Cessna Aircraft Co. has made hundreds of changes and improvements to the Model 172 since the airplane was introduced in 1956. The first version was essentially a Model 170B with different landing gear, but as the years progressed and the airplane's popularity increased, so did Cessna's efforts to improve it. Today the Skyhawk's highly refined design bears little resemblance to its ancestors in terms of systems, comfort and performance.
Eos Airlines' founder and CEO David Spurlock stepped aside last week as part of another round of management changes at the all-first-class carrier as the Eos board and investors try to find the right team of executives to give the carrier a boost. Eos flies one daily flight from New York JFK to London Stansted with Boeing 757s, configured with 48 seats. Spurlock, a former British Airways executive, becomes the chief strategic officer and hands his chief executive role to Chairman David Pottruck.
Japan and Boeing are working on a multi-year procurement arrangement to cut the cost of AH-64D Apache helicopters the country is buying. Tokyo's year-to-year procurement of small numbers has inflated the Apache cost and is causing concern about the ability to fund the full contingent.
Moving to secure the future of military rotorcraft development and manufacture in the U.K., the British Defense Ministry and AgustaWestland have inked a strategic partnering agreement, with the ministry also ordering 70 Future Lynx helicopters. This number, however, is well below the military's original ambitions.
Bill Prickett (see photo) has become manager of public relations for American Eurocopter, Grand Prairie, Tex. He held the same position at the Promotional Products Assn. International.
Dan Mooney has been named vice president of the 747 program at Boeing Commercial Airplanes. He was vice presidentproduct development and succeeds Jeff Peace, who is retiring.
Cessna Aircraft Co.'s Model 172 is poised to enter a second half-century of service armed with a sterling reputation and new technologies aimed at keeping the entry-level, cross-country cruiser ahead of the competition. Few airplanes, military or commercial, can lay claim to being in production 50 years after their introduction, but the Skyhawk is among that elite group. Long recognized as an icon of the global general aviation fleet, the Model 172's future looks bright thanks to its simplicity, reliability and upgrades.
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USAF Col. Pamela A. Melroy will command STS-120, a critical shuttle mission in the upcoming 16-flight ISS assembly sequence, set for launch as early as next summer. The two-time shuttle pilot will deliver the Italian-built Node 2 and carry out a complex solar-array shift needed before the remaning modules are attached (see p. 63). Backing her up will be Scott E. Parazynski, who will be making his fifth shuttle flight. Rounding out the crew will be the pilot Marine Col. George D. Zamka and mission specialists Army Col. Douglas H. Wheelock, Navy Capt. Michael J.
USAF Brig. Gen. Albert F. Riggle has been appointed military representative to the Senior Interagency Strategy Team of the Joint Staff's National Counterterrorism Center, Arlington, Va. He was director of joint security at Headquarters United States Central Command, MacDill AFB, Fla. Brig. Gen. Robert H. Holmes will become deputy director of operations for force protection, United States Central Command. He was director of security forces and force protection under the deputy chief of staff for logistics, installations and mission support at USAF Headquarters.
Sukhoi Holding Co. and Italy's Finmeccanica have finally signed the strategic partnership agreement that provides the foundation for cooperation on the Russian Regional Jet and additional activities. Alenia Aeronautica is acquiring 25% plus one share in RRJ-maker Sukhoi Civil Aircraft, giving the Italians the necessary control they sought to ensure their financial stake. Alenia also agreed to provide no less than 25% financing of RRJ development. The partners are establishing a joint venture in Europe for sales and product support of the RRJ.
The upcoming STS-121 space shuttle mission is a test that, if passed, will set up the most complicated in-orbit operations ever attempted as NASA and its partners work to finish the International Space Station.
Flag carrier Aeroflot has finalized financial arrangements on development of its own terminal in Moscow Sheremetyevo Airport, closing the deals with two major state-controlled banks: Vnesheconombank and Vneshtorgbank. The two acquired 20% and 25% stakes, respectively, in the terminal company. The partners also announced an international tender, seeking a management company for the Sheremetyevo-3 terminal that is planned for opening in late 2007.
