Tommy Brazie, vice president/director of space control and missile defense for ITT Space Systems, Rochester, N.Y., has been inducted into the Purdue University Reserve Officer Training Corps Hall of Fame . He held leadership positions in U.S. Air Force space acquisition and operations at the National Reconnaissance Office and Space and Missiles Center. Brazie was the space architect for NRO programs, as well as ground architect for another set of NRO satellite programs.
Former astronaut and retired USAF Gen. Thomas Stafford has received the Wiley Post Spirit Award from the Oklahoma City-based Wiley Post Commission, in recognition of his achievements. Also, local aviation pioneer Otto Hess has won the first Oklahoma Aviation Lifetime Achievement Award. Stafford has flown six rendezvouses in space, logged 507 hr. in spaceflight and flown 127 types of aircraft. The 90-year-old Hess is a retired pilot and owner of two aviation businesses.
The British Defense Ministry and BAE Systems have quietly shelved efforts to negotiate a long-term partnering agreement, which was a central element of the 2005 Defense Industrial Strategy’s approach to sustaining the aerospace sector. The discussions are believed to have ended two months ago. Instead the ministry says it “has decided to take a broader perspective of the sector in recognition of the changing industrial and economic climate. A sector-wide strategy and implementation plan is being developed to set the context for any future long-term arrangements.
The Qantas group’s low-fare affiliate, Jetstar, looks set to benefit from the current traffic downturn by profitably gaining market share over legacy competitors, including Qantas Airways.
On June 3, Kuwait startup Wataniya Airways plans to inaugurate five-times-weekly service to Damascus, Syria, with an Airbus A320 expected to be delivered this week. The addition is part of a network expansion that includes a new route to Amman, Jordan, and added frequencies to Beirut and Cairo. At the same time, Wataniya’s parent company, Kuwait National Airways (KNA), reported a loss of 1.7 million Kuwait dinars ($5.9 million), which was entirely due to the launch of the carrier and a new terminal at Kuwait International Airport.
Airbus has confirmed earlier Rolls-Royce reports that the thrust ratings for the TrentXWB engines for the A350 twin-widebody have increased as a result of a spike in the airliner’s weight. The thrust ratings have increased 1,000 lb. across the A350 family to 75,000 lb. for the -800, 84,000 lb. for the -900 and 93,000 lb. for the -1000.
Increasing demand for persistent surveillance is driving renewed interest in airships, with their use by U.S. forces in Afghanistan likely in the near term and research underway to exploit their advantages and overcome the disadvantages in the longer term.
Lilian Brayle (see photo) has been appointed vice president-customer services for Messier-Dowty International , Velizy, France. He was managing director of Turbomeca Australasia.
Daniel P. Raymer (Playa del Rey, Calif.), President, Conceptual Research Corp. (Playa del Rey, Calif.)
It is not correct to call the Korean T-50 Golden Eagle a “highly modified derivative of Lockheed’s F-16” (AW&ST May 4, p. 8). I was privileged to play a small role in its development, conducting an extensive two-day design review just prior to configuration freeze, and saw firsthand the excellent and original work done by the T-50 team.
Edward Petkus has been named vice president-product development and engineering for the Hawker Beechcraft Corp. , Wichita, Kan. He has been acting vice president-engineering.
This is a tough time for U.S. regional airlines. The major carriers, upon whom regionals rely for business, have slashed domestic capacity—first to cope with last year’s skyrocketing fuel prices, and then with the long and deep recession.
High above Boeing’s 787 factory floor is a room filled with mechanical engineers, quality-control specialists, procurement officers and a dozen other technologists, each with desktop computers, triple wide-screen monitors and cordless phone connections.
