Mission managers on the upcoming space shuttle flight will have the best view ever of any debris damage to the orbiter's thermal protection system (TPS), but they won't be able to order repairs with real confidence if they spot damage serious enough to trigger a repeat of the 2003 Columbia disaster.
Bernie Yonkovitz, who is a fleet metallurgical engineer, and Tom Ernst, manager of line maintenance planning, both for US Airways, have received the FAA Flight Standards Service Commitment to Safety Award. They were cited for research and development of an enhanced treatment program to improve the safety and efficiency of the fuel systems of US Airways' fleet. Also recognized were their FAA colleagues, Doyal Miller and Ray Dougherty.
US Airways was talking merger with America West well in advance of its second bankruptcy filing, but the pay, pension and retiree-benefit cutbacks of its current stint in Chapter 11 are what made the deal feasible, according to a regulatory filing by America West.
BOEING AEROSPACE SUPPORT AND FOKKER SERVICES B.V., part of the Stork Aerospace Group in the Netherlands, will upgrade the cockpits of three (K)DC-10 aircraft for the Royal Netherlands Air Force under a $36-million contract.
Germany's Telair International, a Teleflex subsidiary, will design and manufacture the cargo-handling system for Boeing's 747 Large Cargo Freighters (LCFs) that will deliver major assemblies for the 787 program. Telair's system features "intelligent" power drive units that are network controlled to allow them to communicate with each other to improve the system's safety and reduce labor costs.
Fulfilling a long-term prediction, the U.S. Army has decided that Embraer's ERJ 145 regional jet won't be a big enough platform to meet the Army and Navy's needs for an Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) intelligence-gathering aircraft. Weight growth appears to be the main problem. The new short list of candidates includes Boeing's 717 and 737, Airbus' A318 and A319, Embraer's 190, the Gulfstream 550 and Bombardier's Global Express.
Sometimes too many choices can get you in trouble. The U.S. Coast Guard found that out recently when it offered four long-term funding scenarios for its Deepwater fleet modernization program. The House Appropriations panel that funds the Coast Guard has given the agency until July 14 to submit a single detailed plan of how it will recapitalize its aging fleet of 90 ships and 200 aircraft. A hearing on the plan is slated for July 21.
Michael McMillan (see photo), president of Meggitt/S-TEC, Mineral Wells, Tex., has been appointed to the board of directors of the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn.
Boeing, don't close the order book--Air Canada's pilot union and the Canada Industrial Relations Board may help revive the airline's 32-aircraft order. Air Canada on Apr. 25 reached a tentative agreement with Boeing for 18 firm orders and 18 options for new-model 777s, plus 14 firm orders and 46 options for 787s--with the aim of replenishing its aging wide-body fleet of about 65 aircraft over the next 10 years (AW&ST May 2, p. 36).
Robert Vacek has become president/general manager of the Starsys Research Corp., Boulder, Colo. He has been vice president-programs. Company founder Scott Tibbitts will remain as CEO.
Joe Davis has been named chief of strategic communications for NASA and David R. Mould assistant administrator for public affairs. Davis was principal deputy director of public affairs for the U.S. Energy Dept., while Mould was special assistant to the Energy secretary, focusing on strategic communications policies.
The Pentagon, beset recently by a host of widely publicized scandals--Abu Ghraib, Iraq intelligence, acquisition mishaps and scuffles with top lawmakers--seems to be trying to tighten up on message control. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Lawrence Di Rita--the face of the Pentagon on those televised press conferences--has sent out a reminder to the military services that he is the node through which information passes to the public.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin drew a laugh on Capitol Hill last week when he declared "I hope never again to let the words spiral development cross my lips." It was a reference to the procurement approach favored by former exploration systems chief Craig Steidle, the first casualty in the incoming administrator's management housecleaning (AW&ST June 20, p. 48). "I have preferred a much more direct approach," Griffin says. That includes talks with Gen.
India will send a package of European instruments into lunar orbit on its planned Chandrayaan-1 probe, under a new agreement between the Indian Space Research Organization and the European Space Agency (ESA). India's first scientific mission to the Moon is planned for launch as early as 2007 by a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The 525-kg. (1,157-lb.) satellite is to be placed in 100-km. (62-mi.) polar orbit around the Moon, with a planned service life there of two years.
The good news from orbit is that a new load of electrolyte fluids helped kick-start the Russian Elektron oxygen generation system on board the International Space Station. The bad news is that the unit stopped working--again--less than 30 min. after it was restarted with the new fluid load. ISS Expedition 11 Commander Sergei Krikalev installed the electrolytes, which were delivered by the new Progress P-18 spacecraft that docked with the ISS June 18.
Telephonics Corp. has supplied four of its new transportable monopulse secondary surveillance radars (MSSRs) to China, along with one fixed-base unit, to meet rapidly growing air traffic demand.
The U.S. Army is scheduled to select the winner of its Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter competition late this month. Bell Helicopter Textron submitted a bid on June 24, offering a modified version of its commercial, single-engine Model 407 (see photo) for the program, which calls for up to 368 aircraft to be delivered during Fiscal 2006-11. The ARH would give the Army an aircraft capable of performing armed reconnaissance, troop insertion and light attack missions in day/night conditions and in poor visibility.
For good reason, the public has become cynical about CEOs. Many appear to see themselves principally as members of an executive elite--an increasingly mobile club whose members measure their pay and privileges against those of other CEOs. In the aerospace industry, Boeing's travails in the executive suite have served only to deepen this cynicism, with some executives pontificating about one set of standards of behavior while following another.
An order for six Boeing 767 freighter and passenger aircraft from Japan Airlines is giving an early indication to the life still left in the aging airframe. JAL, which has 37 767-200/300/300ERs in service and three 767-300ERs on order, will introduce three 767-300ER freighters beginning in April 2007 and take three 767-300ERs to supplement its midsize passenger fleet as it awaits first delivery of 30 787s in 2008.
Italy is starting to field upgraded Piaggio P.166s, but the scope of the program is still uncertain and the aircraft maker may end up trying to sell some of them on the used aircraft market.
Patrice Durand has become vice president/chief financial officer of the Paris-based Thales Group. He has been group vice CEO of the Credit Lyonnais group. Durand succeeds Ross McInnes, who has joined the PPR group.
Jana Denning has become research and development director for the Arlington, Va.-based Aerospace Industries Assn. She was a member of the staff of U.S. Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Kan.).
