Lawrence Grant has been named vice president-purchasing and contract management, Ron Kay vice president-finance/treasurer and David Hinton vice president/controller, all for Pinnacle Airlines, Memphis, Tenn.
Louis Friedman, who is executive director of The Planetary Society, Pasadena, Calif., has won the 2007 Space Education Inspiration Award from the Federation of Galaxy Explorers. FOGE was founded in 2002 to inspire and educate children in space-related science and engineering through after-school activities, field trips, special events and summer camps. Friedman's award recognizes his nearly three decades at the helm of The Planetary Society, which he co-founded with Carl Sagan and Bruce Murray. FOGE also gave its 2007 Space Leadership Award to William H.
The Aerospace Daily and Defense Report article on May 16 on the request for proposals for the U.S. Air Force's Combat Search and Rescue-X (CSAR-X) quoted Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute.
Registered travelers using either the Clear card, marketed by Verified Identity Pass, or Unisys Corp.'s rtGo card can now use one another's facilities. Last week, the first registered traveler holding an rtGO card passed through Clear's Registered Traveler lane at Indianapolis International Airport, one of seven airports or terminals where Clear operates. Now interoperability allows registered travelers, no matter which company is their provider, to use any operating registered traveler lane.
Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce recently completed the last of the three-step gearbox test which validated the design and demonstrated expected engine performance at all required thrust levels for the F135 short-takeoff/vertical-landing (STOVL) propulsion system. The qualification test was conducted at the Rolls-Royce facility in Indianapolis.
Capacity is maxed out at the show's biennial gathering site at Le Bourget, which comprises more than 300,000 sq. meters of inside and outside exhibit space. This highlights how several years of order growth have benefited the industry, and how far the aerospace and defense sector has come since the depths of crisis a mere five years ago.
Garuda Indonesia may restore services to Amsterdam and Nagoya, which it dropped in 2004. Garuda says the Japanese market is recovering and Amsterdam, the capital of Indonesia's former colonial master, remains "highly prospective." But the unprofitable airline isn't talking about returning to London and Paris, two other destinations it dropped in 2004.
NATO defense ministers have authorized a study to assess possible integration of the U.S. missile defense system to be set up in the Czech Republic and Poland with the alliance's Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense System. The latter, when deployed in southeastern Europe, would plug the gap in missile defense coverage left by the U.S. system, which couldn't engage some of the shorter-range missiles launched from the Middle East.
If you build it, they will come. At least that’s what a few of Eastern Europe’s aircraft companies are gambling on as they keep alive current aircraft and birth new ones in their quest to remain original equipment manufacturers. Steeped in almost a century of aircraft-making history, aerospace centers in Poland and the Czech Republic aren’t fully resigned to becoming mere parts makers for the aircraft heavyweights and their suppliers. But the hurdles they face are large, and the chance of success questionable.
THE TREND IN COCKPITS, from the airlines to regional and business jets, is for a tighter coupling of head-up guidance systems (HGSs) with head-down displays, says Rockwell Collins. "With the head-up and head-down displays working in concert all the time, you can leverage the capability of both," notes David C. Wu, director of flight deck systems marketing for business and regional systems. The head-down displays, for example, provide a rich mix of features and a large view of the scene ahead.
German astronaut Hans Schlegel and France's Leopold Eyharts hope to begin activating the Columbus laboratory module on the International Space Station before the end of the year, bolting the Italian-built facility onto a pressurized node from the same Turin factory and starting to plug in its experiment racks.
Direct military action could become a diminishing part of the next-generation, U.S. and enemy arsenals. In fact, U.S. military planners have already reached out to senior industry officials in finding new, subtle and more intense ways to apply pressure while allowing foes to back away from a confrontation.
Timothy J. Romenesko (see photos) has been promoted to president/chief operating officer from vice president/chief financial officer/treasurer of the AAR Corp., Wood Dale, Ill. David P. Storch, who has been chairman/president/CEO, will continue as chairman/CEO. Romenesko will be succeeded by Richard J. Poulton, who has been vice president-acquisitions and strategic investments.
A drastic population change in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005 has airlines continuing to struggle with how to restore service at Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport to its pre-storm level.
Michael A. Taverna (Broye-les-Pesmes and Rennes, France)
France is inviting its European neighbors to collaborate on a ground-based space surveillance system as part of a proposed military space buildup that could include operational signals intelligence and data relay networks.
The case for a small (10-15-lb.) air-launched weapon for precision fires from unmanned aerial vehicles and other aircraft is apparently not yet been made urgent enough to hold the attention of the big-wig acquisition executives at the Pentagon. Air Force Special Operations Command says that it needs such a weapon for use from its gunships and UAVs. Likewise, some Pentagon officials are saying that the Hellfire missiles fired from Predators today are often too big for their mission. Major sponsors, such as the Air Force's Air Combat Command, Air Armament Center or U.S.
Productivity is way up at Ladish’s cavernous forging plant in southeast Poland, thanks to lean production processes introduced by the Wisconsin-based specialty metals company. Ladish recently initiated its first aerospace production in Europe after the low-cost facility secured a critical accreditation. The company won’t disclose what its 690 Polish metalworkers earn, but concedes they are paid a lot less than their American counterparts. Another clear case of offshoring, right?
A double-digit appreciation in the euro against the U.S. dollar since 2002 is driving a flurry of structural changes in Europe's aerospace industry likely to have far-reaching consequences in reshaping the sector.
The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) wants NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to come up with alternatives to reinstating the climate sensors cut from the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) during last year's Nunn-McCurdy recertification. Removed from Npoess were the Total Solar Irradiance Sensor, Earth Radiation Budget Sensor, Ocean Altimeter, and Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Subsystem.
Regrettably, Air France's domestic arm operates as a near-monopoly. In the last few years, competitors have gradually disappeared. One clear indicator of the reality of European deregulation is the case of EasyJet. The airline serves several French city pairs but, in the absence of sufficient takeoff and landing slots at Paris-Orly (the heart of France's domestic route system), the British low-fare carrier remains a rather weak opponent for the mighty Air France group.
Setting aside the validity of Robin Stanier's claim of 5,000 km. (3,100 mi.) as the most fuel-efficient range for a passenger aircraft, breaking a 10,000-km. trip down into two 5,000-km. legs is a non-starter.
Aerotheque Assn., a French organization with a mission of preserving the country's aeronautical heritage, is organizing an auction of Concorde collection parts on Sept. 28-Oct. 1 in Toulouse. Items on the block include control panel instruments, cabin furnishing and structural items and can be viewed at www.concorde-encheres.com. All proceeds from the sale will go to support Aeroscopia, an aeronautical discovery park that is planned for 2010 on the outskirts of Toulouse.
TGV Rockets Inc.--a Norman, Okla.-based small business working under a Naval Research Laboratory reusable launch vehicle study contract--has test-fired a 30,000-lb.-thrust rocket engine using JP-8 fuel. A first round of tests at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi demonstrated "consistent ignition" at throttle levels of less than 20%, and stable combustion at all throttle levels, says CEO Pat Bahn. Ultimately the company sees applications for its engines in operationally responsive launch vehicles for "pop-up" reconnaissance missions.
