John Johnson has been appointed provost/chief academic officer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla. He has been provost/vice president-academic affairs at Texas A&M University in Texarkana.
A shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missile may or may not have hit a U.S. Air Force C-17 that had just taken off from Baghdad International Airport last week. Service officials will only say that there was an explosion in one of the aircraft's engines at about 4 a.m. Dec. 9 shortly after takeoff. The crew, from the 62nd Airlift Wing and 446th Airlift (Reserve) at McChord AFB, Wash., declared an inflight emergency and returned to land without incident in Baghdad. Of the 16 people on board, only one suffered a minor injury.
Robert Wall (Washington), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
A floundering propulsion system and an unorthodox Russian aircraft that is supposed to lift large payloads independent of airfields are getting a boost with the U.S. Navy's agreement to help develop a small, unmanned prototype of the design. Naval Air Systems Command has teamed with Saratov Aviation to cooperatively develop a 500-lb.-class aircraft. A small, remote-controlled version of the design flew in Russia in 1993 following 13 years of work on the concept. Flight-testing of the Navy/Saratov UAV is expected to begin in 3-5 years.
Midway Airlines, which sank from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection into Chapter 7 liquidation six weeks ago (AW&ST Nov. 3, p. 14), has found a buyer--Ascent Airlines, a subsidiary whose ultimate parent, Wexford Partners V, intends to put $15 million into the venture through equity and debt. Asking the Transportation Dept. to expedite the transfer of Midway's operating authority to Ascent, the airlines said the sale agreement requires regulatory approval by Dec.
The oft-used witticism "the future is not what it used to be" aptly frames the future of aviation in general and avionics in particular. We face the daunting challenge of creating a path to the future in which scalable solutions for meeting growth in demand are essential to our quality of life and standard of living derived from air transportation.
Kevin Kochersberger, sponsored by Northrop Grumman, is at the controls of the reproduction 1903 Wright Flyer, built by The Wright Experience, as it conducts a proof-of-concept test Dec. 3 at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hill, N.C. Back-up pilot Chris Johnson runs alongside the left wing. The reproduction is scheduled to fly at 10:35 a.m. on Dec. 17 recreating the Wright brothers' flight of 100 years ago. AW&ST editors provide histories of specialty subjects, and guest writers offer projections of progress in their fields (see p. 36).
Last year at this time, the Aerospace Industries Assn. estimated "conservatively" that 2003 sales would be $138.4 billion, but the actual figures are likely to be nearly $10 billion higher, thanks in part to improving military sales.
Michael Taverna (Dubai), Douglas Barrie (Moscow), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
Sukhoi has completed the preliminary design and cost review for its proposed Russian Regional Jet, details of which will no doubt be awaited eagerly by potential launch airlines that are still in the dark about many key elements of the aircraft. The launch finance package also remains vague.
SES Americas Holdings has placed a 300-million-euro ($360-million) bond issue, barely a month after a successful 500-million-euro issue. Together with a $1-billion U.S. bond issue in October, the moves will allow the satellite telecom giant to pay back and refinance debt acquired in the acquisition of GE Americom, and help fund further expansion (AW&ST Oct. 13, p. 48). The company recently launched pioneering initiatives in Europe in high-definition TV and consumer Internet access applications.
Members of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) with deep experience in human spaceflight and its shortcomings remain skeptical that the agency is fixing the "cultural" problems blamed in the Columbia accident. Retired Sen. John Glenn (D-Ohio) complained that inappropriate safety waivers were behind all three fatal accidents in the U.S. human spaceflight program, while Roger E. Tetrault--an engineer who investigated the Columbia accident--reported the shuttle program carries 1,500-1,800 waivers. A.
The two-year contract extension just inked by the FAA, and the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. (Natca ) ties a portion of controllers' pay to four performance goals, gives the agency more flexibility and is expected to save the government $40 million.
Lesa Bice has become aviation insurance production specialist and John Merritt the primary property and casualty representative for Cannon Aviation Insurance, Scottsdale, Ariz.
Andrew Harrison has been appointed managing director of internal audit, Frederick L. Mohr vice president-maintenance and engineering, Brandon Pedersen staff vice president-finance/controller and Matt Yerbic managing director of cargo, all for Alaska Airlines. Pedersen was a partner and Harrison senior manager for auditing and oversight of public accounting for KPMG Seattle, while Mohr was managing director of heavy maintenance for United Airlines. Yerbic was managing director of station operations. Dennis Madsen has been named to the board of directors.
Bruce Waddell has been appointed president of of the SeaSpace Corp., Vienna, Va. He succeeds Linda Bernstein, who will be retiring. Waddell has been vice president-strategic planning and corporate development. Founder Robert L. Bernstein will remain chief technical officer.
DGA French armaments agency expects to validate laser optical links between long-range/long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicles, the European Space Agency's Artemis geostationary satellite and surface operational centers by 2010. Last week, DGA awarded EADS Astrium a contract for development of an airborne demonstrator, Lola (Liaison Optique Laser Aeroportee). Onera French aerospace research agency, Airbus' French arm, Alcatel Space, Sagem and other EADS units are scheduled to participate in the Lola program.
Complete blanking of all six integrated display systems on two separate Singapore Airlines flights--each involving Boeing 747-400 aircraft operating on the Singapore-Sydney route--has prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to issue a stopgap recommendation.
What do pork-barrel projects, education spending cuts, worker overtime protection, unemployment benefits, media ownership restrictions and gun-control rules have in common? They are among controversies that led Senate Democrats to block consideration of the House-passed $820-billion omnibus appropriations bill, which would finance 11 of the 15 Cabinet-level departments for Fiscal 2004, before everyone went home for the holidays. Current stopgap funding, which keeps things going at Fiscal 2003 rates, runs through Jan.
BAE Systems, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and Alliant Techsystems teams have their final pitches in to the Homeland Security Dept. for self-defense systems to protect commercial passenger jets from shoulder-fired missiles. Look for two or three competitors to win work this month to evaluate how well their systems, based on equipment developed for the military, would work in airline operations. After six months, a down-select to one or two contractors is expected for an 18-month demonstration program including live-fire testing.
This year's activities tied to the centennial celebration of the Wright brothers' first flight are rapidly coming to a close. Following the planned flight of the Wright Experience 1903 Flyer at 10:35 on the morning of Dec. 17 at Kill Devil Hills, N.C., the hoopla over the 100 years of heavier-than-air flight will quickly recede into both fond and, in some instances, unhappy memories.
The Transportation Security Administration plans to issue security guidelines for general aviation early next year. These best practices will not be mandatory and will closely follow recommendations of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee composed of representatives from many of the general aviation and airport alphabet groups. For example, the guidelines will call for use of multiple locking systems to keep unauthorized people off the ramp and out of hangars.
Brian Sill has been named vice president-business operations for Dallas Airmotive. He was program director of the PW6000 Entry-Into-Service engine planfor Pratt & Whitney, East Hartford, Conn.
If a man gives no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand. Confucius No one can predict the future with enough certainty to make the exercise completely worthwhile. But, as Confucius implies, thinking about the future is required in order to change it. But first we must understand where we are.
