Brian O’Toole has been appointed chief technology officer of GeoEye Inc. , Dulles, Va. He was vice president-product management at Overwatch Textron Systems.
This is a family of twin-engine, 70-122-seat regional jet aircraft. The 70-80-passenger 170 made its first flight in February 2002, and deliveries began in March 2004. The 78-88-seat 175 flew for the first time in June 2003. The 170 and the 175 are powered by the 14,200-lb.-thrust GE CF34-8E engine. The 94-114-seat 190 made its initial flight in March 2004, while the 106-122-passenger 195 first flew in December 2004. The 190 and the 195 are powered by 20,000-lb.-thrust CF34-10E engines. Through 2007, 342 aircraft in the series were produced.
The ERJ 135/140/145 is a series of twin-engine, 37-50-seat regional jets. The initial model was the 50-seat ERJ 145, which first flew in August 1995. Deliveries began in late 1996. The next model was the 37-seat ERJ 135, which made its initial flight in July 1998. Deliveries began in July 1999. The 44-passenger ERJ 140 first flew in June 2000, with initial deliveries in July 2001. A longer-range version of the ERJ 145, called the ERJ 145XR, also has been developed. The Rolls-Royce AE 3007A is the engine used on these aircraft.
Spirit AeroSystems last week broke ground on a 500,000-sq.-ft. facility at the North Carolina Global TransPark near Kinston. Work on the A350XWB composite fuselage, known as Section 15, will be done there, as will production of front spars. Rollout of the first unit is expected in late 2010. Structures will be shipped to Europe by barge for final assembly.
Dave Prater (see photo) has been appointed vice president-Joint Tactical Radio Systems for ITT Communications Systems , Fort Wayne, Ind. He was head of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System International Program Office for the U.S Navy.
The decision by U.K. airport operator BAA to sell London Gatwick is likely to trigger strong bidding despite turmoil in financial markets. A BAA official suggests the proceedings could take around a year. However, the company’s Spanish owner, Ferrovial, has yet to name the financial advisers who will manage the transaction, so details remain sketchy.
Northrop Grumman plans to demonstrate aerial refueling between Global Hawks as part of a project to extend the high-altitude UAV’s endurance to as much as 150 hr. Under a project called KQ-X—K for tanker, Q for unmanned aircraft, X for experimental—NASA’s two recently acquired pre-production RQ-4 Global Hawks would be modified as tanker and receiver to assess autonomous probe-and-drogue refueling.
Air China is no longer interested in buying China Eastern or any other airline, at least for the moment. Chairman Kong Dong says Air China doesn’t have the size, management skill or general staff quality to execute a merger. “We will do acquisitions only when we grow bigger,” he says. Air China was fighting Singapore Airlines for control of China Eastern early this year.
Lockheed Martin and a Raytheon/Boeing team have each received 27-month contracts for the risk-reduction phase of the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) program. It is expected to develop a single weapon to replace Hellfire, Maverick and TOW missiles carried by U.S. Army, Navy and Marine Corps aircraft and unmanned air vehicles. The missile is slated to enter service in 2016. The three services plan to buy 35,000 rounds.
ATR is a joint venture of EADS and Alenia Aeronautica that turboprop-powered regional transport aircraft. The first ATR 42 was delivered in 1985, to Air Littoral. The ATR 72 entered service in 1989. Current production versions are the ATR 42-500 and ATR 72-500. The ATR 42-500 seats 46-50 passengers and is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127E engines (2,160 shp. each). The ATR 72-500 seats 66-74 passengers, and is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127F engines (2,475 shp. each). Improved -600 versions of both models are in development.
In developing the 525-passenger A380, Airbus chose to leap past Boeing’s 747 in capacity class. First flight occurred in 2005. Passenger and freighter versions are marketed. The A380 is powered by four turbofan engines rated at 70,000-76,500 lb. thrust each—either the Rolls-Royce Trent 900 or GE/Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance GP7200. Eight A380s were produced through 2007. Production of 323 A380s is forecast for the 2008-17 timeframe
The imaging quality of commercial satellites is set to improve when GeoEye-1 comes on line in about a month. A United Launch Alliance Delta II 7420 carried the 4,310-lb. satellite into a 423-mi. highly inclined orbit Sept. 6 from Vandenberg AFB, Calif. After acquiring a signal 1 hr. 40 min. later, a 60-90-day instrument checkout and calibration period began.
