With the new British government resolutely against construction of a third runway at London Heathrow Airport, airport operator BAA on May 27 announced it would stop pursuing the project. BAA will gradually end efforts to purchase properties in Sipson, which would have been required if the runway project had proceeded.
Honeywell is continuing its Educators @ Space Academy Program this year, and has tapped 220 teachers from 17 countries and 44 states to attend the June 11-23 event. Created in partnership with the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in 2004, the program is set up to encourage teachers to go beyond standard math/science curriculum via techniques developed through astronaut training at the center in Huntsville, Ala. Participants receive 45 hr.
USAF Brig. Gen. Eric W. Crabtree is among 10 of his rank who have been nominated for promotion to major general. He is commander of the 4th Air Force, Air Force Reserve Command, March ARB, Calif. The others are: Wallace W. Farris, Jr., deputy director for politico-military affairs for Africa for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon; Craig N. Gourley, mobilization assistant to the commander of U.S. Air Forces Europe, Ramstein AB, Germany; Carol A. Lee, mobilization assistant to the surgeon general of the Air Force, Bolling AFB, Washington; David S.
Asia Broadcast Satellite has agreed to acquire Koreasat-3 from KT Corp. of South Korea (Korea Telecom) to provide Ku- and Ka-band VSAT cellular backhaul, broadband and government services to the Middle East. To be named ABS-7, Koreasat-3 employs a Lockheed Martin A2100 bus carrying 30 Ku- and three Ka-band transponders. It was launched in September 1999 and has six more years or so of useful life left.
Jeff Hanley, manager of NASA’s embattled Constellation Program, has been reassigned as Johnson Space Center’s associate director for strategic capabilities. Lawrence “Dale” Thomas, Constellation’s deputy manager, has become acting manager. Hanley, who had been manager since 2005, led NASA’s efforts to develop key Constellation components including the Orion crew exploration vehicle and Ares I crew launch vehicle that were to replace the space shuttle.
Mark Barclay (see photo) has been appointed senior vice president/head of the Wing and Pylon Center of Excellence at Airbus , Broughton, Wales. He succeeds Brian Fleet, who retires in June. Barclay was chief operating officer of Thales U.K.
To say the least, the U.S. Air Force’s quest for a next-generation tanker has evolved into an unprecedented thriller. The third season of this long-running show, now playing in the U.S. and throughout Europe, is even more fascinating and convoluted than the previous chapters and continues to strain transatlantic relations.
Space shuttle astronauts Guion Bluford, Jr., Kenneth Bowersox, Frank Culbertson, Jr., and Kathryn Thornton are scheduled to be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center on June 5. The addition of Bluford, the first African-American to fly in space; Bowersox, pilot of the first maintenance mission to restore the crippled Hubble Space Telescope; Culbertson, commander of the first shuttle night landing at KSC; and Thornton, a mission specialist during the only three-person spacewalk, will bring the number of enshrined space explorers to 77.
This year’s Top-Performing Companies’ results probably come as a relief to those who were expecting the worst after last year’s economic and financial downturns (see p. 44). It turns out that many aerospace and defense (A&D) players did at least as well as in the prior year and have experienced limited damage. This is not to say that the industry is out of the woods. On the contrary, A&D companies may be just entering hard times—and that is particularly true for European players.
Daher plans to introduce a multimission version of the Socata TBM 850 by the end of the year as part of a plan to reinforce the company’s position as a small aircraft systems integrator.
June 10—National Business Aviation Association Regional Forum. Jet Aviation, Teterboro, N.J. Call +1 (202) 783-9000 or see www.nbaa.org/events June 13—Royal Air Force’s Cosford (U.K.) Air Show. See www.cosfordairshow.co.uk June 14-15—Technology Training Corp.’s Defense Export Controls Conference. Hilton Crystal City, Arlington, Va. +1 (310) 563-1223, fax +1 (310) 563-1220 or see www.ttcus.com
Vietnam Airlines will formally join SkyTeam on June 10 as the alliance’s first Southeast Asian member. Earlier this month, the carrier and Air France agreed that AF flights between Bangkok and Paris would carry the Vietnam code. Delta Air Lines has U.S. Transportation Department approval to carry the Vietnam code. Vietnam’s entry into SkyTeam, which has been expected, means the alliance will have two members in the area. The Guangzhou base of SkyTeam partner China Southern Airlines is 800 km. (500 mi.) from Hanoi.
The NTSB, identifying a critical safety issue involving General Electric CF6-45/50 turbofan engines, on May 27 issued four urgent safety recommendations to the FAA. The safety board is asking the FAA to mandate that operators of aircraft equipped with the engine model immediately perform blade borescope inspections of the high-pressure turbine rotor at specific intervals until the current low-pressure turbine LPT S3 disk is redesigned and can be replaced. The replacement disk would have to withstand unbalance vibration forces from the high-pressure rotor.
Asia-Pacific airlines carried more people and cargo in April than a year earlier despite the week-long flight disruptions caused by the Icelandic volcanic eruption. International passenger numbers hit 15.2 million last month, up 11.7%, while traffic measured in revenue-passenger kilometers grew by 8.9%. Total seat capacity increased by a modest 1.2%, which helped push load factor up 5.6 percentage points to 78.4%.
Ellen Beatty (see photos) has been promoted to associate chief financial officer/assistant treasurer from assistant CFO of The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif. Jeffrey Crawford has become principal engineer for special programs in the Mission Enabling Operations Div. of the National Systems Group. He was a principal engineer supporting several classified activities.
Scott G. Campbell has been appointed senior vice president/general manager of Kellstrom Defense Aerospace Inc. , Miramar, Fla. He was vice president-sales, purchasing and repairs.
The pending merger with Iberia and anticipated antitrust immunity with alliance partners are likely to trigger changes in British Airways’ long-term business plan.
