David Nixon has been appointed senior vice president-transactions for the Los Angeles-based International Lease Finance Corp. He was vice president-contracts for Airbus China.
David White (see photo), chief scientist of Thales Training and Simulation, has been named the 2010 recipient of the Edwin A. Link Award from the Arinc-supported Flight Simulator Engineering and Maintenance Conference . He was recognized for a career devoted to pioneering technological advances in flight simulation software. White specializes in visual systems for commercial and military flight simulators. Technological advances for which he is credited include simulation software for the Boeing 777 and 787 and MD-11, and many military contracts.
British Airways and its merger partner Iberia are preparing to begin advanced discussions with Airbus and Boeing early next year about a joint order for widebody transports.
Tom Wood has been named first senior technical fellow for flight technology and advanced design, and Carlos Fenny, Walt Riley, Paul Oldroyd and Paul Madej technical fellows, all at Bell Helicopter in Fort Worth. Associate technical fellows are John Brieger, Mithat Yuce, Kent Stewart, Jack Shue, Tim Ledbetter, Ron Woods, Marty Shubert, Pat Hollifield, Brad Stamps, Roger Aubert, Jon Coon, Greg Haataja, Mark Chris, Myron Jackson, Pat Tisdale, Randy Johnson and Eric Covington.
Joanna Geraghty has been appointed executive vice president/chief people officer of JetBlue Airways . She was vice president/associate general counsel/director of litigation.
Algae are the favored biofuel feedstock for aviation because their high oil yield promises competitive fuel prices. But the challenge is in developing ways to scale up production while minimizing the need for land and water. NASA is pursuing an unconventional answer to this problem with the Offshore Membrane Enclosures for Growing Algae (Omega) project, which does not compete for agricultural land and, because it uses municipal wastewater, does not require freshwater or fertilizer.
Boeing is stepping-up the pace of 787 testing following the first flight of the sixth and final dedicated test aircraft on Oct. 4. ZA006 is the second General Electric GEnx-1B-powered 787. It flew for 1 hr. 4 min., landing about 1 hr. earlier than scheduled after an avionics cooling system issue. The first GE-powered 787, ZA005, has also returned to flight after a prolonged period of ground tests following more engine and nacelle work. ZA001, the first Rolls-Royce Trent 1000-powered 787, resumed flight on Oct.
Safran has come to a tentative agreement to acquire the solid-rocket business of state-owned SNPE, subject to final approvals. The way for the merger was cleared in September when the French government approved the privatization of SNPE and agreed to assume hundreds of millions of euros in cleanup costs associated with the company’s chemicals operations.
Michael A. Taverna (St. Dizier, France), Robert Wall (London)
French air force and navy Rafale F3s are heading for the Indian Ocean region and Afghanistan this month as they prepare to field a full panoply of strike and reconnaissance gear for the first time.
Fending off new competition from Emirates and other Persian Gulf carriers will have to become a crucial part of strategies at European legacy airlines.
USN Vice Adm, (ret.) Kevin J. Cosgriff has become Washington-based senior vice president-international business and government/senior adviser on the U.S. military services for Textron Systems , Wilmington, Mass. He was commander of U.S. Naval Forces Central Command.
With the world’s second largest population and the seventh biggest country by land mass, India would seem prime territory for helicopters. But it has an abysmal 254 registered rotorcraft in a fleet spread among 98 operators. The Rotor Wing Society of India (RWSI) says that number could double in five years and take off from there if regulatory constraints holding back airport and landing pad improvements can be overcome.
China will validate a range of technologies with its second lunar probe, including the landing of a camera on the surface of the Moon and control of a spacecraft by X-band communications. The Chang’e 2 probe, built as a back-up for the 2007 spacecraft Chang’e 1 and inserted into the Chinese lunar program because it happened to be available, has already validated the first of six main technologies it was designed to demonstrate—direct injection onto a lunar-transfer path without first settling into an Earth orbit.
Emirates has drawn the contemporary blueprint for the global network carrier, and local rivals Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways are adjusting it to suit their own needs.
USN Rear Adm. Cecil E. Haney has been nominated for promotion to vice admiral and assignment as deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He has been director of the Submarine Warfare Div. in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations, at the Pentagon. Rear Adm. (lower half) Joseph W. Rixey has been named director of the Navy International Programs Office in the Office of the Secretary of the Navy at the Pentagon. He was vice commander of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in Washington.
Japan’s next-generation launch vehicle for scientific payloads (right) will be designed to launch five days after standup, using the latest in intelligent avionics for autonomous checkout with oversight from controllers using laptop computers. According to information presented at the 61st International Astronautical Congress in Prague, the planned Epsilon rocket will have only two-thirds of the lift capacity of the M-V launcher it will replace, but will be able to orbit its 1,200-kg. (2,640-lb.) payloads for about a third the cost of the M-V.
The ability to adapt to change is a huge competitive differentiator, and aerospace and defense companies are facing a sea of changes. To help A&D professionals navigate, Aviation Week & Space Technology is committed to delivering the information managers need to understand the new business environment and identify the trends that will impact their operations around the globe.
Stephen Evans-Howe (see photo) has been appointed health, safety and environment (HSE) director for U.K.-based Qinetiq . He was head of HSE and risk at the VT Group.
Chris Emerson has been appointed senior vice president-product strategy and market forecast of Toulouse-based Airbus . He was chief financial officer of EADS North America.
Joanne Maguire, executive vice president of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., has won the 2010 International von Karman Wings Award from the Aerospace Historical Society , which is part of the Graduate Aerospace Laboratories at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. The award acknowledges contributions by innovators, leaders and pioneers in aerospace.
Anthony DiNota (see photo) has been named vice president of commercial sales-marketing and customer support for American Eurocopter , Grand Prairie, Texas. He was president/chief operating officer of Omniflight Helicopter. Rich Gross has become senior director of commercial sales and Jane Tischler director of supply services.
Engineers here and at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center are balancing engineering options and congressional directives to begin developing a new heavy-lift launch vehicle in 2011. Senior managers are expected to meet this week to map out how they will carry out Congress’s order that development of a new heavy lifter be started as soon as possible, using heritage workforce and hardware from the space shuttle and Constellation programs “to the extent practicable.”