If EADS co-Chief Executive Officer Noel Forgeard cares about his company and the future of Airbus--and if he's able to set politics and personal ambitions aside--he will heed the growing chorus for his resignation and step down. And he'll do it sooner rather than later.
NASA has decided the space shuttle is ready to fly as early as this week, but reaching that decision was not pretty (see pp. 17 and 23). In the flight readiness review, Bryan O'Connor, the agency's director of safety and mission assurance, and Chris Scolese, its chief engineer, voted "no go." Their concern was the possibility that, as in the Columbia accident, the external fuel tank could shed insulating foam that could hit and irreparably damage the shuttle orbiter. But their worry is about a different area of the tank--small ice-frost ramps along the side.
The European Space Agency has reappointed Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain for a new four-year term. Dordain was named to the head post in December 2002. Launcher chief Antonio Fabrizi and human spaceflight director Daniel Sacotte also were reappointed.
In the wake of the Pentagon's decision last year to truncate F-22 buys at 183 stealthy jets, two recent measures in the U.S. Congress could breathe new life into production and sales of the Lockheed Martin-built aircraft. The House of Representatives has overturned a years-old law barring sale of the F-22 abroad, and the Senate has given the Air Force the nod to enter into a multiyear purchasing agreement that could be critical to keep the fighter line open for years to come.
House appropriators have voted to save the Army-led Joint Common Missile (JCM) with $35 million in Fiscal 2007, despite a proposal from the Pentagon to terminate the air-launched Maverick and Hellfire replacement weapon. JCM manufacturer Lockheed Martin hopes to prove the missile technology in tests and garner further support in future budgets.
The snake eaters are moving to New Mexico. Cannon AFB, N.M., was designated for shutdown by last year's Base Realignment and Closure Commission, and it will lose its F-16s in the coming months, as previously planned. However, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) has since convinced government officials to stand up a new west-coast staging facility at Cannon by October 2007 for its CV-22s and, possibly, AC-130U gunships and MC-130Hs. The Hurlburt Field, Fla.-based command's ranks are to swell as the Pentagon realigns its forces to meet modern threats.
Several readers--myself included--have expressed concern about the misguided decision to use expensive UAV assets in support of border surveillance missions. The consensus is that at $6.8 million each (the cost of a Predator B), there are other options available that are much more cost-effective, but are not being considered. UAVs were designed for use in high-threat, high-risk to pilot/crew environments where the substantial expense of such aircraft and their operation were considered worth the trade-off.
A senior Mitre official tells the House aviation subcommittee that the U.S. is not falling behind Europe in the design and implementation of a modernized ATC system. The only area where Europe may be ahead is in the creation of a model for governing the development of ATC modernization, says Amir A. ElSawy, general manager of Mitre's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development. Europe has hired a team of stakeholders to develop its ATC modernization under a contract with deliverable items, while the U.S.
Martin Sippel, Head (DLR Space Launcher Systems Analysis, Cologne, Germany)
Regarding Paul R. Johnson's letter on the ballistic return flight option for reusable stages (AW&ST May 22, p. 6), I can give quantified information on the impact based on simulations of similar configurations.
The European Commission (EC) has added four carriers to its airline blacklist in its first quarterly update of the document. The new additions to the list of carriers considered unsafe to fly by at least one European Union member are Suriname-based Blue Wing (added by France) and Kyrgyzstan-licensed Sky Gate International (added by the U.K.). They are banned from all operations. Sudan-based Air West (added by Germany) has operating restrictions placed on it. The EC itself named Kyrgyzstan's Star Jet because it was found to be identical to Star Air, already on the list.
U.S.-based Altair Engineering Inc., which supplies a range of aerospace clients with computer-aided engineering software, has acquired Mecalog Group of Antony, France. Mecalog provides software to Airbus, EADS and Eurocopter. Financial terms for the acquisition remain undisclosed. Altair will now develop, service and support Mecalog's Radioss computer-aided engineering software. Radioss is used in aerospace to analyze the effects of bird strikes, helicopter ditchings, uncontained engine failures and other impact events in the design process.
