Rolls-Royce, Dorval, Canada, named Michel Toutant as president and chief operating officer, Rolls-Royce Canada Ltd. He succeeds Pierre Racine, who has announced plans to retire.
Timberland PRO has introduced the Thermal Force work boot with an innovative heat retention system that offers a traditional work silhouette combined with new technologies designed to insulate critical areas. Features of the new boot include an aerogel insulated toe cap, 3M Thinsulate zone insulation and Timberland PRO Cold Formula Ice Trax rubber outsole. In the steel toe version, the toe-cap area is coated with a ceramic-based material to add a primary layer of insulation.
Dallas Airmotive received the 2007 Humanitarian Award from the Dallas Area Chapter of the American Red Cross for its employee and corporate support. Dallas Airmotive President and CEO Hugh McElroy accepted the honor on behalf of the company.
What became of TCA Flight 810? It was a question asked again and again across Canada for months. The flight had come to grief, that was obvious, but where and why? The airliner, a DC-4, had departed Vancouver Airport on the evening of Dec. 9, 1956, bound for Calgary with 59 passengers -- including five all-star players with the Canadian Football League -- and three crewmembers.
EADS Socata, Tarbes, France, appointed Franck Micholet as vice president of procurement and supply management. He succeeds Raphael Duflos, who has moved to EADS Astrium.
At the Paris Air Show in June, Canada's Institute for Aerospace Research (IAR) announced construction of its planned Alternate Fuel Facility for Research and Development (AFFORD) over the next three years at Ottawa. In addition to basic research in alternate aviation fuels, the facility would provide a technology demonstration environment for commercial developers to test their products before bringing them to market.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center began flying operational missions in August of its Ikhana unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), mapping wildfires in the western United States using an infrared scanner built by Ames Research Center. The team planned flights at 23,000 feet over as many as a dozen of the many fires that rage in the western states at any given time during the fire season. Dryden took delivery of the modified Predator B in late June. Onboard the aircraft, infrared images of the fires will be sent to Ames and integrated with a Google Earth tool.
Quest Aircraft Co. received FAA type certification of its Kodiak aircraft on July 18, 32 months after the first flight of the prototype and two and a half months after first flight of the first fully conforming aircraft. TC A00007SE for the clean-sheet design includes single-pilot day and night VFR and IFR operations. The Kodiak prototype has logged over 1,000 hours of flight time and s.n. 001, the first fully conforming production aircraft, has flown several hundred hours since entering flight test.
For a manufacturer near terminal condition not all that long ago, Embraer has made a stunning comeback. In the late 1980s and early 1990s the company was confronting a triple-pronged crisis: market failure of its CBA-123 twin-pusher turboprop; world oil supply constraints; and the inability of the Brazilian government, its owner, to pay its debts. After the government privatized it in 1994, the company kept issuing pink slips by the gross so that its total employment fell to 3,200 in 1997.
I don't want to rain on Vern Raburn's parade, but the concept of a low-cost, single-engine turbofan, V-tail personal jet is hardly new; my introduction to the idea began when an errant copy of none other than B&CA mysteriously arrived in my mailbox one day in 2003.
The National Aviation Hall of Fame has presented the A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award to Russia, Ohio, high school teacher, Marcus Petitjean. He was selected for his experiential approach to engaging students in the application of math and science combined with industrial art, and eventually flying skills, through re-creating the achievements of the Wright brothers.
CAE Systems is developing a series of Web-based maintenance training modules for Mooney M20 series, Ovation and Acclaim fleets. The new program includes the development and implementation of a learning Web portal and maintenance modules that will be designed to assist Mooney in upgrading and updating its technical support standards throughout the company's authorized service center network. The online training course, which is scheduled for release in first quarter 2008, is being designed to be self-paced, interactive and engaging for participants.
Embraer says it plans to win landing privileges for the Lineage 1000 at London City and Teterboro. The first customer aircraft is to fly to Crane in the U.S. for completion work later this year and then return to Brazil for formal customer delivery. The EMB190 derivative is priced at $42.95 million, including interior. Embraer hopes to deliver three to four aircraft annually.
Aviation Partners, which is enjoying strong demand for the Falcon winglets that the Seattle-based company introduced earlier this year, could apply its patented, range-enhancing, fuel-saving airfoil technology to as many as 20 additional types of business aircraft, including possibly some turboprops, in the future, according to company CEO Joe Clark.
Gore Design Completions, Ltd. recently welcomed the arrival of a green Airbus A320 Prestige, marking its elevation as the second Airbus-approved U.S. completions center for Airbus corporate jetliners. The Aug. 10 occasion was marked by speeches and hors d'oeuvres at Gore's 120,000-square-foot hangar at Port San Antonio, Texas, site of the former Kelly Air Force Base. Among the 350 in attendance were the mayor and a group of Airbus executives. "This is the first of many projects," said CEO Jerry Gore.
While Adam Aircraft is focused on obtaining certification for its A700 VLJ, the company also is keeping an eye on new possibilities for the product line, Wolf said. According to the new CEO, expanding the product line is one of four steps the company is concentrating on as it moves from being a development company into a "world-class producer" of aircraft.
Inmarsat First service available to aviation users; operates 10 satellites, claims over 8,000 aircraft equipped; global headquarters in London. Launch of third I-4, latest generation satellite, will complete global broadband coverage. Globalstar
The Strategic Research Institute has invited members of the aviation, legal, government and financial community to attend the Cape Town Convention & Aircraft Protocol Training Seminar, which will be held Sep. 17 and 18 at the Westin Dublin Hotel in Dublin, Ireland.
Development of the Phenom 300 light jet, its cabin now lengthened 14 inches, is proceeding on schedule. Embraer says it has released some 5,000 drawings and that the first of the swept-wing aircraft will be flying before its smaller sibling is certified. The nine-seat jet, powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW535E engines rated at 3,200 pounds of thrust each, is expected to enter service in mid-2009. The 0.78 Mach, $6.65 million twinjet is projected to have a range with six occupants of 1,800 nm with NBAA IFR reserves.
In 2005, new international guidelines for the administration of CPR were introduced that placed greater emphasis on chest compressions and altered the practice of administering defibrillator shocks, with a result that makers of AEDs changed their machines' programming. If you bought an AED prior to the change in the guidelines, check with the manufacturer to find out how it can be re-programmed and, in some instances, how you can obtain a temporary substitute AED if the manufacturer requires you to return your unit.
The Avanti was one of the highlights of my career. The laminar flow airfoils were very clean sheet. I think they were the first of the new breed of laminar flow airfoils that demonstrated high performance at transonic speeds.
FlightSafety International, La Guardia Airport, N.Y., announced that Lowell Faulkenberry has joined FlightSafety Simulation as director, finance. Barbara Shea has joined the company as vice president, teammate resources. Stanley Jhagroo has been promoted to manager of the FlightSafety Academy in Vero Beach, Fla.
