Kenji Hashimoto has been appointed vice president-strategic alliances and Don Casey vice president-revenue management of American Airlines . Hashimoto was managing director for airline profitability and financial analysis. Casey was managing director for international planning and succeeds Scott Nason, who has retired.
July 16—Demonstrating the Value of Corporate Aircraft Management Forum. New York. Aug. 5-6—Required Navigation Performance Management Forum. Dallas. Aug. 12-13—Program Risk Management Forum. Washington. Sept. 22—Green Europe. Hamburg. Sept. 22-24—MRO Europe Conference & Exhibition. Hamburg. Oct. 6-7—Human Capital and Talent Acquisition/Labor Management Forum. Chicago. Oct. 13-14—Crew Fatigue Management Forum. Miami. Oct. 21-22—Supply Chain Management Forum. San Diego.
France has ordered three more Sagem Sperwers to reinforce its tactical unmanned aircraft force in Afghanistan. They will be the first supplied at the Sperwer Mk2 standard that features a lighter wing, modified exhaust and more powerful catapult for longer endurance and improved high-density altitude capability. Sagem officials say the upgrades will boost endurance at high altitude to 4.5 hr. and permit low-altitude flights of 6 hr.—an increase of 1 hr. Delivery is scheduled for early 2010.
South Korea next year will begin deploying its Red Shark anti-submarine missile, development of which is now complete after an apparent schedule slippage of three years. The rocket, also called the Korean Anti-Submarine Missile and equivalent to the Lockheed Martin RUM-139 VLA, has been in development for nine years, says the Agency for Defense Development. The vertically launched weapon delivers the Blue Shark light torpedo over a range of 20 km. (12.5 mi.).
An article on Boeing possibly opening a second 787 assembly line referred to South Carolina as a “non-union” state, instead of a “right-to-work” state (AW&ST June 22, p. 41). In fact, the International Assn. of Machinists in Aerospace has ratified a contract with Vought Aircraft in North Charleston. The landing of the space shuttle Atlantis to conclude mission STS-125 occurred on Edwards AFB’s main, concrete Runway 22L and not on the dry lakebed (AW&ST June 8, p. 30).
Regarding Paul Nash’s letter, flight crews are professionally trained to standardized procedures so crewmembers can coordinate their work from their first flight together.
The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) is pondering a new approach to buying targets for its flight tests after problems with the high cost of existing systems.
USN Rear Adm. (ret.) Victor C. See, Jr. (see photo) has been named a senior adviser at Integrity Applications Inc. , Chantilly, Va. He was director of the Communications Systems Acquisition and Operations Directorate of the National Reconnaissance Office. Honors and Elections
British Airways last week said nearly 7,000 staff members had opted for “voluntary pay cuts” as the carrier struggles to reduce costs. Employees could volunteer for “between one and four weeks unpaid leave or unpaid work.” Other options were moving to part-time work or taking longer periods of unpaid leave. The company believes it will save £10 million ($16.4 million).
General Electric has expanded a service agreement with Aviall Services to include distribution of spare parts for the GE CF34-3 series engine that powers the Bombardier CRJ100/200 regional jets and Challenger 601/604 business jet. A previous accord signed in 2009 covered certain spare parts but the new pact includes life-limited components and makes Aviall responsible for forecasting, ordering and delivering original equipment replacement parts unique to that engine.
After the fiasco about the contract award for a new U.S. Air Force tanker, why doesn’t USAF buy the now-operational Japanese KC-767 “off the shelf” from Boeing. I’m sure it doesn’t meet all USAF requirements 100%, but as a Russian general once said: “Better is the enemy of good enough.”
The Air France Flight 447 accident probably will go down in commercial aviation history as the result of a worst-case scenario. Although investigators are still far from being able to say what caused the Airbus A330-200 to plunge into the ocean, it looks like a rare event in the record books.
Giordo is also considering whether Alenia could be a platform supplier for the forthcoming U.S. Army Aerial Common Sensor signals-intelligence collector program. Army officials say they are considering a smaller airframe than is the Navy for its EP-X Sigint aircraft. If the Army’s requirements point to a turboprop platform, Giordo says he will consider whether the C-27J or EADS/Finmeccanica ATR is a valid solution.
