USN Rear Adm. John R. Hines, Jr., has been named deputy chief of staff for operations at Allied Air Component Command Headquarters, Izmir, Turkey. He has been deputy commander of the San Diego-based Third Fleet.
The turmoil gripping U.S. financial markets will have little long-term impact on demand for business jets, according to a forecast widely viewed as a barometer of the industry’s health. But critics question whether a market where demand is driven by corporate profits can really fly around the economic storm. Honeywell Aerospace’s 17th annual Business Aviation Outlook predicts that hefty backlogs and robust demand from markets outside the U.S. will push deliveries to a record $25 billion in 2009, extending a rebound that began in 2004.
Contraction of Asia-Pacific passenger and cargo traffic weighed heavily in an overall slowdown of international demand in August, but “some recovery” is likely in the coming months, according to the International Air Transport Assn. IATA expects that an easing of visa restrictions by China will help boost growth. Tightening of visas during the Olympics led to fewer flights and a passenger decline. Turmoil in financial markets is affecting global traffic as well. IATA says passenger demand in all regions is off 1.3% year-on-year.
Eurofighter, Lockheed Martin and Sukhoi have been eliminated from Brazil’s F-X2 fighter competition. The three remaining contenders are the Boeing F/A-18E/F, Saab Gripen NG and Dassault Rafale. Lockheed Martin was proposing an F-16 variant, while Sukhoi was offering the Su-35.
Joseph P. Bellino has been appointed vice president/chief financial officer of Los Angeles-based Ducommun Inc. He was executive vice president/CFO of the Kaiser Aluminum Corp.
Israel has requested the possible purchase of 25 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, with an option for 50 more—a $15.2-billion deal if all options are exercised. All of the Israeli F-35s would be configured with Pratt & Whitney F135 engines or General Electric-Rolls Royce F136 engines, and equipped with an electronic warfare package and assorted subsystems, features and capabilities.
The need to focus near-term defense spending on current operations is increasingly underlying European defense budgets, but governments are nevertheless trying to protect some key aircraft and missile modernization programs from being curtailed. Both trends are reflected in new French and Swedish defense spending plans, which also are banking on the ability to generate internal efficiencies in the coming years to free up budget for procurement needs.
The U.S. Senate has confirmed the nomination of Michael Donley as Air Force secretary, though he must still be installed by the President. Donley has been acting secretary since last spring when then-Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne and Chief of Staff Gen. T. Michael Moseley were fired following a series of nuclear management mishaps and acquisition foul-ups. Moseley has been succeeded by Gen. Norton Schwartz.
On the heels of its first win last week as a Pentagon prime contractor—delivering refurbished G222s for use by the Afghanistan National Army Air Corps—Alenia North America President Giuseppe Giordo says the company is examining whether to proceed as prime for its campaign to sell the M-346 trainer in the U.S. No official competition has begun yet for a new trainer for the U.S. Air Force and Navy, but Giordo says with no stateside competitors, he feels confident. He’s in talks with potential U.S.
A group of aviation executives in the self-proclaimed “Air Capital of the World” are forming the Wichita Aero Club. The Kansas city is home to Cessna Aircraft, Hawker Beechcraft, Bombardier Learjet, Spirit AeroSystems, McConnell AFB and a host of other aviation-related manufacturers and service organizations that, combined, employ 40,000 residents. Patterned after the Aero Clubs of Washington and Atlanta and The Wings Club in New York, the new group plans to host monthly luncheons with high-profile speakers, along with holding a major annual awards dinner.
Flight testing of the Raytheon Paveway IV dual-mode precision-guided bomb will begin on the Eurofighter Typhoon this month. The integration of the Paveway IV, which uses both GPS satellite navigation and laser guidance, is part of the Phase 1 enhancement program for the aircraft that is expected to begin to open up the Typhoon’s air-to-surface capabilities.
