Steve Fleeman has been appointed accessory sales manager for West Star Aviation , Grand Junction, Colo. He held a similar position at Midcoast Aviation.
Tom Deany (see photo) has become vice president-human resources of the Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. , Boulder, Colo. He succeeds Jim Stevens, who has been appointed vice president-global human resources. Deany was a senior human resources manager.
Now that the traditional summer season is finished, lawmakers, lobbyists and their staffs are flooding back to the nation’s capital for what could be an awesome display of eleventh-hour lawmaking. With Fiscal 2011 starting next month, Congress and the White House must pass and enact at least one law that funds the entire U.S. government, starting Oct. 1. Usually lawmakers try to pass about a dozen appropriation bills, each focusing on major issues such as defense and transportation.
I have flown first-generation glass cockpits in Boeing 757s and 767s. The very first caution we received in training was “someone must always be flying the plane.” In a two-crew cockpit, that was relatively simple. One person flew while the other was “heads down,” working with the flight management system. Second-generation glass cockpits in single-pilot general aviation aircraft looks slick, but when you are in heads-down mode, what about situational awareness; who is flying the airplane?
The looming shortfall in military broadband capacity is encouraging the U.S. Defense Department to sharply expand the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) network and to further blend commercial know-how and other enhancements into its design.
Gary Merrill (see photo) has become vice president-quality assurance of M7 Aerospace of San Antonio. He was managing director of quality assurance and technical programs for US Airways.
Next month, the European Commission is expected to establish a cross-border network of national accident investigation bureaus. The initiative could play a key role in further enhancing flight safety while establishing an all-new context.
Regarding pre-spinning landing gear wheels before touchdown mentioned in “Wheel Wear Revisited” (AW&ST Aug. 16, p. 8), I recall a switch in the cockpit of the giant (for its time) Lockheed Constitution to spin up the wheels electrically. State of the art in 1946?
Sea Launch President/General Manager Kjell Karlsen says the company expects to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in mid-October, once U.S. government approval for sale of the company to Russia’s Energia is complete. Operations will resume with two launches late next year, four in 2012 and 3-4 per year thereafter. Four operators—Intelsat, Echostar, Eutelsat and AsiaSat—will receive launches in return for claims, and two others (O3b and Hughes Network Services), partial launch coupons.
Richard Cheong has been appointed Singapore-based Asia-Pacific manager of risk and asset management for Airclaims . He was quality manager at both Royal Brunei and Hong Kong Dragon airlines and also quality system and compliance manager at Cathay Pacific Airways. Bill Kinsley has been named Chicago-based Americas manager of risk and asset management. He was a repair station manager and aircraft maintenance controller at Mesa Airlines
Airbus raised its net order intake for 2010 to 250 aircraft and reached 301 gross units by Aug. 31 but also has seen several cancellations. The net intake is twice as high as it was at the same point in 2009. Deliveries have reached 335 aircraft for 2010, 15 units more than at the same time last year. Overall, Airbus took in 15 new orders last month; however, it also suffered six further cancellations for A319s and four for A320s, bringing the total cancellations for the year to 51.
The Japanese military expects to begin work on a utility helicopter next year after a competition that may determine whether Fuji Heavy Industries can sustain and develop its rotorcraft business.
Czech aerospace company Aero Vodochody suffered a big drop in profit in 2009 but maintained its streak of remaining in the black since its 2007 acquisition by the Penta Group. The just-reported Aero Vodochody 2009 profit came in at 279 million Czech koruna ($14.3 million), down from 402 million koruna the year prior. Revenue also fell sharply and totaled 2.9 billion koruna, compared to 4.2 billion koruna for 2008. The sluggish commercial sector was largely behind the fall in revenue.
As four European militaries begin an unprecedented sharing of their airlift resources through a new merged command structure, one likely outcome will be a further integration of their transport missions in the coming years.
The likelihood that ongoing delays of short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) F-35 testing will force slippage in the 2012 in-service date for the U.S. Marine Corps is growing as Lockheed Martin continues to struggle with some parts reliability issues affecting the Harrier replacement.
Thirty years ago, Parker Aerospace was among the many suppliers that ignored a third-place aircraft manufacturer named Airbus. “Our company said, ‘They won’t be viable,’” recalls President Bob Barker. “That obviously was not the right strategy.” Today, the Irvine, Calif.-based manufacturer of flight control, fuel and hydraulics systems counts Airbus as one of its top five customers. And Barker is determined not to repeat the mistake of ignoring an up-and-coming aircraft builder.
Lockheed Martin plans to step up its commercial satellite construction and launch activity in the coming years to help offset an expected flattening in U.S. military space activity.
Boeing is reorganizing its defense unit away from platforms to a broader emphasis on capabilities as it continues to recast itself in response to the austerity culture that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is emphasizing. As with most reorganizations, the move includes a reduced headcount.
The Colombian air force is to obtain a long-range strike capability, representing a major enhancement in the country’s military capability. The operational enhancement comes as Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) has successfully completed flight tests for the Colombian Boeing 767-200 multi-mission tanker-transport (MMTT) aircraft.
Work is officially underway on Gokturk, an optical imaging intelligence satellite ordered last year from Thales Alenia Space by the Turkish defense ministry. Thales Alenia sister company Telespazio is prime contractor for the 70-cm.-class satellite, which is to be launched in 2013. Thales Alenia is supplying the imager, derived from the one designed for France’s Pleiades, along with the spacecraft bus, based on the Proteus platform.
USAF Brig. Gen. Craig A. Franklin has been selected for promotion to major general and assignment as director of operations/deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements at USAF Headquarters. He has been commander of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing of Air Combat Command (ACC), Joint Base Balad, Iraq. He will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Kurt F. Neubauer, who has been commander of the 56th Fighter Wing of Air Education and Training Command, Luke AFB, Ariz. Brig. Gen. Bryan J.
Presidents need to use the “bully pulpit” to get things done. So it was heartening to hear Barack Obama include aviation in a passionate appeal to stimulate the U.S. economy by investing $50 billion in shoring up the nation’s fraying transportation infrastructure (see p. 17).
The need to transport more mine workers longer distances, in some instances overseas, is generating demand from charter airlines for larger aircraft, especially in Australia, Mongolia and Papua New Guinea. “Twenty years ago, it was the 19-seaters and then in five-year intervals it has stepped up to 36-seaters, then 50 seats, then 70 and 100 seats. Now it is the A320,” says Hugh Davin, managing director of Skywest Airlines, an Australian regional carrier that is one of the country’s largest operators of mining charters.