Language in the pending FAA Reauthorization bill would require drug- and alcohol-testing of workers at aircraft repair stations outside the U.S., as well as two unannounced FAA inspections per year. Not only is random drug-testing illegal in some countries, says Steve Kolski, executive vice president for operations and corporate affairs at AirTran, but if the legislation passes, it “will lead to reciprocal protectionism and retaliation.” The measure also could jeopardize the bilateral aviation safety agreement between the U.S. and the European Union.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is, belatedly, getting behind the Eurofighter Typhoon program, following lobbying from partner nations and several British government departments with industry support. There have been concerns that Treasury opposition would block the U.K. from proceeding with even an element of its notional 88-aircraft purchase from the Tranche 3 production run. National leaders from the other partner nations pressed Brown to move forward with the Tranche 3 order.
Reader Mark Fay should step back from his populist rage and review the history of aviation safety (AW&ST Apr. 27, p. 8). While his quest for justice can be respected, he does not appear to understand either the evolution of standards, training, procedures or even basic human behavior. Until aviation safety programs were able to peer inside the cockpits and put together the complete mishap chain, improvements to standards, training and procedures were hit or miss.
Mark Schwab has been appointed senior vice president-alliances (international) and regulatory affairs and James Mueller vice president-Pacific for United Airlines parent UAL Corp. Schwab succeeds Mike Whitaker, who has been named group CEO for InterGlobe’s Travel, Technology and General Aviation Services in New Delhi. Schwab was country manager for Mexico and the U.K. for United. Mueller held a similar position with Northwest Airlines. R. Douglas Rose has become vice president-human resources for UAL’s Total Rewards.
The Pentagon is taking some risk in the crucial area of overhead nonimaging infrared sensors, which provide the first warning of ballistic-missile attack. Gen. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, says the fledgling Infrared Augmentation Satellite program was terminated during the Fiscal 2010 budget discussions. U.S. Strategic Command chief Gen. Kevin Chilton pushed for the program to provide space-based missile warning in case the beleaguered Space-Based Infrared System (Sbirs) suffers more delays.
President Barack Obama’s decision to review NASA’s human-spaceflight planning bears an ominous, here-we-go-again resemblance to attempts by previous presidents to reverse predecessors’ out-of-favor policies. But Obama’s selection of former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine to head the review offers hope that the resemblance is superficial.
Regarding your coverage of the recent Melbourne Airbus overrun (AW&ST May 4, p. 22), please remind me why aircrews are required to manually calculate and then enter aircraft weight into flight control systems that are otherwise largely sensor and algorithm-driven? Wouldn’t it be better to equip aircraft to directly report this value to their control systems?
USAF Maj. Gen. Douglas L. Raaberg has been appointed special assistant to the commander of Air Combat Command (ACC), Langley AFB, Va. He was deputy combined forces air component commander for U.S. Central Command/deputy commander of Air Force Forces/vice commander of ACC’s 9th Air Expeditionary Task Force, Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar. Raaberg has been succeeded by Maj. Gen. Stephen L. Hoog, who has been commander of ACC’s U.S. Air Force Warfare Center, Nellis AFB, Nev. Hoog, in turn, has been succeeded by Brig. Gen. Stanley T.
Jose Leon has been promoted to president/chief operating officer of the AeroThrust Corp. of Miami from president of subsidiary AeroThrust Capital. Honors and Elections
With testing underway on a new core engine and composite fan blades, CFM International says it is on the threshold of introducing an engine that will do for 100-200-passenger regional aircraft what is already working for long-haul transports that are setting sales records.
Astronomers using two instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope have refined the value for the Hubble Constant to within an error margin of less than 5%, pointing the way to a better understanding of the force astrophysicists call “dark energy.” A team headed by Adam Riess of the Space Telescope Science Institute and the Johns Hopkins University used the orbiting observatory’s Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer and its Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) to make extremely precise measurements across vast distances, giving a much more exact value for the rate
Eurocopter will supply French helicopter operator Heli-Union with what it says will be the first simulator ever built specifically to serve the Dauphin AS365 N3. Built with Thales, the simulator will enter operation at Heli-Union’s training center in Angouleme, in western France, in 2011. It will be dual qualified as a Level 3 flight training device and Level B full flight simulator, capable of providing 3,000 hr. of training a year.