Viking Air flew the prototype DHC-6 Twin Otter Series 400 for the first time on Oct. 1. The British Columbia-based company is returning the 19-passenger Twin Otter to production after a 20-year gap, with customer deliveries to begin next summer.
The proposed merger of Condor, Germanwings and TUIFly Germany is off. Condor owner Thomas Cook has decided to pull out, saying “the opportunity was not attractive” and “Condor is a strong and profitable business with significant potential on a stand-alone basis.” In providing an outlook on current trading, Thomas Cook also says Condor has been able to keep load factors at around 87%, albeit thanks to a 9% reduction in capacity. Moreover, the travel company also says it has benefited from the collapse of XL Airlines.
Gerald Goguen has become executive vice president of Greenwich (Conn.) AeroGroup Inc. He was senior vice president-global customer relations and business strategy for Dassault Falcon Jet.
Your article “Sea Change” (AW&ST Aug. 18/25, p. 81), brought to mind a situation that highlights the problem of stimulating students to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In the past few years, I have been a science fair judge in an elementary school outside Fort Wayne, Ind. It is exciting to have third graders explain the scientific method and the projects on which they have spent a lot of time. I was always impressed that the school had a full-time science teacher and laboratory for students in Grades K-5.
This all-new kneeboard is a reliable inflight organization tool. The interior features numerous pockets, including: two zippered storage compartments, two mesh pockets, elastic straps for E6B storage, clear chart pocket and two pen loops. Also included are an aluminum clipboard to keep track of flight plan forms and weather printouts. The clipboard features a IFR placard with such information as cruising altitudes, flight plan sequence and other related data. When folded, a handy exterior pocket has room for sectional or low route charts.
A controversial Homeland Security Dept. plan requiring airlines to collect biometric data from foreign nationals as they depart the country has been put on hold. The stopgap appropriations measure President Bush signed into law last week withholds funding for the plan, called US-EXIT, until the GAO can review two tests—one where the airlines collect the data and one where Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents collect it.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection says Global Entry kiosks are expected to open at Los Angeles, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta, Chicago O’Hare and Miami international airports by the end of the month. Some 3,500 U.S. citizens or permanent residents have registered for the Global Entry program, which permits them to insert their passports or permanent residents’ cards into kiosks and provide fingerprints to avoid the lines at regular passport control.
An unprecedented five engine makers are fighting for a share of the emerging 10,000-lb.-thrust (10K) business jet market and, despite two airframe-engine decisions already, it seems the battle is only just beginning.
Boeing is likely outsourcing because its labor is not cost-competitive with foreign workers and if the company doesn’t outsource, it will not be competitive globally (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 24).
Pressure-indicating film aids in manufacturing processes as well as in R&D endeavors. This unique thin plastic-like sensor film, placed between any two contacting or impacting surfaces, aids in characterizing tactile pressure contact between mating surfaces. Immediately upon pressure being applied, the film records the precise pressure distribution and magnitude that occurs by changing color, according to the company. Conceptually similar to Litmus paper, the color that pressure-indicating film turns is directly proportional to the amount of force applied.
Japanese police forces are buying 16 more AgustaWestland helicopters. The order, valued at around €100 million, covers 14 AW109 Power and two Grand rotorcraft. They will supplement 16 AW109 Powers in service, and the five more due to be delivered this year. The new helicopters are to arrive starting next year at a rate of 4-5 helos per year.
NASA is facing major disruption to its planned space shuttle and Ares 1-X test flight schedule triggered by a system failure on the Hubble Space Telescope, and will not know the full extent of the delays until Goddard Space Flight Center engineers complete health checks of a replacement part.
In the past I have expressed frustration over the Defense bureaucracy’s priorities and lack of urgency when it came to the current conflicts. For too many in the Pentagon, it has been business as usual, as opposed to a wartime footing and wartime mentality. When referring to “Next-War-itis,” I was not expressing opposition to thinking about and preparing for the future. It would be irresponsible not to do so —and the overwhelming majority of people in the Pentagon, the services and the defense industry do just that.
