Richard F. Gildea (see photo) has been promoted to vice president-corporate business development for Navy programsfrom director of Naval Aviation programs for the Raytheon Co. in Washington. He succeeds William C. Francis, who is retiring.
Mickey Moman has been promoted to vice president-training from senior director and Robert Hornburg to vice president/chief information officer from director of information services for the Mesa Air Group.
OTI, the commercial software development arm of Orincon Technologies Inc., will join Abbott Consulting to pursue data mining for the military. They said their future work will follow along the lines of a recent collaboration to evaluate data from U.S. Marine Corps aircraft, such as engine temperatures, maintenance histories and flight profiles. . . . Centric Software Inc., of San Jose, Calif., will add EADS Matra Datavision's system integration, training and engineering services to its Internet-based software applications.
Thorsten Hisam has been named vice president-business development, Mohammed R. Berenji director of international activities, Don T. Sine vice president-maritime analysis and Chuck Raderstorf director of military aviation products, all for Eagle Research Laboratories, Sterling, Va. Hisam was on the faculty of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Berenji was director of safety and a Boeing 747-400 captain for Saudi Arabian Airlines. Sine was director of the U.S. Navy's Aegis training program and chairman of the History Dept. at the U.S.
The Lockheed Martin X-35A has flown at supersonic speed and the Boeing X-32A is about halfway through carrier approach field tests as both contractors move closer to the challenging short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) phase of the Joint Strike Fighter demonstration program.
Peter Samsonov has become program manager for America West Airlines for Bearing Inspection Inc., Los Alamitos, Calif. He was customer support manager for passenger systems at Rockwell Collins.
Capt. Rob Giguere has been named executive vice president-operations of Air Canada and Robin Wohnsigl president of Air Canada Technical Services. Wohnsigl was senior vice president-technical operations for the airline.
The aborted automatic docking of a 7.5-ton Progress resupply vehicle to the International Space Station, and emergency actions required by the ISS crew to get the critical resupply vehicle docked to the outpost on Nov. 18, will intensify Russian efforts to consolidate production of the rendezvous system in Russia instead of splitting the hardware with Ukraine. It will also spark additional reviews of backup procedures, although the ISS crew received high praise for salvaging the situation.
Raytheon Co. plans to sell its electro-optical systems business to BFGoodrich Co. The divestiture is part of Raytheon's efforts to focus on its core defense electronics business and reduce debt. BFGoodrich officials said the acquisition complements its strategy to become a leading supplier of satellite control systems. The electro-optical unit had revenues of $152 million in 1999. It also produces laser warning and visual surveillance systems.
United Airlines, whose popularity among travelers and its labor force remains low, and whose proposed merger with US Airways has yet to be approved, is sticking business travelers with a hefty 10% hike on unrestricted business fares. The increase is intended to help pay for the recent four-year contract, which gives most of the airline's 10,500 pilots pay raises of 23% over the length of the pact. Several other airlines matched United's fare increase, which is the sixth this year among the major carriers.
Avionics technicians in the U.K. being trained to maintain the Tornado F3 are getting more practice diagnosing and repairing electronic problems using a ``virtual avionics'' simulator. Previously, the hands-on counterpart to classroom work used a cockpit mockup that looked like the real thing, but the avionics black boxes were just stacked in racks in the avionics ground test rig (AGTR), which bore no resemblance to the aircraft installation.
The desire of European Union nations for a joint military force that can operate separately from NATO will be reinforced by the EU's new role in defining space strategy.
Aerospan has turned to Extricity Inc. to provide it with business-to-business software to link its customers' operational systems. Extricity's B2B platform will allow Aerospan's customers to link their backend systems, including their huge enterprise resource planning software systems, directly to the Aerospan.com marketplace. The goal is to avoid manual transfer of information from legacy ERP systems to the Web site and vice versa. The difficulty in assuring that only certifiable parts are traded makes this hurdle one of the largest for any aerospace dot.com.
