Cal Lewis has joined Jet Source, Carlsbad, Calif., as manager of the company's FAA-approved airframe and engine maintenance business. He was maintenance supervisor for an aircraft management and charter company in the San Francisco Bay Area.
The turboprop-powered T-6 Texan II began life as a trainer and then morphed into the AT-6 light attack aircraft for the Greek air force. Now, as the AT-6B/C, it is promising to become an inexpensive path to network-centric operations, precision strike and advanced surveillance for other air forces. Nor is there a foreseeable end to the development potential envisioned for the two-seater. It offers 1,600 shp, 5-6-hr. endurance and an A-10C cockpit—a combination that's being created by the team of Hawker Beechcraft and Lockheed Martin.
It is no secret that 50-seat regional jets have been falling out of favor as higher fuel costs make them uneconomical on a growing number of routes, which is why many U.S. regional carriers have been trying to shift their fleets to larger aircraft. But a closer look at some numbers shows why regional airlines remain vulnerable on their 50-seat fleets, especially if fuel costs continue to rise.
Next summer's Olympic Games are expected to result in a spike in air traffic in the U.K., as aircraft from throughout the world converge on Britain to bring tens of thousands of spectators, media, sponsors, celebrities, dignitaries and athletes to the quadrennial competition. The games are set to open July 27 and end Aug. 12.
The U.S. regional airline industry is facing myriad challenges and, for most of the carriers, growing out of them is not a viable option. That is a sea change, because over the past three decades there always has been something that helped make the industry much bigger.
Almost a decade into the war in Afghanistan, helicopter modernization programs in the U.S. and among allies are still being adapted to properly reflect operational priorities.
I applaud your editorial “Don't Take Aviation For Granted” (AW&ST April 18, p. 50). I believe Washington has not provided the leadership or vision for the U.S. aviation industry. A reformed FAA (already funded) should be removed from the Transportation Department and put under the aegis of a new five-member National Aviation Commission that would report to the president with the appropriate congressional oversight. Woodland, Calif.
The U.S. Air Force has formally accepted its first production Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. F-35A aircraft AF-7 was flown to Edwards AFB, Calif., to join the flight-test program on May 6, the same day aircraft AF-8—the first F-35A destined for delivery to Eglin AFB, Fla., to begin training—made its first flight from Fort Worth. With 14 F-35s now flying, the development program has passed 880 test flights and seven more aircraft from low-rate initial production lots 1 and 2 have rolled out and are being prepared for delivery.
As a long-distance interested party to the air-refueling contract duel between Boeing and EADS, I was amazed to read about the fixed-/not-really-fixed-contract price in Amy Butler's article “Refueled” (AW&ST April 11, p. 29).
Marina Gall has been appointed by St. Helier, N.J.-based Vistra Group as director of its Marine and Aviation Div. She left a 10-year career at U.K. accountants Dodd and Co. in 2001 to join Vistra as a trust officer.
Business aircraft charter operators in Europe and elsewhere complain that private aircraft owners are skimming off potential customers by chartering out their aircraft illegally. And they maintain that the illicit practice is facilitated in part by a dearth of government scrutiny and regulatory enforcement, particularly in Europe, where there is a confusing tangle of cabotage regulations among nations, even the 27 countries comprising the European Union. As a result, it is difficult to positively identify violators or quantify the scope of the activity.
Dennis Orzel (see photo) is the new vice president and general manager of Orangeburg, N.Y.-based Chromalloy, with responsibilities for technology development and repair sites in the U.S. and the U.K. He was chief operating officer at PAS Technologies and president of the Triumph Integrated Programs Div.
With the House Armed Services Committee keeping General Electric's F136 engine on life support, its opponents are considering their next move. Supporters of the Pratt & Whitney engine for the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter are weighing how to block funding for the F136 in the U.S. Congress and how to ensure that the next defense secretary picks up where the last one left off.
Don Basso has joined Mercury Aviation Services, Los Angeles, as vice president of operations and sales. He was a principal cargo security analyst with the U.S. Transportation Security Administration Air Cargo Group.
Boeing's Phantom Eye hydrogen-fueled high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft demonstrator has been re-assembled at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif., after shipment from the company's Phantom Works in St. Louis, Mo., and is undergoing ground tests. First flight is expected in August. Seen on its launch trolley, the company-funded, 150-ft.-wingspan Phantom Eye is designed to fly for four days at 65,000-ft. powered by two triple-tubocharged Ford truck engines modified to burn hydrogen.
Avi Mannis (see photo) has been named to an expanded role as vice president-marketing at Hawaiian Airlines, Honolulu. Mannis was vice president of revenue management and schedule planning, and before joining Hawaiian, he was a principal at The Boston Consulting Group in New York and Paris.
Greater emphasis on using full-motion flight simulators to train crews to work together in handling real-world emergencies is the centerpiece of a revamped FAA rulemaking proposal that folds in congressional mandates stemming from the February 2009 Colgan Air crash.
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) aims to keep tabs on the cost of any changes that Boeing makes to its USAF KC-46A aerial refueling tanker as it proceeds with development. “We want to be the eyes looking over their shoulder, since we got screwed on that deal,” says Rogers, in whose state EADS would have assembled its aircraft had it not lost the contract to Boeing.
May 23-26—American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics 21st Annual Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference and Seminar. Trinity College, Dublin. Also, June 2—Executive Symposium: “Aerospace Today and Tomorrow.” Kingsmill Resort and Spa, Williamsburg, Va. And, June 27-30—41st Annual Fluid Dynamics/20th Annual Computational Fluid Dynamics/29th Annual Applied Aerodynamics/42nd Plasmadynamics and Lasers/42nd Annual Thermophysics/6th Annual Theoretical Fluid Mechanics Conferences. Sheraton Waikiki and the Hawaii Convention Center, Honolulu.
The Tejas Light Combat Aircraft has certainly tested the patience of the Indian air force and the Indian defense establishment, but the coming weeks may finally yield important breakthroughs to fielding the indigenously developed aircraft. Next month, Tejas is due to undergo a second phase of night trials and, if the systems perform as advertised, it will be cleared for night attack, a crucial requirement to achieve full operational clearance (FOC) as a day/night, all-weather platform by December 2012.
The timing looked perfect in 2002, when Australia decided it would buy the Lockheed Martin F-35. The stealth fighter would be operational with the U.S. Air Force by 2011, before it began taking over the roles of Australia's F-111 strike bombers and F/A-18A/B Hornet fighters.
Finally, the departure this month of Brian Delauter, the Transportation Security Administration's general manager for general aviation, is raising questions about the fate of some key initiatives, such as the rewrite of the proposed Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) and expansion of gateways at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport. LASP will impose a new set of security requirements to private operators of large business jets.
Gary Halbert (see photo) has become a partner of Washington-based Holland & Knight. He is the former general counsel of the National Transportation Safety Board.
Tim Riddell has been promoted to chief pilot from line pilot at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga. He is joined on the company's Airborne Product Support team by new pilots Duey Kautzmann, Jonathan Headley and Durban Morrow.
The U.S. government may take aviation for granted, especially when it comes to investing in it. But most major airlines are now in contract negotiations with many of their labor unions. Let one of those unions call a strike, and see how fast a Presidential Emergency Board is created to enjoin the workers from walking out. Politicians will then declare that aviation is a “vital” part of the economy. Rye, N.H.
