Volker Fabian has been named Singapore-based vice president/senior regional director for Asia and the South Pacific, Gwyn Scourfield Dublin-based vice president/senior regional director for Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East, and Mark L. Ebanks Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based vice president/regional director for the Americas, for the CIT Group Inc. of New York.
Pratt & Whitney will use an integrated technology plan to propel its engine development programs and, in the process, do away with many of the boundaries that have separated its business units by product size and mission requirements. At the center of this drive is the geared turbofan—already selected by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) for its 70-90-seat regional jet and Bombardier for the CSeries that, at 110-130 seats, invades Airbus and Boeing’s single-aisle territory.
Intelsat will provide satellite links for inflight entertainment (IFE) systems from Panasonic Avionics under a recently signed multi-year service agreement. Called eXConnect, the agreement marries Intelsat’s GlobalConnex broadband service from its network of 53 in-orbit satellites with Panasonic’s cabin IFE systems to provide passenger and crew with such broadband services as virtual private networks, live television, streaming media, on-line shopping and tele-medicine. Data rates are said to be comparable to WiFi hotspots.
CAE will build a Boeing 777-200 full-flight simulator for use by Lufthansa Flight Training at its Berlin facility beginning in 2009. The device will train pilots for Aerologic, the joint-venture carrier formed by Lufthansa Cargo and DHL Express. CAE also has sold a Boeing 757 simulator to Flight Training Finance, which will lease it to Icelandic Flight Academy to train Icelandair pilots next year.
Bettina H. Chavanne, in her article “Heavy Lifting” (AW&ST Apr. 14, p. 53), reported on the stated goals—during the Army Aviation Assn. of America (Quad-A) show—of Maj. Gen. Virgil Packett, the U.S. Army Aviation chief, for a joint development of heavy-lift and multirole aircraft, the ability to break 200 kt. in a rotorcraft and expansion of the manned-unmanned teaming concept.
The Russian air force has taken delivery of a new Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack strategic bomber. Russia now operates 16 Tu-160s, senior air force officials say. One of the bombers is to be modernized this year and up to three in 2009.
Notwithstanding the sudden and sad turn of events, your comments in the Apr. 28 issue (p. 16) concerning the success of the business model at Eos Airlines were essentially correct. It was my privilege to fly the final flight back to New York on Apr. 29.
May 19-20—Technology Training Corp.’s Next-Generation Radio Communications Conference. Harrah’s Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas. And, June 5-6—Space Security & Defense Conference. Radisson Reagan National Airport, Arlington, Va. Call +1 (310) 563-1223, fax +1 (310) 563-1220 or see www.ttcus.com May 20-23—Air Medical Physicians’ Assn./Brown Alpert Medical School’s World Congress: “Airmed 2008.” Hilton Prague Hotel. See www.airmed2008.org
Capt. Lyle Hogg has been promoted to vice president-flight operations from managing director and James Olson has become vice president-corporate communications for US Airways . Olson was senior vice president of Waggener Edstrom Worldwide of Seattle.
The outcome of Britain’s “root-and-branch” review of future UAV requirements has far-reaching implications for the armed forces and industry. Study work is geared toward identifying unmanned aerial vehicle types and the roles the Defense Ministry wishes to address. The effort is also partly driven by the desire to improve cross-service coherence with regard to UAV applications and utilization, and to begin to draw together medium- to long-term plans disrupted by numerous urgent operational requirements (UORs) for UAVs.
Bayern-Chemie has completed the spinoff of Protac, an affiliate specialized in complex metal structures, thermal insulation, laser welding and civil pyrotechnics, to Roxel, a rocket motor and solid propellant venture owned by MBDA and SNPE. The sale will permit Bayern-Chemie, acquired by MBDA last year, to focus on its core rocket motor business, and reinforce Roxel’s product range.
About 450 U.S. Air Force T-38C pilot training aircraft are having their wings inspected—in particular the ailerons— and then are expected to be cleared for flight on an individual basis. However, at the same time, Air Education and Training Command officials say that doesn’t necessarily mean the ailerons are a primary factor in two crashes causing four deaths in eight days.
A single Delta II Heavy rocket will send the twin spacecraft of NASA’s planned Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (Grail) mission to the Moon in the third quarter of 2011, under a new contract award to United Launch Alliance. The $375-million Discovery-class mission will put the two probes in tandem orbits around the Moon, where they will use extremely precise laser ranging to measure the change in distance between them as the lunar-gravity field below them changes. Scientists can use that data to calculate the Moon’s subsurface structure all the way to the core.
USAF Maj. Gen. Ronald R. Ladnier has been appointed commander of the 17th Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe/air component commander for U.S. Africa Command, Sembach AB, Germany. He was commander of Air Mobility Command’s (AMC) Tanker Airlift Control Center, Scott AFB, Ill. He will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Mark S. Solo, who has been selected for promotion to major general and was deputy director of air, space and information operations at AMC Headquarters. Solo, in turn, will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Richard T.
The U.S. Air Force has approved continued production of its troubled next-generation cruise missile made by Lockheed Martin and has restarted development on its long-range version.
The first P-8A Poseidon is beginning to look like an airplane, with the joining of the wing assembly and fuselage on Boeing’s new final assembly line at the Renton, Wash., facility. Note the raked wingtips, which were substituted for the originally planned winglets, to save cost, prevent icing, increase performance and simplify the installation of key electronic systems. The U.S. Navy patrol aircraft—designed to replace the long-serving Lockheed Martin P-3C—is the joint product of Boeing’s Integrated Defense Systems and Commercial Airplanes divisions.
Brent Wouters (see photo) has been named president/chief operating officer of the Cirrus Design Corp. , Duluth, Minn. He was executive vice president/chief financial officer.
With oil priced at about $120 a barrel and ever-growing pressure to reduce aircraft emissions, the search for leaps in engine efficiency is renewing interest in novel approaches, such as wave rotor combustion.
Airlines have seen an average 6% decrease in lead premium insurance rates during the first four months of this year, while other segments of the air transport industry are witnessing a similar pattern. Insurance watchdog Aon says average rate reductions would have been 6% except for one case that saw premiums double because of problems at the company. Premiums have been steadily decreasing for more than a year, and Aon says there is a danger that air transport will become less attractive for insurers to do business, and capacity may contract as a result.
De Vries also writes that he plans to use both Pratt & Whitney’s F135 and GE/Rolls-Royce’s F136 engines on the two F-35A aircraft that the Dutch plan to order in 2009 and 2010, and participate in F-35 initial operational test and evaluation from 2011.
Cari Herman (see photo) has been appointed a software engineering manager for Shadin Avionics , St. Louis Park, Minn. She was a product development manager for Medtronic.
GE Commercial Aviation Services has delivered one of two Boeing 737-900ERs to Spain’s Futura International Airways of Palma de Mallorca, marking the jet’s debut in Europe. The airplane, which earned certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency on Apr. 22, can accommodate 220 passengers on routes of up to 3,200 naut. mi. Boeing has received orders for 229 -900ERs since the model was introduced in July 2005.
Alvin Eaton, a former Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) associate director and now a senior fellow working on special assignments, has received the U.S. Missile Defense Agency ’s Technology Pioneer Award. He was cited for his “overwhelming breadth and depth of technical contributions to ballistic missile defense” and his “leadership that contributed directly to the success of the Standard Missile, and the Patriot and Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) missile interceptors” used in missile defense today.
