Jordan Hansell was named chairman and CEO of fractional aircraft operator NetJets following the surprise resignation on March 28 of NetJets Chairman David Sokol from parent company Berkshire Hathaway. Sokol had been at NetJets since mid-2009, when he was tapped by Berkshire CEO Warren Buffett to turn around the struggling, Columbus, Ohio-based operation. Sokol’s deep cost cuts enabled NetJets to escape bankruptcy and eventually restore profitability (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 41).
Control of Japanese elements of the International Space Station has returned to the Tsukuba Space Center, northeast of Tokyo, after Mission Control Center-Houston had to take over following the March 11 earthquake off Japan’s northeast coast. Japanese control over the station’s Kibo laboratory and HTV-2 cargo-carrier operations was lost when the Space Station Integration and Promotion Center at Tsukuba was damaged by the earthquake and ensuing tsunami, which also cut an undersea communications cable.
While the CVN-78 aircraft carrier sports the same essential hull shape and dimensions of its Nimitz-class predecessors, the new Ford-class ships feature a broad set of redesigns that promise to make the carriers more affordable, efficient and flexible.
Hannah Mitchison (see photo) has been named Portsmouth, England-based sales manager for the U.K., Ireland, Spain and Portugal for Dallas-based BBA Aviation . Mitchison worked in engine and airframe sales at Orange Aero.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Richard D. Fisher, Jr. (Washington)
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it has the “potential to do for America’s military deterrent power . . . what AirLand Battle did” in the 20th century. The chief of naval operations sees it as paradigm-shifting. “I don’t want to be over the top,” Navy Adm. Gary Roughhead said at an Aviation Week conference in February, “but it’s pretty ground-breaking.”
Mike Preston (see photo) has been named director of engineering and maintenance of U.K.-based PremiAir . He joins the company from Netjets (Europe) Technical Services, where he was account manager and director of maintenance.
Cheryl Smith has become executive vice president and chief information officer at WestJet , Calgary, Alberta. She was CIO at McKesson Corp. and KeySpan Energy and vice president for Strategic Systems at Verizon. Cameron Kenyon has become the carrier’s executive vice president of operations. He comes from Lynx Aviation, where he was director of flight operations training, chief pilot and vice president.
Can EADS North America gain gold out of defeat? Sam Adcock has a game plan to do just that. As senior vice president for government relations, Adcock is the top in-house lobbyist for the eight-year-old U.S. arm of the European defense giant. And although EADS is still smarting from the recent loss of the Air Force’s $35 billion tanker contract to Boeing, the company is pressing ahead with a plan to raise its U.S. revenues sevenfold by 2020, to $10 billion a year.
William L. Huffman, an engineer at Northrop Grumman Corp. in Sunnyvale, Calif., has been selected by the National Organization of Gay and Lesbian Scientists and Technical Professionals (GLBT) to receive its Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Engineer of the Year Award for 2011. It honors a GLBT engineer for contributions in design, production, management or research.
Recent improvements in the MH-60R (Romeo) helicopter fleet are making the U.S. Navy rethink the way it conducts antisubmarine warfare (ASW). The ASW mindset recalculation comes at an opportune time for the Navy. The service recently acknowledged that it prohibits Virginia-class submarines—the service’s planned top undersea ASW weapon—from participating in exercises against the diesel-electric subs of allies for fear that the Virginia’s stealth capabilities could be compromised.
The air transport industry’s relationship with the European Union is often strained. Where one stakeholder in industry is pleased with something Brussels has done, another will have a complaint about the same thing.
Adrian Ballintine, founder and president of Australia-based NewSat Ltd., has been named World Teleport Association ’s 2011 Teleport Executive of the Year. The award recognizes individuals for entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation in the development or operation of a teleport-based business.
You recently devoted two articles to the views of the Defense Science Board and, more specifically, Paul Kaminsky, about how to better execute military development and acquisition programs. In “Too Much, Too Soon” (AW&ST Feb. 28, p. 54), Kaminsky cites “the operational push to put everything in the first version.” But that push also comes from the technology and engineering communities, sometimes with equally negative consequences.
Boeing’s business model for building the P-8 Poseidon long-range maritime patrol aircraft emphasizes the lean manufacturing strengths of the busy 737 Next Generation final assembly line while tailoring sales of the military version to fill a variety of surveillance and combat roles.
April 11-13—Navy League’s Sea-Air-Space Exposition. Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, National Harbor, Md. Call +1 (703) 449-6418, fax +1 (703) 631-7258 or see www.seaairspace.org April 12-14—Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group International’s 2011 Conference. Hyatt Regency Atlanta. Call +1 (937) 431-8106 or see www.arsaginc.com April 12-15—Eighth Annual Latin America Aerospace and Defense Conference. Riocentro, Rio de Janeiro. See www.laadexpo.com
Aerovironment’s development of the Nano Hummingbird (AW&ST Feb. 21, p. 14) raises a few questions. (1) Can it be modified to carry ordnance? (2) What about naval carrier ops? (3) Will it have a nano radar signature? And, I feel I have to ask, will taxpayers have a nano bill to pay ? Rochester, N.Y.
Robert Dennehy (see photo) has been appointed vice president of operations for M/A Technology Solutions , Lowell, Mass. He was managing director of the Infrastructure Group in Cork, Ireland.
Performance, not politics, will dictate who walks away with India’s $12 billion Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) contract. That’s the message the Indian defense ministry is relaying to competitors who are bracing for the first major downselect in the highly coveted contest. “Strategic considerations will not be the overriding factor,” says a ministry official, signaling what many see as a shift from what had been expected.
Makers of 50-120-seat jets will struggle to generate sales in the Asia-Pacific region if yields remain low and no progress is made in developing secondary routes. Widebody aircraft and large narrowbodies are popular with carriers in the region because they can transport large numbers of passengers over the vast ranges often required while generating revenue from cargo carried in the belly hold.
The current size and might of U.S. naval aviation, on station around the world and always ready to respond to the call to duty, belies its humble beginnings 100 years ago. On April 1, 1911, Lt. Theodore Gordon Ellyson was the first naval officer designated an aviator after he flew a Curtiss A-1 Triad earlier that year from San Diego Bay, as depicted in this painting by pre-eminent aviation artist Keith Ferris. In the background is the historic Hotel Del Coronado. The Triad had both float and retractable landing gears, allowing the aircraft to operate on land and sea.
The flight deck, the nexus of carrier air operations, has been one of the most hostile and intense work environments in military aviation for the better part of a century. It makes possible the launch and recovery—along with the refueling, rearming and repositioning—of as many as 50 carrier-based aircraft at one time, all done inside the footprint of an average suburban strip mall.
The “Arab Spring” that began with the “Jasmine Revolution” in Tunisia is the most significant event in the Middle East since the 1973 War, says Maj. Gen. (ret.) Amos Yadlin, who was Israel’s spy chief for five years. But whether it will play out as a democratic, secular renaissance for the region or lay the groundwork for a series of counter-revolutions that install new sets of strongmen remains to be seen.
While Airbus and Boeing have remarkably similar objectives in air traffic management (ATM), recent moves by Airbus highlight contrasting ideas about how their efforts should be structured. Both companies say their interest in ATM lies in expanding airspace capacity to accommodate more new passenger jets. This means they are actively involved in the U.S. NextGen and European Sesar air traffic modernization programs; and since this is not an area in which they compete, the traditional rivals work together on many ATM projects.
