Steve Isakowitz has been appointed deputy associate NASA administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. He has been NASA's comptroller.
Boeing Co.'s plan to focus on systems integration and final assembly is hitting full stride with deals to divest two major operations. The aerospace giant is selling its Wichita, Kan.-based aircraft assembly operations, which produce 737 fuselages, to Canadian investment group Onex Corp. for $1.2 billion in cash and assumed liabilities. Boeing also has agreed to sell Rocketdyne, a leading space propulsion business, to United Technologies Corp. for $700 million (see story, p. 34).4
As airlines simplify, simplify, simplify, new e-tools and platforms are taking the headaches out of fare shopping. The alphabet soup of fare designators is rapidly disappearing. Now, no-nonsense, what-you-see-is-what-you-get fares are emerging. Air Canada, for instance, last year became the first legacy carrier to transform to a low-fare, low-cost carrier. In doing so, it whittled down dozens of fare types to five, with the ticket price corresponding to the type of travel flexibility/services desired.
Dick Grant has been promoted to assistant manager from director of standards at FlightSafety International's Savannah (Ga.) Learning Center. Russ Axtell has been promoted to assistant manager for FSI's Raytheon Learning Center, Wichita, Kan., from instructor and training center evaluator for Raytheon Hawker aircraft. Axtell succeeds Tom Booth, who has been promoted to manager of FSI's Columbus (Ohio) Center.
Thomas A. Kennedy (see photo) has been appointed vice president-Integrated Airborne Systems for Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems (SAS), El Segundo, Calif. He has headed the Unmanned and Reconnaissance Systems unit, which is now part of SAS.
The ability for British ground commanders to pass digital mission and targeting information to attack helicopter crew came a step closer with successful trials this month. Under the Apache Bowman Connectivity (ABC) program, the Defense Ministry is working to provide both voice and data communications from its Bowman digital radio network to the AgustaWestland WAH-64 Apache AH Mk1 attack helicopter. Bringing the WAH-64 within the Bowman network is central to the army's air maneuver capability.
The first of 14 AgustaWestland EH 101 helicopters on order for Japan had its debut flight Feb. 15. The helicopter will be shipped to Japan later this year, following an acceptance phase in the U.K. Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) will assemble the remaining 13 aircraft from kits provided by the manufacturer. The first KHI-assembled helicopter will be delivered to the Japanese Defense Agency in 2006.
Unlimited use of cell phones in the sky--one traveler's heaven, another's cell hell. The idea's time has come, and airlines had best start writing a peace policy for the anticipated Cellularmageddon. But first, a battlefield assessment:
Leonard Hicks has been named vice president-business operations for the Lockheed Martin Corp.'s Orlando, Fla.-based Simulation, Training and Support Div. He was director of finance and business operations for the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense program for Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, Calif.
In another step away from being its own supplier of aerospace parts and assemblies, Boeing is selling its Wichita, Kan., commercial aerostructures business unit to Onex Corp., a Toronto investment group, and its Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power unit to United Technologies Corp.
Bell Helicopter Textron, not Lockheed Martin, is prime contractor and leads the team competing in the U.S. Army's Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter program (AW&ST Feb. 21, p. 42). Lockheed Martin is performing systems integration work for Bell.
Gerald L. Mack, who is vice president-government and industry technical liaison for Boeing Commercial Airplanes, has been elected head of the Civil Aviation Council of the Arlington, Va.-based Aerospace Industries Assn. Other councils and their new heads are: Communications Council, Rosanne O'Brien, corporate vice president-communications for the Northrop Grumman Corp.; International Council, Richard Kirkland, vice president-corporate international business development for the Lockheed Martin Corp.; Procurement & Finance Council, Timothy P.
Dan Sabovich, founding father of the Mojave (Calif.) Airport and Civilian Flight Test Center, died Feb. 16 in Bakersfield, Calif. He was 79. Originally a farmer, Sabovich and then-U.S. Rep. Barry Goldwater, Jr., formulated a plan for converting a former U.S. Marine Corps air base near Mojave to a civilian airport district that catered to flight testing. A certificated pilot, Sabovich was named the facility's first manager in 1972, and he immediately started building what became the National Civilian Flight Test Center.
