Gary F. Kennedy has become senior vice president/general counsel of American Airlines. He succeeds Anne H. McNamara, who is retiring. Kennedy was vice president-corporate real estate and has been succeeded by Laura Einspanier, who has been managing director of corporate real estate.
As a captain for American Airlines and employee for nearly 19 years, I read with interest Capt. Steve Roach's letter. No doubt, "arrogance and incompetence" and "disastrous and backward attitudes" from executives should be unacceptable. But shouldn't the same be true for union officials? Don't these same words apply to the Allied Pilots Assn.'s illegal sickout in 1999?
The FAA has an open dialogue going with the airlines about whether they can afford the equipment needed on aircraft for the various improvements planned for the air traffic control system through 2008. FAA Administrator Marion C. Blakey said she met with airline chief executive officers in December and also offered to have the FAA brief the chief financial officers at the carriers on the specific airborne equipment costs associated with Operational Evolution Plan milestones. No date has been set for a follow-up meeting.
Southwest Airlines' 10,000 customer service/reservations agents last week ratified an agreement extending their existing contract through November 2008. The amended pact, which includes wage increases and stock options, was negotiated by the agents' union, the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
L-3 Communications plans to acquire Goodrich Corp.'s avionics business for $188 million in cash. They expect to close the deal by March. Goodrich Avionics, which is profitable and growing, is a supplier to commercial and military customers.
Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries has added participation in General Electric's potential bid to power Boeing's proposed 7E7 210-250-seat jet among a series of development programs.
With this issue, James R. Asker, currently Aviation Week & Space Technology's Washington Bureau chief, becomes the managing editor. Asker joined the magazine in 1989 as a space technology editor and was promoted to Washington Bureau chief in 1995.
Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, both big backers of the Space Imaging commercial remote sensing venture, have taken fourth-quarter charges on their investment of $106 million and $175 million, respectively. The moves came despite a new government contract that could bring the company some much-needed business as part of a five-year data buy worth as much as $500 million. John R. Copple, Space Imaging CEO since 1995, resigned "to pursue other opportunities," leaving Chief Financial Officer Robert Z. Dalal in his place on an "acting" basis.
OCTOBER 2002 PASSENGER TRAFFIC WORLDWIDE WAS UP 14%, AND CARGO TRAFFIC 13%, COMPARED WITH THE SAME MONTH IN 2001, ACCORDING TO AIRPORTS COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL'S LATEST REPORT. THE MIDDLE EAST HAD THE HIGHEST GROWTH IN PASSENGER TRAFFIC, 25%, FOLLOWED BY ASIA-PACIFIC WITH 19%; NORTH AMERICA, 15%; AFRICA, 14%; AND EUROPE, 11%. LATIN AMERICA WAS THE ONLY REGION TO HAVE A DECLINE, 4%. TOKYO'S NARITA AIRPORT, WITH A TRAFFIC INCREASE OF 61%, LED THE LIST OF 24 TOP AIRPORTS REPORTING DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH.
The U.S. Air Force is beginning to replenish the GPS, Milstar and Defense Satellite Communications System constellations with critical spacecraft as the navigation and military communications systems are readied to provide unprecedented warfighting capabilities to the U.S. forces arrayed against Iraq. Nearly $1.7 billion in new GPS, DSCS, Milstar, Delta and Titan military mission hardware will be launched here in operations that began last week and extend to about Feb. 10.
Europe risks losing its combat air platform manufacturing capability beyond the present generation of aircraft unless it significantly steps up its research and development activity and investment. This was the bleak warning delivered to the British government late last month by the Aerospace Innovation and Growth Team (AIGT), which submitted its interim report on the long-term future of the U.K. aerospace sector.
More Air National Guard units will be called up during the next two weeks for what some Air Force planners now think is an inevitable attack on Iraq about the end of the month. "There will be enough forces in place by the third week in February," a senior Air Force official says. After a series of sharp attacks to bring down Saddam Hussein's regime quickly, he says, the U.S. would turn to a focused, methodical program to eliminate "in a safe way" Iraq's capabilities to design, use, deliver or sell weapons of mass destruction.
