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.
Etihad Airways appears to prefer discounts on future orders over cash compensation for the delay in Airbus A380 deliveries. "We are looking at the benefits on future orders," CEO James Hogan told Bloomberg News, implying that Etihad will go with Airbus in its next expansion phase. The airline has placed orders for four A380s, the first of which was due to arrive in 2009.
THE CIVIL AVIATION AUTHORITY OF SINGAPORE has just selected Era Corp. and HITT Holland Institute of Traffic Technology of the Netherlands to install an Advanced Surface Movement Guidance Control System for Changi Airport. Era will provide the multilateration and Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast sensors plus the vehicle tracking units, while HITT will provide its display and processing system. Era has deployed a total of 1,000 ADS-B sensors in 20 nations.
It's official: U.S. Air Force Special Operations Command has its own force of unmanned Predator strike and reconnaissance aircraft. Twenty-one MQ-1 UAVs, along with support equipment and crews, were transferred from Air Combat Command. Another seven UAVs will be delivered to AFSOC after depot maintenance is completed this month. That will let AFSOC simultaneously operate up to six orbits or combat air patrols in several theaters.
European Union transport ministers this month have committed to include aviation in the EU's emissions trading scheme (ETS), and to ensure that no barriers result from a September meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The U.S., other countries, and airlines have looked to the ICAO gathering to address the issue of aviation and pollution, but ministers from the EU countries are determined that any agreement arrived at in September should not block ETS plans.
Raytheon officials say they've been able to demonstrate significant advances in efficiency and output of solid-state lasers in the laboratory that show potential for space-based applications such as imaging and spectroscopy.
A little bad weather and a big computer problem turned June 8 into the worst day so far in 2007 for U.S. airline delays. The thunderstorms weren't abnormal but the computer problem magnified them and created delays of its own. A computer in Atlanta that processes flight plans failed early Friday, and when the FAA rerouted the work to a computer in Salt Lake City, that computer became overloaded because of the high volume. The FAA resolved the computer problems by 11 a.m.
Regarding your article "Record Delays Loom" (AW&ST May 28, p. 54), to place all blame for projected delays on an anticipated ATC system is pure nonsense. Do the FAA and Air Transport Assn. really believe the air traffic problems can be laid solely at the feet of the ATC system? Even to the most casual observer, the "legacy carriers" have been reducing capacity since 9/11 in a drive to lower costs and improve profit margins.
Chris Pratt (see photo) has been promoted to director of marketing and strategic planning from director of marketing for BBA Aviation's Engine Repair and Overhaul organization in Dallas.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Michael M. Dunn (see photo) has been appointed president/CEO of the Arlington, Va.-based Air Force Assn., effective July 1. He will succeed Donald L. Peterson, who will be resigning. Dunn has been president of the National Defense University in Washington.
Key Pentagon tactical and strategic laser weapon systems face vital testing periods in the second half of this year to prove they are moving closer to combat-caliber, but funding and policy questions remain developmental dark spots. While contractors aim to demonstrate they can shoot down Stinger missiles in midflight with tactical lasers or that an Airborne Laser (ABL) on board a modified jumbo air freighter can take out a ballistic missile, company and military program officials are engaging law- and policy-makers to ensure funding.
Your "Turning Up the Heat" editorial complains a lot about Natca behavior but doesn't make any suggestion of how to fix that long-running nuisance. Turn ATC over to the U.S. Air Force. It would be considerably cheaper and a great deal more reliable. You may think that's ludicrous. What's really ludicrous is the way Natca is whiplashing the ATC system and those who depend upon it. Controllers are playing games with aircraft and their occupants to pressure their demands. It's just not reported. We need a Natca housecleaning a la Reagan.
The U.K. and Belgium may be close to joining the Franco-Italian Athena-Fidus broadband satellite system, French officials say. France and Italy recently signed a letter of intent to go ahead with detailed design and development of the encrypted but unhardened and non-jam-protected system, which will support military operations and provide unencrypted capacity for welfare and government traffic. Belgium and the U.K. are each interested in one of the satellite's 6-8 spot beams, representing about 12-13% of the €220-250-million ($292-332-million) system cost.
A NASA Engineering and Safety Center peer review of Crew Exploration Vehicle reentry heating and aerodynamics work finds that critical areas lack the sufficient "risk management processes." These guide decision-making in developing hypersonic-reentry thermal and aerodynamic advancements necessary for the CEV. As the ongoing repair and reentry issues with STS-117 illustrate, the NASA reentry-analysis process needs to include ongoing assessment capability even as the program enters its last three years of life.
Trite but true: It isn't the offense, it's the coverup. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), chairman of the House Science subcommittee on investigations and oversight, and the ranking minority member, Republican stalwart F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr. (Wis.), asked Attorney General Alberto Gonzales June 14 to investigate and possibly prosecute NASA General Counsel Michael Wholley for obstruction of justice in destroying video records of an Apr. 10 meeting between Administrator Michael Griffin and the staff of NASA Inspector General Robert Cobb.
