Speaking of the 787, Hamilton Sundstrand has delivered the first APS 5000 auxiliary power unit from its San Diego Power System facility. About 90% of the required systems are due to be "on dock" at Boeing's test facility in Seattle by the time of the Paris air show, which begins June 18, with the first shipset of equipment for the initial aircraft (ZA001) continuing to arrive at Everett. Functional service-ready tests are set for late July and through the early part of August before the final run-up to first flight.
Clarence Au-Young (see photos) has become vice president-Landing Systems Value Stream for Crane Aerospace and Electronics, Lynnwood, Wash. He was director of program management for the Landing Systems and Cabin Solutions unit. Rich Weatherford has been appointed vice president-operations for the Electronics Group. He held a similar post at Rexnord Industries Inc. Todd Newell has become the group's director of operational excellence in Fort Walton Beach, Fla. He held the same position at Crane Valves North America.
USAF Brig. Gen. (select) Stephen W. Wilson has been named deputy commander of the Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command Region, North American Aerospace Defense Command, Winnipeg, Manitoba. He has been deputy director of intelligence and air, space and information operations for flying training at Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Tex. Wilson will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. (select) Robert P. Otto, who has been assistant deputy director for global operations for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon.
The United Arab Emirates will fit Raytheon Rolling Airframe Missiles (RAM) to six Baynunah corvettes. The contract, from Abu Dhabi Ship Building, covers seven RAM weapon systems. The $76.5-million award for the self-defense weapon includes one ground-based training system. Deliveries are set to begin in December.
What's going on with U.S. airline stocks? That's a question investors are asking as they contrast dismal share performances with the industry's best outlook in years. Aircraft are packed, fare increases are sticking, and most carriers are making money despite steep oil prices. But you wouldn't know that from the year-to-date stock declines of US Airways Group (down 39%), Alaska Air Group (31%), JetBlue Airways (27%), UAL Corp. (17%), AMR Corp. (12%), Continental Airlines (10%) and Southwest Airlines (7%).
NATO nations are growing increasingly divided over how to move forward plans to establish European missile defenses, with unease exacerbated by concern over Russia's strategic objectives.
Northrop Grumman won a $12.2-million contract add-on to continue work on the now-canceled E-10A's Battle Management Command and Control (BMC2) system that detects, classifies, characterizes and reports cruise missiles and surface targets to the joint forces through a multi-sensor command and control network. The new contract is for continuation of a pre-development program to complete risk-reduction activities in the areas of BMC2 Mission Execution and BMC2 Kill Chain, without introducing new requirements.
Senior U.S. aerospace executives and program managers will be able to offer "tangible information" about the impacts of International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) on their businesses in a survey ordered by the Space Foundation. The survey is set up to gather hard data about ITAR impacts on financial and personnel costs, schedule and other business factors, according to the Colorado Springs-based foundation. "For years we have heard anecdotal stories about the impact of ITAR on the space industry including increased costs, delays and impairing U.S.
NASA's exploration, science and aeronautics directorates will join forces to instrument the heat shield on the upcoming Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission to gather aerodynamics data for future human landings on the Red Planet. Set to launch in the fall of 2009 and arrive the following summer, the 1-metric ton MSL will be the largest payload ever landed on Mars. Ordinarily the expense involved would have prevented NASA's science directorate from placing instruments on the heat shield, says Scott Horowitz, associate administrator for exploration systems.
Diamond Aircraft and Microsoft Virtual Earth are in talks on future cooperation, using the DA42 multi-purpose platform. The teaming would combine the aircraft with the Microsoft UltraCamX. The gathered data would be fed into Microsoft's Virtual Earth platform.
Jim Hnat has been appointed corporate secretary/executive vice president-corporate affairs for JetBlue Airways. He will remain as general counsel. Edward Barnes has become vice president-finance/chief accounting officer. He has been vice president-cost management and financial analysis. Barnes succeeds Holly Wilson, who has resigned. John Ross has been named vice president-flight operations. He was director of flight safety.
Ashley Smout, who is CEO of Airways New Zealand, has been reelected chairman of the Netherlands-based Civil Air Navigation Services Organization. New members of the executive committee are: Eugene D. Juba, senior vice president-finance of the FAA; Paul Barron, CEO of U.K.-based NATS; and Christoph Baubin, chairman/CEO of Austro Control of Austria. Other members are: Shri K. Ramalingam of the Airports Authority of India, Eamonn Brennan of the Irish Aviation Authority, Wrenelle Stander of ATNS South Africa and Monte Belger of Lockheed Martin Air Traffic Management.
