MERGER SPINOFF At its annual meeting this week in Seattle, Airborne Inc. will count shareholder ballots cast in the proposed merger between Airborne and Deutsche Post-owned DHL. If approved, the merger will cause the spinoff of Airborne's air arm, ABX Air, into a publicly traded company. ABX would continue operation as an Airborne-DHL provider with its hub at Wilmington, Ohio, under an Aircraft, Crew, Maintenance and Insurance (ACMI) contract. Most of Airborne's 48 million shares, approximately 88%, are held by institutions.
Walt Rossbach has been named Washington-based regional vice president of HSR Business to Business Inc. of Cincinnati. He was president of Stackig PR and Advertising's Aerospace and Defense Group, McLean, Va.
Alexey Komarov (Moscow), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Dissatisfaction with the pace of modernization at Moscow's Sheremetyevo airport is giving crosstown rival Domodedovo an opportunity to become Russia's international passenger and cargo hub. About 6.67 million passengers and 180,000 metric tons of cargo passed through Domodedovo last year, which, with 84,100 flight movements, ranked just behind Sheremetyevo as the leading Russian gateway. Sheremetyevo served 10.8 million passengers and the third busiest airport, St. Petersburg's Pulkovo, 3.16 million.
William L. Ballhaus has been appointed president of the San Diego-based Mission Solutions business of BAE Systems. He was senior vice president-system engineering for Boeing.
By John D. Anderson, Jr. American Institute of Aeronautics 369 pp., Hardcover, $75 This book is aimed chiefly at the layperson desiring to learn more about the technological aspects of the first 100 years of heavier-than-air flight. The author is well qualified to write on the subject: John D. Anderson, Jr., is curator for aerodynamics at the Smithsonian Institution National Air and Space Museum, and serves as professor emeritus in the Dept. of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Maryland.
During NBC's "Meet the Press" on Aug. 3, Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge, commenting on new Al-Qaeda threats to conduct a series of homicide hijackings of U.S. airplanes, remarked that airline passengers are much more secure today than they were before Sept. 11, 2001. However, he conceded that "it will be several years until we get the kind of robust system that we need" to protect the flying public.
CULTURAL DIVIDE The "NASA culture question"--just what is it in the first place, and does it need fixing?--will remain controversial well after the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) issues its final report late this month. Top shuttle and NASA management assert they have seen only press reports about such concerns. "It would be difficult for me to define to you what the 'NASA culture' is," NASA deputy administrator and former astronaut Fred Gregory said last week at the Kennedy Space Center. The Return to Flight Task Group, headed by former astronauts Thomas P.
Japan's navy has requested initial funding for the first of what will be the largest fighting ships--eight 13,500-metric-ton-class helicopter carriers. Funding to begin building the first ship is being sought in the fiscal 2004 budget. Each is expected to cost $1 billion and carry four Sikorsky/Mitsubishi SH-60K subhunters.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO. HAS CHOSEN Garmin International's G1000 integrated avionics system for its proposed Citation Mustang business jet. The installation would include a 15-in. multifunction display and two 10-in. primary flight displays for the pilot and co-pilot. Other equipment includes WAAS-capable GPS for IFR flights, dual Mode S transponders, dual Attitude and Heading Reference units, dual digital air data computers approved for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums, four-color weather radar and a three-axis digital automatic flight control system.
George O'Leary (see photo) has been appointed president/CEO of Cleveland-based UltraJet. Additional recent appointments were: Scott Newell (see photo) vice president-aircraft management, Jeanne Muzio vice president-sales for the UltraJet Club, Scott Henderson director of training; Gerald Shaw (see photo) director of operations, Dale Morgan director of maintenance and Jeffrey Butts (see photo) director of charter sales.
Defense Minister George Fernandes tried to dispel apprehensions about the Indian air force's continued use of MiG21 fighters as advanced jet trainers by taking a flight in one earlier this month. But the supreme commander of the armed forces, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, appeared unconvinced. He reportedly is appealing to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for help in replacing the aircraft.
Airborne Express and flight crewmembers of the Teamsters Union last week completed a tentative, five-year contract that includes significant wage increases, improved scope language and job protections. According to the union, language on scope and successorship was the biggest issue, in light of proposed merger talks between Airborne and DHL (see p. 19).
