Fairchild Dornier administrator Eberhard Braun and the Basic Element/Irkutsk Aircraft Production Organization consortium are nearing their decision on the proposed transfer to Russia of the 728 twinjet program and Airbus components businesses. Late last week, both parties were still trying to reconcile divergent views on the transfer of rights. Braun originally hoped to complete a final agreement in early December, but contractual details proved too complex.
Al Stephens has been appointed station manager at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix, Chris Rupprecht station manager at Albany (N.Y.) International Airport and Chris Johnson station manager at Birmingham (Ala.) Municipal Airport for Southwest Airlines. Stephens was station manager at San Diego, while Rupprecht was customer service manager at Baltimore/Washington International Airport. Johnson was assistant station manager at Oakland (Calif.) International Airport.
A planned Dec. 12 extravehicular activity by International Space Station Expedition 6 crewmen Navy Capt. Ken Bowersox and cosmonaut Nikolai Budarin was postponed until January because of a medical problem affecting one of them. Medical privacy issues prevent NASA from describing the condition, which will delay the crew's ability to back up the transfer of the ISS mobile transporter from the far port end of the ISS to its desired parking location on the center of the truss.
Russia's minister for economic development and trade, German Gref, is reported to have criticized Tupolev over the lack of progress on its Tu-334 regional jetliner. Gref warned that unless substantial progress was made, Russia faced losing its commercial aircraft sector within the next few years.
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Raytheon Co. appointed Edward S. Pliner, 44, as its new chief financial officer last week, following the resignation of Franklyn A. Caine. In November, the Securities and Exchange Commission hit both Caine and the company with cease-and-desist orders because Caine conveyed to Wall Street analysts market-moving information, without providing it simultaneously to the public. Other financial setbacks also beset Raytheon during Caine's three-year tenure as CFO. Pliner previously was vice president and controller for Raytheon.
Boeing is considering a further development of its 747 family, the 747-800. The aircraft could feature a stretched fuselage and new engines. Meanwhile, its much-vaunted Sonic Cruiser program is being overtaken by a slower design. Alan Mulally, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, told the British Aviation Club in London late last week that the next new aircraft from the company would be an ultra-efficient design in the 200-250-seat category with availability in 2007-08. Cruise speed would be similar to the 747's, rather than in the transonic region.
Space buffs and Mars-direct boosters have been understandably dismayed at the latest exploration scheme to emanate from the ninth floor of NASA headquarters--understandably but unnecessarily.
Charles H. Noski, retired vice chairman of AT&T, and USN Adm. (ret.) Charles R. Larson have been named to the board of directors of the North- rop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles. Larson is a consultant on defense, foreign policy and education issues, and a former member of the board.
A Pentagon initiative to combine the military services' unmanned combat air vehicle efforts is slated to be up and running next year, although many of the details about how the cooperation would unfold are still being negotiated.
As business over the Web rises, so does the need for security. This can be accomplished with software, but hardware solutions are another route. A study by market research firm In-Stat/MDR (www.instat.com) predicts that encryption chip sales will increase by almost a factor of eight over a five-year period, from $75 million in 2001 to $575 million in 2006. During that period, the amount of encrypted data transfer is expected to double every year, or rise by a factor of at least 32. The cost per encrypted kilobit/sec. will plummet.
About AA Flight 587, Michael A. Dornheim wrote "pilots in rare circumstances, often while recovering from a stall or upset, in fact do move the rudder back and forth, usually overcontrolling the airplane and making their situation worse." In 20,000 flight hours in different aircraft types, this maneuver never came to mind. We should regret that the manufacturers did not advise about the risks of such a maneuver, but also question those who taught such a practice. This type of maneuver is of no use with an airliner, even after an upset or a stall.
Frank Morring Jr. (Washington), Michael A. Taverna (Paris)
Failure of an upgraded version of the Ariane 5 space launch vehicle sets Europe's faltering commercial space industry back even further, but ripples from the mishap are likely to reach Arianespace's competitors as well. Jean-Yves Le Gall, chief executive officer of the Paris-based launch services company, put the best face possible on a bad situation following the Dec. 11 mishap, in which the new rocket was destroyed when it went out of control and began to fall from the sky even before its new upper stage ignited.
GasTops received a launch production order from Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland for 200 engine health monitoring sensors for engines in PC-12 turboprops. The order calls for the technology to be used as a standard feature on all new PC-12s beginning in spring 2003. The sensors will also be offered as a retrofit for existing PC-12s. The Ottawa company's MetalScan system is designed to alert maintenance crews and pilots of progressing mechanical engine and gearbox damage well before a failure occurs. This is its first order for a civil aircraft.
The article on Airbus A300 and A310 rudders (AW&ST Nov. 25, p. 44) states, "Past airline incidents . . . show that in rare but significant cases pilots have kicked the rudder from one stop to the other, in a manner that exceeds the design and sometimes even ultimate loads on the tail."
Aviation buyers and sellers wanting intelligence on market trends for parts inventories can get it from the online marketplace Inventory Locator Services (www.ILSmart.com). Their new Inventory e-Valuator provides 12 months of supply and demand information on various parts to assess and forecast their value.
Joseph Beery has been promoted to senior vice president from vice president/chief information officer of America West Airlines. Jeffrey McClelland, who has been executive vice president-operations, also will be chief operating officer. Larry Massaro has been appointed vice president-airport customer service and field stations and David Seymour vice president-operations control and planning. Massaro was senior director of airport customer service for the airline's Columbus hub and the Eastern U.S. Seymour was senior director of materials and planning.
Mar. 10-11--European Transport Leaders Conference. Landmark Hotel, London. Mar. 12-13--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. 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.
As United Airlines settles into what it hopes will be a successful restructuring that requires no more than 18 months of Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (see pp. 22-31), the U.S. Air Transportation Stabilization Board (ATSB) is taking heat from unions and a gaggle of congressmen sympathetic to labor and/or the airline.
EchoStar Communications paid Hughes Electronics a $600-million breakup fee after abandoning its $18-billion merger with Hughes Electronics after U.S. antitrust regulators and the governments of 23 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia rejected the proposed deal. Hughes, a subsidiary of General Motors, will not force Echostar to buy its 81% stake in PanAmSat for $2.7 billion as required in the original merger agreement.
It is always a pleasure to meet people who have the professional expertise, drive and dedication to accomplish something unique and worthwhile. Ken Hyde and his fellow workers at The Wright Experience fit this description.
Some commercial aerospace suppliers are still trying to assess what UAL Corp.'s recent bankruptcy filing may mean for their businesses (see related stories, pp. 22-31).
