An anticipated increase in the use of onboard amenities could lead to airliner cabin configuration problems that Airbus hopes to avoid by taking firmer control. In the process, traditional suppliers of buyer-furnished equipment (BFE)--such as inflight entertainment devices--may feel pushed aside by the European airplane manufacturer.
Jayme Reinisch has become chief financial officer of Ballistic Recovery Systems, South St. Paul, Minn. He was corporate controller for Herold Precision Metals.
The British Defense Ministry is bundling its secondhand equipment sales business, the Disposal Services Agency (DSA), with its logistics arm. The DSA as of Apr. 1 will become part of the Defense Logistics Organization. The agency has until now been part of the Defense Export Services Organization.
Singapore's position as a maintenance, repair and overhaul hub grew a bit more last week when ST Aerospace opened a $12-million two-bay narrow-body hangar at Seletar Airport. Singapore's MRO output rose 16% last year to S$4.5 million ($2.7 million), noted Trade & Industry Minister Heng Chee How. A series of MRO-related projects were inaugurated last year, including a new factory for Rohr Aero Service-Asia, Rolls-Royce's Advance Technology Center and Eurocopter's Southeast Asia headquarters.
Christopher Wickens, a retired psychology professor and head of the Aviation Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, has received the Flight Safety Foundation-Airbus Human Factors in Aviation Safety Award for his research into aviation human factors. Wickens has focused on models of human interaction with complex systems, especially aerospace, and on the roles of human perception, attention and cognition in designing display interfaces for those systems.
The Mar. 28 issue incorrectly identified the CEO of Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprises. He is Robert Martin. Also, SALE may select the 737-900X (not -900) as part of its order for 20 737NGs from Boeing.
The cost to develop the larger, more powerful Global Hawk RQ-4B unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is swelling by as much as $150 million, prompting Pentagon overseers to withhold nearly $400 million from this year's work until the Air Force forms a get-well plan.
Spain's Riu group has sold half of its 9.9% stake in TUI to Spanish savings bank CAM, but confirmed that it will remain a long-term strategic partner, with a 5.1% stake. Riu had acquired the share in December, together with CAM and Grupo Empresas Matutes, as part of a stock disposal by WestLB that was intended to block a hostile takeover.
An In-Orbit item in the Mar. 28 issue (p. 17) misstated the makeup of the consortia bidding to deploy and operate the Galileo satellite navigation system. Finmeccanica is part of the Eurely consortium. EADS and Thales belong to iNavSat.
The Transportation Security Administration's plan to roll out its new computerized airline passenger prescreening system this summer faces rough going in Congress in light of a critical report from the Government Accountability Office. The GAO says the TSA's Secure Flight screening program is about four months behind schedule and has addressed only one of 10 areas deemed critical by Congress. In 2004 legislation, Congress required the TSA to nail down issues such as protecting passenger data from hackers before proceeding.
Paul Neary has been promoted to maintenance, repair and overhaul market segment manager from senior account representative for the 3M Aerospace and Aircraft Maintenance Div., St. Paul, Minn.
Douglas E. Lavin has been appointed Washington-based regional vice president-North America for the International Air Transport Assn., effective May 1. He has been assistant FAA administrator for international aviation. Lavin succeeds David O'Connor, who has resigned.
In a long-awaited move, USAF gave General Atomics Aeronautical Systems a $68.2-million contract for development and demonstration of the MQ-9 Hunter-Killer Aircraft, a variant of the new turboprop-powered Predator-B. The program involves retrofitting four aircraft with weapons carrying and targeting capability.
Boeing snagged a $609.3-million contract from the U.S. Air Force's Air-to-Ground Munitions Systems Wing at Eglin AFB, Fla., to provide 30,072 Joint Direct Attack Munition guidance kits for 500-, 1,000- and 2,000-lb. bombs. The work is to be completed by February 2007. The company also won a $216.7-million contract for design and development of a Combat Network Communication Technology system for the B-52H by 2010.
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has two new contracts to build instruments for NASA spacecraft. NASA Ames Research Center awarded Ball an initial $13.4-million contract to design and build a photometer for the Kepler mission, which will search for Earth-sized planets in other solar systems. Total value of the five-year contract is $75.1 million. Meanwhile, the Goddard Space Flight Center tapped Ball to build the Global Precipitation Measurement-Microwave Imager for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) spacecraft.
The 100-ton space shuttle orbiter Discovery is hoisted near the top of the 525-ft.-high Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) for stacking on its 155-ft. Lockheed Martin external tank and 3-million-lb.-thrust ATK Thiokol solid rocket boosters (bottom of photo). Techni-cians oversaw the transfer of Discovery from its Orbiter Processing Facility into the VAB on Mar. 29 for the mating that should result in rollout to Launch Complex 39B by early this week.
Reacting to the recent dash for the door by a spate of Air Force leaders, the Pentagon's acting procurement chief, Michael Wynne, has stripped the service of buying authority in its most important programs. Twenty-one of the Air Force's top procurements will now fall directly under Wynne's authority, bypassing the service's major milestone decisions. Among them are the $32-billion Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program, the $11-billion C-5 reengining effort and a host of weapon projects.
Lynn Juengel has been named technical services manager and Bill Garghill director of customer service for the Banyan Air Service, Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
James F. Gerwien has been promoted to president from general manager of Ontic Engineering & Manufacturing Inc., Chatsworth, Calif. He succeeds Ted Allred, who is now chairman.
Lufthansa Cargo, Deutsche Post World Net and DPWN's Danzas logistics unit have created a joint venture in Miramar, Fla., dedicated to providing end-to-end, temperature-controlled transportation services for life sciences applications. The venture, LifeConEx, was to start operation on Apr. 1 as part of Lufthansa's strategy of building up high-value-added, time-definite freight services and deemphasizing general cargo. DPWN also owns parcel express carrier DHL.
Michael Cleary has been appointed general manager and Paul Krog director of aircraft services for Galvin Flying Services Inc. of Seattle. Cleary was president/chief operating officer of Western Aircraft Inc., Boise, Idaho. Krog was a program manager for Bombardier Aerospace Services in Dallas and Denver.
U.S. lawmakers are demanding a plan from the Pentagon to dismantle a key initiative from Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's Space Commission--naming one individual to oversee billions of dollars of space work, including classified efforts at the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) and the unclassified work of the Air Force space program.
Flight trials of BAE Systems' Striker helmet-mounted display system have begun on the Eurofighter Typhoon. The trial sorties marked the first flights of a binocular, visor-projected, night-vision-capable helmet on a fighter. Additional tests are planned throughout 2005, and production-ready versions of the helmet will fly in the latter part of the year, clearing the way for production for Typhoon Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 aircraft. Prior to the flight trials, the helmet design passed a series of tests, including impact and penetration to U.K.
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