Michael Rogers has been appointed vice president of customer service at Long Beach, Calif.-based JetFlite International. He was the founder and owner of Los Angeles Helicopters until the company's sale and earlier was director of customer services for Diagnostic Products Corp.
Stephane LeRoy has been appointed sales director for South America and the Caribbean at Bombardier Aerospace. LeRoy, who is based at company headquarters in Montreal, has spent 13 years in international sales in the aviation industry, 10 of them at Bombardier.
President Barack Obama did more than lay down a marker last week when he proposed $400 billion in new cuts to security spending in the next 12 years; his remarks emboldened a corps of fiscal hardliners seeking to lop nearly $1 trillion from military accounts. Here's the kicker: They may have a shot.
In many capitals, discussions about purchases of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter have revolved heavily around “what is in it for me.” But few have as well-defined objectives as Norway, which is looking to tap a huge customer base for a new stealthy cruise missile, the Joint Strike Missile (JSM).
The application of radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags has been slow in coming to commercial aviation. Costs are the big restraint and the technology is not applicable in quite as many ways as early supporters hoped. But low-cost chips are being embedded by some airlines in luggage tags because RF tracking has a better success rate than straight-line bar-code scans.
Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne needs answers fast from NASA on the agency's direction in space exploration as it continues to consolidate facilities and staff in the wake of the Constellation and space shuttle terminations. “We're really concerned about this lack of a decision,” says PWR President Jim Maser, speaking to Aviation Week here at its rocket test headquarters recently. Earlier, he testified to Congress on the potentially damaging impact of the slow transition from Constellation to the planned follow-on Space Launch System (SLS).
Following a 25-year career in naval aviation with the air arm of the British Fleet, I was pleased to read “100 Years of Naval Aviation” (AW&ST April 4, pp. 56-80), but was disappointed to find no mention of the major part played in development of U.S. carrier capabilities by the U.K. Fleet Air Arm, which invented many important techniques adopted by the U.S. Navy. These include the angled deck, stabilized mirror landing system, steam catapult shuttle sealing system and the ski jump for vertical/short-takeoff-and-landing aircraft.
Boeing should think big for the follow-on of the 737 Next Generation. It should be replaced by two families of aircraft covering the 100-210-seat market. A 100-150-seat single-aisle type would counter new entrants like the Bombardier CSeries, and a 150-210-seat twin-aisle could go head-to-head with the Airbus A320 successor. Outremont, Quebec
Jeff Miller has become Houston-based Landmark Aviation's general manager for Dallas Love Field, Dallas Addison Airport and Wichita Falls (Texas) Airport. He held the same title at Atlantic Aviation. Russell Halasz has been promoted to general manager from assistant manager at Landmark's Raleigh-Durham (N.C.) International Airport fixed-base operation.
Technology for future airliners is being tested in NASA's Environmentally Responsible Aviation program. The most promising technologies will be focused on platforms that NASA will pick under its preferred-system concepts competition. Boeing's concept for a hybrid wing body, powered by either geared turbofans or open rotors, is one of three finalists. Our review also takes a glimpse into Boeing's crystal ball to see what technologies could be featured on an all-new aircraft, should the company opt not to re-engine the 737.
Robert Osborn has been named chief information officer at the National Nuclear Security Administration. He was deputy director for Command, Control, Communications and Computer systems and distribution portfolio manager for the U.S. Transportation Command, at Scott AFB, Ill.
The formal request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Army's multibillion-dollar Joint Air-to-Ground Missile contains no major surprises, meaning the winner between a Raytheon-Boeing team and competitor Lockheed Martin could be determined by the long-term life-cycle costs of their respective pitches.
Heads start to roll at the FAA after yet another snoozing air traffic controller prompts an angry Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to mandate at least two controllers in towers across the nation's ATC system. Henry Krakowski, the top official at the FAA's Air Traffic Organization, resigned last week after his politically appointed superiors assured the traveling public they would make all involved with these safety breaches accountable.
