Kathryn O'Leary Higgins was sworn in on Jan. 3 as a member of the National Transportation Safety Board. Higgins was president and CEO of TATC Consulting. Her term expires Dec. 31, 2009. Mark Rosenker, who officially bears the title of NTSB vice chairman, will continue as acting chairman. Last month, Ellen Engleman Conners requested that President Bush withdraw her nomination for a second term as chairman. She will continue as a board member through 2007.
British Umeco is paying up to 20 million euros to buyout northern Italy-based Provest, a small Italian aerospace manufacturer of electrical and mechanical parts. The family-owned Provest, which counts helicopter-maker AgustaWestland as a client, posted 15 million euros in turnover in 2004. Umeco is paying an initial 13.5 million euros, with the deal to conclude by June 2008, depending on Provest's operating results.
DASSAULT AVIATION AND HONEYWELL have quickly settled a software contract dispute (AW&ST Nov. 14, 2005, p. 16). Filed by Dassault in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of New York on Oct. 11, the suit asked for $60 million in damages for the late delivery of the EASy interactive cockpit used on Falcon Jets, including the Falcon 900DX that was certified three years late. The terms of last month's settlement were not disclosed, but the two companies say they will continue to work together.
William S. Boyle and George E. Smith, the inventors of charge-coupled devices, will share the $500,000 Charles Stark Draper Prize, which is scheduled to be presented by the National Academy of Engineering on Feb. 21. CCDs are imaging sensors or optical elements that convert light to digital data and are used in telescopes and imaging satellites as well as consumer products. The two men invented them in 1969 while working for Bell Laboratories. The silicon chips can image optical, X-ray, ultraviolet and infrared emissions.
Even as the French air force is preparing to field its near-precision Advanced Air-to-Surface Missile powered bomb next year, weapons developer Sagem Defense Securite is expanding its already considerable upgrade plans for the weapon. First deliveries of the AASM to the French military are underway, although those are early production versions. The first full-rate production weapons are to be handed over to the air force this year, with deliveries to the navy to follow soon after.
BOMBARDIER HAS COMPLETED INITIAL TESTS of the engines powering the Challenger 605 business jet, paving the way for first flight later this month. The Challenger 605 is an upgraded version of the Challenger 604 and features Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics and a cabin with increased volume and larger windows. Following first flight, plans call for flying the twin-engine jet to Bombardier's Flight Test Center in Wichita, Kan., to complete a 200-hr. test and certification program.
Michael E. Shaw has become the first director of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Coordination Office, an interagency organization of the U.S. Defense and Transportation Depts. devoted to GPS issues. He was director of navigation and spectrum policy in the Office of the Undersecretary of Transportation.
Retired EasyJet CEO Ray Webster has become the inaugural inductee for the Hall of Fame at the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. He also received the CAPA Legends Award, which honors strategic leadership, innovation and influence in the aviation industry.
Airbus is reworking parts of an A340 wing after a production accident. The incident last month at the facility in Broughton, Wales, occurred when the wing was being moved from a trolley used in production to one used for transport. When lowering the wing onto the second trolley, one of the supports failed and the wing tip fell about 4 ft.; the support on the rest of the wing held. No injuries occurred, and Airbus believes the damage is limited to the wing surface.
Greg Stephens has been appointed chief operating officer and Mickey Bowman vice president-scheduling and planning of the Mesa Air Group's Hawaiian operation. Stephens was president of Mesa's Air Midwest subsidiary. Succeeding Stephens is George Lippemeier, who has been vice president-security at Mesa Airlines. Bowman was Mesa Air Group's director of planning.
Emirates SkyCargo is to start once-a-week freighter service on Jan. 13 with an Airbus A310-300F from Dubai to Lilongwe, Malawi. Air Cargo Ltd., a subsidiary of Malawi's flag carrier, Air Malawi, will jointly operate the flights. Malawi's imports will include pharmaceuticals and IT equipment; exports will range from textiles and furniture to perishables such as flowers and vegetables.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Lydia Janow at +1 (212) 904-3225/+1 (800) 240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada Only) Apr. 5-6--U.S. Defense Dept. Budgets and Programs Conference, Arlington, Va. Apr. 25-26--MRO Military Conference, Phoenix. Apr. 25-27--MRO USA Conference & Exhibition 2006, Phoenix. May 16-17--MRO Military Europe, in conjunction with ILA air show, Berlin. Sept. 19-21--MRO Asia Conference & Exhibition, Xiamen, China.
