As a former Northwest Airlines pilot, I strongly disagree with the tone of your obituary for Alfred Khan (AW&ST Jan. 3, p. 33). That arrogant academic never held a job in the real world in his life. Only about 20% of what he proposed had merit, though it was bought 100%. The man almost single-handedly ruined an industry. The gracious comments of American Airlines former President/CEO Robert Crandall about Kahn’s passing are indicative of the person I regard as the last of the “real” airline CEOs.
An article in the Jan.3 issue on p. 40, should have indicated that Europe’s Egnos GPS augmentation system was made available on Nov. 30 for en route and LNAV testing and observation only. An official service declaration is expected later this month.
Jan. 24-26—International Quality and Productivity Center’s “Airport Security Asia 2011.” Hong Kong SkyCity Marriott Hotel. Call +65 (67) 229-388 or see www.airportsecurityasia.com/Event Jan. 24-27—Institute for Defense and Government Advancement’s “Network-Enabled Operations 2011.” Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel, Arlington, Va. Call +1 (800) 882-8684 or see www.idga.org Jan. 25-26—Quaynote Communications’ Conference “The Future of Business Jets in the Middle East.” Movenpick Hotel, Bahrain. Call +44 (208) 348-3704 or see www.quaynote.com
L.D. Buerger (see photo) has been promoted to director-G650 initial phase operations from senior manager of G650 production operations at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. Honors And Elections
Avic Defense will use rapid prototyping centers like the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works for future military aircraft developments, with the aim of overcoming what it says are inefficient production processes. The centers are being set up at the fighter plants at Shenyang and Chengdu, the latter of which has just begun test flying the large J-20 combat aircraft.
Virgin Atlantic’s two shareholders are likely rigorously searching for new investors, as both the Virgin Group and Singapore Airlines appear to be willing to sell their interest in the beset British airline.
Richard Christiansen has joined Milan, Ohio-based Sierra Lobo as a vice president. He was vice president of aerospace programs at Crown Consulting and also spent four years as deputy director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
Chris Little (see photo) has been promoted to regional engine manager for Pratt & Whitney Canada products at BBA Aviation Engine Repair and Overhaul company Dallas Airmotive. He was senior customer service representative for Honeywell programs.
The 45% increase in corporate taxes that Illinois legislators recently voted will not have an appreciable effect on the Boeing Co., it says. While Boeing moved its corporate headquarters to Chicago from Seattle in 2001, it does not have a manufacturing presence in Illinois. Corporate taxes are levied on sales attributable to operations in the state in which they occur on which corporate taxes are based.
Boeing’s second 787 test aircraft, ZA002, was set to return to flight on Jan. 15, six weeks after ferrying back to Seattle following an inflight electrical fire over Texas that prompted a fleet-wide grounding and suspension of test flights. The ramp-up in flight test activity comes amid growing expectation that the FAA is set to sign off on Boeing’s revised flight-test plan, marking the resumption of certification flights and the effective restart of the program.
China Southern Airlines will operate Embraer 190s in Xinjiang, the western territory of China that rival Comac sees as a natural, hot-and-high operations market for its ARJ21 regional jet. The leasing arm of China Development Bank will buy 10 E-190s to be operated by China Southern Airlines, with deliveries beginning in the second half of this year, Embraer and the lessor say in a joint statement.
Heavy rains that will spur growth in underbrush are likely to set the stage for massive wildfires late next summer when California’s mountain ranges are hot and dry. Understandably, firefighters will be concerned that they face an arduous fire season.
Astrium fears that government budget woes could undermine some of its leading space activities, putting pressure on growth and profitability despite a strong showing in 2010.
Southwest Airlines on March 1 will implement a long-awaited major overhaul of its frequent-flier program that has been years in the making, creating a new system that effectively awards customers with never-expiring “currency” they can cash in for any available seat on any domestic flight at any time.
USAF Brig. Gen. Scott A. Bethel has been named vice commander of the U.S. Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency/deputy chief of staff for ISR, Ft. Meade, Md. Brig. Gen. Scott P. Goodwin has been appointed commander of the 21st Expeditionary Mobility Task Force of Air Mobility Command, Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, N.J. He has been deputy director of operations of Operations Team One of the Joint Staff’s National Military Command Center at the Pentagon.
Amy Butler (Amarillo, Hurst and Fort Worth, Texas)
A decade after first flight, the U.S. Marine Corps’ AH-1Z attack helicopter finally graduated from a turbulent operational evaluation and is being readied for its first shipboard deployment. The service plans to field the AH-1Z Vipers, commonly known as Zulus, with a Marine Expeditionary Unit in November. It will operate alongside its sister aircraft, the UH-1Y Venom, dubbed the Yankee, which achieved initial operational capability in 2008.
Leithen Francis (Singapore), Robert Wall (London )
Transpacific competition is set to heat up with Asiana Airlines’ decision to order six Airbus A380s for delivery in 2014-17. The move puts particular pressure on American carriers to improve their service offerings on these routes. The U.S. airlines are using much older equipment and face a similar competitive handicap on transatlantic routes.
The recent F-35 production contract reflects progress toward decreasing the high per-unit price of the stealthy aircraft, but prime contractor Lockheed Martin must still restore confidence in its ability to deliver an affordable jet on time.
Last year was a bonanza for the long-suffering airline industry, with profits expected to top $15 billion, after more than a year of near-catastrophic losses. But as the world’s economies continue to recover, the price of oil is climbing. The burning question is whether rising oil prices will spoil the airline industry’s party.
Michael Mecham (San Francisco), Robert Wall (London)
Airbus and Boeing were near the 1,000 mark on deliveries last year and are on track to produce slightly more this year as they continue to benefit from a triple-digit, pre-recession order boom that bequeathed them a combined backlog of nearly 7,000 aircraft.
As U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates puts the ailing F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing aircraft on life support and proposes another delay to the single-engine stealthy fighter’s testing, he is also pushing forward a broad savings agenda that will enhance several major aerospace programs.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. will provide a short-wave infrared spectrometer, designed to measure carbon monoxide and methane, for the Tropical Monitoring Instrument (Tropomi) on the Sentinel 5 Precursor. The Precursor, set for launch in 2014, will help define a sensor on Eumetsat’s EPS-SG polar-orbiting weather satellites that will provide operational atmospheric chemistry data necessary to monitor air quality and climate change. The first spacecraft is to be orbited in 2020 (AW&ST Dec. 20/27, 2010, p. 71).
