Edward H. Bersoff has become a managing director in the Washington office of Quarterdeck Investment Partners. He will continue as chairman/CEO of the Re-route Corp.
Airbus has chosen Rockwell Collins to supply an avionics communications router for the A380, to provide software for datalinks from on-board systems to ground-based systems. Goodrich Corp.'s Aerostructures Div. will provide pylon aft fairings for the A380. Emirates has signed a $1.5-billion agreement with the GE-Pratt & Whitney Engine Alliance to purchase 88 GP7200 engines to power its A380-800 aircraft.
The Galileo spacecraft is going to make its first close pass by Jupiter's moon Amalthea this November, giving it an opportunity to take pictures with resolution many times sharper than the fuzzy shots already in hand. But don't be waiting breathlessly to see what these images might reveal. The plan at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is to not take pictures at all. We suggest JPL put on its ``can-do'' hat and get the pictures. The objection has been one of cost, but we think the shots can be taken for much less than the originally proposed price.
The FAA and America West Airlines took swift action last week against a flight crew charged with the felony of operating an aircraft, an Airbus A319 with 127 on board, while intoxicated. The FAA last week sent the crew letters of emergency revocation nullifying their pilot licenses, and America West notified Capt. Thomas Porter Cloyd, who worked for the airline since 1990, and First Officer Christopher Hughes, who was hired in 1999, of its intent to terminate their employment.
Taiwan and Hong Kong, negotiating via Beijing, have averted a technical shutdown of their unusual air services agreement by signing a new pact. The agreement is as interesting for how it affects existing flights between Hong Kong, a special administrative region of China, and Taiwan as it is for the potential of direct flights between China and Taiwan, which the Mainland regards as a renegade province.
Janet M. Clarke, president of consulting firm Clarke Littlefield, is one of four new members of the board of directors of Houston-based ExpressJet Holdings. The others are: Kim A. Fadel, chief counsel for BellSouth Small Business Services; Thomas E. Schick, former executive vice president-commercial aviation services/deputy to the president of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Group; and L.E. Simmons, founder of SCF Partners.
Airbus will not lower its combined production rate and plans to deliver 300 commercial transports next year, 70 A330/A340 twin-aisle aircraft and 230 A320-series twinjets, said Chief Executive Noel Forgeard. The decision, viewed as a vote of confidence in the industry's recovery, was made after completing ``an extensive evaluation of all [customer] contractual commitments,'' according to a company statement. The production plan was ratified last week by Airbus' joint owners, EADS and BAE Systems.
Accident investigators and flight safety experts are puzzling out the nighttime midair collision, on the German/Swiss airspace border, of a DHL Boeing 757-200 and a Bashkirian Airlines Tupolev Tu-154M trijet. The airlines in question and the air traffic control of both countries remain at loggerheads regarding the cause. The July 1 midair collision, which occurred at 35,400 ft., shortly after both aircraft had been transferred by the Germans to Switzerland's air traffic control, killed all 71 passengers and crewmembers on board, including 52 children.
NASA's Quick Scatterometer (QuikSCAT) spacecraft has successfully located and tracked typhoons, hurricanes and icebergs for three years, a full year longer than its planned two-year minimum mission. Managers at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., which built the bus and provides mission control and operations support, expect QuikSCAT to operate ``well past a fourth year. The spacecraft is returning very high-quality data,'' said Chip Barnes, who oversees the program for Ball.
The newest U.S. pilot astronauts are in the midst of one of the most specialized flight instruction programs in the world--using Gulfstream II Shuttle Training Aircraft to practice landing the 125-ton orbiter glider on steep, one-shot approaches after reentry from space. NASA Johnson Space Center's four STAs have been equipped with elements of the new Multifunctional Electronic Display Subsystems (MEDS) glass cockpits like those being added to the four orbiters.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines has selected General Electric engines to power 13 Boeing aircraft, under a $250-million order. KLM ordered GE90-94B engines for four 777-200ERs, and is also leasing another six GE-powered 777-200ERs through International Lease Finance Corp. The order also includes CF6-80C2B5F engines to power three 747-400ER freighters.
WHEN A CATHODE RAY TUBE DISPLAY FAILS IN THE COCKPIT of Boeing 747-400 aircraft, operators could soon have the choice of replacing it with another CRT, or swapping in an active matrix liquid crystal display (AMLCD), without any modifications to the aircraft. Feedback from the airlines prompted Rockwell Collins, working closely with Boeing, to make the change possible using identical connectors and pin outputs. Formats, colors and reaction timing are difficult to tell apart, so airlines with mixed display cockpits make the change only when a malfunction occurs.
