Paul Bourgon and Joseph M. Silvestri have been appointed to the board of directors of the Triumph Group , Wayne, Pa. Bourgon is president of the Aeroengine Div. of SKF USA and has been executive at Rolls-Royce Canada and Heroux-Devtek Inc., while Silvestri is managing partner of Court Square Capital.
Any U.S. Air Force move to buy only MQ-9 Reapers could impact a brewing battle to provide a new ground control station for Predator-family unmanned aircraft. Raytheon is pushing to oust platform prime General Atomics Aeronautical Systems as ground-station provider, and is awaiting an Air Force response to its unsolicited proposal for an open-architecture common ground control system (CGCS), initially for the MQ-1B Predator.
Last week’s Air Traffic Control Assn. conference in Washington drew more than 1,100 ATC and aviation experts trying to sniff the winds of change in tough economic times. On the day before Barack Obama became the president-elect, Civil Air Navigation Services Organization Secretary General Alexander ter Kuile said the next administration has an opportunity to move air traffic management (ATM) to a new level of performance.
China will build a small turbofan to propel itself into the business of integrating and manufacturing complete civil aeroengines, probably the hardest part of the commercial aircraft sector to break into. The 7,100-8,800-lb.-thrust powerplant is aimed at a small business jet proposed by another newly formed subsidiary of Chinese aerospace conglomerate Aviation Industry Corp. of China (Avic). It could also be used for a small airliner.
EADS is cutting back output rates for the A400M airlifter to bring production in line with the development schedule, which is running more than a year behind the original timetable. Officials at EADS’s Airbus Military Aircraft unit say the slowdown is not linked to discussions underway to waive penalties for late delivery in return for agreement on a revised delivery timetable (AW&ST Nov. 3, p. 47).
Tim Jors (see photo) has become Standard Power business unit leader for Crane Aerospace & Electronics , Redmond, Wash. He was vice president-supply chain for the Electronics Group.
Boeing is exploring adding a millimeter-wave radar seeker onto its Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) family of weapons, says Dan Jaspering, who oversees direct attack weapons for the company. The new seeker would add an all-weather capability to the JDAM and could be useful against maritime targets. Specifically, Jaspering says a radar JDAM could counter the “swarming boat problem.” Already, the company has met with success by funding the addition of a laser head to the weapon, and the Air Force and Navy are each buying 400 units of the laser JDAM.
USAF Maj. Gen. Gary T. McCoy has been appointed commander of the Air Force Global Logistics Center, Scott AFB, Ill. He has been director of logistics readiness/deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. McCoy will be succeeded by Maj. Gen. Robert H. McMahon, who has been director of maintenance/deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support at USAF Headquarters. Maj. Gen. James P.
China Great Wall Industry Corp. has concluded a contract to build and launch PakSat-1R, a C-/Ku-band satellite intended for Pakistan. The 30-transponder spacecraft will be built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. using China’s new-generation DFH-4 bus. PakSat-1R is the third Chinese telecom satellite to be supplied for an export customer under a China Great Wall in-orbit delivery contract, after Nigcomsat-1, orbited in May 2007.
As a frequent business traveler, deregulation has been a mixed blessing (AW&ST Oct. 27, p. 48). The flying experience has deteriorated but with lower prices, I am not sure the trade-off has been worth it. The calls for re-regulation will be heard seriously when travelers are stranded for days because of a weather event this winter. There is no capacity for travelers if a few flights are canceled, particularly at non-hub destinations.
Order cancellations for Airbus in October far outpaced new commitments, reducing the order intake for the first 10 months of the year to 675 aircraft from 737 the month prior. The biggest hit came on the A319 line. The entire net reduction of 62 aircraft is associated with the bankruptcy of Columbus, Ohio-based Skybus, which leaves the product line with a 28-unit negative order balance for the year so far. The A318 suffered a further drop of six aircraft; for the year, the total is a negative 13 units.
Another congressional report is questioning NASA’s ability to develop its follow-on Ares/Orion human spaceflight systems on time and on budget, given the agency’s recent history and fiscal woes. Under its Constellation program, NASA is planning initial operating capability (IOC) for the Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft in March 2015, and has a 65% confidence level of making that target. But the five-year gap in human spaceflight capability between the space shuttle’s planned 2010 retirement and the Ares/Orion IOC could grow, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) warns.
