John Lenyo has become president of CAE USA. He succeeds John Pitts, who has resigned. Lenyo was vice president-marketing and business development of Reflectone.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada last week released the fourth set of safety recommendations--these focusing on material flammability standards--stemming from its ongoing probe of the Sept. 2, 1998, crash of Swissair Flight SR111 into the Atlantic Ocean off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia.
W. Douglas Parker has been promoted to chairman/president/CEO from president/chief operating officer of America West Holdings Corp. and America West Airlines. He succeeds William A. Franke, who plans to retire.
The Boeing 707 with tail number 27,000 completed its career supporting U.S. Presidents last week as it flew its final mission with the call sign Air Force One. This is the aircraft that ferried Richard Nixon to California after his resignation. After logging more than 1 million mi. serving the White House, it will now go on display at the Ronald Reagan library in California.
John W. Bachmann of St. Louis, who is managing partner of Edward Jones and a former member of the board of directors of Trans World Airlines, and Roger T. Staubach of Dallas, chairman/CEO of The Staubach Co., have been appointed directors of the AMR Corp.
Mario Colaiacovo has become chairman, Anne Lauvergeon deputy chair and Gregoire Olivier chairman of the executive board of France-based Sagem. Jacki Brown has been named Atlanta-based director of sales for Latin America for Delta Air Lines.
The drive by the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) to consolidate the nation's airline industry has produced three groups of carriers so far. But a senior air transport official in Beijing says the long-term aim is to have only three major international carriers by 2006 from the current nine that CAAC backs. The goal is to increase China's clout when negotiating international traffic and landing rights and to allow the survivors to operate more profitably.
Jeanne A. Springer has become director of sales of Certified Airline Passenger Services of Las Vegas. She was Seattle and Hawaii sales manager for MLT Vacations.
In the face of increasing competition from U.S. and Russian rivals and technical problems that grounded its flagship Ariane 5 heavy launcher for four months, Arianespace has decided to shake up its management team. The company will replace Chief Operating Officer Jacques Rossignol with Jean-Yves Le Gall, the boss of its Soyuz operating affiliate Starsem, and add Sales Director Philippe Berterottiere to its executive committee.
Techspace Aero of Belgium and Burgmann Dichtungswerke of Germany have concluded an agreement to develop products to reduce air leaks and oil consumption in turbofan bearing chambers.
A technological fix that would--by itself--overcome persistent bad-weather delays at San Francisco International Airport without building replacement runways that intrude into the city's famous bay is unlikely, according to a trio of experts.
Virginia's political establishment has backed the Aviation World's Fair scheduled for April 2003 in Newport News, Va., according to the state's senior senator, Republican John Warner. ``But Washington has yet to take that leap,'' he told a crowd at the groundbreaking for facilities for the fair. The AWF is angling to be the primary event to celebrate the 100th anniversary of manned, controlled, sustained powered flight. Warner said the Virginia congressional delegation will attempt to get the White House, Pentagon and Commerce Dept.
Manufacturers may start building GPS receivers capable of utilizing the Wide-Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and of integrated operation with inertial navigation systems, now that an RTCA committee has agreed on technical standards. RTCA committees draw participants from across the user and manufacturing communities. The FAA, which would have to bless the RTCA work, should begin its approval process in November. WAAS will increase the availability and integrity of GPS signals--key to allowing airplanes to make GPS instrument approaches.
Russia's NPO Energomash has started testing its new RD-191 rocket engine, the latest version of the venerable RD-170. Intended for use on Khrunichev's planned Angara launch vehicle, the liquid oxygen-kerosene staged combustion engine is a one-chamber version of the four-chamber RD-170 and RD-171 used on the Zenit launcher. Another variant, the two-chamber RD-180, powers Lockheed Martin's Atlas III and Atlas V vehicles. Set for first flight in 2003, the Angara is designed to put a 4,400-lb. payload into low-Earth orbit at 62.7-deg. inclination.
Japan Air Commuter Co. Ltd. (JAC) has selected the Bombardier Q400 airliner for its YS-11 turboprop fleet replacement program. Altogether, JAC placed firm orders for five of the aircraft, plus one option. They are valued at $105 million, and deliveries are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter of 2002.
The Royal Australian Air Force has developed a high-standard training regimen that ensures its F/A-18 pilots consistently fare very well during simulated air combat engagements against their allied counterparts. As a result, the RAAF's reputation for fielding excellent fighter pilots has sparked a recurring question among humbled mock opponents for years: What are the Australians doing differently?
SG Cowen last week initiated coverage of Rockwell Collins, with a ``buy'' rating and a 6-12-month price target of 26. If analyst Cai von Rumohr's projection turns out to be accurate, that would represent about a 33% upside from where the stock was trading last Wednesday. It closed at 19.38, down 0.12.
Michael Howse has been appointed a director of engineering and technology of Rolls-Royce plc, effective Oct. 18. He will succeed Philip Ruffles, who plans to retire at the end of October. Howse has been deputy director. Leslie Wilder has been named senior manager of corporate communications for Rolls-Royce North America Inc., Chantilly, Va. She was communications manager for the Boeing 747, 767 and 777 programs in Seattle.
CAE has won contracts worth a total of $16.2 million from Iberia Airlines. CAE will supply an Airbus A340-300 Full Flight Simulator (FFS) and upgrade for an MD-87/88 FFS. The new simulator is scheduled to be installed in the airlines' Madrid training facility next summer.
Fuel starvation of the second engine on Air Transat Flight 236 about 13 min. after failure of the first engine is puzzling because it implies the ``good'' tank had been emptied of fuel as well as the ``bad'' tank--something that should not have happened if the left and right tanks had remained isolated. Airbus procedures for fuel imbalance and fuel leaks call for the crossfeed valve to remain closed if a leak is suspected.
Michael C. Mulitz has been named a corporate finance partner of the New York law firm Kaye Scholer. He headed the Equipment Financing and Leasing Group as a partner with Schulte Roth&Zabel.
