Several prominent flight departments, including Lehman Brothers’, are being reduced in size or eliminated altogether as a result of negative business developments. But at least one department—operated by Anheuser-Busch—may undergo changes as a result of the company’s acquisition by InBev SA of Belgium for $52 billion, considered a premium. During the takeover process, the use of business jets by Busch executives came under scrutiny; InBev does not operate such aircraft. Now, Busch’s St.
Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, who has been Air France-KLM deputy CEO, is scheduled to become CEO of the company and its Air France subsidiary Jan. 1. He will succeed Jean-Cyril Spinetta, who will remain chairman of both Air France-KLM and Air France.
Paul Mifsud, vice president-government and legal affairs for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, and Rebecca MacPherson, the FAA assistant chief counsel for regulations, have won the U.S. Federal Bar Assn. ’s Transportation Lawyer of the Year Awards.
Rima Saleh has been appointed vice president-sales and services of SkyLink USA , Dulles, Va. She was senior vice president-sales and services for Gemini Air Cargo Inc.
Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang uses hand holds to maneuver along the exterior of the Shenzhou 7 spacecraft during the first extravehicular activity (EVA) for China’s manned space program. The EVA was performed over Africa and Eurasia Sept. 27 during the second day of the mission, which ended with a safe landing in northern China’s Inner Mongolia region the next day. Zhai wore a Chinese “Feitian” spacesuit while astronaut Liu Boming remained inside the depressurized orbital module in a Chinese Orlan suit, one of 3-4 Orlans purchased by China several years ago.
American Sensor Technologies’ digitally compensated, AST20HA high-accuracy pressure transducer complements its existing OEM and Hazardous Area pressure-sensing products. This model is intended for use in applications requiring high-performance over a range of operating conditions. The AST20HA is suitable for such venues as test stands, hydrogen filling stations, and military/aerospace vehicles and equipment. The design features real-time thermal compensation and linearity correction, enabling it to work in dynamic temperature environments, according to the company.
Stan Kaplan’s letter “Engineers Need Appreciation” (AW&ST July 21, p. 10) hit home. I spent my career at Hughes Aircraft Co. and watched it be destroyed by MBAs and accountants. These MBAs and accountants totally ignored Howard Hughes’s philosophy that it was engineering and scientific talent that keeps a technical company great. I watched as these idiots made silly “cost-cutting” changes such as only cleaning the rest rooms once per week or vacuuming the floors once per month. They closed an exit gate early to save money on a security guard.
After a protracted and sometimes contentious period of development, Honeywell’s Primus Epic integrated modular avionics architecture system is in the cockpits of an increasingly broad range of business aircraft, including one helicopter.
Canadian charter startup SwiftJet has ordered five Diamond D-Jets, with options for 10 more, for delivery beginning in 2010. The three-passenger single-engine jets will be used for same-day return charters within 500-mi. of the Toronto area.
EADS Astrium has inked a long-term framework agreement with Antrix, the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organization, to launch the company’s Earth-observation satellites on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The agreement will allow Astrium to take advantage of the PSLV’s relatively low-cost launch prices for this highly competitive market.
The Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency and Sukhoi have signed an agreement to identify potential Korean participants in the Superjet 100 aircraft program. The South Korean group also will be involved in marketing and promoting the regional jet at home and in Southeast Asian markets. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Igor Vinogradov, the first vice president of Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co., and Cho Hwan-eik, president of the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra).
Embraer’s 37-year-old application aircraft, the Ipanema, has a new lease on life as green as the crops it sprays. Developed in the late 1960s by Brazil’s Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica with financing from the country’s agriculture ministry, the Ipanema first flew in 1970 and was awarded certification the following year. Thereafter, production was turned over to the newly formed Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica S.A. (Embraer).
Sens. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) and Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) are trying to rein in the Homeland Security Dept.’s power to randomly search the laptop computers of travelers entering the U.S. The lawmakers’ Travelers Privacy Protection bill would stipulate that Homeland Security agents must have “reasonable suspicion” of illegal activity before searching the contents of laptops or other electronic devices carried by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The bill also would prohibit profiling travelers based on their race, ethnicity, religion or national origin.
