The FAA has hired a headhunter to find a chief operating officer (COO) for its air traffic control system. The new executive will be responsible for ATC strategic plans and the acceleration of ATC modernization. Word is a candidate will be selected by Administrator Jane Garvey early next year, subject to approval by an adjunct of the new Aviation Management Advisory Council. It was established by Congress in the AIR 21 aviation modernization bill President Clinton signed into law last spring.
Sophie Vossenaar, manager of inflight communications for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, has been elected president of the World Airline Entertainment Assn. She succeeds Karen Schipper of El Al Israel Airlines. Other new officers elected are: vice president, Kent Craver, manager of product marketing for Continental Airlines; secretary, Joan Barker, sales and marketing director of Inflight Productions Ltd.; and treasurer, Linda Palmer, senior vice president-nontheatrical sales for Buena Vista Pictures.
Accident investigators at Taipei last week began sorting through wreckage and other evidence following the Oct. 31 crash of Singapore Airlines Flight SQ006 as conflicting accounts of what happened stirred up controversy that focused on three issues--a night takeoff into bad weather, possible departure from the wrong runway and a collision with an object on the runway.
Sabotage, malicious code buried in software, terrorism, earthquakes and hurricanes now top U.S. Space Command's list of threats to military and commercial space systems, displacing more-esoteric ones such as anti-satellite weapons.
Former astronaut Neil Armstrong has been named chairman of the Edo Corp. of New York. He succeeds Frank Fariello. Armstrong was chairman of AIL Technologies Inc. and associate NASA administrator for aeronautics.
A decision could be made as early as this week on whether a new company--Iridium Satellite--will be able to acquire the assets of the bankrupt Iridium satellite communications system. A hearing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York has been scheduled for Nov. 8 to hear the proposal from Iridium Satellite, which is headed by Dan Colussy, a former president of Pan American World Airways.
Air Force Space Command has assumed responsibility for the Midcourse Space Experiment (MSX) satellite, which had been a research platform for the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization since 1996. The spacecraft will improve AFSPC's ability to monitor and collect information on deep-space commercial and military satellites, augmenting ground-based tracking systems while avoiding some of their limitations. MSX has increased revisit rates of ``militarily significant objects'' by 50% and reduced the lost-satellite list by 80%, according to command officials.
Henry Borysewicz has become director of the Scientific Computing Center and will remain director of the AeroSpace network at the John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Sciences of the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks. Dave Vangsnes has become site manager of the UND Flight Training Center in Mesa, Ariz. He was director of crew resource management at the Odegard School.
Billings for new general aviation airplanes during the third quarter exceeded $2 billion--a record amount for the period, and deliveries reached 684 units, the highest since 1984. According to the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn., 472 piston-powered aircraft, 144 business jets and 68 turboprops were shipped. So far this year, customers have taken delivery of 431 business jets, 233 turboprops and 1,336 piston-powered light airplanes.
ITT EXPECTS TO START SHIPPING ITS NEW PINNACLE image intensifier tubes to the U.S. Army for helicopter and ground-based night vision use early in the first quarter of 2001. Pinnacle uses an upgraded Generation 3 technology that actually gives it better performance than previous Gen-3 and Gen-4 systems. Improved photoresponse gives it a 24% better signal/noise ratio. A new gated power supply reduces the voltage and vastly improves the viewing under bright light conditions, so helicopter pilots can continue using their NVGs when they turn on landing lights.
Boeing and the Pentagon are going to be working closer together on National Missile Defense, literally. With the Pentagon's encouragement, the company has decided to move its program management shop from Anaheim, Calif., to the Washington area to bolster coordination with the NMD program office. As part of the shift, Boeing's newly appointed NMD program director, Jim Evatt, is relocating here. Boeing hopes the move, along with a few other changes, will improve its performance on the NMD program and increase how much money it gets under the existing contract.
Karen Millon has been appointed vice president-professional services and Thomas Bechard vice president-customer service for CharterHub Inc. of Toronto. Millon operated Millon Air Cargo in Miami and was a founder of Gateway Airlines in Canada. Bechard was a customer service executive for American Express.
Carl Gautreaux has been elected president of the Master Executive Council for the 1,500 American Eagle flight attendants represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants. Other new officers elected are: Veronica Tenerelli, vice president; and Tavis Alexander, secretary.
While cautioning against premature conclusions, the State Dept.'s top counter-terrorism policymaker says the USS Cole probably was not the target of state-sponsored terrorists. Nor is Yemen guilty of willfully harboring terrorists, asserts Michael Sheehan, a retired special forces colonel. Sheehan also cautions against leaping to conclusions that the wealthy Saudi exile Osama bin Laden masterminded the Cole assault.
Tom Cadwell has been appointed president/CEO of Tecstar Inc., City of Industry, Calif. He held the same positions at Strasbaugh, San Luis Obispo, Calif.
James H. Williford has been named executive director of marketing and business development of Lear Siegler Services Inc., Annapolis, Md. He was a marketing executive for BAE Systems.
Groen Brothers Aviation, anticipating a market for large gyroplanes with rear cargo access, has launched an internal development effort by converting a Cessna C337 Skymaster to a rotorcraft. The modification involves: -- Removing the rear ``pusher'' engine and replacing the front ``tractor'' engine with a 450-shp. Rolls-Royce 250-B17F2 gas turbine. -- Inverting the twin booms so the vertical tails point downward, providing clearance for a rotor.
Lufthansa Technik and United Airlines have agreed to jointly market and sell technical support solutions for Boeing 777 aircraft. The accord is an extension of a 777 cooperation agreement signed three years ago. LHT also contracted to retrofit a Boeing 747-400 to VIP cabin configuration for an unidentified head of state from the Middle East. The aircraft is to be delivered in 2002. A multiyear maintenance contract is also being negotiated.
Things may be finally looking up at KLM, which has seen merger talks with Alitalia and British Airways fall apart this year. The Dutch carrier posted better than expected results for the second quarter, with net profits rising 71% to 118 million euros ($99.7 million). Passenger and cargo revenues were up 14% and 15%, respectively, during the quarter ending Sept. 30. And the airline forecast that operating income for the full year would be double that of last year despite high fuel costs, which accounted for 7% of a 9% increase in operating costs.
Jeff Hammond has become managing director and Roger Niemel director of operations of the Middleburg Heights, Ohio-based Customs brokerage unit of Emery Worldwide. Hammond was general manager in Boston, while Niemel was the unit's manager of business development.
Delta Air Lines and CSA Czech Airlines are seeking U.S. Transportation Dept. authorization to extend their code-share agreement to include flights between the U.S. and Czech Republic beginning Mar. 25. Their current code-share arrangement includes flights to Central and Eastern European destinations. Next year, CSA is scheduled to join the Skyteam alliance, of which Delta is a member.
NASA and Lockheed Martin Space Systems have completed negotiations on a six-year contract for production of 35 Super Lightweight space shuttle external propellant tanks. The contract is valued at about $1.15 billion. The agreement includes production and test of the 154-ft.-long tanks as well as operation of NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The tanks are about 7,500 lb. lighter in weight than the tanks they replace as a result of changes in design and materials.
A new reconnaissance discipline--based on motion--is gaining visibility and some popularity in the intelligence-gathering community. Movement intelligence (movint) is taking its place beside analysis of communications (comint), imagery (imint) and electronic signals (sigint) as a critical analytical instrument for plotting the actions and intentions of foes.
