Martyn Hurst (see photos) has become senior vice president of Messier-Dowty, Velizy, France, and will remain senior vice president of Messier Services. He also was group vice president-customer services for Messier-Dowty and has been succeeded in that position by Daniel Gruaz. He was director of helicopter training for Thomson Training and Simulation.
Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle has been named the winner of this year's Collier Trophy, which is awarded annually by the National Aeronautic Assn. NAA President Don Koranda will present the award on May 8 in Arlington, Va. Also honored will be the U.S. Air Force, Darpa and subcontractors.
Jacques Bankir has been appointed chairman/CEO of Regional Airlines and chief executive of Flandre Air and Proteus Airlines. Later this year, he is expected to become chairman/CEO of the carrier that will combine the three airlines, which are all Air France subsidiaries.
BFGoodrich Co. has received a contract from the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command to retrofit the Marine Corps CH-53E Super Stallion and MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopters with Integrated Mechanical Diagnostics Health and Usage Management Systems.
Paul Zarchan of the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, Mass., has received the 2001 AIAA Summerfield Book Award. He wrote ``Tactical and Stra- tegic Missile Guidance,'' which has become ``a classic by providing an insightful and modern exposition of this complex subject in an unusually clear pedagogical format useful to both novices and experts.''
ROBINSON HELICOPTER CORP. IS OFFERING TO PROVIDE a free helipad to buyers of the company's four-seat R44 aircraft, but only if they have offices in the Los Angeles area. Robinson will obtain building permits, construct the rooftop heliport and ``tackle legal problems,'' he said. Company President Frank Robinson, along with local police, sheriff and fire departments, recently helped defeat a plan to eliminate the heliport at Los Angeles International Airport. As a result, Robinson created the `buy a helicopter, get a heliport' idea.
James Loftin (see photo) has been promoted to vice president from director of operations of the Turbomeca Engine Corp. and Microturbo Inc., Grand Prairie, Tex.
EUROCOPTER HAS ACHIEVED U.K. CERTIFICATION of the twin-engine EC135 helicopter for single-pilot, IFR flight operations. The aircraft's cockpit is equipped with advanced Thales Meghas displays and avionics. By comparison, Bell Helicopter Textron's Model 427 and MD Helicopter's MD 902 have not obtained single-pilot IFR certification, but Bell officials expect the 427 to be approved in 2003.
Alten F. Grandt, Jr., Raisbeck Engineering distinguished professor of engineering and technology integration at the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Purdue University, has received the John W. Lincoln Award for 2000. The award was presented at the USAF Aircraft Structural Integrity Program Conference and recognized work in advancing the technology of fatigue and fracture mechanics as applied to aircraft structural integrity.
INDIGO, WHICH OFFERS COMPETITIVELY PRICED FLIGHTS on business airplanes as an alternative to the major airlines, is now listing its reservations on the Sabre Computer Reservation System. Travel agents can book seats on the company's eight-place, Dassault Aviation Falcon 20 jets in the same manner they do with commercial carriers. Chicago-based Indigo operates daily flights between Midway Airport and Teterboro, N.J., and Atlanta, with plans to serve White Plains, N.Y., and Washington in the near future, a company official said.
As cyberwar gains operational maturity, the discipline has emerged as a tool of finesse and not brute force, in part to counter political concerns about the fallout from unrestricted computer attacks. ``When you're discussing computer network warfare, you can get completely derailed and talk about worms and viruses and self-propagating programs and everyone thinks it's like unconstrained weapons of mass destruction,'' said Army Col. David Kirk, deputy commander of the Joint Information Operations Center.
As the supply chain continues to consolidate, keep an eye on Esterline Technologies Corp. The $530-million aerospace/defense manufacturer of sensors and controls, illuminated displays and advanced materials has made no fewer than 13 acquisitions since 1996, and management has positioned the company to sustain its aggressive growth-by-acquisition strategy. Last week, Esterline completed a stock offering of 3.2 million shares that netted the company $67 million. Part of the money will be used to maintain a high rate (4-5%) of investment in product development.
