Linda Winger (see photo) has become program manager for Avista Inc. , Platteville, Wis., a subsidiary of the Esterline Technologies Corp. She was worldwide vice president-professional services for Esker.
Ronald King has been named vice president/general manager of the Little Rock (Ark.) Completions Center of the Hawker Beechcraft Corp. He has been an executive with Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines, GE Aircraft Engines and the Walbar Engine Components division of the Goodrich Corp.
David J. Podlesney, who is GPS IIR/IIR-M program manager for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Valley Forge, Pa., has been inducted into the Global Positioning System (GPS) Hall of Fame at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB. He also will be Lockheed Martin’s program director for USAF’s next-generation GPS III. Podlesney was selected for the Hall of Fame for engineering leadership and technical performance leading to the delivery, successful launch and record-setting handover of the first modernized GPS satellite.
A Bermuda-based company with Asia-Pacific clients started by a brain trust of former Hughes executives has made its first launch and has another on the way, using spacecraft that other companies ordered but didn’t or couldn’t use. ProtoStar I was in checkout and beginning its transfer into its orbital parking spot at 98.5-deg. W. Long. over Indonesia after liftoff from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on July 7.
David Elrod and Wade Stevenson have been inducted as Arnold Engineering Development Center Fellows . They were honored for contributions to devising innovative technology for aerospace development, test and evaluation in the Tennessee-based Arnold’s flight and space simulation test facilities. Elrod, who is general manager of Aerospace Testing Alliance, was recognized for work in developing technology to test space sensor systems.
Before Boeing achieved power-on with the first 787, the complex process of bringing the new aircraft to life had been rehearsed many times in a laboratory at Hamilton Sundstrand, supplier of the more-electric airliner’s power systems. The aircraft power system integration facility (APSIF) at Hamilton’s Rockford, Ill., plant is a complete representation of the 787’s electrical systems, from generators to motors, laid out as in the aircraft, with all the actual cabling.
The search for a sharp improvement in the fuel efficiency of next-generation narrow-body transports without compromising noise could lead to dramatic changes in nacelle technology and radically recast the supplier landscape.
Arianespace reports that the first shipment of Russian equipment for the new Soyuz launch complex under construction at Kourou has left St. Petersburg by container ship. Russian specialists are due to arrive later this month to begin installing the hardware. Two more shipments will follow. The launch pad is to become operational by mid-2009.
Mark S. Kula has been appointed vice president-radio frequency combat and information systems for the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Electronic Systems Sector, Rolling Meadows, Ill. He was vice president-national security operations at the Mission Systems Sector.
Pierre de Bausset (see photos) has been named corporate secretary of Amsterdam-based EADS . He was head of investor relations and finacial communications and has been succeeded by Nathalie Errard. She was liaison with investors and analysts in the U.K., France and Southern Europe.
The new Russian military spacecraft Cosmos 2440, launched June 27 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Proton K booster, is a missile early warning satellite that renews Russian attempts at extending the lifetime of its warning constellation. In 1988, Russia started a transition to Lavochkin geosynchronous-orbit missile warning satellites from the original highly elliptical orbit warning satellites used during the Cold War.
Alex Smith (see photo) has become managing director of Seattle-based SepiaWave . He was co-founder/CEO of the Rannoch Corp. and chairman of the Era Systems Corp.
Regarding Frank Morring, Jr.’s articles “Surface Ops” and “Space Debate” and the Viewpoint from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (AW&ST June 30, pp. 32, 50 and 66), the first item explains the obvious. Because the Ares vehicle uses inefficient RS-68 rocket engines, it must become larger and more expensive to provide the necessary lift capability: six RS-68 engines rather than five, and a 5.5-segment booster rocket instead of five segments, all because the “configuration was ‘a couple of tons short’ of the throw weight needed.”
