Chris Bade has become president of Raytheon Commercial Infrared of Dallas. He was vice president-operations for RCI parent Raytheon Commercial Electronic.
Carl A. Nardell has been appointed CEO and Peter Tchoryk executive vice president of the Michigan Aerospace Corp. of Ann Arbor. Nardell, who was vice president/chief engineer, succeeds Lennard A. Fisk, who is now chairman. Tchoryk was director of business development.
The Pentagon is facing growing costs from the war against terrorism ranging from paying allies for their assistance to pronounced equipment shortages in areas outside the direct combat zone. The most immediate of these bills comes in the form of the Fiscal 2002 supplemental budget request, which is expected to total about $27.1 billion. The Pentagon's portion of the mid-year spending add-on would be nearly $14 billion and should pay for fuel, ammunition and other war costs.
Japan's Fair Trade Commission has called a halt to the planned integration of Japan Airlines and Japan Air System, saying the proposed company would gain an unfair competitive advantage that eventually would harm consumers.
Six months after the horror of Sept. 11, it is worthwhile to look at what happened in the months after the bombings of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland and UTA Flight 772 over Africa in 1988 and 1989, respectively, and the explosion of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island, N.Y., in 1996. Presidential commissions were formed and legislation was passed. Support for improving aviation security was high, but interest waned over time, and resources were reduced or diverted to higher-profile programs. This is an important lesson for us now.
Pat Roche has been named commercial director of London Stansted-based Volga-DneprUK. He was director of sales and international development for Menzies World Cargo.
Like mountain climbers making their final ascent, U.S. airlines are trying to complete their years-long campaign against the operating cost they think they have the most control over--travel agent commissions. Delta Air Lines acted first, on Mar. 14, and American, Continental, Northwest and United followed by the middle of last week. All four carriers eliminated ``base'' commissions, the per-ticket amounts airlines pay travel agents, for tickets sold by agents in the U.S., including Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Canada.
Field Aviation will modify three Bombardier CL604 Challenger jets as Multi-Mission Aircraft equipped with airborne surveillance sensors for the Royal Danish Air Force. The aircraft will fly maritime missions in Europe and Greenland, as well as search and rescue, ice reconnaissance and VIP transport. Toronto-based Field Aviation is a major maintenance/modification facility.
Marilyn Ellis has been named station manager for Southwest Airlines at Tampa (Fla.) International Airport and Mike Hunter as Southeast U.S. regional director. Ellis was Tampa Bay regional director. Hunter was senior director for ground operations at Southwest's headquarters.
Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) is shifting to a single-class structure for domestic and regional short-haul routes, with elements of the scheme also being considered for introduction into its wider European network. As of June 1, SAS will introduce Scandinavian Direct, which will see fares cut by up to 30% compared with present business-class prices. The airline, however, says it is not attempting to adopt a no-frills approach, with business passengers remaining its focus.
Upgrade programs aimed at improving the durability and longevity of General Electric's fielded large commercial aviation gas turbines is gaining importance at the company as its installed engine base climbs from 10,000 powerplants today to more than 25,000 over the next 6-10 years.
THREE COMMERCIAL DIGITAL AUDIO RADIO SERVICE (DARS) systems are broadcasting radio from satellites, primarily for automobile use. With more on the way, the Defense Dept. is considering possible applications. Sirius and XM Satellite Radio are on the air in the continental U.S., while WorldSpace Corp. covers most of the world except North America. The military is considering DARS for troop morale overseas; has tested satellite weather service to aircraft; and is investigating the efficacy of broadcast psychological warfare messages.
Spaceflight leader George E. Mueller, who is now CEO of the Kistler Aerospace Corp., Kirkland, Wash., has received the 2002 Rotary National Award for Space Achievement. He is a former head of the NASA Manned Space Flight Program; leader of the Gemini, Apollo/Saturn and other related programs; originator of Skylab; and author of ``An Integrated Program of Space Utilization and Exploration.'' Mueller later was senior vice president of the General Dynamics Corp. and chairman/president of the System Development Corp.
