James Cudd and William A. Kerr have been named to the board of directors of the Kreisler Manufacturing Corp., St. Petersburg, Fla. Cudd is vice president-strategic business development of the Honeywell International Aerospace Group, while Kerr is senior vice president/chief engineer of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection and Insurance Co. and a former vice president of Pratt&Whitney.
John G. Pickard has been appointed president/CEO of FedEx Custom Critical. He will succeed R. Bruce Simpson, who is expected to retire June 15. Pickard has been vice president-service/chief information officer.
Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co.'s $100-million expansion of its facility at the New Baiyun International Airport to accommodate three very large aircraft (VLA) emits a strong signal to industry--China is readying to become an Airbus A380 heavy maintenance provider.
FLIGHT SNAPSHOT, THE LATEST FLIGHT-TRACKING service from Flight Explorer, will display the location of aircraft and airspace anywhere in the U.S., updated every 5 min. It is designed to give airport kiosks, service providers or individuals with PCs and Internet-access a graphical view. The display can be customized to show a specific geographic area or specific flights, as well as overlays such as weather and distance from the airport.
India expects to launch soon its fourth domestic carrier, Royal Airways, pending approvals by the director general of civil aviation, according to Andy Christou, the airline's chief operating officer. He said the carrier plans to start operations with five Boeing 737-300/-400s. Its initial routes will include city-pairs among Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune, Cochin, Gauhati and Imphal. Christou says Royal Airways is using existing licenses of Modiluft, an Indian domestic airline that ceased operations in 1996. Royal also assumed Modiluft's debts.
The FAA could ``do more'' to fund airframe ice-detection technologies to help pilots steer clear of dangerous icing encounters, says Carol Carmody, the National Transportation Safety Board's acting chairman. Sensor manufacturers like BFGoodrich Aerospace Aircraft Sensors, developer of an ice-detector system that Carmody said could be acceptable for aircraft if made smaller, may be ``waiting for a sign from the FAA before proceeding.'' The agency, however, believes detection technologies have advanced to the point where no further FAA research dollars are needed.
Jeff Gernitis (see photo) has become vice president/director of engineering for the ITT Industries Avionics, Clifton, N.J. He was director of project engineering.
Members of the Joint Strike Fighter source selection advisory council met last week to hear interim briefings from the JSF Source Selection Evaluation Team. It comes as no surprise that the team has decided that both Boeing and the team of Lockheed Martin/Northrop Grumman/BAE Systems are within the program's competitive range. Moreover, the evaluation team has been approved to move ahead in discussions with the two competitors.
A new infrared countermeasures system, designed to protect large aircraft like the C-17 from heat-seeking missiles, has for the first time successfully used a laser to scan the inner workings and outer shape of an attacking weapon, precisely identify it and, finally, provide the correct jamming signal to lead it off course.
Adam Smith has been named director of the Experimental Aircraft Assn.'s AirVenture Museum, Oshkosh, Wis. He was curator of aviation objects at the National Museum of Scotland.
Raytheon Co. has been awarded a contract valued at more than $8.5 million to supply and install two additional Mode-S monopulse secondary surveillance radar systems for NAV Canada.
Northwest Airlines has signed long-term agreements with Pratt&Whitney Aftermarket Services, valued at a total of $390 million, covering 400 engines on DC-10, Airbus A330-300, and Boeing 747 and 757 aircraft.
Kevin Connor has become director of e-commerce revenue management and distribution strategy, Brad Gerdeman director for worldwide marketing communications and Scott Klinger general manager of business-to-consumer activities for Delta Air Lines. Connor was director of domestic revenue management, while Gerdeman was regional director of marketing communications for the U.S. and Europe. Klinger was general manager of Delta Shuttle customer service. Eric Summe has been promoted to regional director of government and public affairs from Cincinnati-area director of sales.
A fuselage stretch and a ``speed kit'' are two items on a list of possible improvements to the 747 that Boeing officials are discussing with airlines. While Boeing has launched passenger and freighter versions of a new derivative called the Longer-Range 747-400, program officials are continuing to talk to operators about additional improvements for current and future 747s. One item being discussed with 747 operators is a set of large fairings Boeing has windtunnel tested which would be attached to the fuselage to increase cruise speed.
U.K. officials are warning the Pentagon that they view its commitment to the Joint Strike Fighter as a litmus test of whether the U.S. can ever be a dependable partner in military development programs. The verbal warning shot comes as U.S. industry and government officials are putting finishing touches on international teaming arrangements for the multibillion-dollar program, which is entering the home stretch before the Defense Dept. picks a winning contractor in October.
Defense Dept. engineers have for the first time demonstrated a method of freeing the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from their dedicated ground stations, a development which supporters say could spur the combat use of the systems both within the U.S. military and in multinational operations.
Satellite designers at the U.S. Energy Dept.'s Sandia National Laboratories used a widely available commercial software program to spot and avoid a potentially serious obstruction during solar array deployment on an imaging satellite, building a computer model of the satellite and watching the arrays come perilously close to each other in a simulation of the deployment sequence.
Japan's Skymark Airlines this month began designating a special ``women-only'' section on board its flights. In response to complaints from women who say male seat-mates make them uncomfortable, the carrier is setting aside 10 seats on each flight, at no extra charge, for women more than 12 years of age. This move follows the growing trend in Japan of designating ``women-only'' areas at hotels, department stores and rail and bus lines.
A PORTABLE ELECTRONIC WORK BENCH that can be moved anywhere in the International Space Station to test and repair electronic equipment is now on the ISS. Xantrex Technology of Vancouver supplied a fundamental element--the programmable power supply--whose output can be selected from 0-150 volts DC and 7 amps, with current limiters to reduce the risk of arcing. Solar arrays provide a bus voltage of 120 volts DC; but for many uses, a variable power source is needed.
The first Atlas V Lockheed Martin/Pratt&Whitney Centaur upper stage has been delivered to Cape Canaveral from Denver on board a leased Antonov An-124 transport. An-124s have delivered European space hardware to the Cape in the past and will now be used by Lockheed Martin for all future Atlas V deliveries.The first Atlas V flight is set for May 2002.
Daniel MacLellan has been appointed sales director of FlightSafety Boeing Training International of Seattle. He was a regional marketing manager for FlightSafety International (FSI). Bob Stephenson has become Fort Worth-based corporate director of standards for FSI. He was assistant director of specialty training.
The super-heavy Antonov An-225 ``Mriya'' transport, which has been converted for use as a freighter, completed the first of 10 test flights on May 7 from an airfield near Kiev, Ukraine. It is scheduled to appear at Le Bourget next month for this year's Paris air show. Antonov paid $20 million to convert the aircraft, which was originally designed to transport the Soviet Buran space shuttle. The upgrade included the addition of modern navigation and communication avionics, a collision avoidance system and changes to reduce the aircraft's noise signature.
The Hispasat board of directors has authorized the issue of a request for proposals for a new spacecraft, Amazonas-1, to serve the Latin American telecom market and adjacent areas. The 5-metric-ton spacecraft, carrying 36 Ku-band and 27 C-band transponders, will be operated through a joint venture with Brazilian telecom operator Telemar (AW&ST Jan. 29, p. 40). Bidder selection is set for midyear and the launch in late 2003.
