MTU Aero Engines this year plans to increase strategic spending on more engine programs, expansion of its maintenance operation and construction of a plant in Poland, management said last week in reporting strong results for 2007. Net income for 2008 is expected to increase 20% to €180 million, up from €148.2 million in 2007 and €121.8 million in 2006. However, to reach its target, further cost reductions are needed to offset the weakness of the dollar against the euro, says CEO Egon Behle.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Johnson Space Center), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Crew members on the International Space Station and the space shuttle Endeavour will spend this week and next working through a complex series of steps to tie Canadian and Japanese hardware into the orbiting outpost as the long-planned partnership takes final shape in space.
On Mar. 7, the FAA issued its final rule mandating upgrades of flight data recorders by 2010-12. Requirements include an increase in cockpit voice recorder time to 2 hr. from 15-30 min. and an increased sampling rate of flight data recorder parameters. The ruling affects existing and new-production airplanes and helicopters with 10 or more seats.
After years of rumors and whispers, Gulfstream Aerospace unveiled its next-generation G650 program in front of 5,000 people here on Mar. 13. Company officials say it will define a new class of “ultra-large cabin, ultra-long-range business jets.”
It is unbelievable that USAF has selected the A330 airframe over the 767 as the U.S.’s newest tanker platform. With an engineering and manufacturing company as great as Boeing—remember its 50-year-old KC-135—we have turned to a European product to support our military needs. Japan and Italy have selected the 767 to support their forces, but the U.S. looks to Airbus. I hope the KC-45 doesn’t turn out like the A380F.
General aviation aircraft flying into Mexico from the Caribbean, Central America and South America are now required to land at Cozumel or Tapachula to have their aircraft inspected for illegal substances. Countries that are considered to be within the Caribbean zone include Bermuda, the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Mexican officials are recommending that pilots use Cozumel because of its improved customs facilities compared with Tapachula.
French naval and industry officials fear horse-trading on program priorities could risk key capabilities, as the three services struggle to protect their projects in the country’s defense white paper review.
Singapore Airlines last week received its third A380, to enable the airline to expand its service with the mega-transport to London Heathrow Airport this week. The airline also announced Tokyo would become the A380s’ next port of call, in May.
It takes persistent people working inside their companies and outside in industry to make innovative civil aviation projects happen. This is the case with the efforts of Capt. Karen Lee and Bob Hilb at UPS through more than a decade of pursuing the use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) for air navigation with the help of the FAA’s Paul Fontaine, manager of the Safe Flight 21 Program from 1999 to 2005.
Nearly 400 aerospace luminaries from around the globe gathered in the historic Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium in Washington for Aviation Week’s Laureate Awards. The black-tie event on Mar. 4 continued an annual tradition conceived in 1957 to recognize the extraordinary accomplishments of individuals and teams in aviation, aerospace and defense.
United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V was successful in its first West Coast launch at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., early on Mar. 13 on an estimated $600-million mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. The 3:02 a.m. PDT launch initiated the refurbished and enlarged Space Launch Complex 3 for polar orbiting missions of the second member of ULA’s heavy-lift booster team.
Todd Hauge has become chief financial officer and Kyle Farley vice president-manufacturing for Aspen Avionics Inc. , Albuquerque, N.M. Hauge was CFO of WorkRite Ergonomics Inc., while Farley was vice president-manufacturing operations for S-TEC.
Ravi Uppal has been named a non-executive director of BAE Systems plc . He is Zurich-based president for global markets for ABB Ltd. Uppal succeeds Peter Weinberg, whose three-year term expires May 7.
US Airways pilots will begin voting this week on whether to decertify the Air Line Pilots Assn. as their collective bargaining agent and name the US Airline Pilots Assn. (USAPA), a company union, in its place. The National Mediation Board will tally ballots on Apr. 17. Union members are split over a May 2007 arbitrator’s ruling that established an integrated seniority list following the 2005 merger of America West and US Airways (AW&ST June 11, 2007, p. 42).
Indonesia has warned Adam Air that the airline may be grounded because of repeated accidents—most recently, a runway overshoot on Batam Island in which five people were hurt on Mar. 10.
Joris Janssen Lok (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington)
The U.S. industrial base for unmanned systems is “not mature,” senior Defense Dept. officials say. “We are not as thick as we’d like to be as far as our industrial base is concerned,” warns Ellen Purdy, enterprise director for joint ground robotics programs in the Pentagon’s procurement office. “We’re doing well on first-tier contractors, but there’s a lack of robustness among second- and third-tier suppliers,” notes Purdy. “In certain types of platforms, there’s only one guy that can supply a certain component.”
S. Daniel Johnson has been named president of General Dynamics Information Technology , Fairfax, Va., effective Apr. 1. He will succeed Michael E. Chandler, who is retiring. Johnson has been executive vice president-operations.
Russell W. Meyer, 3rd, has been named director of new product development for the Hawker Beechcraft Corp. , Wichita, Kan. He was Citation Mustang program manager at the Cessna Aircraft Corp., also in Wichita. Dan Keady has become divisional vice president-sales for the Asia-Pacific, Middle East and Africa, and Jason Liao regional vice president for China and Southeast Asia. Keady was OEM and regional sales manager for Allied Signal Aerospace. Liao, who is based in Beijing, was Hawker Beechcraft sales director for North Asia.
When it comes to preparing young men and women to be effective military officers and then succeed in practically any career field that may follow, the U.S. service academies have no equal. The nation’s Air Force Academy, the Coast Guard Academy, the Military Academy and the Naval Academy have a legacy of serving as wellsprings for tomorrow’s leaders, and all are larger than life.
Robert J. Friedman (see photo) has become president of American Airlines ’ AAdvantage Marketing Programs and Mark E. DuPont (see photo) vice president-airport services planning. Friedman was managing director for reservations and succeeds Kurt Stache, who is now vice president/general sales manager. DuPont was general manager of American’s airport operations at JFK International Airport in New York. He succeeds Marilyn DeVoe, who is now vice president of American’s Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport operations. Rajat K.
Amy Butler (NAS Patuxent River, Md.), Robert Wall (NAS Patuxent River, Md.)
The Pentagon may expand the mission set for the AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (Aargm) as it grapples with how to quickly strike moving targets. Although Aargm development trials are only now moving into high gear, the service is exploring how to better exploit the high-speed missile, which features a sophisticated multimode seeker. Destroying mobile air defense radars is still a challenge for U.S. forces, according to a retired senior USAF officer, and therefore a priority for all services.
The newest AWACS aircraft in the world—Northrop Grumman’s E-2D—is well into its flight test program. Moreover, its unique, 360-deg. sweep, electronically scanned array (ESA) radar is installed and gathering data on both airborne and ground targets. The program is managed by Navy Capt. Randy Mahr, who, in addition to the Advanced Hawkeye, also has responsibility for the Hawkeye and C-2 systems.
China Southern is pushing Beijing to bring the country’s Big Three airlines, itself included, under a single state holding company. Company Chairman Liu Shaoyong says the government should begin to recapitalize the airlines and hopes for 30-40 billion yuan ($4.2-5.6 billion). Liu urges the government to reduce taxes on aviation, including tariffs on imported aircraft.