NAUTICAL OFFSET China's Jinling Shipyard has launched a roll-on/roll-off vessel that will allow Airbus to carry A380 fuselage and wing sections from facilities in the U.K., Germany and Spain to its final assembly site in Toulouse, France. The 508-ft.-long ship is to be delivered in March 2004. Chinese companies have already delivered more than $500 million worth of hardware to Airbus since the European company began collaborating with businesses in China in 1985.
COURT DATE France's public prosecutors reviewing Air Lib's collapse have begun proceedings against Jean-Charles Corbet, the ill-fated independent carrier's former chairman/CEO. Despite bailout funding ratified by then-Transport Minister Jean-Claude Gayssot and ADP Paris airports authority's unprecedented decision to momentarily forgive Air Lib's landing charges, the carrier collapsed in an ocean of debt, and ceased operations.
AVIONICS MANUFACTURER AVIDYNE has completed demonstration and initial flight-testing of its NEXCOM VDL Mode 3 radio. The panel-mounted radio, which is capable of both voice and data communications simultaneously, is designed to satisfy future technical requirements of general aviation aircraft, according to the company. NEXCOM is the FAA's proposed future radio system intended to meet ever-expanding demand for communications. The analog/digital system eventually would replace VHF/UHF radios, and provide data link communications as well as security features.
SWEET HOME ALABAMA Just weeks after Boeing apologized publicly for using purloined Lockheed Martin documents in its Delta IV marketing, a top official of the company has been forced to apologize again for the action of "friends" who may have insulted "Southern sensibilities." The incoming general manager of Boeing's Decatur, Ala., plant, Phil Marshall, sent a formal letter of apology to the employees at the plant, following a non-Boeing-sponsored going-away party thrown by his friends in Pueblo, Colo., where he was a manager at Boeing's Pueblo plant.
Joe Wilding has been promoted to vice president-advanced development from lead engineer, John Hamilton to vice president-marketing from Western U.S. sales manager and Bill Mermelstein to vice president-propulsion from head of propulsion subsystems, all for Adam Aircraft Industries Inc., Englewood, Colo. Bruce Leadbetter has been named to the board of directors. He is a partner in the Beta Capital Group of Dallas and an owner of Dalfort Aerospace and Triton Aviation Services. Leadbetter was a member of the board of directors of Galaxy Aerospace.
Hipolito Mendes Pires of Heliavia has been elected chairman of Aportar--the Portuguese Assn. of Aircraft Operators. Other officers are: vice president, Fernando Pinto of TAP; and board members, Joao Ribeiro da Fonseca of Portugalia, Jose Miguel Costa of Omni and Tomaz Metello of EuroAtlantic Airways.
Thai Airways International has formalized a fleet modernization plan that's long been in the works by agreeing to purchase 17 new aircraft--eight Airbus A340-500/ 600s and nine Boeing 747-400s. At the same time, it is heeding the call of many in Southeast Asia by setting up a low-cost domestic carrier with potential linkages throughout the region.
In an effort to exploit leading-edge technologies that could complement its own, Raytheon will be working hand-in-hand with IBM for the next five years to design custom semiconductors and systems for a broad range of military applications.
Science instruments on the two Mars Exploration Rovers have passed their initial post-launch tests based on 200 megabits of telemetry received last month, except for the Mossbauer spectrometer on the MER-2 "Spirit" spacecraft (AW&ST July 14, p. 34). All 10 cameras on each spacecraft performed well, as did the alpha particle X-ray spectrometers and miniature thermal emission spectrometers.
Capt. Edward Davidson has been appointed director of safety of the International Air Transport Assn. He was director of flight safety, government affairs and quality control at Northwest Airlines.
Reporting an industry-worst loss of $623 million in the second quarter, United Airlines nonetheless remained optimistic about its attempts to reduce costs under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and took heart in what CEO Glenn Tilton described as a "particularly positive trend" in unit revenue.
An Su-27 and Su-27IB (forefront) take to the air from the Russian air forces' Aktubinsk flight test center. The Su-27IB is apparently edging closer to service, but the tactical fighter replacement for the basic Flanker remains a decade or more away. Photo by Sergei Skrynnikov.
