Scott Link has been appointed vice president-operations control for Cleveland-based Flight Options. He was general manager of JetBlue Airways in New York and had been manager of US Airways' Operations Control Center in Charlotte, N.C.
The transition to the new exploration program of a large number of people with critical propulsion and other skills will depend largely on how well the phaseout of the space shuttle is managed.
Mickey P. Foret and Douglas M. Steenland have been named to the board of directors of Minneapolis-based MAIR Holdings Inc., parent company of Mesaba Airlines and Big Sky Airlines. Foret is an airline industry consultant and former executive vice president/ chief financial officer of Northwest Airlines. Steenland is its president.
Ready-to-use commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) digitizer and analyzer cards from Acqiris USA provide increased performance and quality for fast, easy integration into OEM products, according to the company. The 8- and 12-bit cards, available with sampling rates of 100 MS/s-4 GS/s, with bandwidth up to 1 GHz. in PCI package, are suited for systems that acquire signals and must quickly analyze the results, in both commercial and government-related OEM applications such as lidar, radar, semiconductors test and 3D modeling.
Europe is embarking on a multibillion-dollar program to service and operate the International Space Station, pending agreement with ISS partners on final crew configuration and adherence by contractors to key development and production milestones. Unlike NASA, which plans to reorient its laboratories on the orbital facility toward space exploration, the European Space Agency intends to follow the initial mandate of employing its Columbus lab for microgravity science.
Magdy Michael has become senior marketing manager for Tecom Industries, Thousand Oaks, Calif. He was senior director of worldwide sales and marketing for the satellite division of California Amplifier.
Rohde & Schwarz launched a new, flexible Tetra radio system, the Accessnet-T Cube. It consists of a portable Tetra base station with power supply and antenna coupling network, and can be deployed as a single-cell mobile radio system within a few minutes. In addition, it can be used to temporarily expand radio coverage areas or increase network capacities, according to the company. Expansion modules allow the system to be configured as needed or connected to other networks.
Henkel's surface insensitive cyanoacrylate adhesives are designed to cure rapidly in dry environments and on acidic surfaces, the company says. Loctite 4000 and 4501 will cure up to five-times faster than traditional cyanoacrylate adhesives on some substrates. Both are designed to bond to a range of metal, plastic and elastomeric materials and are effective in acidic porous and absorbent surfaces such as: freshly plated parts, dichromates, certain plastics. Performance properties last for the entire shelf life.
Britain's pre-eminence in commercial aircraft wing design and manufacture is a key example of the result of a focused research and technology program, according to the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team. The joint industry-government working group identifies the present rewards being reaped by the U.K. economy from Airbus' success as an end product of previous government and industry investment.
Vexcel's Calpro, a processing system to calibrate synthetic aperture radar images, was developed under a 2003 contract from Japan's JGI to calibrate images collected by Palsar, its SAR sensor on board the Advanced Land-Observing Satellite. The processor was installed earlier in the year at the Earth Remote Sensing Data Analysis Center, JGI's initial customer for the system. Vexcel's processor also supports Radarsat and Envisat-ASAR.
I liked Doug Culy's "Rule of Pi" for estimation (AW&ST June 21, p. 6), where the initial program expense estimate is multiplied by 2 pi to produce the final cost. Culy did not point out, however, that application of the rule will always result in an irrational number, which also matches reality quite well.
USN Rear Adm. (selectee) Steven W. Maas has been assigned as director for logistics and engineering of the U.S. Northern Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. He has been director of logistics/ fleet supply officer for the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, Norfolk, Va.
Capt. Gary Goodpaster has been promoted to vice president from director of flight operations for World Airways. Larry Montford has been named vice president-technical operations. He held the same position at Air Jamaica.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is going back to the drawing board regarding development of the controversial Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System 2 (Capps 2) due to concern over major privacy issues. Last week, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee for the position of TSA administrator, Rear Adm. (ret.) David Stone said Capps 2 will be "reshaped and repackaged." The TSA is reviewing the whole structure of the passenger prescreening system designed to ferret out terrorists.
William Henderson, 3rd, president of Aircraft Precision Products Inc., Ithaca, Mich., and his company have received the Michigan Manufacturer of the Year Finalist Award from the Michigan Manufacturer's Assn. The award honors companies with no more than 500 employees. APPI was cited for its efforts to diversify through a commitment to lean maufacturing.
Germany's Diehl and Rheinmetall Defense Electronics and Israel's Rafael are reinforcing efforts to market the Israeli Spike family in Europe, where failed collaborative efforts have created opportunities for overseas missile makers.
Barry French has become vice president-corporate communications of United Airlines. He was director of public affairs and international services for Dell Inc. Rick Wysong has been named vice president-strategic planning and budgets for United Services. He was vice president-revenue management. Lynn Hughitt, who has been controller, will now be vice president-compensation and benefits. Margaret Houlihan has been appointed director of state and local governmental affairs for United parent UAL Corp.
Tenzing Communications says its evolutionary path to broadband onboard Internet, backed by Airbus and Rockwell Collins, is on track, with high-speed e-mail/messaging to debut this fall and Internet access/browsing in mid-2005. In presentations here and in Montreal last month, officials sought to dispel notions that Tenzing inflight communications offerings have been rendered irrelevant by the recent introduction of Connexion by Boeing's onboard FlyNet.
Fulbright Scholar Siobhan Tiernan will join the faculty at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Daytona Beach, Fla., campus in the Management, Marketing, Strategy and Operations Dept. of the College of Business for the 2004-05 academic year. She is a lecturer in aviation management in the Kemmy Business School at the University of Limerick, Ireland.
The troubled Ariane 5 booster was due to return to service late last week with the launch of the Anik F2 telecom satellite for Telesat Canada. Liftoff of the 5.95-metric-ton Boeing-built spacecraft--the largest commercial telecom satellite ever launched--had initially been set for July 12, but had to be rescheduled following detection of an anomaly. The Ariane 5 has only orbited one satellite this year--the Rosetta comet rendezvous probe, in February. Two or three other missions are planned for the rest of this year.
In Royal Air Force operation, the Boeing C-17 reflects positive elements of transatlantic collaboration. The U.K.-U.S. partnership has not always been as smooth (see stories beginning on p. 88). Geoffrey Lee photo.
Admotec's split ring encoders are custom designed for specific applications and are based on standard K and EK-series magnetic encoders. Available for shaft sizes from 0.5-10 in., they operate at speeds up to 4,000 rpm. with resolution up to 400 cpr. in oil, dust and excessive moisture, according to the company. The encoders provide a unique solution for limited access or captive shaft applications in all industries. Admotec Inc., 85 Mechanic St., Lebanon, N.H. 03766-1500. 224 on www.AviationNow.com/oic
India's third-generation Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV Mk III), scheduled to make its first flight in 2007-08, is designed to carry a 10-ton payload into low-Earth orbit. That would be more than sufficient for a manned mission to space, according to G. Madhavan Nair, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Chinese officials will use the Farnborough air show to promote the 10-sq.-km. (3.9-sq.-mi.) Xian Aviation Technology Industrial Park they are building in the country's heartland. Xian is home to China's main test and evaluation center and is taking a lead in development of the ARJ21 regional jet, China's largest civil aircraft program. It also led China's previous civil export work with the Y-7/MA60 turboprop and produces parts for a number of western companies.
