A Franco-Portuguese team says it is close to launching a twin-turboprop utility aircraft to serve the freight, commuter and multimission market. The aircraft, dubbed the Skylander, would meet a long-standing requirement for an inexpensive, rugged model to fill a niche between turboprops in the Fokker 27-class and single-engine utility aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan. The segment's 4,000-odd older aircraft, like the Dornier 228 and Britten-Norman Islander, need replacing.
IN ANOTHER DEVELOPMENT, Honeywell has applied for a Technical Standard Order from the FAA for its RDR-4000 digital weather radar, which features patented 3D volumetric scanning of airspace in front of the aircraft from the surface to 60,000 ft. and out to 320 naut. mi. (AW&ST July 10, p. 71). The radar, which is standard on the Airbus A380, can provide vertical views of the weather ahead.
Dennis L. (Leo) Malloy has become vice president-customer services and interline affairs and Kerry Sandberg Scott director of human resources of Midwest Connect's Skyway Airlines. Malloy was senior director for the Washington Dulles International Airport operations of Independence Air. Scott has been a human resources consultant and was director of human resources for the Adelman Travel Group.
Composites tempt the design engineer with the attractions of reduced weight, with strength comparable to traditional airframe structures. For the production engineer, the extent of the challenge is becoming clearer. In the military sphere, Airbus is opting for carbon composites for the primary wing structure of the A400M airlifter. This effort underscores the attractions and tribulations of using composites for primary structures.
The U.S. airline industry is expected to post its first quarterly profit since the summer of 2000, and a strong economy paired with a disciplined approach to adding capacity has enabled carriers to raise fares, more than offsetting higher fuel costs. Sounds like a good time to invest in airline stocks.
A layer of solid carbon dioxide blankets the cone-shaped feature under the northern ice cap of Mars, shown here as captured in springtime on the planet by NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Despite its shape, planetary scientists doubt the peak is a dead volcano, because no volcanic features have been found near the north pole of Mars. Instead, they hypothesize that it is a remnant left by the erosion that shaped the surrounding Hyperboreus Labyrinthus region. The image shows a region that is about 3-km. (1.9-mi.) wide.
David Albritton (see photo) has been named director of media relations for the Washington office of the Raytheon Co. He was vice president-communications for the Caraway Group Inc.
In yet another sign of how Brussels is becoming Europe's center of power when it comes to air transport, Air France-KLM is opening a European Affairs liaison office there. The European Union has several important industry-shaping issues on the agenda, including talks with the U.S. on an open skies agreement and potential inclusion of air transport in Europe's emissions trading scheme. Air France-KLM says it wants to be closer to the institutions, policy makers and lobbying groups, such as the Assn. of European Airlines.
Oscar J. Schwenk, who has been president/CEO, has been named chairman of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd., Stans, Switzerland. He succeeds Peter Kupfer, who has resigned. Following Schwenk as CEO will be Thomas Bosshard, who has been president/CEO of Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd. USA and chief operating officer of Pilatus Stans. Gratian Anda has been appointed vice chairman, and Bjorn Bajan a board member.
Joining transport authorities in Europe and Australia, the Transportation Dept. has issued a show-cause order that would end antitrust immunity for IATA's 50-year-old tariff conferences, at which carriers agree on international fares and cargo rates. The department approved immunity in 1985, even though it believed the conferences reduce competition, because other governments were in favor of collective fare-setting. Some of them even rejected non-IATA fare proposals.
Eric D. Evans has been appointed director of the MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Cambridge, Mass. He has been head of its Ballistic Missile Defense Technology Div. and succeeds David L. Briggs, who has retired.
Ian McBain has become Asia-Pacific managing director for SkyWorks Capital, Greenwich, Conn. He was managing director for the Asset Finance Group of Citigroup's Global Structured Corporate Finance Group in Hong Kong.
Ironworkers are preparing to top out construction of a gigantic inertial confinement fusion facility here intended to enable France to simulate the reliability and safety of its nuclear arsenal without resorting to testing.
Regarding Face to Face with Boeing CEO W. James McNerney, Jr., "Only the Paranoid Survive" (AW&ST June 26, p. 48), launch aid is really a hard point. But we have to consider that launch aid is provided in forms beyond direct payments to aircraft developers such as Airbus.
Patrick DeWitt has been promoted to CEO from president of New York-based Space Systems/Loral. John Celli, who had been executive vice president, will succeed DeWitt as president/chief operating officer.
Milan's court of appeal has partially overturned the ruling of a lower court concerning culpability for the Oct. 8, 2001, crash at Milan Linate Airport, which killed 118 people when an SAS Scandinavian Airlines MD-87 was hit by a privately owned Cessna business jet on takeoff. The Cessna was crossing the runway when the two aircraft collided. The initial trial found two airport managers culpable and sentenced them to jail terms of 6.5 years and eight years, respectively. But now the appeals court has determined they were not responsible, and has voided the sentences.
The Bush administration's proposal to relax citizenship tests during airline fitness reviews is many things to many people. And few of these things are simple. For the U.S. Transportation Dept., which proposed the new citizenship standards last November and intends to decide on them soon, the measure is a complex clarification of how much influence foreign investors can have over a U.S. airline's business strategy and operations without violating U.S. law.
Andrea Rader has been appointed director of corporate communication for US Airways. She was a speechwriter for executives of Wal-Mart. Matthew J. Hart has been named to the board of directors. He is president/chief operating officer of the Hilton Hotels Corp. and a former America West Airlines board member.
All Weather Inc.'s RVR system features its 8364-E visibility and ambient light sensors, along with runway light intensity interface, producing an RVR system that combines the precision and accuracy of tranmissiometer with the reliability of a forward scatter visibility sensor. This means quick access to accurate measurement in any weather conditions, according to the company. It is suitable for all airport categories from Cat. I-IIIB, and meets all ICAO recommendations for RVR measurements. All Weather Inc., 1165 National Drive, Sacramento, Calif.
NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is moving toward key launch milestones for the next space shuttle flight even as the shuttle Discovery wraps up its mission to the International Space Station. Atlantis will launch the station's second port truss and second set of port solar arrays on the STS-115 flight (AW&ST June 26, p. 63). The orbiter, its external tank and its solid rocket boosters are being planned for rollout to Launch Complex 39B on Aug. 3-4. The mission's astronaut crew, commanded by Navy Capt. Brent Jett, is to fly in T-38s to KSC Aug.
