Sylviane Lust has been appointed director general of the Brussels-based International Air Carrier Assn. She was chief executive officer of Sobelair. Lust succeeds Ken Smith.
THE FAA HAS APPROVED AN EXEMPTION FOR CESSNA AIRCRAFT CO. to certify its new Citation CJ3 business jet at a maximum gross weight of more than 12,500 lb., clearing the way for single-pilot operation. The change grants Cessna its request for an exemption to Commuter Category rules in FAR Part 23. Since 1977 Cessna has obtained single-pilot approval for 12 different versions of the Citation product line. The CJ3 is scheduled to make its first flight in the second quarter of this year, followed by certification one year later.
GET MORE, SAVE MORE Still unhappy with the terms of a potential Air Force lease of Boeing 767-200 tankers, the Pentagon is now considering options to reduce the average cost of the flying gas stations. One scheme being considered is boosting the number of tankers in the deal to 180-200 from the previous 100 sought. The hope is that the larger quantity will drive Boeing to offer a better per-plane price. Another option being considered is to buy some of the tankers outright and lease others.
Glen Sowry has been named vice president-public affairs and group communications for Air New Zealand, effective Apr. 28. He has been head of public affairs at state-owned broadcaster TVNZ.
As for Bruce D. Nordwall's article on air traffic controller attrition (AW&ST Feb.17, p. 49), he probably is not aware there is a double standard concerning early retirement of controllers at age 56.
R. Earl Good, who just retired as director of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., has received the Outstanding Civilian Career Service Award. He was recognized for a 40-year career as a researcher, director and mentor. Good was praised for his scientific works as a researcher on atmospheric dynamics, chemistry and composition, and as a team leader measuring atmospheric optical turbulence.
David A. Fulghum (Washington), Robert Wall (Air Base Near Iraq)
Three U.S. Air Force A-10s were hit by Iraqi anti-aircraft fire on successive days during the battle for Baghdad. Of these, one was shot down, another made an emergency landing at an occupied base in southern Iraq and the last made it back to Kuwait with its hydraulics shot away. The pilot of the third aircraft, a captain identified only as "K.C.," recovered the aircraft from uncontrolled flight after being hit and flew back to base. Friends confide that K.C. stands for Killer Chick. She was one of two women piloting A-10s in the Iraq conflict.
DELTA AIRELITE BUSINESS JETS WILL HAVE ACCESS to five additional Learjet 60s to meet demand for travel services, bringing to more than 275 the number of jets available to members. AirElite offers the jets in blocks of 25, 50 or 100 hr., and is the only business jet charter company owned by a major U.S. airline.
Three years ago, the U.S. Navy/ Boeing/Raytheon APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array team began developing an advanced radar that would allow the F/A-18E/F to counter the evolving threat beyond 2020. Led by three program managers, Capt. (select) Dave Dunaway, Don Thole of Boeing and Tom Kennedy of Raytheon, the team has met every milestone since contract award in 2000, including 100% on-time delivery.
There are those who say that there are no new aerospace frontiers. Others say, even if there are, that there are no longer any bold inventors, barnstormers or risk-takers able to meet today's challenges. I invite the pessimists and hand-wringers to look closely at this issue's cover and read the stories that begin on p. 64.
Fitzhugh L. Fulton, Jr., has logged 16,700 hr. of flight time in 240 different aircraft types as a research test pilot for the U.S. Air Force, NASA and Scaled Composites, a California-based civilian firm. His colleagues know him to be the epitome of a professional test pilot, yet few outside the flight test community know of his many accomplishments.
Scaled Composites unveiled its privately funded manned space program here on Apr.18, displaying largely completed hardware designed to take three people in a suborbital trajectory to 100 km. (62 mi.) altitude. It is in essence a version of the 1960s NASA/USAF X-15 rocket plane program but with less severe aerodynamic and thermal stresses.
