Capt. David Barioni Neto has become CEO of Brazilian airline TAM . He was vice president-operations and succeeds Marco Antonio Bologna, who is now a special adviser to holding company TAM Empreendimentos e Participacoes. Capt. Fernando Sporleder, Jr., is now vice president-operations.
William Carty (see photo) has become general manager/vice president of the systems support group for the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Technical Services Sector, Herndon, Va. He was the sector’s vice president/controller.
Robert Wall (Haifa, Israel), David A. Fulghum (Haifa, Israel)
Helicopter pilots could see new levels of information, even when flying at night, from an ongoing project at Elbit Systems. The so-called Jedeye system builds on more than three decades of effort the company has put into helmet-mounted sight technology for helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Jedeye, the Joint Dual-Eye Sight System, is essentially a helmet-mounted sight that provides much greater field of view along with other features. For the moment, helmet weight and center of gravity preclude applications in fighters.
Two years after it purchased a forging operation in Poland, Ladish says it will build a new investment casting foundry in Mexico to help meet soaring demand for aircraft titanium components and capitalize on the growth of aerospace manufacturing in that nation. The company is considering several locations for the 55,000-60,000-sq.-ft. plant and expects it to be operational in 2009 or 2010. Ladish has stated that it does not plan any layoffs at its existing investment casting foundry in Albany, Ore.
Donald Coates has been named director of development of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education , Alexandria, Va. He was the annual giving officer.
Snecma has begun the core engine test campaign for its planned Silvercrest line of business jet powerplants. For Snecma, Silvercrest represents a new business area, and the core demonstrator is supposed to yield not just important test data, but also show potential customers the engine maker is serious about getting into the business jet market; regional jet applications are also seen as possible, although for now they are not the primary target.
Finmeccanica has raised the financial guidance for the current fiscal year. Its projection for earnings before interest and taxes are now at €1.1 billion ($1.6 billion), up from the prior €950-million to €1-billion estimate. The revenue projection remains at €13.5 billion. The company optimistically states that free operating cash flow will be positive, not just neutral. Finmeccanica had already raised its financial forecast for 2008. The company also reaffirmed intentions to spend €3 billion on acquisitions.
Italy has launched the second of four CosmoSkyMed X-band radar satellites intended to bolster Europe’s all-weather reconnaissance and surveillance satellite capability. The spacecraft was launched on a Boeing Delta II rocket from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on Dec. 9, in a mission arranged by United Launch Alliance. The 1-meter (3.3-ft.) resolution system was declared operational in early October, when Italian space agency ASI released its first images (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 21).
Aircraft makers and airlines expect to expand their “green” efforts in the coming year to counter some of the criticism from government and environmental activists. For Europe, in particular, an important step will come in the second half of 2008 when the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (Acare) will issue a mid-term review of progress made since a far-reaching research agenda was spelled out in 2001.
NASA astronauts on the International Space Station will have two malfunctions to inspect when they venture outside Dec. 18 in a spacewalk that can’t wait until the space shuttle is flying again.
The Chilean air force has ordered 12 Bell 412 twin-engine helicopters to be flown on search-and-rescue and troop-transport missions. The service already operates 20 Bell helicopters.
I loved your article on Epner Technology (AW&ST Nov. 19, p. 54). This company is typical of the many small firms that comprise an underpinning of the aerospace community. Epner is successful because it is highly focused. Large companies can’t afford this amount of specialization, this willingness to say “yes” to one-off requests, because the jobs are too small to be profitable for the giants. Thank goodness for the small companies that have technical sophistication and a willingness to take on special projects.
The delay of a key element of Britain’s future defense industrial road map will stretch into the second quarter of next year, to allow time for the Defense Ministry to resolve funding issues in its latest equipment planning round. The ministry is struggling with the cost of its long-term equipment plan, with major programs being reexamined for potential savings. A £1-billion ($2.04-billion) annual shortfall looms in the ministry’s long-term equipment plan. The U.K.’s annual procurement and support budget is currently £12-13 billion per year.
Deborah Leddon has been appointed senior reliability, maintainability and safety analyst for Circor Aerospace , Corona, Calif. She was head of fuel system engineering reliability and maintainability for the V-22 for Bell Helicopter Textron in Fort Worth.
Shirley Bridges, Delta Air Lines senior vice president/chief information officer, has been named 2007 Georgia CIO of the Year by the Georgia CIO Leadership Assn. The award honors Bridges’ management of enterprise-wide information systems, which power operational control throughout the airline and provide up-to-the-minute flight information for customers through a web site, information display screens, and messages to personal devices.
Robert Afzal (see photos) has been appointed vice president-research and development and Cheryl DeBoise chief financial officer of the Aculight Corp. , Bothell, Wash. Afzal was director of technology development. DeBoise was head of finance and information technology for the Plymouth Housing Group.
Vincent Vitto, who is retired president/CEO of The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, has been named to the board of trustees of The Aerospace Corp. , El Segundo, Calif. Peter B. Teets has been named to succeed USAF Gen. (ret.) Howell M. Estes, 3rd, as vice chairman.
It’s been a good month for the F-22. Air Combat Command declared full, world-wide operational capability for the 40 F-22s of Langley AFB’s integrated 1st Fighter Wing and ANG 92nd Fighter Wing. The two units have 80 trained pilots. Meanwhile, 50 lawmakers have written to Defense Secretary Robert Gates to press for continued production of the F-22 beyond the 183 approved.
Pentagon advocates and operators of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are increasingly frustrated with civilian agencies as attempts to gain access to U.S. airspace languish. The Defense Dept. has 5,300 UAVs in inventory and many thousands of flight hours’ experience in the U.S., Iraq and Afghanistan, but the search for ways to move them quickly from home base to emergency locations is stalled. U.S. operators, including those who provide fire-fighting services, say there’s no problem with the aircraft, ground stations and air traffic control.
Technicians at Goddard Space Flight Center will start assembling NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) next month, with only a few days of schedule slack to meet the spacecraft’s targeted launch date on Oct. 28, 2008.
France is finally moving ahead to renovate aging army Cougar and Puma helicopters in an effort to maintain a credible transport capability until new-generation NH90s are fielded in the first half of the next decade.
Lufthansa and JetBlue have agreed to what both say is a purely financial transaction in which the German airline will own 19% of the U.S. carrier by purchasing 42 million newly issued shares of common stock. Although the deal does not include any further cooperation, such as code-sharing, JetBlue CEO Dave Barger says he is open to all opportunities. When it was announced, he also told investors the deal does not affect a new commercial relationship he’s been pursuing with Aer Lingus.
This week Japan Airlines will begin code-sharing on flights operated by China Eastern Airlines between Tokyo’s Narita airport and Nanjing in China. The Chinese airline will inaugurate twice-weekly service with departures on Thursday and Sunday. JAL and China Eastern have been code-sharing partners since 2002. The agreement will expand JAL’s service to 13 cities in China with a total of 296 flights each week, including code-shares.
Fredy Glarner has become head of manufacturing and Markus Bucher head of aircraft assembly of Switzerland-based Pilatus Aircraft Ltd. Glarner belonged to the project management team for the PC-21, while Bucher was an executive in the customer support portion of Pilatus’s government aviation business.