Air Canada is contemplating a third attempt at a low-cost subsidiary that leaked documents show will operate as many as 50 aircraft, including 30 Airbus A319s and 20 Boeing 767s. The subsidiary, proposed under a new tentative labor accord with the mainline carrier's pilots, will hire crews under a separate mechanism, with hourly wages and defined contribution pensions instead of the salaries and defined benefit plans offered legacy pilots.
Despite reports to the contrary, Boeing says it has no plans to announce in Junethe launch of an all-new model to replace the 737 or a decision to re-engine its best-selling twinjet. Instead, the company says those expecting a dramatic new program unveiling at this year's Paris air show will have to make do with “more clarity on which direction we are leaning.” However, if the signs of the last nine months are anything to go by, the trend continues remorselessly toward an all-new 737 replacement aimed at entering service in 2019-20.
New delays in India's development of an intermediate jet trainer, the HJT-36 Sitara, could mar what military officials were hoping would be a model procurement effort. The aircraft is now expected to achieve initial operational clearance (IOC) no sooner than December. In February, the Indian air force leadership projected reaching IOC in June. However, fresh problems unearthed in flight trials have set the program back at least six months.
Airbus Military has begun flight trials of the United Arab Emirates' first A330 Multirole Tanker Transport. Delivery of the first of three aircraft is planned for next year, although flights in the UAE are due to begin this year. The program involves some extra certification activities since the UAE is receiving Rolls-Royce Trent 700-powered A330 tankers that can also be used to receive fuel, a new configuration.
April 24-26—BCI Aerospace's Meetings. Matrade Exhibition & Convention Center, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Call +33 (14) 186-4150 or see www.bciaerospace.com April 27-29—Association of Aerospace Industries' Aerospace Supplier Exchange 2011. Sands Expo and Convention Center, Hall D, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. Call +65 6517-6894 or see www.aerosupplierx.com/2011
I applaud Boeing executive Rick Stephens' Viewpoint “‘Soft' Skills Vital to Workforce, Too” (AW&ST April 4, p. 84) regarding a world where “when something goes wrong, [students] just turn it off, reboot or start over.” But I believe it must go further.
The U.S. Army is moving toward its first next-generation rotorcraft program in decades, but industry is concerned that a “business as usual” approach to technology demonstration could stifle the innovation it badly needs to rebuild its competitiveness. While the Army prepares to award contracts next month to begin the Joint Multi-Role (JMR) rotorcraft technology demonstration program, an industry coalition continues to push for funding to perform rapid, incremental “pre-X-plane” demonstrations that would promote innovation.
Pilatus is planning to introduce a new general aviation aircraft, the PC-24, next year and to add workforce this year to support development of the aircraft. The PC-24 would augment the PC-12, which recently underwent a major upgrade into the PC-12NG. The Swiss aircraft maker delivered strong performance last year in both the military and civil sectors, with the United Arab Emirates order for 25 PC-21s (deliveries are due to begin this year) and the Swiss air force placing a top-up order for two more of the turboprops.
China is getting ready to roll out its answer to the U.S. Global Positioning System, following launch of its eighth Beidou (Compass) navigation satellite April 10. The launch—on a Long March 3A from the Xichang launch center—underscores a point made by the Space Foundation in its annual report on the state of the spaceflight endeavor.
Two decades of development problems have seen India's Saras light transport aircraft program pushed to the brink, but the project may get a new lease on life.
The Northrop Grumman unmanned aerial system (UAS) is facing its second 25% breach of cost projections, triggering a review in accordance with the Nunn-McCurdy program-monitoring statute. The preponderance of the cost growth is attributed to the U.S. Air Force's decision to halve the buy of Block 40 UAS from a projected 22. If approved by Congress, the reduction will drive up the per-unit price.
The piloting antics of Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) returned to public consciousness this week when document clearinghouse The SmokingGun.com circulated FAA records and recordings about an incident last year when the lawmaker landed his Cessna 340 on a closed runway.