Delta Air Lines Capt. Dennis Dolan, who also is first vice president of the Washington-based Air Line Pilots Assn., has been elected president of the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Assns. Capt. Madison Walton of United Airlines was reelected vice president for the North Atlantic region; and Capt. Ray Gelinas of Air Canada Jazz for the Canada/ Arctic region.
EASYJET JOINT VENTURE? EasyJet is seeking potential partners for a joint venture to improve ground handling services at London Luton and Geneva airports. The low-fare carrier, which has single-handedly run ground operations at Luton since March 2000 and at Geneva since November 2000, is considering joining forces with a specialist ground handling company. EasyJet hopes to reach a decision on whether to proceed with the venture by the end of August.
More than 4,000 members of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers went on strike last week at the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. facility in Fort Worth. A company official said negotiations have been ongoing since February but were stalled recently over economic issues, including benefits. The employees, members of IAM District Lodge 776, build the F-16 for international customers as well as the mid-fuselage center section for the F/A-22.
SIRTF DELAY Launch of the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), NASA's final "Great Observatory," will be delayed at least a week until Apr. 27 at the earliest. NASA and Boeing need the time to recheck documentation on repairs made to a solid rocket booster on the satellite's Delta II launcher. SIRTF's Delta II will use large solid-fuel boosters normally only strapped onto the Delta III. Some of those boosters have movable nozzles powered by a hydraulic control system, and Boeing said the repairs being reexamined involved one of the nozzle systems.
Giuseppe Bonomi has been appointed chairman of Alitalia. He has been head of Milan-based airport administration company Sea. Bonomi succeeds Fausto Cereti. Francesco Mengozzi will remain chief executive.
The Boeing AsiaSat 4 spacecraft, shown in fabrication, is undergoing its initial checkout in space following launch Apr. 11 from Cape Canaveral on board a Lockheed Martin/International Launch Services Atlas III. The flight was the third for the Russian-powered booster. The combined Boeing 601HP spacecraft and launcher cost $240 million. The spacecraft is being maneuvered into a geosynchronous orbit slot over Borneo to provide communications services to users in more than 40 countries. Its 28 C-band transponders will serve an area from New Zealand into the Middle East.
HUB CAPS The annual examination of airport hubs by Smith Barney turned up the forecast that Continental Airlines' hubs have the greatest remaining growth potential. The hubs at Houston Intercontinental, Newark Liberty and Cleveland Hopkins showed promise on two measures: local traffic as a percentage of local population and local air travel revenue as a percentage of local metropolitan personal income, said analyst Brian D. Harris. The hub study took note of the retrenchment at hubs in the post-Sept. 11 period through 2002.
CITATIONSHARES IS THE FIRST FRACTIONAL JET OPERATOR TO COMPLY fully with requirements for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) scheduled to become effective next year, according to the company. RVSM allows qualified pilots and airplanes to operate at 29,000-41,000 ft. with a minimum 1,000 ft. of vertical separation (instead of 2,000 ft.) and take advantage of weather conditions and reduced fuel consumption. As part of the compliance, all 140 pilots have completed training in the operation of new avionics and autopilots required to obtain the approval.
The Pentagon's $62.4-billion share of the Fiscal 2003 emergency supplemental includes $3 billion for equipment and to replenish weapons, including some of the more than 53,000 GPS-guided Joint Direct Attack Munitions dropped so far. Lawmakers told the Pentagon the money doesn't have to go for replacement of spent munitions, but can be used to buy more capable versions of weapons expended.
Mark V. Rosenker has been named vice chairman of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board. He was a board member and had been deputy assistant to the President and director of the White House Military Office.
May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va. June 16--Top 100 Stars of Aerospace, Paris (during the Paris air show). Sept. 16-18--MRO Europe, Cardiff, Wales. Oct. 14--Value Creation Conference The McGraw-Hill Companies Headquarters, New York. Oct. 28-30--A&D Programs & Productivity Conference & Exhibition. Arlington (Tex.) Convention Center.
