The editorial “Spaceflight and Mr. Augustine” (AW&ST May 18, p. 62) says Norman Augustine was the chairman of a 1990 study of space policy “whose participants laid the intellectual cornerstone of the Moon-Mars exploration strategy that will be examined.”
Matt Cowan has been appointed Tampa, Fla.-based Southeast U.S. marketing manager for the Universal Avionics Systems Corp. He held similar positions at Cirrus Aircraft and Avidyne.
Scott A. Moore has been named to the board of directors of the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. He is chief pilot/director of aviation for Luck Stone, Manakin, Va.
Mike Stolarik has been named president/chief operating officer of Qinetiq North America , McLean, Va. He was president of Qinetiq North America’s Mission Solutions Group. Mark Greenfield has been appointed director of aerospace training for Qinetiq in the U.K., which operates the Empire Test Pilots’ School. He was head of flight safety training organization Ultimate High.
After completing what Raytheon calls a series of “crucial” tests of Rockwell Collins data link bound for its Small-Diameter Bomb II (SDB II) design, officials are looking ahead to flight tests of the two-way, encrypted system on a UH-1 helicopter. Rockwell Collins encountered problems meeting schedule for the data link’s application into the Harpoon Block III weapon; this was a key reason why the Navy terminated the Harpoon upgrade earlier this year. Despite that setback, Raytheon officials say recent hardware-in-the-loop tests of the data-link technology were successful.
Amid the global economic turmoil, the U.K. is facing key decisions for its aerospace business—both civil and military—which will fundamentally influence the sector’s fate. Defense Ministry officials may already be preparing for a strategic review as part of broader work feeding into the latest spending planning round, PR10. Alongside near-term funding needs, the work may also provide a vehicle to identify procurement options to inform what is now viewed as an inevitable post-election defense review.
When Space Exploration Technologies needed to purchase a couple of overhead cranes to lift its Falcon 9 rockets at the company’s new Florida launch site, the bids came in at about $2 million. Too expensive, decided Brian Mosdell, director of SpaceX launch operations at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, and he talked to the vendors to find out why the price was so high.
The prototype of Switzerland’s Solar Impulse long-duration, solar-powered aircraft will be unveiled June 26. Conceived in 2003 and inspired by Bertran Piccard’s around-the-world balloon flight in 1999, Solar Impulse is designed to take off and remain aloft for several days with no fuel other than its wing-mounted solar cells. The aircraft will serve to demonstrate the design’s flightworthiness and ability to fully recharge batteries during the day to permit night flying. First flight is scheduled for 2010.
U.S. Army Brig. Gen. David L. Mann has been appointed commanding general of the 32d Army Air Missile Defense Command, Ft. Bliss, Tex. He was commanding general at the White Sands Missile Range, N.M. Brig. Gen. Warren E. Phipps, Jr., has become deputy commanding general of the 101st Airborne Div., Ft. Campbell, Ky. He was deputy commander/assistant commandant of the U.S. Army Aviation Center, Ft. Rucker, Ala.
As the world’s aviation and aerospace community gathers again in Paris, against a backdrop of worldwide economic distress, it’s a good time to ask if the industry’s globalization has been as successful, and as worthwhile, as predicted.
Kansas State University’s Aviation Dept. at Salina will develop mission planning for its unmanned aerial systems (UAS) program under a grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research effective through March 2012. The university’s Applied Aviation Research Center will establish the Aerial Systems Technology Evaluation Center that will include mission planning, payload analysis, air vehicle operations and data analysis, says Kurt Barnhart, principal investigator.
Sens. John Ensign (R-Nev.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) have introduced legislation to loosen federally imposed restrictions on Reagan Washington National limiting most nonstop service to markets within 1,250 mi. of the airport. The lawmakers, who hope to attach the measure to the FAA reauthorization bill, note it is supported by US Airways, which has a big presence at both National and Las Vegas’s McCarran Airport. Under their proposal, airlines that use a National slot to serve large hub airports would be able to fly to any airport.
Carrie Sinclair has been appointed manager of media relations for Phoenix-based Honeywell Aerospace . She was manager of communications for the Air Transport and Regional Div.
Adi Dar (see photos) has been named general manager of Elbit Systems Electro-Optics Ltd. (Elop) , Haifa, Israel. He succeeds Haim Rousso, who has become Elbit Systems Ltd.’s executive vice president-engineering and technology excellence. Dar was vice president-business development.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (ret.) Charles S. Mahan, Jr., has been appointed to the board of directors of Spectrum Control Inc. , Fairview, Pa. He was the Army’s chief of logistics.
Dennis Corrigan has become vice president-revenue management for JetBlue Airways . He was managing director of revenue management operations for United Airlines. Corrigan succeeds Richard Zeni, who is now vice president-change management for the Passenger Service System.
In his letter “How ALPA Benefits Pilots” (AW&ST May 25, p. 8), Capt. David Skilling claimed early release of the Colgan Air Flight 3407 cockpit transcript “titillates the public” while potentially hindering communication essential to aviation safety investigations. Then Skilling danced on the graves of the two Colgan pilots to make a political statement celebrating the repeal of the FAA’s Age 60 Rule. He distorted ALPA’s record and ignored the debate that ALPA chaired in advance of the Age 65 legislation.
Apache Aerospace and Advanced Ceramics Manufacturing offer a new generation of monolithic cutting tools based on high-strength ceramics to machine aerospace materials. Unlike metal-bonded carbides, monolithic ceramics retain hardness as cutting temperatures rise, so are wear-resistant. Ceramic formulations now exist which have a low coefficient of friction that helps reduce heat generation.
The U.S. Air Force is dividing responsibility for modernizing and sustaining its A-10 attack aircraft over the next 10 years among three “associate prime contactors”: Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Lockheed has been the prime since 1997 but in 2007, Boeing won the contract to rewing the aircraft. Now all three companies will compete for individual task orders under the overall Lifecycle Program Support contract, which is worth up to $1.6 billion over the initial four years.
Rolls-Royce has opened a $1-million 14,000-sq.-ft. facility and an 11,000-sq.-ft. overhaul shop at Indianapolis International Airport that will expand its On-Wing Care engine services network. The facilities can accommodate up to 100 engine service calls annually and is the sixth such operation launched in the city by Rolls-Royce. It will service the AE3007, AE2100, Tay, BR700, RB211 and Trent-series powerplants.
Paul Goode writes in his letter “Who’s at the Helm?” that “To answer reader David Birken’s query as to why we have not gone back to the Moon or on to Mars, it’s clear that in 1969 NASA was run by scientists; today, politicians call the shots” (AW&ST June 1, p. 8; May 11, p. 10).
Deanna Lund has been promoted to corporate executive vice president/chief financial officer from senior vice president/CFO of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions Inc. of San Diego.
EADS Chief Executive Officer Louis Gallois last week sat down with AW&ST International Editor Robert Wall at EADS’s co-headquarters in Ottobrunn, outside Munich. Gallois addressed a range of issues affecting the aerospace industry, but in the wake of the crash of Air France Flight 447, he also expressed his grief over the tragedy and extended condolences to the victims’ families. International Civil Aviation Organization rules bar the aircraft maker from talking about technical aspects of the ongoing investigation.
