Messier-Bugatti and Tracer Repair and Overhaul have formed Messier-Bugatti-Tracer, which operates FAA/JAA Part 145-certified stations in Milwaukee and Miami for wheel and brake repair and overhaul services for commercial airlines.
Mar. 27-28--Defense Budget Conference. Holiday Inn, Rosslyn, Va. Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. 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. Partnerships
CHARLIE JOHNSON HAS BEEN NAMED PRESIDENT of Cessna Aircraft Co. and will assume full responsibility of all company operations. He joined Cessna in 1979 and was promoted to senior vice president of operations in 1993 and executive vice president of operation in 1995. Johnson flew Republic F-105s during the Vietnam War and has logged more than 14,000 flight hours. He holds an Airline Transport Pilot certificate and has earned type ratings in all of the Citation business jets, the Dassault Aviation Falcon 50 and several Learjet models. Russell W.
Gus Whitcomb has been appointed acting managing director of corporate communications for American Airlines. He was managing director of strategic communications. Whitcomb succeeds Tim Doke, who is now vice president-communications at Dell Computer.
NEW A319S, SERVICES FOR PRIVATAIR PrivatAir, on behalf of Lufthansa German Airlines, plans to add two new Airbus A319 long-range aircraft to operate two more nonstop, all-business-class services. The Geneva-based charter company and the German carrier launched the long-haul business-class concept last year, offering service between Dusseldorf and Newark Liberty International Airport using the Boeing Business Jet (AW&ST May 20, 2002, p. 18).
SNECMA & EADS In a separate development, Snecma was chosen to join EADS' preferred partnership program. One of EADS' largest suppliers, with over 500 million euros ($545 million) in sales in 2002, Snecma will join Honeywell, Rockwell Collins, United Technologies and Thales in the program, which seeks to build long-term relationships of benefit to both suppliers and EADS.
ARRIEL 2S2 ORDER Snecma's Turbomeca affiliate has received a launch order for 20 Arriel 2S2 engines (see photo) to power Sikorsky's new-generation S-76 helicopter model. Deliveries are expected to begin in 2005. The 2S2 will provide 6% more power than the predecessor Arriel 2S1 powerplant, and feature dual-channel digital engine control. The 2S1, in turn, provides 18% more power than the basic Arriel 1.
Mar. 31--18th Bristol (England) International UAV Conference. Bristol University and Cranfield College of Aeronautics. Call +44 (117) 928-9764 or see www.uvonline.co.uk Mar. 31-Apr. 1--Technology Training Corp.'s Future Unmanned Vehicles Conference. Holiday Inn Rosslyn, Arlington, Va. Call +1 (310) 563-1223 or see www.technologytraining.com Apr. 2-8--Sun 'N' Fun EAA Fly-in. Lakeland (Fla.) Linder Regional Airport. Call +1 (863) 644-2431 or see www.sun-n-fun.org
John Blue has been appointed interim CEO of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, Purchase, N.Y. He has been a member of the board of directors and is a former president of Atlas Air Inc. Blue succeeds Richard Shuyler, who has resigned. Jeffrey H. Erickson, who has been acting president of the holding company, has been named president. John W. Dietrich, who has been deputy general counsel, will be acting general counsel, succeeding Thomas G. Scott. Wake Smith will be head of strategic planning, succeeding Fred L. deLeeuw.
With production deadlines approaching, Boeing has resumed design work on the 9,100-naut.-mi. 777-200LR, which it had suspended after Sept. 11, 2001, with only 10% of the work done. The manufacturer has only five orders, two from Pakistan International Airlines and three from Taiwan's EVA Airlines. PIA is to take delivery in January 2006 so design work has to be completed now to keep on schedule, said Lars Andersen, the long-range 777 program manager.
ONEWORLD IN BRUSSELS' GRASP The European Commission's (EC) competition directorate last week ratified an SN Brussels Airlines/British Airways-proposed commercial partnership. It presents benefits for the Belgian carrier's customers by giving them access to BA's global route system, according to EC officials. The soon-to-be-implemented six-year agreement indicates that SN Brussels Airlines could gradually move closer to the Oneworld alliance.
