Jim Chapman (see photo) has become vice president-U.K. operations for Atlantic Inertial Systems . He was a project director and managing director for Cobham Aviation Services.
Boutros Boutros has been appointed divisional senior vice president-corporate communications for Emirates . He was senior vice president-media relations, sponsorships and events, and succeeds Mike Simon, who has retired.
Rusty Roberts has become director of the Georgia Tech Research Institute’s Aerospace, Transportation and Advanced Systems Laboratory in Atlanta. He was associate director for business development in the institute’s Information Technology and Telecommunications Laboratory.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Jeff Riemer (see photos) has been appointed vice president-strategic programs and JuliAnna Potter director of Washington operations for InDyne Inc. , Reston, Va. Reimer was the USAF program executive officer for the F-22, while Potter was special adviser to the deputy NASA administrator.
Jack Garson has been appointed to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board as one of the two members from Maryland. He is founder of the law firm of Garson Claxton.
Signature of a $1.3-billion contract to develop a military airlifter could not come at a better time for Embraer. With its commercial and business aircraft production hit by the global economic malaise, development of an all-new tanker/transport for the Brazilian air force will boost the manufacturer’s defense business and offset the civil aviation cycles.
Boeing has shipped the IndoStar II/ProtoStar II/ telecom satellite to Baikonur, Kazakhstan, for a Proton M launch in May. The Boeing 601-based spacecraft will replace Indonesia’s aging Indostar I while providing additional direct-to-home capacity for Protostar, a Bermuda-based startup company that is supplying broadcasting services throughout Southeast Asia.
NASA isn’t getting enough money to hold the so-called gap in U.S. human access to space to five years, and even if it does get more, it may not be able to improve the situation. Space shuttle managers last week decided to focus on flying the rest of their missions safely instead of retaining the option to continue past next year’s slated retirement. A congressional “do not preclude” order expires Apr. 30.
The next “decadal” survey of the U.S. planetary science community will consider the technical maturity and cost of space missions as well as their scientific value in setting priorities, by applying lessons learned from the delayed Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).
Ashok Nayak (see photo) has been named chairman of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. of Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore), India. He succeeds Ashok K. Baweja, who has retired. Nayak was managing director of HAL’s Bengaluru Complex.
Joe Sigg has become director of aircraft spares for SkyWest Airlines . He succeeds Todd Wilkinson, who is now at SkyWest sister carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines.
Boeing delivered the 6,000th 737 on Apr. 16. The 737-800 was handed over to International Lease Finance Corp. for service with low-cost carrier Norwegian Air Shuttle. The delivery came 42 years and one week to the day after first flight of the 737 in 1967, and slightly more than 41 years after initial entry-into-service with Lufthansa. The 5,000th 737 was delivered to Southwest Airlines in February 2006, while the 6,000th order came in December 2005. Backlog for the 737 stands at more than 2,200.
Australia’s National Assn. of Testing Authorities has approved Boeing Defense Australia’s application for testing medium-sized military and commercial aircraft, plus a variety of equipment, for electromagnetic environmental effects (E3). The approval supports Australia’s introduction of the 737-derived Wedgetail airborne early warning and control aircraft, but could also be applied to other platforms such as the C-130. Approval is for testing aircraft emitting on frequencies between 4 and 400 MHz.
Air Line Pilots Assn. International President John Prater—leader of more than 52,000 pilots flying for U.S. and Canadian airlines—outlines the challenges facing the professionals who occupy the “front office” of airliners during tumultuous times. Prater met with Aviation Week editors James R. Asker, Frances Fiorino, Jennifer Michels and Graham Warwick to discuss the pilots’ perspective on forging protective labor contracts and maintaining the highest level of airline safety and security.
Dassault’s Rafale is out of the 126-aircraft Indian fighter competition, leaving the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Lockheed Martin F-16IN, Eurofighter Typhoon, RSK MiG-35 and Saab Gripen in the race.
Edward Stewart (see photo) has been named managing director for external communications for Delta Air Lines . He has been senior vice president of Fleishman-Hillard and was senior director of public relations for Southwest Airlines.
Michelangelo Neri has been appointed Thales ’s Security Solutions and Services country director in the United Arab Emirates. He is also director of Thales’s Dubai Integration Center.
Airbus last week formally subsumed the former EADS military transport aircraft division, creating the Seville, Spain-based Airbus Military unit. EADS in December decided to shift management of the A330 multirole tanker program and the A400M, C-295 and CN-235 airlifters into Airbus, hoping to gain efficiencies and better program oversight.
NASA has decided to call Node 3 on the International Space Station “Tranquility,” despite an outpouring of public support for naming the pressurized module after television comedian Stephen Colbert. “We selected ‘Tranquility’ because it ties it to exploration and the Moon and symbolizes the spirit of international cooperation embodied by the space station,” says William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for space operations. Astronaut Sunita Williams announced the name, which was among the top 10 suggestions from the public, on Colbert’s cable television program Apr.
There remains some confusion in the letters of Charlee Smith and Carl Slater regarding the advantages of biofuels (AW&ST Feb. 23, p. 8; Mar. 23, p. 8). The key concept is the source and fate of carbon. Photosynthetic organisms (plants, algae, etc.) take in carbon—as CO2—from the atmosphere and use it, with other elements, to synthesize all of the materials of which they are made. They emit oxygen, which is why the atmosphere contains free oxygen. When biomass is converted to biofuels and burned, carbon is recycled into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.
BAE Systems is developing a radar warning receiver (RWR) for satellite use, under a $6.3-billion U.S. Air Force contract. The intent is to alert satellites when they are being “painted” by radar energy, says Eric Rhodes, business development manager for BAE. Initially, the RWR will be able to detect radar energy up to 18 GHz. in bands used for situational awareness. Eventually, the intent is to detect radar energy up to 40 GHz., with frequencies that could be used for targeting satellites.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
A new, reduced-signature, unmanned aircraft—the long-rumored, 20-hr.-endurance, pure-jet Predator C Avenger—has emerged from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems’ workshops after a 3½-year gestation period paced by massive growth in UAV production and the use of unmanned designs in combat. The UAV’s undeniably stealthed-up exterior offers several clues about how the aircraft could be employed.
The Newfoundland provincial government has put plans to purchase Bombardier 415 water bombers on hold, saying it could not reach acceptable terms for the C$100-million-plus ($83-million) purchase. The Canadian province’s government says it insisted on having all deposits and advance payments protected against potential losses in the current economic climate, but Bombardier was not prepared to provide adequate security. Instead, Newfoundland will continue to operate its six older CL-215 firefighting amphibians.