Former NTSB Chairman Jim Hall, who led the board during the highly publicized 1996 TWA Flight 800 crash off Long Island, N.Y., and helped make the agency more sensitive to victims' families, will head the Washington offices of Dillon, Hall and Lungershausen, a law firm specializing in transportation issues.
The Northwest Airlines board chose a rare collaborative style of leadership in naming two veteran executives to succeed John Dasburg, president and CEO of the airline for 10 years, who has elected to return to the food industry. Richard H. Anderson, 46, was appointed CEO, and Douglas M. Steenland, 49, president. They are 10-year veterans, each having served Dasburg as executive vice presidents. Anderson previously had the additional title of chief operating officer, and Steenland, chief corporate officer.
A Russian SS-25 ICBM converted into the Start-1 space launch vehicle configuration fired the 550-lb. Swedish Space Corp. Odin atmospheric research spacecraft into orbit Feb. 20 from the Russian Svobodny ICBM test site. The spacecraft was to be maneuvered into about a 390-mi. orbit inclined 98.7 deg.
Xavier Dumant (see photo) has been named general manager of Evron (France) Casting, a subsidiary of Howmet Castings. He was technical director of Howmet-Ciral.
Sabena Belgian World Airlines will implement a two-year cost-cutting plan, dubbed Blue Sky, to lower the troubled carrier's direct operating costs, eliminate routes and cut up to 700 jobs. Ground worker and flight crew unions reluctantly ratified recently the last-chance plan as the prerequisite to a $233-million capital injection by the SAirGroup and the Belgian government, co-owners of Sabena. The Belgian government's contribution to the bailout funding, which will require the European Commission's approval, will most likely be criticized by Sabena's competitors.
Nearly daily attacks on the Defense Dept.'s computer systems are providing plenty of opportunity to learn how to deal with such aggressors. But what worries military officials is that sophisticated cyber-threats that could do real damage aren't being seen and are being developed in secret. Most of the day-to-day intrusion attempts are relatively unsophisticated, albeit often disruptive. Defense Dept. computer experts estimate that about 98% of the attacks come from hackers, rather than other countries trying to break into U.S. systems.
India in the next two decades will require 380 new aircraft worth about $24 billion, according to Boeing. While Indian domestic air travel is growing at 6% annually, marginally higher than the global growth rate of 4.8%, the pending privatization of Indian Airlines and Air India is expected to spur growth of India's transport market. Companies short-listed as strategic partners of Air India and Indian Airlines include Tata-SIA consortium, L. N.
The Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) has named Commerce One of Pleasanton, Calif., to run a private e-marketplace for its Multiple Award Contract program, which is expected to manage between $200-300 million a year in contracts. Exostar, the e-marketplace started by BAE Systems, Boeing, Commerce One, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon, will be the MAC portal. The contract is the first that Exostar has won from the Defense Dept. Computer Sciences Corp. will provide legacy systems integration, supply chain consulting services and Navy procurement process expertise.
Brussels-Charleroi Airport is widely regarded as the front-runner for Ryanair's planned new hub in continental Europe. The Irish airline, which has also been evaluating Frankfurt (Hahn), Pisa and Stockholm, will announce a decision this week. Ryanair is launching seven new routes from its London Stansted hub on Apr. 5 with the arrival of five Boeing 737-800s, bringing the total number of destinations it serves to 47.
The future of Air Liberte, Air Littoral and AOM, three French airlines jointly owned by the SAirGroup and the French Taibout Antibes group, is threatened by massive losses and a consolidation plan that appears to be destined for failure.
During the first six months of this year, the U.S. Air Force will be making a series of quiet but fundamental changes designed to turn information warfare and the manipulation of intelligence into authentic combat weapons.
