USN Capt. Randall M. Hendrickson is among five of his rank who have been nominated for promotion to rear admiral (lower half). He is head of theater missile defense in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations in Washington. The others are: Randolph L. Mahr, who is major program manager in the Program Executive Office for Tactical Aircraft Programs, NAS Patuxent River, Md.; Kevin D. Scott, division director for the Aviation Career Management Div. of Navy Personnel Command, Millington, Tenn.; Herman A.
Lockheed Martin/VT Group joint-venture Ascent Flight Training has signed a five-year, £57-million ($96-million) contract under the U.K. Military Flying Training System program for Rear Crew Stage 1 training of observers for Royal Navy Lynx, Merlin and Sea King helicopters. Four Hawker Beechcraft King Air 350ERs, modified and maintained by FR Aviation, will replace Jetstream T2 training aircraft. VT-owned Grob 11Es will also be used for flying training, while Lockheed Martin will supply ground-based training equipment.
Known as a supplier of sensor and control systems, Raytheon sees the expanding unmanned aircraft market as an opportunity to graduate to the coveted prime contractor role. But it is the company’s long heritage in the missile business, rather than its past involvement in aircraft manufacturing, that is providing the springboard.
Airbus engineers are developing an “auto emergency descent” feature aimed at springing into action if flight crewmembers are disabled by hypoxia. The system would bring the aircraft down to 10,000 ft. to help pilots recover consciousness. The first aircraft to have the feature could be the A350XWB, but it also could be installed in other aircraft. Airbus has started to show the capability to pilots, including a recent delegation from the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Assn.
The new, three-parallel runway layout at O’Hare International Airport is achieving efficiencies in terms of aircraft arrival and departure rates and a reduction in flight delays. Whether these positives will persuade reluctant hub operators American and United airlines to approve the remaining huge portion of the $8-billion O’Hare Modernization Program remains to be seen.
Bombardier’s Global Vision cockpit completed its first test flight on the company’s Global Express XRS on Aug. 3. Capt. Gary Bruce, test pilot for the project, was enthusiastic about the performance, saying, “The comfort and ergonomics of the overall cockpit are like nothing we’ve ever experienced.” The flight-test aircraft departed from the company’s Downsview facility near Toronto at 10:20 EDT and returned at 3:28 p.m. The flight reached a maximum altitude of 17,000 ft. and a true airspeed of 343 kt. Loaded with 22,600 lb. of fuel, the aircraft weighed 74,885 lb.
Is Europe’s aviation safety system proactive enough to head off safety concerns? That has become a question in the wake of how regulators and other stakeholders have dealt with problems linked to Thales pitot tubes on Airbus aircraft.
Operational validation of the U.S. Navy’s EA-18G and an expected requirement for 26-30 more airborne electronic attack aircraft to meet joint expeditionary force needs could trigger the production of more Growler/Grizzly aircraft.
Andrew Grove, who until 1998 was CEO of Intel, the giant computer chip manufacturer, published what became a classic in business circles entitled Only The Paranoid Survive. In the book, he explores how industry is full of strategic inflection points—transformational changes which, if grasped early enough, can ensure a company’s growth, and if not, can lead to their demise.
Experts from Wyle’s Integrated Science and Engineering Group will continue supporting life sciences work at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston under a $201-million option exercised by the U.S. space agency that brought the total potential value of its contract with Wyle to $976 million. Reflecting NASA’s plans to retire the space shuttle fleet next year, the new option on the bioastronautics contract covers support of the shuttle until then, as well as work for the International Space Station, Constellation and human research programs.
British Airways is concerned about what it sees as delays in the U.K. government’s process for adopting European Union legislation that will bring the aviation sector into the EU Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS).
Martin George (see photo) has become general manager of Chromalloy ’s San Diego operation. He was director of operations and succeeds Nat Love, who has moved to a technical leadership position on Chromalloy’s corporate team.
Singapore-based ST Aerospace translated a 9% greater revenue, improved margins and lower financial expenses to a 53% higher profit before taxes, or S$60.9 million ($42.5 million), for the second quarter, compared with the first. The company’s engineering and materials services turnover soared 38.9% in the second quarter, with profit before taxes leaping 35.2%, compared with the second quarter last year.