MICHAEL A. DORNHEIMMICHAEL A. TAVERNA ( LOS ANGELES PARIS)
Small man-portable reconnaissance drones are finally seeing action as the war on terrorism brings home ground troops' need to see over the next hill. Close-up on-ground battles in Afghanistan have pushed the services to order for the first time significant quantities of mini-unmanned aerial vehicles (mini-UAVs) for operational use. The U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom) has ordered over 80 mini-UAVs based on the AeroVironment Pointer, more than all prior Pointer orders combined since the hand-launched 8.4-ft.-span aircraft became available in 1989.
Spanish flag carrier Iberia will purchase three Airbus A340-600s to operate on routes from Madrid to Mexico and Buenos Aires. Rolls-Royce Trent 500 engines will power the aircraft ordered in three-class, 342-seat configuration. The -600s will be added to Iberia's fleet beginning in June 2003 and will replace three Boeing 747-300s now in service.
The Italian army is planning a stopgap purchase of Franco-German CL-289s while it decides what path to follow in renewing its medium-range reconnaissance and tactical UAV fleet and acquiring a medium-altitude long-endurance capability. The army agreed to acquire 20 CL-289s, along with a mission control center and two launchers, to support the European Union's Rapid Reaction Force, which is due to become operational next year. Germany and France are already flying the medium-range recce vehicles, which are used for target acquisition and surveillance.
French Finance Minister Francis Mer said the government is likely to start selling off nonstrategic stakes in state-owned companies by year-end. Flag carrier Air France is expected to be affected.
European carriers' overall passenger traffic is nearly 10% below last year's levels as market recovery remains noticeably slower than predicted. The demand on transatlantic routes no longer shows signs of improving and is lagging at more than 15% below early 2001's numbers, according to the Assn. of European Airlines' (AEA) latest calculations. AEA member carriers continue to tightly curtail capacity in a wide-ranging effort to maintain workable load factors as well as decent yields.
A second-generation Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (Capps II) prototype, designed to give airlines and airports a ``threat risk assessment'' of passengers, should be completed this week under a $551,000 FAA contract with HNC Software in San Diego, according to Aviation Week's Homeland Security & Defense (HSD) newsletter. HSD reports that the fully developed system, which will likely base risk assessments on rules perfected by the credit card industry, should be in place at airports by year-end.
Jacques Paccard has been elected president of French defense and security industries association Gitep/EDS. He is vice president-defense and security for Sagem.
H. Clayton Foushee, Jr., has been appointed to lead the transportation security practice of the Unisys Corp, Blue Bell, Pa. He was vice president-regulatory affairs for Northwest Airlines and is a former chief scientific and technical adviser for human factors at FAA.
Thomas Bosshard has been named president/CEO and Martha Geisshuesler vice president/chief financial officer of Pilatus Business Aircraft Ltd., Broomfield, Colo. Bosshard was an executive with parent company Pilatus Aircraft, Stans, Switzerland, and succeeds Angelo Fiataruolo, who has resigned. Geisshuesler was aircraft finance manager. Mike Rector has been promoted to completions center manager from avionics manager. Dennis Ruch, who was interiors manager, was named logistics manager, and Ken Schaelchlin has become customer support manager.
CAE Inc. filed registration statements in the U.S. and Canada last week for a proposed offering of 27 million of its common shares, which is anticipated by the end of the month. It's expected to raise $200-230 million in net proceeds, which would be used to pay down debt. The company also has applied to list its common shares on the New York Stock Exchange.
The first launch of the Lockheed Martin Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle from Cape Canaveral has been slipped a week to no earlier than Aug. 12. Under the new plan the vehicle will be rolled to Pad 41 for a fueled dress rehearsal July 15-17. It will then be rolled back to the pad on Aug. 11 for liftoff Aug. 12 carrying the Eutelsat Hot Bird 6 spacecraft. Backup launch dates are Aug. 13-14. Managers earlier delayed the launch from late July to Aug. 6, to retest the launch pad's umbilical retraction system in late June.
Dennis Enos has been appointed vice president-PW6000 program at Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines, East Hartford, Conn. He succeeds Tom Davenport, who is retiring. Enos was vice president-Operational Military Engine Programs.
