Michael Welbourne, formerly Airbus Industrie customer support manager in China, has been appointed director of product support for Sirocco Aerospace International of London.
Philip Teel, formerly vice president-program operations for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector in Dallas, has been named vice president-materiel. He succeeds Judy Northup, who has joined Vought Aircraft Industries, which was formed from the sale of Northrop Grumman's aerostructures business. Martin Dandridge, sector executive vice president, has succeeded Teel on an acting basis. Paul Coco, formerly vice president- aerostructures, is now vice president-airborne early warning systems and electronic warfare. He succeeds Lou Carrier, who has retired.
The U.S. Air Force has begun installing software upgrades to Block 50 F-16s that will allow the aircraft to carry advanced weapons to improve the fighter's combat capabilities including suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD).
International Space Station logistics--and international politics--will shape the final design of a U.S.-built propulsion element for the ISS, intended as a backstop for the Russian Zvezda Service Module and Progress resupply capsules that will serve as the primary means of reboosting the orbiting laboratory and moving it out of harm's way.
The increasing complexity of highly integrated avionics in modern tactical and strategic aircraft is forcing the U.S. flight test community to rely more and more on modeling and simulation.
A study by the U.K.'s Airprox Board shows that the overall rate of air proximity or near-collision incidents involving commercial air transports has fallen by more than one-third over the past 10 years. And the number of risk-bearing incidents since 1990 has fallen by more than 50%, despite increasing total f lying hours within U.K. airspace, according to the independent board of civil and military pilots and controllers who assess air proximity incidents in U.K. airspace.
Messier-Dowty, a Snecma group affiliate, is poised to unveil a far-reaching plan to restructure the company. The landing gear manufacturer will form a holding company, establish a unified, cross-border operational entity, and create business units to streamline links with key customers such as Airbus Industrie and Boeing. According to Chairman/CEO Louis Le Portz, the changes will cut costs and accelerate production rates to accommodate commercial and military customers.
The ALPA-represented pilots of Atlas Air, a Boeing 747 freight operator based in Golden, Colo., have entered talks with the National Mediation Board as a result of stalled contract negotiations. The principal concern of the pilots has been management's decision to outsource jobs to foreign pilots by establishing a so-called ``alter-ego'' subsidiary, Atlas Air Crew Services, and for opening an offshore base in Stansted, England. Since April 1999, ALPA has represented about 850 Atlas crewmembers.
Kerry B. Long has become a partner in the Aviation Finance and Leasing Group of the Washington office of the law firm Kaye, Scholer, Fierman, Hays and Handler LLP. He was a partner in Perkins Coie LLP.
Rick Armstrong (see photos) has been promoted to vice president from general manager of the Transparency Div. of Nordam, Tulsa, Okla. Other recent promotions are: Susan Hughes Johnson to vice president-administrative financial services from financial services administrator; Tray Siegfried to director of operations from production manager for the Interiors and Structures Div.; and Joe Greenwood to general manager of sales, customer administration, marketing and space parts for the Repair Div. from director of sales and administration.
Like their large-capitalization brethren, small- and mid-cap aerospace companies significantly outperformed the broader market in the first nine months of 2000. In some cases, investors who weren't on board missed a heck of a ride. For example, Precision Castparts Corp. advanced 201%; Hexcel Corp., 142%; the U.K.'s Doncasters plc, 114%, and Ladish Co. Inc., 108%.
When the subject of flight delays came up, airline industry and FAA officials gathered here for a safety meeting didn't exactly engage in finger-pointing, but it was clear that they still do not see eye to eye on who is to blame for the growing problem. Such was one message given by Air Transport Assn. President Carol Hallett in her strongly worded keynote address during the ATA's 2000 Operations and Safety Forum held here last week.
BELGIUM'S SEPTENTRIO'S EVALUATION KIT allows users to experiment with new hardware and software for global navigation satellite systems. The company's PolaRx 1 24-channel receiver processes GPS and Glonass signals using two of Septentrio's 12-channel GrecCo receivers. Connected to a user's PC and antenna, PolaRx will also be able to receive EGNOS, WAAS and Japan's MTSAT augmentation signals (www.septentrio.com).
V-22 flight operations were halted for a few days last week after a maintenance inspection found one of two gimbal ring bolts leading to the prop-rotor gearbox on one engine had come loose. The Navy said it would take about 8 hr. to inspect each aircraft and return it to flying status. Engineers are still trying to determine why the bolt came loose.
Over the past couple years, we have written at length about two disturbing trends in the U.S.--trends so alarming that we have labeled them each a crisis. One can be seen by almost anyone who flies. It is the growing numbers of flights that are delayed or canceled as a result of antiquated, insufficient infrastructure.
The U.S. Defense Dept. and Egypt have signed an agreement under which Boeing will upgrade 35 of Egypt's AH-64A Apache helicopters to the AH-64D configuration under a $400-million contract that will be administered by the U.S. Army.
LanChile, as part of its growth strategy, on Oct. 7 expects to start nonstop daily service from New York JFK International Airport to Santiago, Chile, with an ongoing direct flight to Buenos Aires. The carrier will offer three classes of service on Boeing 767-300 aircraft. The service departs JFK at 11 p.m., arriving Santiago mid-morning on the next day with an immediate connection arriving in Buenos Aires at 1:45 p.m.
Mary Bullock-Bagosy and James Glock have been named directors of airline sales for Signature Flight Support. Bullock-Bagosy was operations manager for flight support operations in Zurich, while Glock was general aviation manager for Signature at Baltimore-Washington International Airport.
BAE Systems has concluded the acquisition of Lockheed Martin's Control Systems business and plans to wrap up purchase of the U.S. company's electronic systems unit by year-end. BAE officials said they are watching for additional buying opportunities in the U.S., but do not foresee a full-scale merger with a major American company in the near future.
Antonio Valle and Capt. Mariano Gomez have been appointed executive vice presidents of e-commerce/information and operations, respectively, of Mexicana Airlines. Valle was director of systems and telecommunications at the Bank of America, while Gomez, who is a Boeing 757 captain, was vice president-Control Div.
Michael J. Inglese has been promoted to senior vice president/chief financial officer from vice president-finance for PanAmSat, Greenwich, Conn. He succeeds Kenneth N. Heintz, who has returned to Hughes Electronics Corp. as head of mergers and acquisitions.
San Francisco International Airport has begun limited charter operations to test its new international terminal prior to a full opening scheduled later this year. The terminal is part of a $2.5-billion expansion program, but airport directors are taking their time testing its systems to try to avoid opening-day problems.
Simon Yam has been appointed Hong Kong-based vice president-North Asia, John Kincheloe Singapore-based vice president-South Asia, David Ruiz general manager for Spain, Steve Wood director of business development for the global logistics unit, Charles Bruno director of marketing and business development and Ron Stevenson director of e-commerce and industry development, all for Emery Worldwide, Redwood City, Calif. Yam was division manager for Hong Kong, China and Macau, while Kincheloe was division manager in Los Angeles.
The Austrian Automobile Assn., OAMTC, has ordered 11 Eurocopter EC135 helicopters worth 34 million euros ($30 million) for air rescue applications. The aircraft, to be delivered from December through early 2002, will reinforce OAMTC's existing fleet of seven EC135s, and make it the largest operator of the type in the world. Eurocopter now has more than 200 orders for the light-twin rotorcraft.