Roy Robertson, principal systems engineer at Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, has received the 2005 Volare Award in the avionics manufacturer category from the Airline Avionics Institute. He was selected by a committee of his peers and cited for his work on the WXR-2100 MultiScan Hazard Weather Detection System--a fully automatic radar that is designed to decrease pilot workload, and enhance safety and passenger comfort by reducing unexpected turbulence encounters.
Astronomers using a network of radio telescopes stretching from Hawaii to the Caribbean have refined measurement of the distance to the Milky Way spiral arm nearest Earth, confirming that it is only about half as distant as previously estimated. "Our neighbors are closer than we thought," says Ye Xu of Shanghai Astronomical Observatory, lead author of results first published at the Science Express web site.
That creaking sound you heard last week was shrunken fares along the East Coast starting to expand as Independence Air stopped flying on Jan. 5. The bankrupt carrier, which operated profitably as a regional affiliate of United Airlines and Delta Air Lines until 2004, gave up its attempt to attract capital, either through investment or a sale, ending its 18-month foray into the treacherous world of low-fare aviation.
Ian V. Ziskin (see photo) has become corporate vice president/chief human resources and administrative officer for the Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp. He succeeds J. Michael Hateley, who will retire on Mar. 1. Ziskin was vice president of human resources and leadership strategy.
NASA exploration managers and planetary geologists are examining images of the Moon made by the Hubble Space Telescope. They were taken to determine the telescope's ability to provide geochemical maps for future lunar manned operations.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] Jan. 18-19--Aviation Industry Conferences' Airline Engineering & Maintenance Conference for the Indian Sub-Continent. Intercontinental The Grand Mumbai, India. Also, Feb. 8-9--14th Annual Aero Engine Cost Management Conference. Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Hollywood, Fla. Call +44 (207) 828-4376 or see www.aviation-industry.com
The Virgin Atlantic/Scaled Composites GlobalFlyer around-the-world aircraft was damaged last week in a towing accident in Salina, Kan. The incident took place before the aircraft was to take off for the Kennedy Space Center, from which it is to attempt another global record (AW&ST Jan. 2, p. 18). After fueling, the aircraft was being pushed by hand into a hangar when the left wing trailing edge hit the fuel truck about 2 in. from the tip.
Commemorating the Jan. 4 second anniversary of the rover Spirit's landing on Mars, the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory released this polar projection of Spirit on the flanks of Husband Hill to which it continues to descend (AW&ST Nov. 14, 2005 p. 48). Note how clean the rover's solar arrays are after periodic dust storm cleaning. This mosaic, composed of hundreds of Cornell University Pancam images, is the single largest panorama ever obtained by Spirit. It shows the hillside and floor of Gusev crater below.
NASA may try to drop a sensor into a permanently dark crater at one of the Moon's poles as early as 2008 to probe for water ice in the super-cold shade there. The idea is one option for using extra payload capacity gained from a decision to launch the planned Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) on an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) instead of a smaller Delta II. Also under study is the launch of one or more small communications/navigation satellites to support future lunar exploration missions.
Endurance testing and certification trials for the next iteration of the CFM56 turbofan are set to begin this year for the latest enhancement to the Airbus and Boeing narrow-body powerplant offerings.
The Russian air force will receive two upgraded Tupolev Tu-160 Blackjack bombers this year, according to Lt. Gen. Igor Khvorov, head of strategic aviation. At least one of the Tu-160s was due for delivery in 2005 and one of the aircraft appears to have been assembled from airframe components from the original production run. Khvorov also says the air force had test fired 10 of a "new class" of missiles last year. This almost certainly is a reference to Raduga Kh-555, a conventionally armed version of the Kh-55 (AS-15 Kent) nuclear-armed cruise missile.
Rockwell Collins is supplying data links for one Canadian Forces aircraft already in service and a new helicopter in development. The company has been selected by General Dynamics Canada (part of the Sikorsky-led Maritime Helicopter Team) to provide 40 Link 11 modem and data link processors for the new H-92 Cyclone aircraft. General Dynamics will integrate the systems on the airframe to provide situational awareness over HF, UHF and satellite communications.
