Moya Greene has become senior vice president-operational effectiveness for Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. She was senior vice president-retail products/chief administration officer for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce in Toronto.
Gary Cosentino, one of NASA's lead X-45A Joint Unmanned Combat Air System managers at the Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., has won the award for the best technical paper at the 2003 International Test and Evaluation Assn.'s International Symposium. His paper, "Flight Testing Transformational Air Power: The Joint Unmanned Combat Air System X-45A Demonstrator," addressed the challenges, methodologies, innovative test technologies and lessons learned related to Block 1 flight testing of the demonstrator aircraft.
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Simulation is providing big payoffs in aerospace design, but industry officials agree that the tools have large room for improvement. Experts gave their views at a conference here last month organized by Daratech Inc. of Cambridge, Mass. Subjects covered a range of aircraft, rockets, spacecraft and simulation tools.
As it nears completion of the 777-300ER's flight test program this month, Boeing said last week it will boost the aircraft's maximum takeoff weight to 775,000 lb., 25,000 lb. more than its design weight (AW&ST Oct. 20, p. 62). The aircraft's raked wingtips are providing better-than-expected performance, helping to add a 1-1.5% fuel burn advantage from the big twin's 115,000- lb.-thrust General Electric GE90-115B engines. Improved takeoff performance has reduced typical field lengths by 1,000 ft., a combination of 600 ft.
DIGGING FOR DATA Megaputer Intelligence Inc. demonstrated application of its PolyAnalyst data and text-mining system to airline flight safety data analysis. Sponsored by the FAA, the demonstration was conducted in cooperation with the Analytical Methods and Tools Working Group of the Global Aviation Information Network (GAIN), using declassified safety data from the Aviation Safety Action Program at Southwest Airlines. Results were reported at the Sixth GAIN World Conference held recently in Rome.
ARMY AIR CORPS U.S. Air Force air controllers have long been seconded to Army units to lend their piloting expertise to help coordinate air strikes. Now Air Force leaders are contemplating a reverse arrangement--having Army personnel dispatched to USAF unmanned aerial vehicle control centers. Soldiers would sit alongside Predator pilots to ensure the UAV data meet the needs of the troops on the front lines, says Air Force Secretary James G. Roche. He also happens to be nominated to become Army secretary--even though the nomination is stalled in the Senate.
AMERICAS EXPANDING Air Canada last week became the first international carrier to return to Buenos Aires, just as Argentina's ailing economy is recovering. On Dec. 1, the carrier expanded services to Latin America, including the inauguration of thrice-weekly flights to Havana and nonstop service to Santiago, Chile, with same-plane connection to Buenos Aires. Air Canada said demand for Caribbean, Latin American and South Pacific destinations was up 16.4% in September and 25.7% for October, compared with the same months in 2002.
SPACE ROUTER Germany's OHB System has been selected to head a study of the use of small intelligent satellites to augment the flexibility and lower the cost of geostationary telecom satellite systems. Under the 1-million-euro ($1.2-million) SkyKit study, funded by the European Space Agency's Artes telecom research program, the OHB team will investigate how a small auxiliary "Sky Router" could manage satellite networking tasks, which suffer from rapid technology change and rapid obsolescence.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Michael Farage has been appointed Washington-based Air Force team lead for the government business development organization of the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Stratford, Conn. He was the Pentagon's senior defense representative to Saudi Arabia.
EUROPEAN SPACE POLICY The European and Austrian space agencies have created a policy institute that's intended as a forum for discussing and promoting space activities, and for generating public debate about them. To be based in Vienna and represented by a general secretary, the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI) will set up a virtual network accessible to experts from different disciplines across the continent. Such interaction is considered vital to the implementation of new joint endeavors planned by ESA and the European Union (AW&ST Dec. 1, p. 33).
CENTRAL EUROPE COLLABORATION Lockheed Martin and Israel's Elbit Systems Ltd. will jointly pursue helicopter modernization opportunities in Bulgaria as well as in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Hungary. In the near term, the manufacturers are teaming to pursue recently announced plans to amend Bulgaria's Russian-built Mi-17 and Mi-24 helicopters to NATO standards. Bulgaria is planning to incorporate modern avionics and mission systems in both these aircraft. The Mi-24 arms systems also will be upgraded.
Sajid Badat has been arrested in Britain and charged with conspiring with convicted shoe-bomber Richard Reid and others to endanger lives with an explosive device. No details have been released by the London Metropolitan Police about the alleged relationship with London-born Reid who tried to blow up American Airlines Flight 63 en route from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22, 2001. The Associated Press reported that when Badat, 24, was arrested at home on Nov. 27, police found a handmade detonating device and explosive materials.
Boeing expects to launch its 747-400 Special Freighter conversion program this month and has selected a Chinese-based vendor to complete the first three aircraft. Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) is not commenting on how close it is to announcing launch customers for the program, but officials say that certification and entry into service is expected in late 2005. BCA President Alan Mulally officially granted the authority to offer the aircraft in mid-October.
Vietnam Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan and U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta signed the first-ever comprehensive U.S.-Vietnam air services agreement in Washington on Dec. 4, closing the deal on a pact that was negotiated last month. The pact will remain in effect for five years, allowing airlines from both countries to provide U.S.-Vietnam services.
Small satellites could be on the verge of a renaissance over the next five years, if new low-cost rockets being developed to meet changes in U.S. military requirements remove the biggest hurdle to widespread use of smallsats--the price of reaching orbit.
Bombardier Inc. posted earnings of 6 cents per share for the fiscal quarter ended Oct. 31, excluding extraordinary gains and losses and the recreational products business, which has been sold. The company earned 9 cents in the same period a year ago. Revenues also declined slightly, to $4.7 billion. Aerospace revenues were off about $200 million from a year ago, to about $2.3 billion. Also, deliveries of aircraft continued to outstrip new orders, resulting in the eighth consecutive quarter in which the business unit's backlog has declined.
John C. Golombeck (see photo) has been promoted to Western Region vice president-engineering and manufacturing for the Navigation Systems Div. of the Northrop Grumman Corp., Woodland Hills, Calif. He was director of the Advanced Materials and Semiconductor Device Technology Center for Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems Sector.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO. HAS DELIVERED five Model 182T Skylanes to the Civil Air Patrol, which ordered 21 of the single-engine airplanes in 2003. Plans call for the CAP to receive 15 this year and six in 2004. According to Cessna, the CAP operates the largest fleet of its aircraft in the world. Of the CAP's 543 aircraft, 510 are various Cessna models. In related news, three Cessna Citation CJ3 business jets have accumulated more than 340 hr. of flight testing.
Renewed interest in small satellites has sparked a low-key push by the U.S. military to develop a new generation of launch vehicles that can match the low-cost and flexibility smallsats afford, a capability those not bound by U.S. law and policy already find in the surplus ICBM fleets of the former Soviet Union.
Rick Jones (see photo) has become senior vice president-operations for the Aerospace Group of Crane Aerospace and Electronics, Lynnwood, Wash. He was vice president-business development and strategy.
RVSM SAVINGS PLAN Airlines are expecting reduced fuel burn as one of several benefits resulting from cutting the vertical separation of aircraft to 1,000 ft. from 2,000 ft. on air traffic routes between Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) program was implemented Nov. 27, culminating a three-year preparation period by the International Civil Aviation Organization and 21 nations. The change applies to aircraft operating between Flight Levels 290 and 410.
Finmeccanica says it has entered into exclusive talks with Alcatel to merge space businesses. Officials said a final accord could be reached as early as first-quarter 2004. Alcatel confirmed the talks, but declined to comment further.
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