John A. Thain has been appointed chairman and CEO of small business lender CIT Group, which provides aircraft leasing and financing. Thain was chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch before its sale to Bank of America in late 2008.
The late William R. DeCota, who was aviation director for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, has been awarded the Aero Club of Washington ’s Donald D. Engen Trophy for Aviation Excellence. He was called “a national leader who was passionate about aviation and the national air trnsportation system.” His successor, Susan M. Baer, accepted the award, which is named for the late Donald D. Engen, a former director of the National Air and Space Museum, and commemorates the Wright brothers’ achievements.
NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) is kicking off a two-month orbital checkout phase following its launch from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Feb. 11. The two-stage Atlas V 401 rocket carrying SDO lifted off Space Launch Complex 41 at 10:23 a.m. EST, following two days of launch delays— due to the day-long slip in the launch of space shuttle Endeavour, and because of strong winds at the launch site. The United Launch Alliance rocket flew with a launch azimuth of 93.6 deg., slightly south of east, and SDO separated from the vehicle’s Centaur upper stage 1 hr.
The Pentagon’s authorization of full-rate production for Northrop Grumman’s large aircraft infrared countermeasure (Laircm) self-protection system means the Naval Air Systems Command can continue procurement of the system for its Sikorsky CH-53E heavy-lift helicopter fleet. The system includes the Viper laser and the latest-generation jam head and missile-warning sensor technology. Live test-firings took place at missile ranges in Tonopah, Nev., and White Sands, N.M.
Washington bureaucrats and program managers are engaged in a Washington tradition over the U.S. Air Force’s Transformational Satellite (TSAT) program: allowing it to die a slow death while trimming its multibillion-dollar carcass for technology jewels to bequeath to other projects. Before it was shelved last year, TSAT was to provide the fastest ever nuclear-hardened, low probability of intercept/low probability of detection, jam-proof satellite comms to commanders around the globe, using laser links in space and Internet Protocol routing.
Eric A. Mendelson and Victor H. Mendelson have been named co-presidents of the Miami-based Heico Corp. Their father, Laurans A. Mendelson, remains chairman/CEO. Eric Mendelson was president/CEO of the company’s Flight Support Group, while Victor Mendelson was president/CEO of the Electronic Technologies Group/corporate general counsel.
Vic Walczak (see photo) has been apponted chief operating officer for the federal sector of MEI Technologies Inc. of Houston. He was general manager of military programs in Huntsville, Ala.
Frank DiPiero has been named secretary of the Goodrich Corp. , Charlotte, N.C. He succeeds Sally Geib, who remains vice president/associate general counsel, overseeing acquisitions and divestitures. DiPiero remains vice president/segment counsel for Actuation and Landing Systems. Marc Duvall has been appointed president of the Aerostructures Div. He was its vice president/general manager and succeeds Greg Peters, who now heads Goodrich’s operational excellence efforts. Mike Gardiner has become president of the Actuation Systems unit.
Bettina H. Chavanne (Stratford, Conn., and NAS Patuxent River, Md.)
Riding high on domestic military business, the U.S. rotorcraft industry is looking at the strengthening commercial and international competition and wondering where the technology investment will come from to stay in the game. At the Heli-Expo 2010 show in Houston on Feb. 20-23, AgustaWestland will talk about its new AW149 tactical transport and planned AWXX9 light twin, while Eurocopter will discuss its new EC175 medium twin and planned Dauphin replacement, code-named X4.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Andy Nativi (Kennedy Space Center), Mark Carreau (Johnson Space Center)
The dramatic upheaval in U.S. space exploration plans is having a ripple effect among NASA’s international and commercial partners, offering possibilities that were not there when the administration of then-President George W. Bush insisted on keeping the “critical path” from the surface of the Earth to the surface of the Moon inside the U.S. government.
Boeing is approaching one of the riskiest early stages of the 787 flight-test program that, so far, is either meeting or exceeding expectations—including earlier-than-ever autoland tests, the company says.
Luis Leal has become Houston-based Midwest U.S. sales manager for product support sales for Gulfstream Aerospace . He held a similar position for Standard Aero, also in Houston. Honors and Elections
Boeing is designing a lower-weight production version of the wing root reinforcement that delayed first flight of the 787 by almost six months, and it is working on the first aircraft to arrive on the production line here with a pre-assembled wing modification in place.