SECOND-HAND SMOKE U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld regularly calls in retired senior generals en-masse to brief them on current military events. The latest meeting was last week. The invitees are split on the value of the gatherings. In particular, intelligence briefings arranged by Pentagon press chief Victoria Clarke have been dismissed as "insulting" and lightweight in the extreme. In contrast, Rumsfeld is considered a "straight talker who avoids any b.s.," according to one participant. Rumsfeld is currently concerned about getting the money to rebuild Iraq.
AIRLIB SLOT REASSIGNMENT Cohor, an independent team regulating takeoff and landing slots at Paris airports, is scheduled to reassign Air Lib's coveted slots to new operators. Air Lib "owned" 44,500 slots at Orly, France's main domestic hub, which will be distributed in compliance with the European Commission's strict rules. The slots, which cannot be sold, must be shared equally by current operators (grandfather rights) and new entrants. Demands are expected to significantly exceed availability, according to Eric Herbane, who heads Cohor.
Thomas R. Karl, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., has won the American Meteorological Society's 2003 Verner E. Suomi Award. He was cited "for leadership to improve the integrity of the climatic record and dedication to building a reliable climatic observing system."
HIT LIST Ratcheting up pressure on Washington to bring export tax laws critical to aerospace companies into conformity with World Trade Organization anti-subsidy rules, the European Union has pared last September's $13-billion laundry list of tariff candidates to a svelte $4 billion. Since the WTO has authorized that exact amount in tariff sanctions if the U.S. fails to comply, this new list isn't just carefully targeted, it's "real," House Ways and Means Chairman Bill Thomas (RCalif.) says in a "Dear Colleague" letter.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE DELIVERED the 600th Challenger business jet on Mar. 7. During the past 23 years, Bombardier has delivered Challengers to civilian customers in 50 countries. As of December 2002, the fleet had accumulated more than 2.3 million flight hours with a dispatch reliability rate of 99.7%. In other news, Bombardier officials said the Challenger 300 business jet is scheduled to receive approval by Transport Canada in the second quarter and enter service with corporate customers later this year.
SIRTF DELIVERED NASA's Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), the last of the "great observatories" the U.S. space agency plans to orbit above Earth's obscuring atmosphere, has reached Cape Canaveral, Fla., for its planned Apr.15 launch date. Designed to search the heavens at dust-penetrating infrared wavelengths, SIRTF will spend about a month in a NASA clean room at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station before transfer to Pad B of Launch Complex 17, where its Boeing Delta II launch vehicle is stacked. Mating of SIRTF and the Delta II is scheduled for early April.
FIELD AVIATION IN CANADA HAS COMPLETED modifications and first flight of a Challenger CL604 Multi-Mission Aircraft for the Royal Danish Air Force. The airplane is equipped with a large radome under the forward fuselage for the Telephonics maritime surveillance radar; a sliding door mechanism in the aft fuselage that accommodates a retractable FLIR Systems electro-optical system, and a series of special surveillance sensors.
TRISHUL ABANDONED After 20 years of research and trials, India's Defense Research and Development Organization has scrapped the Trishul surface-to-air missile, after spending about 3 billion rupees ($62.5 million). Trishul was part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development program that also included the Agni, Prithvi, Akash and Nag. Only the surface-to-surface Agni and Prithvi have proved successful. The nuclear-capable Agni has entered production, Defense Minister George Fernandes said, as has an early version of the Prithvi.
SOUTHWEST BEATS FAA DEADLINE Southwest Airlines completed installation of reinforced cockpit doors on all 371 Boeing 737s Mar. 8, beating the FAA deadline by four weeks. The Dallas-based carrier is the first major U.S. airline to retrofit its fleet with the doors. A Southwest representative said each door required 12-16 hr. to install with three mechanics per airplane doing the work. The project took more than 5,000 man-hours to complete.
Bill Koch has been named president/ chief operating officer of SevenBar Enterprises of Dallas. He was president of the Sutherland Companies and had been president of AMR Combs.