Beginning in June and July, American Airlines will remove its code from selected routes flown by American Connection regional carriers at St. Louis. Removing the codes will keep American from violating its contract with the Allied Pilots Assn., which limits available seat miles flown by regional affiliate American Eagle (AW&ST Feb. 11, p. 48). The removal will obviate the sale of Executive Airlines (owned by Eagle) or Eagle's Miami operation, at least until September.
American Airlines Vice Chairman Robert Baker will retire at the end of March after a 35-year career with the carrier. He joined American in 1968. Baker, 57, headed operations at American, and later was promoted to vice chairman. He also was chairman of Trans World Airlines during its integration into American's system.
The first versions of sophisticated new radios that will start linking everyone in the air over a future battlefield will likely first appear on 40 KC-135s if Air Force leaders can wring the funding out of Congress. The radios are called Robe (roll on beyond-line-of-sight enhancement) and are intended to meld the communications links now used by tankers, transports, AWACS, bombers, intelligence-gathering and strike aircraft, and space-based systems.
Airbus A300-600 and A310 series aircraft involved in future inflight upsets resulting in high lateral loads of 0.3g or more will require certain inspections under an airworthiness directive published on the Federal Register last week.
Richard Mastoloni, who was vice president/assistant treasurer of New York-based Loral Space&Communications, has succeeded Nicholas C. Moren, who has retired as senior vice president/treasurer.
Pratt&Whitney has launched an aggressive development and test program to bring the first systems development and demonstration version of the F135 engine to test in October 2003. This milestone is expected to occur just 24 months after the award of the powerplant's development contract and about two years before scheduled first flight of the engine in an SDD version of Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
An Aerojet solid rocket booster (SRB) for the Lockheed Martin Atlas 5 program malfunctioned during a ground test near Sacramento, Calif., Mar. 15. The 67 X 5-ft. solid performed normally for about 30 sec. of its planned 95 sec. firing, but then its thrust and chamber pressure dropped and there were changes in the motor's rocket plume. The motor did not explode, enabling instruments to obtain good data which is being examined to determine the cause of the malfunction.
The Lufthansa-led Global Cargo Alliance--now named Wow--is seeking a new dedicated cargo carrier to fill in gaps in its worldwide coverage, primarily in North America and Northeast Asia. The partner would not necessarily have to belong to the Star Alliance like the other Wow members Singapore Airlines and SAS, ``but it would be preferable,'' said SIA Cargo President Hwang Teng Aun. A top prospect is thought to be Japan Air Lines, which is currently unaligned and already has a bilateral agreement with Lufthansa Cargo.
The Pentagon and National Reconnaissance Office begin a space industrial base assessment. ``We are analyzing this sector to ensure U.S. space technology provides a solid foundation to feed our defense industrial base in order to maintain tactical and strategic advantages,'' said Suzanne Patrick, the Pentagon's industrial base czar. The multiphase study, due to be finished late this year, will examine critical technologies, export controls, ``best practices,'' the health of the supplier base, and R&D spending.
Michael Gordon-Smith , a senior engineer specializing in air traffic management systems at CMC Electronics in Montreal, has received the Volare Award from the Airline Avionics Institute. He was cited for his work on advancements in ``cockpit avionics systems, particularly in the application of state-of-the-art navigation systems to the real environment of airplane operators. His crowning achievement was his concept and architecture for a fully integrated, triple GPS/Flight Management System as the heart of the Boeing 747 `Classic' Cockpit Upgrade Program.''
Goodrich is developing its EMC-100 full-authority digital engine control for a variety of turbine engine applications, and will use Green Hills Integrity-178B real-time operating system (RTOS) and Multi integrated development environment. The software will run on a PowerPC processor. Because of the flight-critical nature of the engine control, some parts of the software will be certified to DO-178B Level A, the highest standard set by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics.
AN AUSTRALIAN COMPANY IS DEVELOPING ``JACK,'' software intelligent agents that attempt to give the pilot of an unmanned aerial vehicle a higher level of, and more versatile control than, direct steering, while avoiding the complexity of programming language. Agent Oriented Software's aim is to allow a pilot to control a UAV as an automated wingman. It uses belief, desires and intention agent models that the Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization have been pursuing for a decade.