U.S. Army Cols. John S. Regan, Kelly J. Thomas and Jeffery L. Underhill have been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. Regan has been commander of White Sands Missile Range, N.M.; Thomas deputy commander/assistant commandant of the Army Aviation Center of Excellence, Ft. Rucker, Ala.; and Underhill commmander of the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command, Ft. Shafter, Hawaii.
Electronic and computer attack—the futuristic segment of the Pentagon’s arsenal—will benefit from the proposed 2011 military spending plan, but identifying all the key pieces is difficult without close scrutiny.
Mar. 1-3—Speednews’ 24th Annual Commercial Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference. Beverly Wilshire Hotel, Beverly Hills, Calif. See www.speednews.com Mar. 1-4—International Civil Aviation Organization’s Next Generation of Aviation Professionals Symposium. ICAO Headquarters, Montreal. See www.icao.int/ngap/ Mar. 1-5—Applied Technology Institutes’ Space Systems’ Conference on Subsystems Design. Also, Mar. 8-12—Space-Based Radar. Both at Holiday Inn, Laurel, Md. Call +1 (410) 956-8805 or see www.aticourses.com
Europe’s new transport commissioner, Siim Kallas, in April is to present a report to the European Parliament on body scanning technologies. Airport security was already on the agenda of an information meeting of transport ministers that took place last week in Spain . The European Parliament asked for the report, which the European Commission says will provide scientific evidence on the effects of body scanning and be used to develop a common EU framework for the application of the technology.
NATO members appear ready to approve deployment of a territorial ballistic missile defense (BMD) network in Europe, although the scope of the European contribution is uncertain.
U.S. Marine Corps aviators completed operational assessment of BAE Systems’ Advanced Precision Kill Weapon System (Apkws). The system , developed in partnership with the U.S. government, provides aviators with a very precise weapon that is effective against soft and lightly armored targets but minimizes collateral damage. In a series of tests conducted Jan. 11-22, Marine AH-1W Cobra helicopters flew a variety of scenarios and fired laser-guided Apkws rockets at typical in-theater targets. Live warheads were fitted to the 2.75-in.
Frontier Airlines plans to add seven routes and increase frequencies to popular destinations from its Denver hub for the summer travel season. New nonstop services include flights to the resort town of Branson, Mo., beginning Apr. 20, using Embraer 190 aircraft. Initial plans call for flights up to four times weekly. AirTran Airways also serves Branson and, with Frontier’s flights, the two carriers will link about 100 cities to the resort area in the Ozark Mountains, says Jeff Bourk, executive director of the airport.
The combination of heavy snows and high winds caused severe damage to the Dulles Jet Center at Washington Dulles International Airport on Feb. 6. A spokesman for the engineering company engaged to assess and repair the damage said three of the facility’s four hangars will have to be dismantled, and that several of the 14 aircraft housed there—including at least two Bombardier Global Express and Gulfstream G500 jets—were “severely” damaged by the collapsing roof.
French national space agency CNES says the European Union has selected Paris and London to host the Galileo Security Monitoring Center (GSMC) that will be in charge of controlling access to Galileo’s encypted Public Regulated Signal. It will become available, along with the open and search-and-rescue signals, in mid-2014 . Paris will serve as the main facility and London the backup. France and the U.K.
OHB and Thales Alenia Space have reportedly been selected for a €1.5-billion contract to supply six spacecraft for Europe’s Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) geostationary weather forecasting satellite system. The win, over EADS Astrium, is provoking charges that ESA did not fully respect procedures in its selection process. Astrium also lost to OHB in the contest to supply the first batch of Galileo satellites. CNES Director General Yannick d’Escatha said France “has full confidence in ESA” but will call for an audit to clear up the matter.
Mark Carreau (Johnson Space Center), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
Some 11,500 civil service and contractor personnel in a dozen U.S. states will potentially be affected by President Barack Obama’s decision to cancel the Constellation Program of human-exploration spacecraft started under his predecessor.
Hawker Beechcraft reported an operating loss of $712 million during 2009, attributable to the brutal downturn in the business aviation market and a large order cancellation from fractional operator NetJets. O verall sales were down 9% from 2008 to $3.2 billion . But the value of its order backlog shrank 55% to $3.4 billion from $7.6 billion. The bulk of that loss occurred during the fourth quarter, when Hawker confirmed NetJets’ cancellation . Hawker delivered 309 business and general aviation aircraft in 2009, down from 441 the previous year.
