Investigators are seeking clues to the June 25 crash of a PMT Air Service Antonov An-24 in mountainous terrain in southern Cambodia that killed all 22 people on board. The aircraft (Reg. XU-U4A) departed Siem Reap-Angkor Airport for Sihanoukville Kompong Som Airport. At about 10:40 a.m. local time, the An-24 crashed into Phnom Damrey Mountain at 1,640-ft. altitude, according to preliminary reports which did not indicate if the aircraft was equipped with terrain warning devices.
Richard H. Heist has been appointed senior vice president/provost/professor of engineering at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla. He was dean of the School of Engineering/director of the Nucleation Laboratory/professor of chemical engineering at Manhattan College in New York.
Brian Elson has been named director of legislative affairs for the Arlington, Va.-based Aerospace Industries Assn. He was associate director of governmental affairs in the Office of the Secretary of the U.S. Transportation Dept.
Should airlines tell the world what the next commercial transports must look like? In other words, do they know enough about cutting-edge technology, including new propulsion modes, to assert that Airbus, Boeing and their peers need to pursue further innovations in the field of environmentally friendly aircraft? Or should only the marketplace issue such requests?
In the classic television series Star Trek, the Starship Enterprise speeds around the galaxy on blue light propulsion beams, then maneuvers into orbit around many different worlds before zooming off again to do more exploration. Such science fiction becomes fact here as the $446-million NASA Dawn mission is readied for liftoff on an eight-year, 3-billion-mi. journey to the protoplanets Vesta and Ceres (see cover).
Arianespace is gearing up for a fresh assault on the commercial launch market, following a basketful of buys and orders from the Paris air show. But archrival International Launch Services is not far behind. Taking advantage of a long shutdown at Sea Launch and uncertainty over the introduction of its Land Launch derivative, Arianespace announced four new launch contracts--one of two Arabsat 5s, a Thor 6, a Rascom 1 and an Insat 4G--plus a five-unit multiyear agreement with SES clinched in the runup to the show.
The juggernaut that is the FAA reauthorization effort has rolled past another congressional milestone, but in doing so it picked up a controversial amendment that threatens to draw a White House veto.
Regarding the article "Dueling Dates" (AW&ST June 11, p. 23), NASA is dealing from a position of strength now that it has Orion program funding and is blackmailing us taxpayers.
The U.S. Coast Guard has no one but itself to blame for the humiliating treatment it is suffering in Congress as a consequence of its failures in handling the $24-billion Deepwater program, which is aimed at modernizing the agency with fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft, cutters and smaller ships.
Pratt & Whitney says it may react to increasing interest from airlines in the potential fuel-saving benefits of its geared turbofan (GTF) by accelerating the pace of the engine’s development, despite lack of a launch customer.
Climatologists in the Earth-observing satellite community are increasingly concerned about their lack of coordination as the world’s alarm bells are ringing over industrial damage to the environment. Specifically, an international Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) has identified 26 essential climate variables, such as upper-air temperatures, carbon-dioxide buildups and soil moisture, that should be monitored continuously.
Steven M. Leontis (see photos) has been promoted to principal director of the Space Tracking and Surveillance System Block 06/08 Directorate from segment systems director at The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. Dean C. Marvin has been promoted to principal director of the Research and Program Development Office from principal director in Laboratory Operations. And, Patricia A.
In recent times, the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. (Natca) and FAA maintained a firm relationship. Integrated teams worked on technology, procedures, safety and human factors. That is all gone. As a now-retired FAA supervisor and Natca director of external affairs, I had a front-row seat for the integration of Natca into the daily operations of FAA.
The ExcelAire Legacy 600 pilots involved in the Sept. 29, 2006, midair collision with a Gol Airlines 737-800 are willing to testify about the accident for a court hearing in Brazil--but from their U.S. home turf.
Dan Pleshko (see photo) has been appointed chief supply chain officer for the Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C. He was vice president-supply chain management.
Dawn’s xenon-powered, three-engine solar electric propulsion system will take advantage of magnetism and electricity to push it to Vesta and Ceres on a blue beam of ions jetting out of the spacecraft at 21 mi. per sec. The engines mounted to the left, right and center of the spacecraft will be used one at a time for redundancy. They will be gimbaled for directional control.
U.S. Navy Rear Adm. (lower half) David L. Philman has been named commander of San Diego-based Strike Force Training Pacific. He has been deputy commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike of the U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb.
I am a retired US Airways pilot and a former member of the US Airways "East" Master Executive Council. I found your article "Split Decision" well reported (AW&ST June 11, p. 42). However, there is more to this story. I have watched this pilot group with the exception of the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh domiciles vote to give away their pay, working conditions, benefits and retirement. Their rationale was to live to fight again another day.
Robin M. Canup has been promoted to executive director of the Planetary Science Directorate from director of Space Studies Dept. at the Southwest Research Institute's Boulder, Colo., facility. Canup has been succeeded by Robert E. Grimm, who was promoted from assistant director. And Grimm, in turn, has been succeeded by William F. Bottke, Jr., who has been promoted from project engineer.
Sagem and Thales are teaming with the French government to offer export customers surplus French air force Mirage F1 aircraft in a heavily upgraded configuration. That configuration capitalizes on the F1 upgrade program for Morocco that’s currently picking up steam.
Carlos del Rio has become managing director of Abertis Infraestructuras' airports and CEO of its TBI division. He succeeds Miquel Puig, who will continue as a business development executive. Del Rio was CEO of Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacífico.
The NASA/Orbital Sciences Dawn spacecraft, which depends on solar electric propulsion, is examined at Astrotech near the Kennedy Space Center by two Dutch Space engineers who helped design its 65-ft.-span solar arrays. One of Dawn’s three large JPL/Boeing ion engines is protected by a white shroud (bottom). Dawn will carry U.S., German and Italian instruments to examine the protoplanets Vesta and Ceres. The $446-million mission will be the first to travel between and orbit two bodies in deep space.
I see that NASA continues to not only underfund aeronautics but also reallocate its funds to aerospace. The In Orbit column (AW&ST June 11, p. 17) commented on how the Exploration, Science and Aeronautics directorates "joined forces" to instrument the heat shield for the Mars Science Laboratory mission. The expense, necessary for landing humans on Mars, would have prevented placing the instruments on the shield but the "free money" from aeronautics made it possible. Which aeronautical needs were reprogrammed?
The management of Israel Aerospace Industries is starting to explore acquisition opportunities abroad to strengthen the company's access to export markets and usher in the next step in its development.
