Dominique Spragg (see photo) has become vice president-manufacturing of Viking Air Ltd., Victoria, British Columbia. He was president of consulting firm Innovia Solutions and had been director of service center operations for Pratt & Whitney Canada.
For years non-German spaceflight controllers have stumbled over the name of this small village near the German Space Operations Center, where European human space missions are run.
Raymond J. Wilson has been named CEO of Innovative Solutions and Support Inc., Exton, Pa. He has been a member of the board of directors. Wilson succeeds Geoffrey S.M. Hedrick, who has been CEO but will remain chairman. Wilson was executive vice president-procurement for Airbus.
The Japanese Selene Moon mission is now expected to be launched on Aug. 16 at 9:30:48 a.m. JAXA, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency says. If the 3-metric-ton spacecraft, with two subsatellites, isn't fired toward a lunar orbit on that day, launch windows are Aug. 17-23 and Sept. 13-21.
When airport security lines back up, often it is because anomalies spotted by carry-on bag screening equipment have triggered false alarms. Sometimes Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers have to run the bags through the X-ray machine again, or open them and search by hand. Both cost travelers time and the government money.
NCCS, developer of NCL multi-axis machining software, announced Hawthorne, Calif.-based Vought Aircraft's purchase of nine licenses of NCL multi-axis machining software. At this site, Vought fabricates and assembles fuselage panels for Boeing 747s and has been commissioned for fuselage work on the 747-8. NCL says their product offers macro capability--with a library of standard aerospace macros, as well as the flexibility to create specifics. A family of parts is available.
You are right in your editorial "Turning Up the Heat Isn't Shedding Any Light" when you say the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. (Natca) is becoming the union that cries wolf (AW&ST May 28, p. 78).You are also right when you say air traffic controllers are savvy and have a lot to contribute regarding their jobs and the ATC system.
A waning infrastructure, labor shortages, low domestic yields and unsustainable losses from cutthroat pricing are widening gaps between revenue and expenses in India's commercial aviation. An airfares squeeze resulted in a collective loss for Indian carriers of $500 million in the fiscal year that ended Mar. 31. Not surprisingly, analysts have been expecting the industry to tighten up.
The end of the Cold War brought freedom to Eastern Europe, but it nearly smothered the life out of PZL-Krosno. When the Soviet Union disintegrated, 90% of orders at the Polish landing gear manufacturer vanished overnight. Annual sales fell below $1 million and the government-owned company shrunk to a skeletal staff of 130, down from a Cold War high of 2,000.
THE EUROPEAN ORGANIZATION FOR CIVIL AVIATION EQUIPMENT (Eurocae) has tapped Gil Michielin, vice president and general manager of Thales Commercial Aircraft Solutions, to be its new president. The organization's working groups of government and industry officials help set technical standards for ground and airborne communications, navigation and surveillance equipment, and they cooperate closely with Eurocae's U.S. counterpart, the RTCA.
MARKET FOCUS Market Focus column goes digital with blog on AviationWeek.com 32 NEWS BREAKS Israelis to display huge new unmanned aircraft at Paris air show 42 Honeywell's Micro Air Vehicle being introduced into service in Iraq 44 European transport ministers OK funding Galileo with public money 44 EADS Astrium wants to tap nascent space tourism market 46 EasyJet unveils concept of environmen- tally friendly short-haul aircraft 47 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS
Boeing has begun flight testing the mission system on the first Australian Wedgetail (737) airborne early warning and control aircraft. During an initial 4-hr. flight June 6, researchers measured the mission system's impact on the aircraft's power generation capability and liquid- and air-cooling systems. Flights are to continue through June. The delivery of six Wedgetail aircraft is slated for 2009.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems won a $53-million contract from Raytheon to provide five integrated intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance suites for Beechcraft King Air 350ER aircraft and ground stations for the Iraqi air force.
Initial findings from a Small Business Administration-funded feasibility study underway at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, reflect strong industry interest in a Nevada-based permanent aerospace and defense international conference, exposition and trade complex. That state's AeroQuestUSA has spearheaded the effort and secured congressional support for the university study. The company hopes to establish the center in southern Nevada.
The distinction between strategic and tactical weapons is getting more complicated and less meaningful. First there were tactical weapons, then strategic weapons, then tactical weapons with strategic warheads and then strategic weapons with tactical warheads. Now Air Force planners want a strategic weapon with a tactical warhead to carry submunitions that can search out a number of targets scattered over some distant battlefield--something like a hypersonic A-10 Thunderbolt.
Vienna-based Schiebel Group has received a "Permit To Fly" for its Camcopter S-100. One of the first UAVs to qualify under the amended European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Regulation, the Camcopter S-100 is the first helicopter UAV to meet the requirements. The permit is issued for those aircraft not holding a type certificate yet, but are still able to perform safely under EASA-approved flight conditions. With this document, national flight permissions within European Union member states can be obtained more easily.
Andrew Brandenburg has been named general manager of Loud Engineering and Manufacturing, Ontario, Calif., a Circor Aerospace company. Tom Sharpes has become sales manager for North America of Circor subsidiary Circle Seal Controls, Corona, Calif.
NASA is preparing to ship several tons of emulator hardware to test compatibility of a third connection node with the rest of the International Space Station, and contemplating internal modifications to handle a full complement of crewmembers.
A former senior English judge, Lord Woolf, is being lined up by BAE Systems to examine how the company conducts its business. The move is in response to bribery allegations related to the Al Yamamah program with Saudi Arabia. BAE denies the allegations and says, "It is not aware of any proposed investigation" into the claims by the U.S. Justice Dept. The British Guardian newspaper says the Justice Dept. is on the brink of an investigation.
James L. Welch has been appointed to the board of directors of SkyWest Inc. and subsidiaries, SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines. He is retired president/CEO of YRC Worldwide Inc.
In response to a few comments on the Cessna Mustang (AW&ST May 28, p. 8; Apr. 30, p. 54), I got my instrument license on the four-legged range course into Detroit City Airport. My son took delivery of the first Mustang to a private pilot, N600DE. My first flight was from Ogden, Utah, to Vero Beach, Fla. At FL410 [41,000 ft.] over the Colorado Front Range, many large jets were complaining of turbulence. We were contacted and replied: "in smooth air." Big jets' response: "too heavy to get there."
As the 787 heads into full-scale production, the senior executive at aft fuselage maker Vought Aircraft Industries has resigned while Wall Street scrutinizes every jot and tittle that may trip up Boeing's tight schedule for a first flight in late summer and start of deliveries next May.
Scott Whittaker has become vice president-strategic programs for the Americas for Atlanta-based Fokker Arinc (Alabama Instrument and Radio Inc.). Whittaker was director of operations and has been succeeded by Jan-Ynse Miedema, who was manager of procurement for Fokker Services.
Morgan Advanced Ceramics, a manufacturer of ceramic, glass, metal and engineered coating solutions, has been tapped by Photek to supply hexagonal ceramic insulators for intensifiers used in NASA's Owl Mission. Owl is the first Earth-orbiting system designed to study air showers initiated by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR). The ceramic in the Owl's "eyes" will allow an accurate image of these particles to be generated.
Mark Lange has been appointed manager of product sales for the International Communications Group, Newport News, Va. He was the senior design engineer for Gulfstream Aerospace.
