Mark S. Wulber has been named director of training and FAA compliance at Executive AirShare, based in Kansas City, Mo., and Wichita. He comes from Executive Jet Management, where he was manager of audit and flight safety programs.
A surveillance and situational awareness system which combines a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), is set for introduction on a range of Airbus A320, A330 and A340 aircraft. The Honeywell SmartTraffic system will allow aircraft to fly in-trail procedures on transoceanic flights, saving up to $100,000 per aircraft per year, according to the company.
Robert Callahan has been appointed director for state government affairs at TechAmerica, Sacramento, Calif. He is a six-year veteran of the California Chamber of Commerce.
Peter Rutherford (see photo) has been named regional manager of technical sales for Europe, CIS and Africa at Montreal-based Innotech Aviation Group, a division of I.M.P Group International. He comes from Bombardier Aerospace, where he was aerospace manager of the International Customer Response Team.
Prof. Robert C. Owen Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Aeronautical Science Department (Daytona Beach, Fla. )
I was bemused by reader Jonathan Penn's vent about the International Space Station (AW&ST April 25/May 2, p. 8). In his comments about “pedestrian research” and the “great shame” of the ISS's impact on the NASA budget, he misses the main point: There is a space program because people are in space. All that valuable science performed by little buggies on Mars and robotic flybys and orbits around planets and moons is extremely valuable, probably.
One year ago, asked by Aviation Week whether unionized pilots in the U.S. would let their major airline employers outsource even more flying to regional carriers, scope clause expert Bill Kessler described the prospects as slim. Now, a year later, he describes the prospects this way: slimmer.
Rolls-Royce has received extended operations approval from the FAA for the Boeing 787-powering Trent 1000 turbofan. The authorization covers 330 min. of single-engine operations. Rival General Electric, offering the GEnx, is still working on achieving ETOPS approval. Rolls is ahead, owing to the fact it is providing the engine for lead customer All Nippon Airways.
Meantime, Blakey's predecessor at AIA, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. John Douglass, says he will run against powerful NASA appropriator and 16-term congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) in November 2012. The A&D sector is sure to be in the middle of the campaign, as the Washington suburbs in Wolf's district are saturated with federal workers and contractors. But as an aspiring Democratic candidate, Douglass, once also an assistant secretary of the Navy, brings a wealth of A&D networking to the fight.
John L. Garrison has a unique resume for an aerospace CEO—active duty airborne ranger, social studies teacher, general manager at an agricultural systems company, chairman of a company that builds wastewater systems and president of a leading manufacturer of golf carts. That list may one day include another achievement—architect of the turnaround of Bell Helicopter.
Bolstered by new forecasts of dramatic economic payoffs from ATM modernization, support is growing in Congress and within the aviation industry for a private-sector answer to airline concerns about the cost of required equipment.
Aircraft manufacturing is not welcoming to newcomers. The barriers to entry are high, particularly to the rotorcraft niche that has been dominated for decades by a handful of players. So it was a surprise, at the industry's Heli-Expo showcase in March, to see a new helicopter from an unexpected source—Switzerland, a respected niche player in fixed-wing aviation, but a country with no notable history in rotary-wing design.
University of Maryland's Gamera human-powered helicopter hovered for 4 sec. on May 12, marking the first such flight by a female pilot, competitive cyclist Judy Wexler. The student team is waiting to hear if the flight in the university's gym qualifies as a time record. The aim is to win the American Helicopter Society's $250,000 Sikorsky Prize for the first human-powered helicopter to reach a height of 3 meters during a flight lasting at least 60 sec. while remaining within a 10-meter square. The 210-lb. (including pilot)Gamera has four 42-ft.-dia.
Now that a second crucial and first-of-a-kind next-generation U.S. Air Force spacecraft has overcome its developmental turbulence and is finally in orbit, the tone in Washington on costly but critical military space programs is changing, as is the focus. Military officials are aiming to significantly reduce satellite prices while crafting strategies to improve service from contractors.
Realizing the promise of the NextGen air traffic modernization program is growing exponentially more difficult—at least in Congress—House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) is cutting 36% out of transportation accounts from the White House's 2012 budget request. While Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), chairman of Appropriations' transportation subcommittee, wants to protect NextGen, the FAA's facilities and equipment accounts will be squeezed at the same time some of NextGen's component programs are being rebaselined (see p. 22).
It is the oldest airport in Britain, the only one to serve business aviation exclusively, and the site of a biennial aeronautical extravaganza. It features award-winning avant-garde architecture alluring to the likes of James Bond, and, remarkably, is private property. There's nothing quite like Farnborough Airport—a fact that delights TAG Aviation, its owner.
The impending privatization of TAP Portugal is the next action in the global consolidation trend and could well lead to one of the first intercontinental takeovers. The outcome will also have broader implications on the alliance landscape.
S. Michael Scheeringa, president of Signature Flight Support; Marian Epps, chief financial officer of Epps Aviation; and Ed Kilkeary, founder and CEO of L.J. Aviation, have been elected to the board of the National Air Transportation Association.
Do Allegiant Air and its parent company, Allegiant Travel, represent the future of the commercial airline industry? Allegiant certainly would seem to warrant some imitation. The Las Vegas-based low-cost carrier's parent company just reported its 33rd consecutive profitable quarter and another double-digit margin for operations and pre-tax profit. Its pre-tax profit margin for all of 2010 was 15.6%; in 2009, in the midst of the recession, it was 21.6%.
With the 11th European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (Ebace) set for May 17-19 in Geneva, Aviation Week offers a special report over the next 10 pages. For breaking news from the show, daily editions of Show News, blogs and the latest photos, go to AviationWeek.com/ebace2011.
Middle Eastern carriers are seeing significant effects from political unrest on air travel demand and fuel costs, but most have no plans to change their ambitious growth plans. Further large-scale aircraft orders are expected later this year.
Boeing is stepping up the hunt for international C-17 orders to plug looming gaps in its production line as it fights to rebuild the dwindling backlog. With only 18 aircraft currently on the books it needs fresh orders to sustain the line through 2013, even if a long-expected order for 10 emerges soon from India. Details of Boeing's latest sales push came May 10 as the United Arab Emirates took delivery of the first of six C-17s at the company's Long Beach, Calif., site. The UAE will take delivery of three more C-17s this year, and two in 2012.
In the recent letter, “Noise Nonsense” (AW&ST April 25/May 2, p. 8) the calculation of decibel values was incorrect. A 42% reduction in a noise level of 80 db is a reduction of 2.44 db. The decibel scale is logarithmic not mathematical. Decibel values must be converted to real numbers before you can apply mathematical operations, then reconverted to a log value after the resultant real number is obtained. A reduction of the amount specified is below the threshold that the human ear can normally detect.
USAF Major Gen. David S. Fadok has been nominated for appointment to lieutenant general and for assignment as commander and president, Air University, Air Education and Training Command, Maxwell AFB, Ala., where he is currently vice commander. Fadok also is commander at the Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education.
Steve Morrow has become president and chief executive officer of Insitu Inc., a Bingen, Wash.-based Boeing Co. subsidiary, succeeding CEO Steve Sliwa, who retired April 1. Morrow was director of Boeing's Stand-off Strike unit, where he led the long-range weapons program.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) terminated efforts May 12 to recover the five-year-old Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). The spacecraft experienced an anomaly on April 22 that placed it into a low-power mode, shutting down all imaging instruments. The power loss remains under investigation, JAXA says. The spacecraft was launched January 24, 2006, on a three-year mission that was later extended.