China says the liquid oxygen/kerosene engines, which generate 120 metric tons (265,000 lb.) of thrust, for its planned Long March 5 have passed initial tests, while significant progress has been made on the plant at Tianjin that will build the launcher. State media say the rocket will be 59.5 meters (195 ft.) high and weigh 643 metric tons at liftoff. The diameter of the Long March 5 has previously been given as 5 meters, compared with 3.35 meters for the current Long March 3.
Douglas Barrie (London and St. Louis), Amy Butler (Washington and St. Louis), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
Emerging cruise missile requirements on both sides of the Atlantic are symptomatic of increasing activity—if not funding—across the breadth of the guided-weapons sector as armed forces look to next-generation systems to meet an ever-widening threat spectrum and often increasingly stringent rules of engagement.
Following the signing of a Space Act agreement earlier this year, General Electric and NASA Glenn Research Center are teaming on a wind-tunnel test program to evaluate open rotor counterrotating fan-blade systems. Tests of a one-fifth scale blade set will begin late this year and continue into mid-2009, says GE’s Ted Ingling. Using scaled versions of the original configurations developed for the GE36 unducted fan (UDF) of the 1980s as a starting point, the program will begin by comparing measured results with modern analytical techniques.
A new agreement between the Indian Space Research Organization and French space agency CNES sets the policy for distribution of data received from Megha-Tropiques. The Indo-French project is scheduled for launch in 2009 for tropical weather monitoring. Under the policy, the global community will have free access to Megha-Tropiques data for weather and climate-change studies after calibration and evaluation of the payloads by scientists from both the agencies.
Brian H. Sako (see photos) and Philip R. Schwartz have been promoted to distinguished scientists and Joseph J. Sacchini to distinguished engineer, at The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif. Sako was a senior engineering specialist in the Structural Mechanics Subdivision of the Vehicle Systems Div. He was recognized for achievements in the mathematical analyses of complex engineering data and the development of algorithms and mechanical engineering analysis tools in support of advanced national security space missions.
Jennifer Moulton has been appointed senior vice president-sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa for Dublin-based AWAS . She was vice president-sales for Europe.
The spate of fatal cargo accidents continues with two back-to-back crashes, underlining the need to mitigate the risks of freight operations. On July 7, representatives from the NTSB, FAA, Boeing and Pratt & Whitney sped to Bogota, Colombia, to help investigators seeking clues to the crash of Centurion Air Cargo Flight 164, a Boeing 747-209BSF (N714CK).
Riaz Saloojee has been appointed president of Saab South Africa. He was the executive in charge of Southern Africa for Saab International. Ulrika Fager has been named press secretary for Saab at its headquarters in Linkoping, Sweden, effective Sept. 1. She was head of external communications for SAS Scandinavian Airlines Sweden.
Perry Tanner, who has been vice president-corporate marketing for Atlanta-based EMS Technologies , now will be vice president-marketing and information management.
Japan Airlines will pull out of northeastern Japan’s Fukushima Airport in January and might drop its daily service between Kansai International Airport and London Heathrow by March.
Michael O’Donnell has been named director of the FAA Office of Airport Safety and Standards. He has been executive director of the South Carolina Div. of Aeronautics and succeeds Dave Bennett, who has retired. Randy Fiertz has been appointed director of the Office of Airport Compliance and Field Operations. He has been senior FAA representative for South Asia. Frank SanMartin has become manager of the Airports Financial Assistance Div. in the Office of the Associate FAA Administrator for Airports. He has been manager of the Airports Law Branch.
Aiming to broaden and deepen its aerospace expertise, South Korea is planning to develop a regional jet airliner, a very light private jet and an all-composite light propeller aircraft. The proposal for a 60-seat regional jet revives the country’s long-standing ambition to take a major role in developing and building a commercial aircraft, an ambition that dates back to the K100, a 93-123-seat aircraft that was proposed for codevelopment with China in the mid-1990s. It would also strengthen the trend for new aircraft programs appearing in Asia.
