USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Joseph F. Kilkenny has been appointed special assistant for human capital strategy to the commander of the Naval Air Force, Norfolk, Va. He has been director of the Aviation Plans and Requirements Branch in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations at the Pentagon.
Remember Joseph Stalin's response, in World War II, upon receiving Britain's well-meaning "gift" of a state-of-the-art Rolls-Royce fight- er engine: "Who would be so foolish as to give away their best technology?"
Christopher E. Kubasik (see photo) has been appointed executive vice president/chief financial officer of the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md. He was controller and had been a partner in Ernst & Young.
A U.S. Marine Corps Sikorsky CH-53D from the USMC Iwakuni air base near Hiroshima crashed near the campus of the Okinawa International University Aug. 13 while on a training mission. The three crewmembers were injured and the aircraft destroyed. Nobody on the ground was hurt. The university is located near the Marines' Futema air base, where training is controversial because of noise and safety issues.
U.S. Air Transport Assn. member carriers reported more mainline domestic traffic in July--46.3 billion revenue passenger miles--than in any month since the turn of the millennium. July also was the fourth month this year in which traffic exceeded that of the same month prior to the September 2001 terrorist attacks. International traffic continues to lag, however. Latin America has been up all year over 2001 levels, but Atlantic and Pacific still are down, as are system-wide mainline totals.
The European Commission's new team is expected to embark on efforts to accelerate a "free-market" strategy, including in air transportation, and sustain Europe's quest for a stronger economy and overall wealth. Major aviation issues are placed high on the EC's agenda, which also covers domestic affairs as well as transatlantic issues, disagreements and looming disputes--for example, the resurgence of a longtime battle on European government participation in Airbus program funding.
Engineers are examining how to make airliners more resilient when hit by ground fire, but luck, rather than design, is likely to spell the difference between death and survival if a missile strikes a commercial aircraft, some experts acknowledge.
Gen. Leonardo Tricarico has become the Italian air force chief of staff . He succeeds Gen. Sandro Ferracuti. Tricarico was military adviser to the prime minister.
Insurgents fired a hand-held missile at a DHL Airbus A300 departing Baghdad airport on Nov. 22, 2003. Remarkably, a photojournalist with the insurgents captured the attack on film. The first missile hit, but a second one missed. The A300 lost all hydraulics, and pilots used engine power alone to land safely. The fire burned through the fuel tank and part of the spar. (AW&ST Dec. 8, 2003, p. 42). Special report on "Aviation in an Age of Terror" begins on p. 56. Photos by Jerome Sessini/In Visu/Corbis.
William Pelletier, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Florida, has won The International Air Cargo Assn.'s Walter H. Johnson, Jr., scholarship for 2004. The $25,000 award is presented annually to a Ph.D. candidate in the air commerce field. Pelletier's thesis, "The Environmental Conditions in Aircraft Cargo Compartments," examines the effects of variations in temperature, relative humidity and pressure on the environment of aircraft cargo holds and the resulting impact on sensitive shipments such as livestock, perishables and electronics.
Peter J. Clare, a managing director at the Carlyle Group in Washington, has been named head of the firm's global aerospace, defense and government services industry group. He succeeds Managing Director Allan Holt, who will focus on co-managing Carlyle's U.S. buyout activities.
As the black helicopter with "Police" stamped on the side thunders up the Potomac River at treetop level and 160 mph., Andrew Breithaupt and the Steyr-Mannlicher rifle strapped to his chest are ready for action. Breithaupt, an officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), is the "gunner" and "bust team" on today's flight. He and the two pistol-packing pilots up front could well become the government's last line of defense if a lightweight aerial intruder were to turn on Washington. To the ICE men, this is a war zone.
Lockheed Martin and Rolls-Royce are defining what changes, if any, will be needed to the AE 3007 turbofan to meet U.S. Army requirements for the Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) reconnaissance aircraft. The AE 3007 engine family currently powers the Global Hawk unmanned surveillance vehicle, Cessna Citation X business aircraft and Embraer ERJ 135/145 transports. The ACS platform, selected just weeks ago, will be based on the ERJ 145 (AW&ST Aug. 9, p. 27). The latest version of the AE 3007 to power the Army aircraft has been designated the AE 3007 M1.
Record net aircraft sales enabled Embraer last week to report a second-quarter net profit of $126.5 million, an 18-fold increase over the same period a year ago. Sales soared 63%, to $924.3 million. The Brazilian airframe manufacturer also reported an 84% jump in revenue. Pre-tax earnings were approximately double the amount posted a year ago. In each case, the company exceeded the financial market's expectations.
KVH Industries TG-6000 inertial measurement unit employs a three-axis configuration of KVH digital signal processing FOGs integrated with three accelerometers. This provides outstanding performance, and easier system integration than competing systems, according to the company. Measuring motion and acceleration precisely in 3D, the TG-6000 is well-suited for uses that involve flight control, orientation, instrumentation or navigation, such as torpedoes, smart munition and unmanned aerial vehicles. KVH Industries Inc., 50 Enterprise Center, Middletown, R.I. 02842.
India's chief of naval staff, Adm. Arun Prakash, says the navy is "on the lookout for a good, long-range" surveillance aircraft even as it inducts 12 Dornier 228s for short-range patrol activities. The likely candidates are used U.S. Navy P-3 Orions equipped with Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicles. Prakash says the P-3s are "under negotiation."
A group of aviation safety experts is raising industry awareness to a growing threat to safety: airport ramp operations. The group, the Airport Operations Safety Panel (AOSP), meets next month at the Airports Council International (ACI) Conference in Houston to better define risks and find ways of raising the bar on ramp safety. Based on preliminary findings, AOSP is recommending that industry:
Morgan Advanced Ceramics components for X-ray scanning devices features hermetically sealed electrical feedthrus and enclosures that provide increased functionality and are designed to withstand high-voltage differentials up to 150,000 volts, according to the company. They note that ensured continuous operation makes them suitable for computer-aided tomography and cargo scanners. Engineered without size restriction, the mechanisms are designed for use in scanning devices capable of viewing contents of an entire cargo container or truck.
NASA and the Energy Dept. have figured out a plan to keep nuclear secrets as they collaborate on space nuclear power (see p. 38). "They speak to their work, and we speak to our work," says Ray Taylor, acting director of NASA's Project Prometheus.
The FAA's decision to cap Chicago O'Hare Airport's peak-period arrivals at 88 per hour reflects unwillingness to accept flight delays as the cost of making maximum use of airport capabilities.
GE Capital Aviation Services (Gecas) will open an office in Moscow to improve service to customer airlines and pursue what the company considers "tremendous growth opportunities" in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
Ophir Optronics Inc. has introduced two new measurement heads. The PD300-BB radiometer head has a spectrally flat response from 400-1,000 nm. and is recommended when the power measurement of broadband light is needed. PD-300CIE has a spectral response similar to that of the human eye and can make measurements in eye response units of LUX. Ophir Optics Inc., 260-A Fordham Road, Willmington, Mass. 01887. 99 on www.AviationNow.com/oic
