As the 15-member European Union prepares to take in 10 new members--a May 1 enlargement plan that will welcome 75 million people--Austrian Airlines sees a lucrative regional market opening and is adding 60 additional flights into Eastern and Central Europe to tap into it.
Robert Wall (Orlando, Fla.), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
The U.S. Air Force will be making critical choices in the next few months as planners try to fit a growing desire for new weapon systems into the Fiscal 2006 budget request. In addition to their renewed interest in the FB-22 (a bomber-derivative of the F/A-22 fighter) and the F-35B Stovl (short-takeoff and vertical-landing) version of the Joint Strike Fighter, U.S. Air Force leaders want to find money in the next few years for new combat search-and-rescue helicopters, enhancements to A-10 ground-attack aircraft and upgrades to existing fighters.
Speaking of privacy, the Electronic Privacy Information Center--the folks who outed Northwest Airlines for sharing 10 million passenger records with NASA (AW&ST Jan. 26, p. 38)--posts a "privacy threat index" on its web site, www.epic.org. It apes the Homeland Security Dept.'s color-coded terrorist threat advisory system. The current level of threat to personal privacy, the group opines, is "elevated," or yellow.
Avigdor Berlin (see photo) has been named vice president-marketing and business development at IAI International, the U.S. subsidiary of Israel Aircraft Industries. He succeeds Zeev Nahamoni, who has retired. Berlin was vice president-operations at IAI's Elta Systems Group.
A joint U.S. Air Force and Northrop Grumman team has completed the systems requirements review for the E-10A multi-sensor command-and-control aircraft that "clarified all of the critical system issues," a company official said. But E-10 may be in jeopardy as a result of a spreading infection from the 767 tanker fiasco. The tanker lease is on indefinite hold pending the Pentagon inspector general's investigation of alleged information-sharing between USAF and Boeing and a possible executive recruiting violation.
Bell Helicopter Textron has signed a 15-year lease with Hillwood Development to occupy facilities formerly used by Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. at Alliance Airport near Fort Worth. In a few weeks, Bell will begin moving its commercial business and worldwide sales and marketing units, along with the Bell Training Academy, to the campus. Plans are to complete the move in the second quarter of the year. The facility also will serve as the training and delivery site for BA609 tiltrotors, set for FAA certification in 2007.
A new passenger pre-screening system designed to spot terrorists is going nowhere fast because airlines are reluctant to turn over data on their customers to the government for testing.
Keith A. Dunn has been named a principal and director of Tidewater operations at DFI Government Services of Washington. Dunn was coalition coordinator in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Julie Werbel has returned as a principal to oversee program support for the Africa Center for Strategic Studies. Kevin Apel and James Raycraft have been appointed senior associates. Apel is a retired U.S. Navy commander assigned to the Missile Defense Agency, while Raycraft is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel assigned to the Joint Staff.
Former Deputy Energy Secretary Linda G. Stuntz has been appointed to the board of directors of the Raytheon Co., Waltham, Mass. She is a principal in the Washington law practice of Stuntz, Davis & Staffier.
Michael Katzorke has been appointed U.S.-based vice president-supply chain management for Smiths Aerospace. He was senior vice president-supply chain management for the Cessna Aircraft Co., Wichita, Kan.
Air France is no longer staffing flights between Paris and Cincinnati with personnel born in 10 Middle Eastern countries. The exclusion, outlined in a memorandum, serves as "a practical matter" to avoid inconvenience and possibly prevent delays related to tight security in the U.S., according to Air France. In January, a flight attendant born in Morocco was not allowed to depart the Cincinnati airport on an Air France flight and was diverted to Atlanta for clearance. Homeland Security Dept.
Japan will spend $601.6 million in its fiscal 2004 space budget to develop and assemble two replacement reconnaissance satellites for those lost in an H-IIA launch failure. It's also putting $70 million into satellite and launch vehicle failure analysis.
French plans to go ahead with an antiship/reconnaissance upgrade for the Dassault Rafale fighter and ensure timely air force service entry signal the government's willingness to boost the aircraft's export potential. However, the extent of that support is unclear.
Stephen Friedrich has become director of business development for corporate aircraft for Rolls-Royce. He succeeds Peter Turner, who has joined International Aero Engines. Friedrich was vice president-sales finance.
Dr. Stanley R. Mohler, Professor of Aerospace Medicine (Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio)
In a follow-up to Anthony E. Pomata's excellent historical summary of powered controls (AW&ST Feb. 2, p. 6), the earliest such control was developed by the Wright brothers using an angle-of-attack sensor with a compressed air mechanism connected to the canard surface. This worked as a "stick-pusher" to correct plus or minus excessive flight pitches. The Wrights applied for a patent for this Automatic Stabilizer on Feb. 10, 1908, and were granted patent 1,075,533 on Oct. 14, 1913.
Some airlines are finding significant paybacks from outsourcing non-core business activities such as heavy maintenance work as the industry climbs back from a two-year recession. Those advantages may be felt by established carriers that can overcome high labor costs and by newcomers who want to avoid the capital expense of establishing a maintenance, repair and overhaul facility, including the costs of hiring skilled labor to operate it. Regardless, MRO specialists such as Singapore Technologies Aerospace are turning the situation to their advantage.
J.D. Nicholas has been elected chairman of the Louisville (Ky.) Airport Authority. He was vice chairman and has been succeeded by Phil Lynch. Robert L. Knust has been elected secretary/ treasurer. Lynch is vice president/director of corporate communications for the Brown-Forman Corp., while Knust is a certified public accountant and financial planner.
Separately, Dassault announced a modest drop in consolidated net earnings last year, to 295 million euros ($371.7 million), down from 312 million euros in 2002. Sales dropped slightly to 3.3 billion euros, but orders plummeted by nearly a third to 2.4 billion euros, chiefly due to soft business jet demand and a delay in the scheduled purchase of a new batch of Rafales by France. Chairman/CEO Charles Edelstenne forecast a probable rebound in sales and orders this year. Business jet production has increased to five units from four per month.
Aerojet has been awarded a $1.8-million contract for first-phase work on computational capability improvements in advanced technology upper-stage engines for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The contract has a long-term potential value of $46.8 million.
Inmarsat is playing down--at least for now--the importance of a Connexion by Boeing decision to expand its high-speed Internet access service from airborne to seaborne platforms, where the maritime operator has reigned supreme for a quarter century.
Alcatel and Finmeccanica are reportedly close to agreement on a planned merger of their space activities. According to French union sources cited in Le Monde, merger negotiations kicked off in early December will lead to a final agreement later this month. Alcatel Chairman/CEO Serge Tchuruk says only that talks are "active and serious." Meanwhile, Alcatel plans to lead a 20-company team to investigate new technologies throughout the mobile multimedia value chain.
NASA has postponed a planned flight of its X-43A Mach 7 hypersonic testbed so Orbital Sciences Corp. can replace the rudder actuator on the experiment's Pegasus booster. The actuator hit its mechanical stop in a testing anomaly Feb. 11 and exceeded torque limits. The booster and testbed had been on a path to fly as early as Feb. 21 (AW&ST Feb. 9, p. 17), but NASA said that date was slipping into March when the mishap occurred.