Looking ahead to onboard sensors and directed-energy weapons that will consume far more power and generate ever more heat, the U.S. Air Force has launched a program to develop hybrid electric systems technology for “energy-optimized” aircraft. Goals of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Integrated Vehicle Energy Technology (Invent) program include extending range and endurance 10-15%, increasing power and thermal capacity by 10-30%, overcoming cooling challenges in low-observable platforms, and reducing life-cycle costs.
State trading company Catic has ordered 20 Y-12F utility aircraft from Avicopter, the new Avic unit that now owns Harbin Aircraft. The Y-12F, a modern 19-seat design unrelated to earlier Y-12s, has not yet flown. The manufacturer plans to seek FAA certification, and Catic is aiming at selling the aircraft in Western markets.
The criminalization of aviation accidents continues. Cyprus plans to prosecute five people associated with the August 2005 crash of a Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 in Greece, according to Attorney General Petros Clerides, who announced the move Nov. 4. The five were not identified. According to the Greek accident investigation report, the flight crew and passengers were disabled by hypoxia, brought about by pressurization problems linked to disabled switches in the environment control system.
Nav Canada is deploying a Multistatic Dependent Surveillance (MDS) multilateration system from Sensis Corp. for surface surveillance at Montreal Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport. Multilateration complements radar to provide a more complete picture of aircraft moving on the airport surface. In addition, Sensis VeeLo NextGen vehicle locators will be used for tracking airport vehicles in the maneuvering area. Nav Canada President John Crichton says MDS will help airlines reduce delays and airline fuel costs while cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
While reading your articles touting the airline deregulation, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. The people that I know in my demographic group, senior citizens, do just about everything they can to avoid air travel. The unpleasant airport experience, the distinct possibility of being stranded as the result of missed connections and the near torture that accompanies coach seating—particularly in the 737—combine to make air travel a decidedly poor experience for older folks. Seniors represent the fastest-growing segment of the population.
Steven E. Harfst has been appointed president/CEO of USA3000 Airlines . He succeeds Angus Kinnear, who recently retired as chief operating officer. Harfst was COO of IndiGo and had been COO of North American Airlines.
The Phoenix Mars lander is near death as sunlight at its arctic landing site is no longer enough to provide solar-array power to charge its batteries daily. Loss of the lander in November or earlier has always been expected following a mission that began with touchdown May 25. Phoenix has lasted about 1.5 months longer that its original specification. Some weather data has been received from the spacecraft since Nov. 1, but little if any additional science data will be returned by Phoenix as Martian winter conditions begin to worsen at the landing site.
The U.S. Air Force wants to halt procurement of new MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicles while switching to an all MQ-9 Reaper fleet beginning in Fiscal 2010, according to Pentagon officials. The proposal is already being met with opposition in the Pentagon, however, as the Fiscal 2010 budget request is being ironed out, and questions about the transition remain.
John E. (Ned) Walker has become senior vice president/chief communications officer for Delta Air Lines . He was senior vice president-corporate communications for Continental Airlines. Walker has been succeeded there by Senior Vice President Nene Foxhall.
The letter on the use of efficient alternative energy sources for taxiing is well-intentioned, but not real-world in its proposal to use alternative mag-lev or similar technology to prevent long times of extended ground running to protect the environment (AW&ST Oct. 13, p. 10).
Boeing is developing a revised delivery schedule for the troubled 787 program which may push service entry as far back as early 2010, or almost two years later than originally scheduled. The company has been forced to slide first flight into 2009 because of the recently settled 57-day machinists’ strike. Adding to its misery, Boeing also concedes that delays due to newly discovered problems with improperly installed fasteners are being factored into the schedule revision, the fifth since the rollout of the aircraft in July 2007.
Iraq intends to carve out a leading role for its helicopter force, adding more firepower and giving it an important special operations capacity. One step toward this goal is a plan to buy 24 armed reconnaissance rotorcraft. If completed, it would be the single biggest purchase made so far by the nation’s defense ministry to build up a helicopter arm within the Iraqi air force (IQAF). The program is still in its early phase, but Col. Ahmed, commander of IQAF’s Sqdn. 15, says the Bell 407 is what the government wants to field.
The Iraqi air force (IQAF) could still be struggling to gain recognition within the country’s power structure if not for events that transpired earlier this year, when Iraqi forces moved into Basra. The Basra battle, although not the first Iraqi army operation supported by IQAF, could turn out to be a galvanizing moment for the fledgling service. The operation, which kicked off in March, was one of the biggest launched by the Iraqi military.
