William R. Schmidt has been named vice president-government services of Loral Space & Communications-Hisdesat joint venture XTAR, Rockville, Md. He was director of global solutions for Artel Inc.
Joe Miller has been promoted to president from director of marketing of Telegenix Inc., Cherry Hill, N.J. He will be succeeded by Phil Scott, who was promoted from regional sales director for the Ultragraphix Div.
The Draeger-CMS emergency response kit automatically measures for hazardous gases. Detector tube technology in a credit card-sized chip takes a precise air sample of the chemical in question. Color change is calculated via a photo-optical system. Gas levels are typically analyzed in 1-2 min. and accuracies of 4-10% of measured values are achieved for most gases, the company says. CMS does not require gas calibration. Measurement/calibration info is on a bar code on the chip. The kit holds the analyzer, accessories and a choice of 10 chips for hazmat situations.
Titan Tool's TC-II cathetometer measures vertical displacement in areas inaccessible to an indicator or other mechanical checking devices due to distance or combinations of blended curves. Its "crosshair" reticle is mounted in its eyepiece and features 90-deg. cross-lines with equally spaced divisions and two concentric circles for vertical/horizontal alignment. The TC-II serves as a micro-telescope, providing an optically correct image. It operates in ambient light and has an adjustable focal length of 4 in.-infinity, accurate to within 0.0001 in.
Bobby Patton has been promoted to director of sales from sales manager for King Air performance systems for Raisbeck Engineering of Seattle. He will be succeeded by Scott Keefe, who was sales and marketing support. Nick Nicholson has been promoted to sales manager for Learjet performance systems from technical support manager. Shirley Davis has been named manufacturing engineer and Gene Stanton sustaining engineer. Davis was an engineering executive at the Hexcel Corp., while Stanton was a repair, liaison and design engineer and database manager at Goodrich Aerospace.
Officials at EADS Astrium, prime contractor on the European Space Agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle, say most of the components for the second ATV have been assembled and need only a final go-ahead to enter integration. A green light is expected toward year-end, once ESA has completed its production readiness review and integrated initial feedback from the Jules Verne shakedown flight, tentatively scheduled for November (see p. 182).
Israel's new Ofek 7 reconnaissance satellite should give the nation a better overhead view of its threatening neighbors than previous spacecraft, provided it checks out in orbit. Launched June 11 from the test range at Palmahim Air Force Base on a Shavit launch vehicle, the 660-lb. spacecraft went into a 193 X 372-mi. orbit with a focus on Iran, Iraq and Syria. It will replace the five-year-old Ofek 5 satellite and also bring the Israeli space-based reconnaissance program back to full strength following the loss of the Ofek 6 recon in a 2004 launch failure.
The space shuttle Atlantis astronauts, planning a fix late last week to reentry protection system damage on their left Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) pod, are benefiting from NASA's new attitude, which recognizes that just because an engineering solution seemed to have been proven out earlier does not mean it is the right course under more rigorous scrutiny.
Robert Cortelyou has been promoted to senior vice president-network planning, Pam Elledge to senior vice president-global sales and distribution, and Gail Grimmett to senior vice president-revenue management, all for Delta Air Lines. All were vice presidents. John Boatright is returning as vice president-corporate real estate. He held that position before becoming program project officer for Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Development Program.
John Donovan has become vice president-finance and administration for the Emrise Corp., Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. He was senior consultant to the chief financial officer of AeroVironment Inc.
Mark Alexander and Gerald S. Gutterman have been named to the board of directors of the New York-based Sequa Corp. They are succeeding Gerald Tsai, Jr., and Stanley Zax, who have resigned. Alexander is a director of corporate strategy for the Ampacet Corp., while Gutterman is a retired chief financial officer of Sequa.
In the article "Going Hyper" (AW&ST Mar. 19/26, p. 40), the continuing progress in hypersonic aeronautics is highly praised. Yet for 50-plus years, the speed of mass air travel has remained essentially the same (in spite of great strides in technology).
Kuka's omniMove system is based on a wheel that consists of 8-9 specially shaped, non-driven rollers, mounted between two stable rims. Platforms/vehicles with these wheels can move in any direction from a standing start, or in motion. Direction changes are determined by the direction of rotation of each wheel relative to one another. Vehicles can be maneuvered with millimeter precision, the company says. Spirit Aerosystems of Wichita, Kan., is the first customer in North America; Kuka is widely use in MRO shops in Europe. Kuka Roboter, Attn.
Flying the upcoming Jules Verne mission to the International Space Station will tax Europe's spaceflight infrastructure to the limits, pulling together engineers across the continent and beyond for an on-line dress rehearsal of future missions that will send a 20-ton space freighter hurtling toward the station on autopilot.
Viva Macau will fly to Sydney three times a week, beginning Aug. 15. The company has also named former Qantas executive Con Korfiatis as chief executive, succceding Andrew Pyne, who has resigned for personal reasons. Korfiatis was founder of Qantas's Singapore business, Jetstar Asia.
J. Mark Borseth has been named senior vice president/chief financial officer of Eclipse Aviation, Albuquerque, N.M. He was vice president-global business processes for the 3M Co.
Carestream Health's NDT Solutions Group, servicer of Kodak Industrex products, has released a digitizer system and software bundle as a low-cost solution for digitizing, archiving and rapid sharing of images. The bundle includes Kodak V2.0 digitizer software and LS-85 large-format film digitizer with a single or automated six-sheet feeder. The software offers an automatic file save and naming function, allowing users to capture and review images faster than before, according to the company.
The team of Northrop Grumman, L-3 Communications and Lockheed Martin has conducted an inflight communications link using an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar. Raytheon also has used AESA for wide-band communication in a parallel program. Both companies want to pass data such as detailed, digital maps. Northrop Grumman describes its Radar Common Data Link (R-CDL) as a high-speed pipeline to offload data and imagery from tactical platforms. The link uses the radar's fire control transmitter and antenna for long range, two-way communications.
Neal Cohen, who has been executive vice president/chief financial officer, has been appointed executive vice president-strategy for international operations and CEO for regional airlines for Northwest Airlines. Succeeding Cohen will be Dave Davis, who has been senior vice president-finance/controller. Theresa Wise has been promoted to senior vice president from chief information officer. All are filling roles that will be vacated by the resignation effective July 31 of Phil Haan, who also was chairman of NWA Cargo.
D. Lynn Kelley has been appointed vice president-Six Sigma for Textron Inc., Providence, R.I. She succeeds John W. Mayers, who has become executive vice president-corporate development for the Textron Financial Corp. Kelley was performance solutions manager for Textron University.
June 27 is the U.S. Homeland Security Dept.'s new deadline for submitting proposals for a high-altitude unmanned aerial system (UAS) to detect and deter shoulder-fired missiles aimed at commercial aircraft. The department is seeking ideas for an airborne surveillance platform that can loiter at 60,000 ft., or higher, above an airport to protect aircraft from ground-to-air missiles. The department has identified six airports where the UAS may be tested: Denver; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Newark, N.J.; San Diego and Washington Reagan National.
Goodrich announced two sales of its rescue hoist system last week, with Sikorsky Aircraft opting to employ it on its H-92 Canadian Maritime Helicopter Project and AgustaWestland selecting it for AW139 helicopters to be used by Japan, Spain and the U.K. for maritime search-and-rescue operations. No dollar amounts were disclosed.