Software is both the friend and foe of aerospace. It provides enormous flexibility, but ensnares with a complexity that can lead to programmatic and physical disaster. Engineers are slowly getting better at handling software as projects grow ever more sophisticated, but it still continues to bite. The near-loss of the Mars rover Spirit due to memory problems a year ago is one example (AW&ST Feb. 9, 2004, p. 33).
T.W. Morgan presented cases for safety and economic benefit in his pitch for WestJet to adopt the satellite-based Required Navigation Performance as an airborne navigation system.
I hope Boeing will not leave the very large-aircraft market solely to Airbus' new A380 (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 25), especially since the 747 invented the market. I wonder if it would be practical to extend the -400 series upper deck the entire length of the fuselage? Civil aircraft manufacturers have a seemingly endless ability to juggle weight/range/length to produce variations of any basic successful design, so perhaps this modification would be "easy." This would seem to provide perhaps a 500-seat aircraft that would have many benefits over the A380.
The first GE/Rolls-Royce F136 short takeoff and vertical landing development engine has begun testing at General Electric's Peebles, Ohio, facility. The engine was connected to the Rolls-Royce lift fan and run to perform idle leak checks and to begin initial mechanical and controls evaluation. The powerplant is expected to be tested through May for a total of 300 hr. The company anticipates the award of a new multi-year systems design and development contract.
An overworked mechanic who didn't place a safety pin in a hydraulic bolt of the tail rotor of a U.S. Marine Corps CH-53D was blamed for its crash as it approached the Marines' Futema AB on Okinawa last August. An investigation conducted by a joint Japan-U.S. committee said the mechanic had worked 17 hr. a day for three consecutive days during the period the helicopter was being maintained. There were no serious injuries, but the helicopter was destroyed by fire.
Emirates Airlines CEO Maurice Flanagan, flying in the face of conventional wisdom, last week told members of the Wings Club in New York that he "sees no business case" for joining a global alliance. The Dubai-based carrier has been approached by all of the major ones and rejected all overtures. One of his concerns is the possible loss of Emirates' strong identity. He and his management team also are highly protective of the airline's information technology system. "There's no way we would ever contract it out," he declared.
Confident that its robust growth is here to stay, Ryanair says it now expects to operate up to 418 aircraft by 2012. Late last week, the Irish carrier signed a follow-on order for an additional 70 Boeing 737-800s valued at "over $4 billion" and optioned another 70 aircraft. According to Ryanair, the revised fleet plan now comprises 225 firm orders and 193 options.
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Jason Steele completely missed the vital point. Delta and other legacy airlines needed to lower their costs more before attempting such a major reduction in fares. It is not enough to be competitive in fares, one must also be competitive in margins. Most analysts agree the fare war will dilute legacy yields and revenues far more than any increase in revenues generated by lower fare traffic stimulation, at least in the near term. For some legacy airlines, there is no far term.
Russia and Indonesia are preparing a space-cooperation deal that will feature Earth remote sensing and include other joint scientific research and possibly joint spacecraft development. Anatoly Permanov, head of the Russian Space Agency, and Indonesian ambassador to Moscow Susanto Pudjomartono met in the Russian capital last week to pursue a preliminary agreement dating from April 2003. Ultimately the two nations expect to produce an intergovernmental agreement on space cooperation, according to Russia's Interfax news agency.
Low-fare carrier USA3000 plans to increase services to Florida destinations. On May 2, it will operate twice-weekly flights between Washington Dulles International Airport and Fort Myers, and three times weekly services between Baltimore-Washington International and Fort Lauderdale. On May 3, it is to begin three-times-weekly services between Chicago O'Hare and Orlando. The carrier operates scheduled and charter flights with Airbus A320 aircraft in 168-seat, single-class configuration from Northeast and Midwest cities to Florida, the Dominican Republic and Mexico.
Nagoya, home to many of Japan's best known industries, expects to become a key hub for flights into China and the rest of Asia with the opening of the Central Japan International Airport. Dubbed Centrair (Chubu in Japanese), the facility was eagerly awaited by the country's major carriers, All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, for regional flights. It opened Feb. 17.