Matthew Talbot has been appointed regional operations manager in Sydney for Washington-based Universal Air Travel Plan Inc. Kay Boon Tan has been named Singapore-based marketing manager for Asia-Pacific and Simon J. Tongue as Geneva-based marketing manager for Asia-Pacific and for Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Talbot was senior business analyst for Air New Zealand.
The U.S./Canadian crew of Endeavour is set this week to launch the first large solar arrays and other critical electrical and cooling hardware to the International Space Station on the most ambitious manned space construction mission ever flown. Endeavour is set for liftoff at 10:06 p.m. EST Nov. 30 carrying the $600-million Boeing P6 photovoltaic module, a 17.5-ton payload that is larger than the Hubble Space Telescope.
Niki Lauda has resigned as chairman of Lauda Air in reaction to criticism by external auditors over foreign currency dealings. The audit had been ordered by Austrian Airlines, which owns 36% of the carrier and has been severely critical of Lauda's management. The resignation is expected to facilitate plans by Austrian, a member of the Star Alliance, to take control of Lauda Air (AW&ST Oct. 30, p. 55).
A Raytheon Aircraft Co. official said late last week FAA certification of the Premier I business jet will be delayed until March or April of next year, not next month as anticipated. Reasons for the setback include failure to meet regulations applicable to rudder centering and main landing gear tire burst testing. The rudder system has been reworked to add a centering spring and a small ventral fin, and a shroud has been installed around the tires to prevent damage to wheel well components.
CargoLifter AG has completed work on a giant hangar for assembly of prototypes and series variants of its CL 160 heavy-lift dirigible. The 107-meter (351-ft.) high, 5.5-million-cu.-meter building, located in Brand, near Berlin, is billed as the world's largest self-supporting structure. Almost twice the size of Lockheed Martin's Airdock in Akron, Ohio, the facility will be capable of producing two dirigibles, each able to carry a 160-metric-ton (352,000-lb.) load (AW&ST June 5, p. 88).
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Ilya Klebanov has proposed the sale of 4-6 Beriev A-50E advanced early warning aircraft to China. Klebanov told reporters in Beijing that the offer, made to Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji and chief of staff Gen. Zhang Wannian earlier this month, was likely to be accepted. The aircraft, worth an estimated $200 million, could be delivered by 2005. Until U.S. pressure forced its cancellation, China had been counting on the acquisition of Israeli Phalcon AEW aircraft to meet this requirement.
James R. Wilson and Ronald D. Sugar have been appointed to the board of directors of Litton Industries Inc., Woodland Hills, Calif. Wilson is past chairman/CEO of Cordant Technologies Inc., and Sugar is president/chief operating officer of Litton.
Air France plans to combine Flandre Air, Proteus Airlines and Regional Airlines in the next few months to form a unified regional carrier. The proposed restructuring is tentatively scheduled to be completed in mid-2001. The carrier, unnamed-as-yet, will operate about 400 domestic/European short-haul flights per day with 80 aircraft and have an estimated $335 million in annual revenues. Air France's external growth policy recently was further strengthened by the acquisition of Brittany-based Brit Air.
William L. Meaney has been appointed CEO of the Chicago-based Star Alliance, effective Feb. 1. He will succeed Friedel Rodig, who is scheduled to retire. Meaney has been executive vice president-alliances, network management and global sales for South African Airways. Other Alliance Management Team executives who were named recently are: Louise McKenven, vice president-marketing; Rick S. Mer- katz, vice president-sales; Horst E. Findeisen, vice president-global network; and Brock Friesen, vice president-strategy.
Bill Rankin of the customer support group and Curt Graeber of the aviatiion safety organization, both at the Boeing Commercial Airplane Group, have received Whittle Safety Awards for a BCAG team of human factors specialists from the International Federation of Airworthiness. The team was cited for developing and implementing the Maintenance Error Decision Air Process, which is used to identify and analyze factors leading to maintenance errors in airline operations and provide the basis for improvements in maintenance practices.
