Embraer has delivered Gulf Air’s first two E-170 regional jets, as the carrier tries to right-size its network after years of losses. The commitment to the Brazilian regional aircraft was presaged with the arrival of Gulf Air’s new CEO, Samer Majali, last year. Majali previously ran Royal Jordanian, where he used the Embraer regional jets to adjust the airline’s business and post several years of profits.
Virtually all market indicators suggest the telecom satellite industry will continue to resist the lingering economic malaise, but how much that will benefit satellite manufacturers and launch providers remains to be seen.
After several years of promising growth, broadband appears ready to take off, and ViaSat plans to be a key driver (see p. 48). Its 125-Gbps. ViaSat-1, which is under construction at Space Systems/Loral in Palo Alto, Calif., promises to lower prices to terrestrial levels when it is launched in early 2011. ViaSat is also supplying ground equipment for Eutelsat’s 70-Gbps. KA-Sat, which will precede ViaSat into orbit in late 2010. ViaSat photo.
Thomas Fagan has been appointed director of business development for Chi Systems Inc. , Fort Washington, Pa. He was executive vice president of Stellar Services of New York.
Bahrain has opted for the Rockwell Collins transportable Black Hawk operations simulator (T-BOS) to train its UH-60M helicopter pilots. The T-BOS will be delivered under a Foreign Military Sales contract administered by the U.S. Army’s Utility Project Office.
Dean Tim Brady, College of Aviation Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Daytona Beach, Fla. )
Jim Wolper’s letter criticizes a statement that was attributed to me (AW&ST Feb. 8, p. 10; Nov. 30, 2009, p. 54). The printed statement was: “Candidates would be forced to take the easy route to the ATP [air transport pilot certificate] by instructing in a single-engine aircraft for 1,000 hr. ‘and repeating that same hour 1,000 times.’” The portion in single quotes is correct but the preceding part is not.
The Transportation Security Administration has added Smiths Detection’s Hi-Scan 130130T-2is X-ray inspection system to its Air Cargo Screening Qualified Technology List. The system provides two views of scanned items for fast threat detection, according to Smiths. The mid-sized screener features a low conveyor that enables forklift operations, and its large tunnel opening accommodates a variety of shipment sizes.
Boeing has shifted its wet lease for operations of the four highly modified 747-400 freighters it uses to transport 787 wing and fuselage assemblies to Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, its largest customer for the 747-8F and—through subsidiaries—the world’s largest 747 freighter operator. The loser—Evergreen International Airlines—is an affiliate of the overhaul center that tripled the fuselage volume of standard 747-400 transports to create the so-called “Dreamlifters” to carry the 787 assemblies.
Foreign suppliers are turning to joint ventures with Indian manufacturers as one way to satisfy the country’s technology offset requirements, but they want caps on ownership levels loosened. Israel’s Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, for instance, is asking India to increase the cap for direct investment by foreign original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in joint ventures with Indian companies to 49% as it pursues an agreement with government-owned Bharat Electronics (BEL) to produce imaging infrared seekers for Python-5 air-to-air missiles.
The Chinese space industry is studying a Moon rocket in the class of the Saturn V while separately moving ahead with a medium-heavy launcher that will complete a modern, modular family of launch vehicles. Chinese space engineers appear to be planning to assemble manned lunar spacecraft in orbit with two or more launches per mission.
Canada this month signed its first air services agreements with Tunisia and Ethiopia. The individual pacts allow carriers from each country to operate scheduled flights in the other’s territories, offer code-sharing services and adjust fares to meet market conditions. New air services are to be introduced immediately. Canada has signed air transport agreements with 50 countries since January 2006.
An article on the condition of the aircraft leasing business (Mar. 8, p. 22) misstated AerCap’s financial performance for 2008. The company completed that year with a net profit, but saw a net loss in the fourth quarter.
The biographical summary that accompanied the article on an interview with General Atomics Chairman/CEO Neal Blue (Mar. 1, p. 52) included an incorrect year for his college graduation. The correct year is 1957.
John Boeschenstein (see photo) has been promoted to president from vice president of Jedco Inc. , Grand Rapids, Mich. He succeeds Richard Lund, who has retired. Honors and Elections
The Aviation Week Intelligence Network has won the 2010 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for the best web site in its revenue category. In presenting the award Mar. 11 at an American Business Media luncheon in New York, the judges found AWIN’s coverage broad and “very well organized” across airlines, defense, space, business aviation, and maintenance, repair and overhaul.
USN Vice Adm. Bernard J. McCullough, 3rd, has been appointed commander of the Fleet Cyber Command/commander of the 10th Fleet, Ft. Meade, Md. He was deputy chief of naval operations for the integration of capabilities and resources at the Pentagon.
Georgia Institute of Technology will develop a new radar system as part of an airborne program to study the Earth’s ice and snow formations and could contribute information about climate change. A key element of the research, funded by NASA under a $2.4-million grant, centers on creation of a small, light-weight, low-cost phased array radar using silicon-germanium chips in tandem with radio-frequency micro-electromechanical systems. The radar would be installed on aircraft or satellites to provide high-quality 3D imagery and mapping of snow/ice.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates will outline changes to export control regulations in the “next couple of weeks,” says President Barack Obama, who wants to double U.S. exports in the next five years. Obama tells an Export-Import Bank conference the changes will include replacing the 30-60-day review period for exporting some network encryption technologies with a one-time online process, and easing regulations on exporting goods to companies with dual-nationality and foreign employees.
A third of the British Army’s WAH-64 Apache pilots are breaking the ministry’s so-called harmony guidelines as a result of the demands of operational deployment. The Apache is being relied on heavily in combat operations in Afghanistan. The Joint Helicopter Command’s guidelines are “for crews to serve four periods at home for every one in theater,” says Bill Rammell, the minister for the armed forces. Rammell adds: “Apache pilot harmony is improving constantly as more pilots are trained and become available for deployment.”
Nick Stanage has been named president of the Hexcel Corp. , Stamford, Conn. He was president of the heavy vehicle products unit of the Dana Holding Corp.
Directed Energy Systems, a subsidiary of Boeing’s Spectrolab business unit, has launched a 3D camera that is one-third the size and uses one-tenth the power of comparable systems for military and commercial applications. A company-funded research effort, the camera has been tested on a Boeing AH-6 Little Bird helicopter and trailers. Cube-shaped, it includes advanced sensors from the federally funded Lincoln Laboratory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Boeing says the camera is suitable for mapping, tracking targets and seeing through foliage.
The second satellite for Germany’s Satcom BW Stage 2 military communications satellite network—Comsat Bw-2—has entered integration for a Mar. 24 Ariane 5 ECA launch. The mission—the second of the year for the Ariane 5—will also send aloft a commercial telecom spacecraft, Astra 3B. Comsat Bw-1, Germany’s first dedicated military telecom satellite, was orbited on Oct. 1 (AW&ST Oct. 12, 2009, p. 36). Arianespace was earlier selected to launch OverHorizon-1, a 3.2-metric-ton Ku-band spacecraft intended to provide two-way broadband communications for vehicles on the move.
