, 1993, near Nanjemoy, Md. The craft was on a post-maintenance checkout flight. The lawsuit, filed in state Supreme Court in Manhattan, named Sikorsky Aircraft Division of United Technologies Corp., Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and General Electric Co.

Black Hawk Helicopter Contract Awarded: Sikorsky Aircraft said it was awarded a $1.54-billion contract to build 300 Black Hawk helicopters over the next five years, giving a much needed boost to Connecticut's battered defense industry. The company will build 60 UH-60 Black Hawks a year for the U.S. Army through 1996. The Army has an option to order up to 180 additional Black Hawks.

Boeing and Sikorsky won the Army's $34-billion lightweight helicopter program Friday, dealing a tough setback to a competing team of McDonnell Douglas and Bell Helicopter Textron. The new helicopter, a twin-engine aircraft intended to replace several thousand scout and light attack models dating as far back as the Vietnam War, is among the Army's largest projects for the next two decades.

Sikorsky Aircraft is studying the feasibility of building civilian helicopters capable of carrying up to 100 people on short- and medium-range flights, the company announced. The new helicopters would be introduced around the turn of the century and could help ease growing problems with urban transportation and airport congestion, officials said Saturday.

A mechanic killed in the crash of a Marine Corps Super Stallion helicopter earlier this month left behind a chilling tape recording in which he complained of a long history of mechanical problems with the aircraft that had pilots and mechanics on edge. "It's getting worse," Sgt. Dulles H. Arnette told an attorney's investigator just after the June, 1984, crash of a CH-53E Super Stallion near San Clemente Island that killed four Marines.

A Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed during night training, killing all five crew members, authorities said today. It was the latest in a series of CH-53E crashes. The big helicopter went down on the Salton Sea Test Range about 8:30 p.m. Thursday while practicing night landings for troop deployment, said Maj. Anthony Rothfork, a Marine Corps spokesman at the Pentagon. "It was making an approach into the landing zone when it crashed and burned," Rothfork said today.