Stefan Schaffrath has become head of media relations and Maggie Bergsma deputy head of media relations at Airbus . Schaffrath was deputy to the vice president-media relations, while Bergsma was regional press manager.
Steven A. Rossum has been named executive vice president-corporate development for AirTran Holdings Inc. He has been executive vice president/chief financial officer/general counsel of Astar Air Cargo and had been AirTran’s vice president/treasurer.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore has set Oct. 1 as the deadline for air cargo companies to file security programs for screening freight at the Changi Airport. Since the initiative was launched in April, most of the 280 cargo companies serving the Changi Airfreight Center have registered as regulated air cargo agents. They will be responsible for X-ray or explosives trace detection screening of cargo under standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization.
Lauren Leader-Chivee has been appointed vice president-human resources for New York-based Seabury Aviation and Aerospace . She was a senior associate on the Human Capital Strategy team at Booz Allen Hamilton. Sadiq Gillani has been named vice president, while new associates are Leonardo Hernandez, Sergey Kulyagin, Stephane Bouvier, Ana Torrontegui-Arbizu and Kristen Oldenburger. Stewart Lynn and Stephen Strange have become senior associates.
The first shoot-down of a ballistic missile by an airborne laser could be less than a year away, following “first light” ground firings of the high-energy weapon on board a modified Boeing 747-400F. But when that lethal demonstration takes place and what happens next depends on whether a skeptical Congress cuts the program’s Fiscal 2009 funding.
John Plowman is correct about the logistic burden of operating two types of propeller blade on the A400M due to the inboard props turning in a different direction from the outboard (AW&ST Aug. 18/25, p. 12). He could also have added that two different gearbox types must be stocked, since it is the gearbox and not the engine that achieves the rotation reversal.
Business jets were spotlighted at the recent Republican National Convention, but the exposure was hardly flattering. During a speech, former Massachusetts Gov.
It seems to me that one way of saving weight on aircraft would be to remove duty-free sales from international flights. They serve no useful purpose, use up space and substantially increase the weight on board. Many destinations offer duty-free shopping on arrival, and the increased time spent by passengers at origin airports as they arrive earlier to go through security gives them ample time to shop before they fly.
Afriqiyah Airways took delivery Sept. 8 of the first of three Airbus A319s it has on order. The aircraft, powered by CFM56-5B engines, will seat 124 passengers in a two-class configuration. Based in Tripoli, Libya, the carrier started operations in 2001, and flies to cities in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, including Paris and London. In 2006, Afriqiyah ordered the three A319s as well as 11 A320s and three A330-200s. In late 2007, Afriqiyah ordered six Airbus A350XWBs.
Aurora Flight Sciences has won at least part of a $139-million air vehicle research program to develop and demonstrate new prototypes that will provide cheaper, survivable air vehicles that can accurately deliver weapons and cargo anywhere.
The biggest risk to the crew of the space shuttle Atlantis during next month’s mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope will come from micrometeoroid/orbital debris (MMOD) instead of the falling insulation that doomed the shuttle Columbia and has been the main concern with subsequent shuttle flights. NASA has modified the shuttle’s external tank extensively to lower the risk from the foam that insulates it.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) is offering a commercial version of its planned Dragon spacecraft to carry experimental payloads and even deploy small satellites, from 2010 onward. Called DragonLab, the vehicle is derived from the free-flying, reusable spacecraft now in development to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation System (COTS) competition.
The scrapping of the U.S. Air Force’s latest attempt to replace its aging fleet of KC-135 aerial refueling tankers could presage the fate of other contentious procurements in the twilight of the Bush administration—including the Air Force’s next-highest acquisition priority, the Combat, Search and Rescue helicopter replacement (CSAR-X). Like the tanker, the CSAR-X has endured bitter protests and delays, and the service is scrambling to make an award by the fall, despite a looming Pentagon inspector general report.
