Let's face it: The infrared missile threat to airliners is real and won't go away. Something must be done, but let's not stampede to an airborne-technology solution alone. As I briefed the FAA's head of security 11 years ago, it is less-than-robust to rely solely on an airborne IR countermeasures approach as a solution to the threat. A combination of airborne and surface-based IR countermeasures--coupled with modified piloting procedures--may be the best way. The latter can start immediately, while a technical answer may be decades away.
I find interesting the NTSB's recommendations in its report on the Emery Worldwide Airlines fatal accident at Sacramento (Calif.) Mather Airport (AW&ST Aug. 11, p. 45) for precluding similar future accidents. The No. 1 recommendation is to train flight crews to look for symmetry between the right and left elevator control tabs during preflight inspections. Does the NTSB even talk to the FAA? One of our low-cost carriers is FAA-exempt from even doing preflight inspections.
Former Air Transport Assn. President/ CEO Carol B. Hallett is among six people who have been named to receive the Elder Statesman of Aviation Award for 2003 from the Arlington, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn. Other awards winners are: former FAA Administrator David R. Hinson; Martin A. Knutson, former site manager of the NASA Dryden Research Center at Edwards AFB, Calif.; Joan R. Mace, former chair of the Ohio University Aviation Dept. and longtime flight instructor; Frank G.
Honeywell is developing a suitcase-sized auxiliary power unit for small business jets, turboprops and helicopters. The product demonstrator, dubbed the RE50, will be on display at the National Business Aviation Assn.'s annual convention this week.
Gunter Stamerjohanns has been named general manager of Brussels-based Galileo Industries. He was CEO of the Russian-German joint venture Eurockot Launch Services.
Paul Coby (see photo), who is chief information officer of British Airways, has been appointed chairman of the SITA Foundation Group. He succeeds Stephan Regulinski. Other new members of the SITA Executive Committee are: Peter Buecking, SITA president; Hans-Peter Kohlhammer, director general of SITA SC; and Francesco Violante, managing director of SITA Inc.
European Space Agency and NASA engineers say an antenna failure will not prevent the SOHO solar observatory from retaining near-full capability until a follow-on NASA mission is ready late in the decade, but warned that the weather-forecasting function could be at risk.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., a startup rocket-maker self-financed by dot.com millionaire Elon Musk, has won a Pentagon contract to launch a small military communications satellite on its first flight vehicle early next year.
The mobile anchorage trolley is designed for multispan overhead flexible lifeline systems. By incorporating larger wheels and a new intermediate design, the overhead system provides hands-free pass- through at the intermediates even with the weight of attached self-retracting lifelines. Available for installation in new projects or retrofitted on Latchways Mansafe horizontal lifeline systems, the pass-through mobile anchorage allows for greater productivity with no retraining, according to the company. Flexible Lifeline Systems, 14325 W. Hardy, Houston, Tex. 77060.
Chuck Gallagher has been promoted to manager from assistant manager of the San Antonio Learning Center of FlightSafety International. He succeeds Ampy Calatayud, who is a now a part-time instructor.
Tom Haack (see photos) has become general manager of the West Palm Beach. Fla., facility of UTC subsidiary Pratt & Whitney Space Propulsion. He was general manager for transition. Other new appointments are: Rich Pugh chief of engineering and research, Steve Sides manager of liquid booster propulsion systems, Cal Defreese manager of the RD-180 program and Michael Popp production program manager for the RD-180.
John C. Contas has become director of new business development for Aviation Management Systems Inc., Portsmouth, N.H. He was a specialist in aviation finance at the Bank of America and Bank of New England before founding the consulting firm Islington Advisors.
Amy E. Smithson has been appointed a senior fellow in the International Security Program at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. She was a senior associate at the Henry L. Stimson Center.
Airlines--including US Airways, Delta and Southwest--are rallying in support of the Operation Iraqi Freedom R&R program, offering military discount fares to troops planning U.S. leave. Sample fare from Baltimore-Washington International Airport, the U.S. entry point for Middle East troops, to Georgia destinations is $158 round trip on Delta and US Airways. The one-way fare between San Diego and Phoenix on Southwest is $73. Airline requirements vary, and most fares are valid through Sept. 15, 2004.
Pierre Graff has been appointed chairman of the ADP Paris airports authority. He succeeds Pierre Chassigneux. Graff was head of the French transport minister's cabinet.
The Congressional Research Service last week attacked a Pentagon defense of the proposed lease of 100 Boeing KC-767 tankers. The nonpartisan group noted that a Pentagon commitment to spend an additional $2.4 billion between Fiscal 2008 and 2010 to buy some of the leased aircraft early--and thereby drive down the total cost of the deal--is based on uncertainty. The Defense Dept. has not explained what programs it would curtail to free up the money. Nor can it assure that Congress will appropriate the necessary funds.
Helene Sandrane has become manager of the Arrius program at the Turbomeca Aero Engines Div. She succeeds Jean-Michel Haillot, who has been appointed head of the Microturbo auxiliary power unit sector.
I read your article on the "recovering" commercial satellite market with interest since I followed this market for a decade prior to being laid off by Honeywell in 2001 (AW&ST Sept. 15, p. 24).
The company has developed a low-cost system that permits "classic" airplane cockpits to handle modern audio requirements from systems such as forward-looking windshear radar, reactive windshear, TCAS and EGPWS. The audio integration unit (AIU) can accept up to three inputs with one output. The AIU ties directly into the cockpit audio system, which allows audio through existing speakers and flight-crew headsets. No redesign of the audio system is required.
Kudos to the letters written by Mark E.J. Fay and Robert Boyd in the Aug. 25 issue concerning the outsourcing of the aerospace and airline industry. There is no shortage of engineers and technicians; CEOs just want to find the cheapest labor. This process will continue until a prominent politician or CEO is on an aircraft that bores a hole in the ground due to poor maintenance oversight, outsourcing, etc. Names will be changed to protect the guilty, and nothing will really change.
Alexis C. Livanos (see photo) has become vice president/general manager of the Navigation Systems Div. of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Electronic Systems Sector, Woodland Hills, Calif. He was vice president-program operations.
