Despite receiving some good news with the recovery of the cockpit voice and data recorders from the Aug. 6 crash of a Tuninter ATR 72 off the Sicilian coast, accident investigators remain worried as to whether the devices suffered serious damage during the crash that killed 16 of 39 on board.
Johnny Gardsaeter (see photo) has become general manager of Aviareps in Stockholm. He has been managing director at TMS-Target Marketing of Scandinavia.
Thomas W. Horton has been named to the board of directors of Houston-based ExpressJet Holdings. He succeeds Thomas E. Schick, who has resigned. Horton is vice chairman/chief financial officer of the AT&T Corp. and was senior vice president/CFO of the AMR Corp.
Icelandair Cargo has taken delivery in August of a Boeing 757-200PCF, the second 757 freighter converted for the cargo operator by Precision Conversions of Beaverton, Ore. The first was delivered in June after more than a year's delay in the conversion process (AW&ST Apr. 11, p. 50). Icelandair operates three 757 freighters. A fourth will be converted by SIE/Alcoa at Cascade Aerospace, with delivery expected in April 2006.
As its largest-ever real-world operation, Northern Command is coordinating U.S. military support to Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. So far, that support has been focused on logistics, communications and medical care. Among its Katrina-related activities, Northcom is coordinating U.S. Transportation Command's medical airlift of about 2,500 patients from New Orleans International Airport, and securing air-staging bases to expedite movement of relief supplies and personnel.
BAE Systems has received a U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command contract to produce spare electronic control units (ECUs) for the General Electric T700 engines installed on UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters. The 400 spares are valued at $10.6 million. Production will be managed from the company's Fort Wayne site. The contract follows the initial $4.9-million order for 135 spare ECUs, which was completed in September 2004.
Russia's military is poised for a strong boost in spending, with parliament considering adding to the budget increase proposed by the executive branch. The government's budget submission aims at reversing some of the deep cuts the military has suffered in recent years. In addition to an overall boost in public spending, the military and other elements of the national security apparatus face double-digit funding increases.
Marc Duvall has been named president of the Engine Control Systems business of the Goodrich Corp., Charlotte, N.C. He was vice president/general manager for Honeywell Process Solutions in the Americas. Duvall succeeds Ron Hodges, who plans to retire in March.
Kyle Farley (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-operations from director of manufacturing of Meggitt/S-TEC, Mineral Wells, Tex. Trevor Palmeri has been named vice president-programs and customer support. He was director of the CV-22 program for Bell Helicopter Textron of Fort Worth.
Concerned about job security, retirement and health-care benefits, the 18,500 aerospace machinists at Boeing Commercial Airplanes were poised to reject a three-year contract offer and head to the picket lines late last week. Results of the Sept. 1 vote were not complete at press time, but Dick Schneider, coordinator for the 98 contracts held nationwide by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, called Boeing's Aug. 30 best and final offer "insulting" and predicted a high turnout to vote for a strike.
A 96-person strike in the test department at Rolls-Royce's military engine facility in Bristol is continuing. Production of engines is moving ahead, but deliveries are stalled.
Officials from EADS and French civil aviation authority DGAC are to appear this month and next at the judicial investigation into the 2000 Concorde crash. Prosecutors are examining whether enough was done to try to fix known Concorde problems. Meanwhile, Judge Christophe Regnard has issued an international arrest warrant for a Continental Airlines welder who worked on the DC-10 that lost a component believed to have struck Concorde on takeoff, eventually leading to the crash.
The mechanics' strike at Northwest Airlines pits a stubborn union against a management determined to survive at the lowest cost in a low-fare world. The dispute is likely to play out until either some form of surrender by the union, an end of the relationship through bankruptcy, or an unlikely government intervention.
USN Rear Adm. Melvin G. Williams, Jr., has been appointed director of global operations for U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He has been deputy commander of the Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike at Offutt. He is being succeeded by Rear Adm. (lower half) David L. Philman, who has been head of the Appropriations Matters Office in Washington.
World News Roundup 18 Investigation continues into Peruvian Boeing 737 crash 18 F135 engine for Joint Strike Fighter undergoes altitude tests 19 Two USAF Thunderbird F-16s make contact during air show 19 Predator B to patrol U.S.-Mexico bor- der for illegal aliens, smugglers 20 Chinese in midst of twin-spacecraft military recon operation 20 Obituaries for Philippe Poisson- Quinton and Robert F. Scott World News & Analysis
The decision by several European aviation authorities to publish "blacklists" of banned airlines has caused a split in Europe that will have to be bridged as the European Union struggles to devise rules covering all 25 members.
Accident investigators continue to search for clues to the Aug. 23 crash of a Tans Peru Boeing 737-200 at Pucallpa, Peru, that killed 37 of the estimated 95 people on board.
A South African air force Rooivalk attack helicopter crashed last month during a routine flight from air force base Bloemspruit. A technical malfunction was cited as the cause. The defense ministry had recently petitioned parliament for at least another $92 million to complete development of the project.
THE NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF CANADA'S Institute for Aerospace Research will be flight testing an experimental millimeter-wave radar imager next summer on a Falcon 20 to evaluate single- and multi-sensor enhanced vision system head-up guidance in low visibility. Millimeter-wave radar can see through fog, heavy rain and snow better than passive infrared sensors used now for enhanced vision in business jets.
Joel L. Johnson has become executive director-international of the Teal Group Corp., Fairfax, Va. He retired as vice president-international affairs of the Washington-based Aerospace Industries Assn.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: Anthony L. Velocci, Jr. [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editor: Michael Stearns [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, 25th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068 Senior News Editor: Nora Titterington
Every 2-3 years the Age 60 Rule comes up. Nothing ever happens. The answer is simple: Pilots today at Age 60, with a life expectancy of 76, are in far better shape than a 1959 pilot at Age 60 with an expectancy of 64. If the FAA isn't ready to follow the European Joint Aviation Authority's limit of Age 65, why not settle for Age 62?
Singapore Airlines has signed a 10-year contract with GE for its OnPointSM Solutions service for maintenance, repair and overhaul of its GE90-115B engines. The 115,000-lb.-thrust -115Bs power the 19 Boeing 777-300ERs that SIA will begin putting into service next year.
Back from summer vacation, Congress now has to address differences in House and Senate spending bills for the Transportation Dept., and a deadlock over Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard funding in competing versions of the Homeland Security Dept. appropriations bill. Complicating matters: repercussions for aviation interests from skyrocketing fuel prices and Hurricane Katrina.