The 48th Paris air show unfolded last week at Le Bourget under uncertain economic conditions. Although order levels were drastically down from recent air show levels, industry leaders largely voiced their satisfaction with the level of activity and delegations. A total of 48 nations were represented and 1,982 exhibitors had signed up, slightly down from 1,996 in 2007. Professional attendee levels were roughly the same as those of two years ago. More coverage begins on p. 24.
London is near agreement on a key transatlantic element to the revamping of its guided-weapons sector, more than three years after its initial effort stalled at the last moment. This coincides with Europe’s flagship missile manufacturer looking to bolster its presence in the U.S. market. The Defense Ministry and Raytheon are closing in on a deal that would—belatedly—allow the U.S. missile manufacturer’s U.K. business to become a core member of Britain’s Team Complex Weapons, which features the U.K. element of European missile house MBDA at its core.
The General Electric Rolls-Royce Fighter Engine Team is considering a fixed-price contract proposal to the U.S. government to help stave off further funding threats to the F136 alternate Joint Strike Fighter engine, and steer it through to production.
Sukhoi secured two big commitments for its Superjet 100 during the Paris air show, with Uzbekistan-based Avialeasing signing a $715-million deal for 24 of the regional jets and Hungarian airline Malev inking a letter of interest for 30 more, with a potential value of $1 billion.
Sukhoi Superjet 100 lands at Le Bourget for the 48th Paris air show while an Airbus A380 sits on the tarmac. The show unfolded last week with an economic dark cloud hanging over the aerospace industry (see p. 24). The downturn has forced aircraft makers to curtail production, but it didn’t stop some manufacturers—including Sukhoi—from securing new orders at the show. Photo by Mark Wagner/aviation-images.com
Boeing is studying development of an advanced 777 derivative with a composite wing as well as all-new and 787-10 stretch concepts to counter the emerging threat of the Airbus A350-1000, but it insists the study has not assumed priority over the delayed 737 replacement exploration.
Shanghai Airlines will continue as a separate business with its own brand after China Eastern buys the company, at least initially. Now well into the process of executing the state-directed takeover, China Eastern confirms that neither it nor Shanghai Airlines—both of them money-losers and both based at Shanghai—will cut staff in the restructuring. A due-diligence check on Shanghai Airlines is underway, and China Eastern Chairman Liu Shaoyong is leading a group of executives negotiating with the target.
Embraer has tapped Cyclone Manufacturing to supply structural components on Embraer 190/195 commercial aircraft and Legacy 450-500 business jets. The $12-million (over three years) contract covers various large die-forged structural components for the commercial aircraft; deliveries are set to begin in late July with a delivery rate of eight aircraft per month. Deliveries for the Legacy 450-500 are set to begin in second-quarter 2010. The Ontario-based manufacturer will build both upper and lower wing skins, including the major spars.
Test engineers will accelerate the first “eCore” for CFM International’s next-generation Leading Edge Aviation Propulsion (LEAP56) engine development effort this week, following its initial run at General Electric’s site in Evendale, Ohio, June 12.
Your editorial “VH-71: Spending To Save” (AW&ST June 8, p. 58) correctly identifies for the first time in my experience the cause of ballooning program costs: requirements creep. Requirements creep is at the heart of Western civilization, which includes continuous and unrelenting advancement in technology. Rather than receive criticism, requirements creep should be heralded as the savior and not the devil. We want advancements! We want improvements in performance! We want faster, better, cheaper! Requirements creep gives us all of these.
Safran’s Snecma Div. is planning to test a new high-pressure core design for the Rafale M88 engine that could meet demand for export customers in hot countries, notably the United Arab Emirates, for a higher-power version of the engine. The test, planned for September, will focus on a package of M88 improvements, known as the Pack CGP-9T, intended to reduce M88 ownership costs. The test article will include a new high-pressure core designed to raise thrust to 9 from 7.5 metric tons.