The U.S. Navy plans to award Boeing a contract to flight test an air-launched version of the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), carrying a magnetic anomaly detector to locate submerged submarines and track them for up to 24 hr. The MagEagle is based on Boeing’s ScanEagle Compressed Carriage air-launched small UAV, which will undergo ground-launched flight tests this year.
Regarding your article “A Wing and a Prayer,” I am dismayed at the dismal performance of my former employer. I belonged to the group that developed the 747, whose members in later years have been labeled the “Incredibles.”
AsiaSat 5, a Space Systems/Loral 1300 series, is set for launch Aug. 12 on an ILS Proton from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It will replace AsiaSat-2 at 100.5 deg. E. and serve 53 countries spanning from Russia to New Zealand. Hong Kong-based AsiaSatellite Telecommunications has ordered AsiaSat-5C from SS/Loral to expand its network.
Aug. 17-19—Fifth Ankara (Turkey) International Aerospace Conference. Middle East Technical University. Call +90 (312) 210-3861, fax +90 (312) 210-3868 or see http://aiac.ae.metu.edu.tr Aug. 17-21—Pennsylvania State University’s Aerospace Engineering Short Course on Rotary Wing Technology. University Park. Call +1 (814) 865-2569, fax +1 (814) 865-7092 or see www.outreach.psu.edu/programs/rotary-wing/default-Staff.htm
Engineers at Ad Astra Rocket Co. here are gradually easing up the power levels on a large experimental version of the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket (Vasimr) pioneered by seven-time space shuttle astronaut Franklin Chang-Diaz. The concept is approaching a significant milestone for in-space propulsion that is intended to establish the groundwork for a range of potential deep-space and near-Earth commercial missions, including possible 39-day human transits to Mars.
The Surion utility helicopter increasingly appears to mark the arrival of Korea Aerospace Industries as a serious player in the global rotary-wing market.
A Russian-built Ilyushin Il-78 tanker with U.S. registry N78GF remained stranded late last week at Sawyer International Airport near Marquette, Mich., after five Ukrainian nationals among the crewmembers were arrested during a refueling stop for allegedly violating immigration laws and in connection with a civil dispute that involved unpaid bills in Texas. The U.S. has evaluated Il-76s and Il-78s as heavy airtankers to carry aerial retardant and water for wildfire suppression. Russia uses the aircraft for that mission.
Richard Santulli’s announcement last week that he was resigning as chairman and CEO of NetJets Inc., the world’s largest operator of business jets, raised questions about Berkshire Hathaway’s commitment to the money-losing subsidiary and even the viability of the fractional aircraft ownership concept. Although Santulli cited his desire “to spend some more time with my young family and pursue other interests,” as the motivation for stepping down, others suggest NetJets’ recent fiscal performance might have been a factor.
With all the hoopla reserved for unveiling a major defense program, General Services Administration and Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA) officials announce they are creating a “common marketplace” for commercial satellite communication services for the entire federal government. The new deal, the Future Comsatcom Services Acquisition, would start awarding contracts in September 2010 worth more than $5 billion over a decade.
The National Research Council says a replacement Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite could play an important—if limited—role in monitoring and verifying sources of carbon dioxide emissions to support greenhouse gas reduction treaties. In December, the NRC expects to release an ongoing study focusing on estimates of human-derived greenhouse gas emissions. The report will coincide with a meeting in Copenhagen of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which is considering treaties to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
Officials of Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways think its business may have ceased declining, even if it is too early to say it is beginning to strengthen. The company is still losing money operationally but earned a profit of HK$812 million ($105 million) in the six months ended June 30 because of gains on fuel-hedging contracts. Chairman Christopher Pratt says that while the worst of the recession might be over for Cathay, “we still cannot see any clear signs of any sustained pickup in our core business.”
The bottom-line strategy, from the U.S. military perspective, is that “we’re not withdrawing from the Korean Peninsula,” says Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Remington, commander of the 7th Air Force at Osan AB. But the question then arises: How realistic is this assessment, given that the U.S. is cutting Army force structure along with a few Air Force A-10s and tactical air control parties, moving those remaining farther from the demilitarized zone and returning operational control of forces in the peninsula to the South Korean military?
