The biggest deer in the headlights of the Fiscal 2002 defense budget are the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft and the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). Many weapon programs are caught up in the near-constant affordability conflict between stated military requirements and the inability or unwillingness of the executive and legislative branches to fund all of them. So are the V-22 and JSF. But additional factors apply to them.
Roland Jacobs has become chief marketing officer and David Kielkucki vice president-customer service and call center operations of Chicago-based Orbitz. Jacobs was vice president-marketing for Petopia.com. Kielkucki was vice president of GetThere.com
Moritz Suter has stepped down after only six weeks as head of SAirGroup's airline division. Suter, who founded and ran SAirGroup's Crossair affiliate, said last week that he could not fulfill his tasks effectively under the current management structure.
Ken Hoffman, CEO of TechniFlite of America, Englewood, Colo., has been elected president of the Oshkosh, Wis.-based National Assn. of Flight Instructors. He succeeds Jack Eggspuehler, who has retired.
Several European airlines are battening down the hatches as they face increased pay demands from pilots and the fallout of a possible economic slowdown in the U.S.
United Airlines concluded an order for an additional seven 125-seat Airbus A319 and eight 150-seat A320 twinjets. All 15 aircraft, which will be powered by International Aero Engines V2500s, are scheduled to be delivered in the first quarter of 2003. United is now Airbus' biggest airline customer, with a grand total of 192 aircraft.
To further its probability of success, American Airlines has increased its $500-million offer for bankrupt Trans World Airlines (TWA) to $750 million, besting questionable bids from former TWA Chairman Carl Icahn and others vying for the troubled carrier.
The assembly of the International Space Station is moving toward peak extravehicular activity rates that are already pushing U.S. astronaut crews and their Johnson Space Center training staffs to the maximum. Russian EVA staffs at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow also are beginning to experience growing workloads.
James G. Brocksmith, Jr., has been named to the board of directors of the AAR Corp., Wood Dale, Ill. He is retired as deputy chairman/chief operating officer of KPMG Peat Marwick.
BFGoodrich has received a $30-million follow-on contract from the U.S. Air Force to supply wheel and brake systems for the balance of 750 F-16 Block 32 and prior aircraft.
Delta Air Lines' Mar. 3-4 New York-Beijing North Pole demonstration flight aided in the final validation of new methods to determine actual inflight fuel freeze points--which are likely to help airlines save billions of dollars in fuel, shave 60-90 min. from North America-Asia en route time and provide a more comfortable ride for passengers.
Taiwan's request for Aegis destroyers is backed by U.S. lawmakers despite Chinese opposition to the deal. U.S. supporters of the deal include several senators, including Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) and Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), as well as several House members.
The American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), which says it has 26,000 members in more than 170 countries, has condemned plans by Northwest Airlines and its alliance partner KLM to eliminate agent commissions on air travel sold through the Internet in the U.S. and Canada. ASTA says the move is a thinly disguised price increase, part of an overall predatory plan to eliminate competition and transfer costs to the consumer. ASTA President and CEO Richard M.
Walter M. Oliver has been named vice president-human resources of the General Dynamics Corp., Falls Church, Va. He succeeds W. Peter Wylie, who is scheduled to retire this month. Oliver was senior vice president-human resources for the Ameritech Corp. of Chicago.
Robert Z. Dalal has been appointed vice president/chief financial officer of Denver-based Space Imaging. He was vice president/controller of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., also in Denver.
NASA's shift to a multistage approach for its next-generation reusable launch vehicle, brought about by the high cost of inventing a single-stage-to-orbit craft that works, will also herald a return to past methods in the space agency's dealings with contractors. NASA managers who dropped Lockheed Martin's X-33 single-stage RLV prototype also are backing away from the ``cooperative agreement'' approach in which NASA and the company were ``partners'' in RLV development, and taking greater control of the process.
The FAA is calling for the removal or modification of 22 inflight entertainment systems on dozens of U.S.-registered aircraft after a year-long safety review uncovered flawed electrical interfaces. But despite finding ``potential unsafe conditions'' that could result in the ``inability to control smoke and fumes in the airplane flight deck or cabin,'' the agency has opted not to change the way inflight entertainment systems (IFEs) are certified--as non-hazardous aircraft modifications.
General Electric and the Air Force are testing a novel combustion concept that could improve ignition, blow-out performance and altitude relights in advanced, high-performance military powerplants.
British Airways has agreed to acquire the British Regional Airlines Group for approximately $113.8 million as part of its effort to consolidate its loss-making short-haul operations. The group, which posted pretax profits of $14.6 million in 2000, includes British Regional, a BA franchise operator since 1995, and Manx Airlines. The acquisition is subject to review by the U.K.'s Office of Fair Trading. BA plans to combine British Regional Airlines Group's operations with those of its Brymon Airways subsidiary.
The Assn. of European Airlines (AEA) has asked the Belgian government to review security measures at Brussels national airport, Zaventem, as a result of numerous thefts during the last six years. In a letter to Transport Minister Isabelle Duran, the AEA urged that additional control measures be implemented to prevent unauthorized access to the airport by vehicles or persons. Should security not improve, AEA airlines could be forced to decline to carry valuable goods from and to Brussels, the letter indicated.
Raytheon Systems Ltd. has signed a contract with the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority for an off-mounted Monopulse Second- ary Surveillance Radar, which will be installed at Tarif in Abu Dhabi.
HELICOPTERS TRYING TO SHOOT APPROACHES to oil rigs in low-visibility conditions or performing search-and-rescue (SAR) missions need radars that help them get in as close as possible. While most older radars are blind to targets inside of 1,000 ft., Telephonics has developed a low-cost RDR-1600 radar that the company says will allow pilots to maintain radar contact to within 450 ft. of a target. The RDR-1600 is designed with standard interfaces so radar images can be presented on existing displays in glass cockpits.
Three years ago, the National Civil Aviation Review Commission (NCARC) identified the mismatch between a tax-funded government bureaucracy (the FAA) and the aviation community's need for a high-tech, 24-hr.-a-day air traffic control service business. Spinning off ATC to some form of user-funded corporate entity was not a new idea then; the Air Transport Assn. endorsed it as far back as 1985, the Baliles Commission agreed in 1993, and the Clinton Administration proposed an ATC corporation in 1995. But none of these ideas went anywhere.
