Dave Pflieger has become senior vice president/general counsel of Virgin America. He was acting general counsel/vice president-operations control center and had been vice president-operations for Delta Air Lines' Song.
Maj. Gen. Jeffrey R. Riemer has become executive officer for the F-22 program in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition. He was commander of the Air Armament Center/program executive officer for weapons for Air Force Materiel Command, Eglin AFB, Fla. Riemer succeeds Maj. Gen. Richard Lewis, who is retiring.
Airbus this week is set to receive type certification for the A380, an important marker considering the program was near termination mere months ago. Tom Enders, EADS Co-CEO, revealed last week that the company would have had to consider canceling the A380 if flight testing revealed significant technical problems. It's the first time EADS has acknowledged such a possibility. "Luckily it never got that far," he says.
The STS-116 Discovery crew is to rewire the International Space Station this week pending favorable launch weather and a safe ascent with new engine technology and external tank modifications. The mission was set for a night liftoff at 9:36 p.m. EST Dec. 7.
The new industry getting underway to deliver paying customers to space won't be limited to the companies that actually build and fly complete spacecraft. Also in the wings are the companies that supply parts and pieces for the businesses that may one day become "majors" in the personal spaceflight industry.
Kudos once again for William B. Scott's terrific over-the-top (no pun intended) story describing first-hand his experience of flying in the Diamond with the Blue Angels. From strapping in to engine shutdown, as he took us through the show routine, I felt I was with him in the back seat of Blue Angel 7--the two-seat F/A-18B--flying the slot position; one could almost smell the JP-7 and feel the acceleration and g-forces.
In another move, Virgin Atlantic is planning to return to Chicago, after an absence of more than five years, with daily round-trip London service starting Apr. 23. Virgin will operate Airbus A340-300s and pit its Upper Class Suite service against daily offerings by archrival British Airways and against American Airlines and United Airlines, which hub at O'Hare International Airport. Upper Class amenities to be offered include an onboard bar, spa treatments inflight and complimentary limousine service to and from the airport.
With 90% of its detailed design elements completed, Boeing says it is finding the mid-size 787 has a 2-3% better economic performance than the 20% overall gain it originally predicted. The improvements are most prominent in predicted maintenance costs, although the airplane is "a bit better on fuel burn" as well, says 787 General Manager Mike Bair. Boeing has forecast that the 787 will have a 20% better fuel burn than the 767 it is replacing. The new improvements have become evident as the 787's detailed design progresses.
Present and potential NASA partners in human space exploration will spend the coming year figuring out how they can fit their goals and capabilities into U.S. plans to start building a permanent outpost at one of the Moon's poles by 2020. NASA hopes its open invitation to commercial and international spacefaring interests to come along for the ride back to the Moon will herald an open-ended "collaboration" in moving humankind beyond what one exploration manager called the "coastal regions of low Earth orbit."
Philippine Airlines will operate the Boeing 777-300ER as its new long-haul aircraft, delivering a defeat to Airbus's A340-600. The carrier has bought two of the aircraft for delivery in 2009, leased two from GE Commercial Aviation Services and taken options on another pair from Boeing.
Doug Greenlaw (see photo) has been appointed director of the Washington-based Raytheon Virtual Technology Corp. He has been vice president-business development. Greenlaw succeeds Jack Harrington, who is now vice president-command and control systems for Raytheon Network Centric Systems.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Charles E. Smith has been named vice commander of Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command in San Diego. He has been assistant commander for acquisition at Naval Air Systems Command, NAS Patuxent River, Md.
Sonya Sepahban (see photo) has been appointed head of mission excellence in the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Space Technology Sector, Redondo Beach, Calif. She was vice president-systems engineering.
A French government-industry research consortium this week will call for proposals for advancing automation and security in aviation and space systems. It's the third round of bidding by the 18-month-old Aeronautics and Space Research Foundation, launched with an initial €18-million ($24-million) sum--half provided by the state and half by industry. Five projects were recently established to investigate noise mitigation technologies.
ADS-B TECHNOLOGIES OF ANCHORAGE, ALASKA, expects to complete its major Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast system installation for the Civil Aviation Flight University of China early next year. The university's main campus is in Guanghan, in Sichuan Province. Five of six Sensis Corp. ground-based transceiver stations are now installed in Sichuan and Henan provinces, and 110 of 150 of the university's training aircraft have been equipped with Garmin GDL90 universal access transceivers (UATs) that can be tracked by the ground stations.
The NTSB is urging airlines to voluntarily change how they calculate landing distances on contaminated runways until the FAA completes its rulemaking process to implement the change. The procedures include assessing performance based on actual conditions at time of arrival not time of dispatch, and adding a 15% safety margin.
Four private equity firms have bowed out of Eutelsat in two separate deals in what could prelude a new satcom alliance (AW&ST Sept. 11, p. 23). On Dec. 5, Nebozzo, Cinven and Goldman Sachs sold a combined 32% stake to Abertis, a Spanish telecom company. A remaining 2.8% stake was transferred to Lehman Brothers--a former Eutelsat shareholder--to prevent the sale from triggering a mandatory takeover bid. On Dec. 7, Eurazeo unloaded its 25.5% stake to French bank Caisse Nationale des Depots.
David Balloff (see photo) has been named Washington-based vice president-external relations for the U.S. for Embraer. He was assistant FAA administrator for its Office of Government and Industry Affairs.
US Airways chose Delta Air Lines for a merger over Northwest Airlines because a linkup with Delta would create more value even if Northwest's transpacific franchise were factored into the equation, according to US Airways Chief Operating Officer Scott Kirby. He says a merged US Airways-Delta would drive $710 million in costs out of the combined system and create $935 million in network synergies.
The Transportation Security Administration continues to evaluate passenger body-scanning machines, and plans to test the latest American Science & Engineering machine in Phoenix in a few weeks.
The United Arab Emirates inaugurated Falcon Aviation Services, a helicopter charter and aviation services provider based at Bateen Airport, near the center of Abu Dhabi. In addition to charter and maintenance work, the company has a search-and-rescue operation and supports the UAE military with a fleet of Bell 412EPs and AgustaWestland AW139s. "We are aiming to [expand] our modern fleet of helicopters and other aircraft types to satisfy the . . . region's growing number of passengers," said Falcon Aviation Services Chairman Salem Al Kayoumi.
Paul Foley has been elected 2007 chairman of the Washington-based Regional Airline Assn. Foley, president and CEO of MAIR Holdings, succeeds Horizon Air President Jeff Pinneo.
Lockheed Martin has tentatively scheduled initial flight of the first production F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter for early this week, kicking off a six-year, 12,000-hr. test program involving 15 aircraft in three different configurations. "We are on track to fly and the airplane is performing very well, as expected," says Doug Pearson, vice president of the F-35 Integrated Test Force. As of late last week, technicians were completing installation of flightworthy components in the airplane, replacing units that were approved for ground tests only.
Thales has concluded a deal to buy the space and homeland security businesses of Alcatel-Lucent for $2 billion in stock and cash, subject to conclusion of a European Commission antitrust investigation.