The government allocated funding last week to purchase 34 MiG-29SMT Fulcrum fighter aircraft for the Russian air force originally intended for Algeria. The overall deal is worth roughly $26.5 million an aircraft. The Algerian sale collapsed amid claims and counter-claims about the quality of aircraft components, and politically motivated decisions.
Lockheed Martin’s F-35A will begin a series of key inflight engine start tests at Edwards AFB, Calif., following its long-delayed ferry flight from the company’s Fort Worth production facility on Oct. 1.
Schiebel has completed a series of flight trials using its small, Camcopter S-100 helicopter unmanned aircraft on a German navy K130 corvette. Germany has been trying for years to acquire a vertical-takeoff-and-landing UAV for its ships. The Camcopter trials were intended to define a concept of operations for a VTUAV. Austria-based Schiebel notes that India, Pakistan and Spain have already assessed the Camcopter in a shipborne environment. In Germany, the trials involved three one-week campaigns with the K130 operating in the Baltic Sea.
Christine Ringger, who is inflight entertainment system engineer/project manager for Swiss International Air Lines, has been elected president of the McLean, Va.-based World Airline Entertainment Assn. for the 2008-09 term. She succeeds Doug Backelin, manager of inflight communications and technology at American Airlines.
David Cox, Executive General Manager Qantas Engineering (Mascot, Australia)
I am writing to correct the impression left by your article “Cracks in the Safety Shield?” (AW&ST Sept. 8, p. 49). The key message is that Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has no doubts that Qantas is a safe airline. The “adverse trends” mentioned are key performance indicators (kpi) and dispatch reliability, not the maintenance system. The kpi have no connection to regulatory or compliance requirements. CASA has found that our safety systems and incident rates remained stable during the recent industrial dispute.
France will dispatch more hardware “within a few weeks” to Afghanistan to avoid a repetition of a bloody engagement last month that killed 10 French soldiers and wounded 21. The ambush, which occurred during a routine patrol on Aug. 17-18 near Surobi, about 50 km. (31 mi.) east of Kabul, led to sharp criticism of the military for sending troops into hostile zones without proper reconnaissance, air cover and other materiel, and forced a vote in parliament on whether to maintain the Afghan operation (AW&ST Sept. 8, p. 22).
David C. Hurley (see photo) has been appointed to the board of directors of Seattle-based Aviation Partners Boeing . He is chairman of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum and vice chairman of PrivatAir.
Spanish aviation authorities have withdrawn the operating license of charter airline Futura. The decision could lead to the demise of the airline, which filed for bankruptcy protection this month and ceased operations after failing to attract investors. In 2007, the carrier’s fleet grew rapidly to 38 airplanes, but it was forced to reduce operations because of its deteriorating financial condition.
Engineers at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) are preparing to launch their country’s first lunar spacecraft—Chandrayaan-1—on Oct. 22. The spacecraft is entering final vibration and acoustic tests at the ISRO Satellite Center in Bangalore. Set for launch on a Polar Space Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C11) from the Satish Dhawan Space Center on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal, the probe will perform high-resolution remote sensing of the Moon in the visible, near-infrared (NIR), low-energy X-ray and high-energy X-ray wavelengths.
As an extension to Doug Culy’s “history” note and your editor’s comments regarding the geared turbofan (AW&ST Aug. 18/25, p. 12), the Garrett TFE731 GTF family remains a success. Its configuration captures all the features of the new Pratt & Whitney GTF with the exception of a high-pressure-ratio core compressor. This difference made the 731 very easy to start and gave it a built-in cycle technology growth path.
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. says it has demonstrated a new “bundle” protocol that can compensate for frequent disruptions in space-based Internet transmissions. The bundle disruption- and delay-tolerant networking protocol, which had never been used before in space, successfully delivered sensor data from SSTL’s UK-DMC, a British spacecraft in the company’s disaster monitoring constellation. Four of the five satellites in the DMC rely on standard Internet-protocol networking to send mission-critical imagery.
Labinal is waiting to hear whether it has been successful in securing work on two big new aircraft programs—the Airbus A350 and Bombardier CSeries. But the Safran unit also is wrestling with setbacks on its existing high-profile business. Labinal has been buffeted by program upheaval on several key contracts, ranging from the delays on the NH90 helicopter, to similar problems on the A380 and A400M military airlifter. Now, the machinists strike at Boeing is adding further turmoil to work plans.