A pilot says use steep approaches. Others propose airport-based lasers and flare- equipped aircraft. None of these measures will stop attacks. Why not simply direct the CIA to buy up the SA-7s and Stingers at the bazaars? This would reduce the threat and probably generate valuable intelligence. Furthermore, the CIA could put booby-trapped SA-7s back into circulation. Meanwhile, the Transportation Security Administration says no food in checked bags because the sensors can't tell cheese from explosives.
In a novel game of space tag, a 70-lb., $100-million USAF technology satellite--looking more like a "Buick transmission" than a spacecraft--last week completed rendezvous and imaging exercises with the Delta II GPS stage that put it into orbit. The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) XSS-10 microsat was carried aloft piggyback in the second stage of the Delta II booster that launched the GPS IIR-8 spacecraft.
Feb. 9-11--Helicopter Assn. International's Heli-Expo 2003. Dallas Convention Center. Call +1 (703) 683-4646, fax +1 (703) 683-0341 or see www.heliexpo.com. Feb. 10-13--Fatigue Concepts' Course on Fatigue, Fracture Mechanics & Damage Tolerance. Rose College, Oklahoma City. Call +1 (916) 933-5000 or see www.fatigueconcepts.com. Feb. 10-13--Seventh International Conference & Exhibition on Commercialization of Military & Space Electronics. Sheraton Gateway, Los Angeles. Call +1 (256) 536-1304 or see www.cti-us.com.
Tim Letzkus (see photo) has been appointed Washington-based vice president of Sullivan Higdon & Sink, Wichita, Kan. He was senior vice president-aerospace and defense of TMP Worldwide.
A new instrument designed to improve solar storm forecasting is up and running and returning data from its perch on the GOES12 geostationary weather satellite. U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) researchers expect the Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) to dramatically improve their ability to warn satellite, radio and power-grid operators that solar flares have erupted toward Earth. By taking an X-ray image of the full solar disk once an hour (see sample image), SXI will spot an estimated 70% more X-ray flares than is possible with ground instruments.
THE U.S. TRANSPORTATION DEPT., AWARDING SIX HIGHLY PRIZED SLOT EXEMPTIONS AT REAGAN WASHINGTON NATIONAL AIRPORT, ATTRIBUTED TO AIRTRAN AIRWAYS A POWER MORE OFTEN ASSOCIATED WITH SOUTHWEST AIRLINES--AN "IMMEDIATE COMPETITIVE IMPACT" IN ITS MARKETS THROUGH LOW-FARE SERVICE.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center teams led by program manager Phil Sabelhaus and chief scientist Claire Parkinson and TRW's overall Earth Observing System effort led by program manager Martin Mohan, with Dana Southwood as the Aqua program manager, for a smooth introduction of the second satellite in NASA's EOS following its May 4 launch.
As maintenance, repair and overhaul suppliers contemplate "a flat to declining market" (AW&ST Jan. 6, p. 41), the current industry downturn offers opportunities for specialization and expansion.
Kay Yong, managing director of Taiwan's Aviation Safety Council (ASC) accident investigation agency, for continued efforts to enhance safety in the region, particularly on runways. The effort emerged from Yong's work as chief investigator of the Oct. 31, 2000, crash of Singapore Airlines Flight 006 at Taipei's Chiang Kai-Shek International Airport. Yong's work in human factors led the ASC in January 2001 to adopt a "no- blame" approach to accident investigation. The final SIA006 report labeled the accident "aviation system failure" and detailed deficiencies.
Marion C. Blakey, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board and now FAA administrator, for enhancing safety by defining training deficiencies on the use of rudder and issuing recommendations on the proper use of rudder on all transport aircraft, shortly after the Nov. 12, 2001, crash of American Airlines Flight 587. In that accident, the vertical tail assembly of the Airbus A300-600 detached from the aircraft shortly after its departure from New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing 265 people. The board's Feb.
Roy P. Lindquist has become director of homeland security products for the OSI Systems Security Group, Hawthorne, Calif. He was program manager for the U.S. Customs Service's Applied Technology Div. for initiatives related to non-intrusive inspection of large cargo along U.S. borders and at seaports
