Charles White has been promoted to manager of the Long Beach (Calif.) Learning Center of FlightSafety International from assistant manager of the St. Louis center. Chuck Milhiser has been promoted to assistant manager from director of training at the Tucson (Ariz.) center, and Julie Goodridge to assistant manager at the West Palm Beach (Fla.) center from product marketing manager at the Wilmington (Del.) center.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank has approved almost $60 million in financing support for Brazil-based Lider Taxi Aero to buy 10 Sikorsky S-76C helicopters and spare parts. The helicopters would be used for passenger and cargo transport.
Only two teams remain in the bidding for a contract to deploy and operate the Galileo navigation satellite system, following the withdrawal of a Eutelsat-led consortium just prior to the bid submittal deadline on Sept. 1. Eutelsat, which had been allied with Hispasat, Logica, Fiat and Aena, said it was unable to meet the stringent bid requirements, which among other things called for an investment of some 1.4 billion euros ($1.7 billion).
Boeing and Lockheed Martin will square off over the next 15 months to determine which company will develop and supply the radio for the bulk of the U.S. military's aircraft fleet. The Pentagon just awarded Boeing a $54.6-million contract and Lockheed Martin $51.3 million for the airborne, maritime and fixed station (AMF) component of the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS)--a much larger Defense Dept. effort to field a new generation of software-programmable radios. Northrop Grumman was the losing bidder.
Tony Charaf has been named senior vice president of Delta TechOps, effective Oct. 1. He was senior vice president of Delta Air Logistics and succeeds Ray Valeika, who is scheduled to retire. Neil Stronach, who was director of aircraft base maintenance, has been named vice president of Delta's Operations Planning, Control and Reliability Div. He succeeds Bill Wangerien, who has retired.
Oceanit Laboratories has been awarded a $49.6-million contract to provide research, design, prototyping, system deployments and upgrades for the Extended High-Accuracy Network Orbital Determination System for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, N.M.
PanAmSat has awarded Ariane-space a contract to launch its Galaxy XVII spacecraft on an Ariane 5 booster in early 2006. Arianespace also agreed to switch Galaxy XIV, initially scheduled for Ariane 5, to the Starsem/Soyuz, so it could be orbited by year-end. The launch firm also landed a pair of orders from DirecTV (see p. 28).
Scientists who had hoped to learn about the evolution of the Solar System from the two-salt-grains' worth of solar samples housed in NASA's Genesis probe will have to content themselves with what they can glean from the spacecraft's shattered remains in the weeks and months ahead.
Patricia Powell (see photos) has been appointed director of business transformation and best practices for the Lockheed Martin Corp. at the NASA Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. She was director of safety product assurance and has been succeeded by Richard Harris. He was manager of program development.
Boeing is moving toward reaching major Italian air force KC-767A tanker milestones early next year, but meeting key offset requirements is in jeopardy as long as the U.S. Air Force's counterpart tanker program remains stalled.
I hope you solicit responses from the 9/11 commission from your great Aug. 23/30 editorial. As a retired aerospace engineer (35-plus years at Boeing), I wonder how many of the tens of thousands of aerospace retirees would volunteer for a task force to work on yours and the commission's recommendations. This would defuse a lot of concerns that the administration and Congress would have about costs. Many retirees held security clearances, thus saving the 18 months it takes to investigate new hires.
The Raytheon Hawker 800XP has been cleared to operate from London City Airport. Fractional ownership specialist Netjets is looking to offer flights from London City to European, Middle East and North African destinations. The operator has a fleet of 13 Hawker 800s, including three delivered so far this year. A further three are due before year-end. It already operates the Cessna Citation Bravo and Excel out of London City.
The Pentagon is about to embark on negotiations for two major international defense projects, but government and industry officials believe wider efforts to ease transatlantic partnering have largely run out of steam.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Goddard Space Flight Center, Md.)
Robotic technology being developed out of necessity to keep the Hubble Space Telescope operating could also lead to new levels of man-machine teamwork in deep-space exploration down the road--if it survives the near-term scramble for funding.
Michael Blake has been appointed senior vice president-commercial business for Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron. He was vice president/director of the Comanche helicopter program at the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
Ray Toosky, principal aerospace product engineer, and Soheil Eshraghi, director of product engineering for aerospace fasteners, both for Textron Fastening Systems, Santa Ana, Calif., have received the Chairman's Award for Innovation. They were recognized for developing the Cherry Rivetless Nut Plate, a fastening system that is described as having the potential to save the aircraft industry millions of dollars annually.
Ted Mallory has become senior vice president-flight operations for Miami-based Astar Air Cargo. He was an aviation safety inspector for the FAA and is a retired captain and chief pilot for Northwest Airlines.
Matthew W. Donnelly has become vice president-production for Aerospace Composite Structures, Rio Ranchos, N.M. He was technical staff principal at the Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, N.M.
Rear Adm. James B. Godwin, 3rd, has been named director of the Navy and Marine Corps Intranet at the Pentagon. He has been program executive officer for Tactical Aircraft Programs, NAS Patuxent River, Md. He will be succeeded by Rear Adm. (lower half) David J. Venlet, who has been commander of the Naval Warfare Center Weapons Div., China Lake, Calif.
EADS reportedly has submitted a bid for 25% of One Equity Partner's stake in German submarine builder HDW, which earlier this year agreed to sell the rest of the 100% stake to Thyssen/Blohm & Voss, another German shipyard. EADS Co-CEO Philippe Camus declined to confirm the bid, although he did say one wasn't excluded. However, he remarked that other options are under consideration to enable the aerospace and defense giant to have a role in the looming restructuring of the fragmented European naval market.
The binational U.S./Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command may add a third member and assume more responsibilities to bolster security of the entire continent, according to Norad's four-star commander.
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The final Rocketdyne-powered original design of the Atlas-Centaur booster lifts off from Cape Canaveral Aug. 31 carrying a secret National Reconnaissance Office payload with elliptical orbit relay mission characteristics. The 155-ft.-tall International Launch Services Atlas IIAS was the last of a line combining Rocketdyne first-stage MA-5A engines with Pratt & Whitney RL10 upper-stage engines. It was also the last mission for Launch Complex 36A (see p. 64). Lockheed Martin photo by Patrick Corkery.
Singapore Airlines is once again looking at staff cuts. Barely five months ago, Chief Executive Chew Choon Seng vowed to improve labor relations after a tough 2003 forced many layoffs at an airline accustomed to steady profits. But high-priced fuel and competition from discounters mean more job cuts are likely.