International Air Transport Assn. (IATA), after three years of sticking to its Dec. 31, 2007, deadline for airlines to be 100% electronic-ticketing compliant, has extended the deadline to May 31, 2008. The IATA board agreed to the extension last week after hearing a report that airlines would only be 92% compliant by the end of this year. Most of the problem with removing paper tickets from the system is in the Commonwealth of Independent States, which, it is estimated, will be only 66% compliant by Dec. 31. Also, Africa will only be 84% compliant by then.
Edward P. Petkus has become vice president-new product development, Dan Weatherford chief pilot for Hawker sales demonstration and Peter Kennedy chief pilot for Beechcraft sales demonstration for the Hawker Beechcraft Corp., Wichita, Kan. Petkus was director of 787 airplane development for Boeing. Weatherford was training captain in the Hawker 800 and 4000, while Kennedy was senior Beechcraft demonstration captain.
The British government and BAE Systems are facing renewed pressure over alleged payments related to the Al Yamamah weapons deals with Saudi Arabia. Last week, the BBC and the The Guardian newspaper reported that Saudi Prince Bandar received more than $2 billion during a 10-year period related to the Al Yamamah deals. The reports also say the payments were sanctioned by the British government. The U.K. and Saudi Arabia are in the final stages of negotiating the sale of 72 Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft, as well as an upgrade program for Saudi Tornado strike aircraft.
MARKET FOCUS U.S. airline stock prices aren't matching outlooks for profits 10 NEWS BREAKS Russians finish installing panels to protect Zvezda module on ISS 18 Malaysian AF may seek more Su-30MKMs if it can't get F/A-18E/Fs 19 Ryanair warns of higher costs and lower fares 20 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS Russian pressure heightens missile defense concerns within NATO 24 French look anew at 'responsive payloads' ability to deal with space-based threats 26
Scientists on the Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) mission will spend the coming weeks examining some six gigabits of data from as close as 200 mi. above the clouds of Venus. The NASA-funded spacecraft picked up almost 15,000 mph. in a June 5 gravity assist that hurled it toward its initial encounter with the innermost planet early next year.
Douglas Barrie (London), Joris Janssen Lok (The Hague)
Industry partners on the Airbus A400M are revisiting critical engine performance parameters as the effort lags further behind schedule, while a legal liability trap could snare NATO plans to operate Boeing C-17s.
Bombardier reports 152 firm orders for CRJ-series regional jets and Q-series turboprops from 16 operators through June 6. Delta Air Lines' order for 44 CRJ900s led the 91 sales for the series. Bombardier listed four undisclosed customers, including one with 15 orders for the CRJ1000 and another with three orders for CRJ900s. Flybe, Horizon and Pinnacle's orders for 15 each of the Q400 led the turboprop book of 61 sales. Croatia Airlines was the latest customer, ordering four with two options last week.
A determination by the Phoenix science team that ice at the Martian north polar landing site could be harder than concrete led to the emergency addition of a lander cutting tool to ensure critical samples could be delivered to the spacecraft’s instruments. Data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey and European Mars Express spacecraft indicate that the ice could be so hard that the originally planned Phoenix robotic arm scoop might not be able to scrape up ice shavings for analysis of Martian water and what might be in it.
Senior Editor Craig Covault (left) and Matt Cox, Lockheed Martin manager for assembly test and launch operations for the Phoenix Mars lander, examine the spacecraft at the company's clean room in Littleton, Colo. Note the landing gear pads, red-capped descent engines and overall scale of the spacecraft. The mission will sample water, ice and soil for clues to Martian life. Cox is heading preparation of the vehicle for launch on Aug. 3 (see p. 56). Covault has written about all U.S.
An Industry Outlook item, "Inflight Retargeting" (AW&ST June 4, p. 13), mischaracterized F-16 cuts the Dutch government is contemplating. The reduction of 18 fighters would be of in-service aircraft.
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) raised $250 million with a public offering of bonds on June 6. The funds are linked to the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar for 6-7 years. New leadership, headed by CEO Itzhak Nissan, has been shaking up the company's business during the last two years. IAI's net profit for Fiscal 2006 reached $130 million, compared with $2 million in 2005. During the first quarter of 2007, the company earned a before-tax, net profit of $60 million compared with $24 million in the year-ago period, an increase of 250%.
