Bill Barager has been appointed to the board of directors of the Arlington, Va.-based National Aeronautic Assn. He is Rosslyn, Va.-based vice president-government relations operations for Boeing.
Dassault Systemes/IBM's vast user base for its Catia software, a customer list that includes rival Boeing, put it over the top in a two-year contest to choose computing tools for design and manufacture of Airbus Industrie's future aircraft programs, including the bulk of the $12-billion A3XX transport and all of the $4.75-billion A400M military transport.
H. Giovanni Carnaroli has been named manager of consulting services and Diane D'Aubin technical services administrator for BACK Aviation Solutions, Manassas, Va.
The Sea Launch system, following its third successful mission, is boosting payload weight capability and trimming overall processing times as the international venture prepares for launch of a Thuraya communications satellite next month. The 8,067-lb. PanAmSat PAS-9 was launched on July 28 from the equator at 154 deg. W. Long., the third success in four attempts for Sea Launch. The satellite, launched at 3:42 p.m. PDT, arrived in geostationary transfer orbit about 1 hr. 45 min. later.
Now that Lockheed Martin has completed its acquisition of Comsat, it plans to turn around and seek a strategic partner to buy 15-20% of the business and then do a stock offering. The merger of the two was finally completed last week following approval by the Federal Communications Commission. It was accomplished in a one-for-one stock swap for the 51% of Comsat that LockMart did not already own. The exchange was valued at $790 million. The remaining 49% was acquired in a tender offer announced in 1998 and cost the Bethesda, Md.-based aerospace giant $1.2 billion.
A Hong Kong shipping company, Chu Kong Air Sea Union Transport Co. Ltd., has been awarded the right to operate the Marine Cargo Terminal (MCT) at the city's international airport. Long a dream in Hong Kong aviation, the marine terminal is intended to link air freight at the airport, which is located on an island, with shipping coming out of southern China's busy Pearl River Delta industrial region (AW&ST Mar. 27, p. 44). The MTC is to be built on a 3.5-acre (1.4-hectare) site next to a passenger ferry pier.
The incident highlights several industry concerns, among them finding the causes of clear air turbulence and the need for in-cockpit technology that would aid pilots in predicting--and therefore avoiding--turbulence and other hazardous atmospheric conditions such as icing and volcanic ash. The National Center for Atmospheric Research recently identified ``horizontal vortex tubes'' or horizontal tornadoes as one possible cause of clear air turbulence.
Boeing agreed to pay $61.5 million last week to settle a lawsuit by a whistle-blower who accused the company of selling faulty helicopter gears for the CH-47D Chinook. Brett Roby, a quality control engineer for Speco Corp. of Springfield, Ohio, which manufactured the gears, claims that Seattle-based Boeing knew the gears could develop cracks. Two CH-47D crashes resulted from the faulty gears, although there were no fatalities. Boeing denies the allegations but said it was settling the suit to avoid protracted litigation and would challenge the scope of the damages.
The U.S. Navy will make its Battle Force e-mail system work over ships' existing high-frequency radios with Rockwell Collins' HF Messenger software. The system will have wide area-type connectivity, and messages will be broadcast to all, multicast to a few, or sent point-to-point. . . . CargoLifter AG, the Berlin-based startup designing airships to carry heavy loads such as Airbus wings, has placed a $1.3-million order with Parametric Technology Corp. for its Windchill software.
The French government will not authorize Air France to restart Concorde operations until the investigators' remaining uncertainties about the events that led to the July 25 crash are further clarified.
The Transportation Dept. is confident the Internet will not make travel agencies disappear, even though airline Web sites are attracting increased bookings. The reason is simple: passengers are still finding the lowest available fares from travel agencies, according to Transportation's A. Bradley Mims. He adds that lots of fliers value their personal relationships with travel agents who can intercede when something goes wrong.
Timothy M. Shroyer (see photos) has been promoted to vice president-business development for TriPoint Global Communnications, Gastonia, N.C., from vice president-systems engineering at the company's VertexRSI facility, Santa Clara, Calif. Bernard Cahlander has been named vice president/general manager of that facility. He succeeds Louis Becker, who has retired. Cahlander was vice president-tracking, telemetry and control systems.
Computer Sciences Corp. has received a work order from the FAA to provide en route software development support. The contract has a three-year base period with two one-year options and is valued at $329 million.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center began a 15-country tour of the world's most volcanically active region, the Pacific Rim, last week in its modified DC-8. Dryden's Airborne Science Directorate is to spend 2.5 months collecting geographic and atmospheric data for coastal analysis and oceanography, forestry, geology, hydrology and archaeology studies, according to Mission Coordinator Ellen O'Leary. Areas of study include Angkor Wat in Cambodia, French Polynesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and coastal wetlands in Australia.
Glenn R. Wienkoop has become president/chief operating officer of the Structural Dynamics Research Corp. of Cincinnati. He was executive vice president/COO of the Cognex Corp.
When BFGoodrich said it would become an equity partner in the MyAircraft electronic marketplace, President and Chief Operating Officer Marshall Larson noted that his company had ``only'' $3.6 billion in revenues last year. Larson's point: the Charlotte, N.C.-based manufacturer regarded itself as too small to be able to run a business-to-business buy/sell site successfully by itself on the Internet. MyAircraft Vice President Scott Clements said the site expects to include additional partners within coming weeks.
Pierre Lortie has been named president/chief operating officer of Bombardier Capital of Montreal. He was president of Bombardier Aerospace Regional Aircraft and Bombardier International.
Bruce J. Pierce (see photo) has become corporate vice president of Photon Research Associates Inc., Arlington, Va. He was chief engineer/deputy for technology for the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization.
Jon Day (see photos p. 14), who has been treasurer of the Nordam Group, Tulsa, Okla., is now also a vice president. Michael Abram has been promoted to general manager of the Repair Div. from director of operations. And, Rod Miller has been promoted to general manager for international marketing from director of international marketing support for Nordam affiliate World Aviation Associates.
Mark P. Boughey has been named general manager of the Harrow Center of Aerospheres (U.K.) Ltd. He was a purchasing executive for Monarch Aircraft Engineering.
Martin-Baker has taken a large step forward to guaranteeing itself a place on the Joint Strike Fighter, having just been named by Lockheed Martin as its ejection seat choice for a future production aircraft.
Lockheed Martin Control Systems and its counterpart in France, Snecma Control Systems, will jointly design and manufacture a new generation of electronic controls for commercial aircraft engines. First application for the Fadec 3 full-authority digital engine control product line will be the GE90-115, due for testing next year and scheduled to enter revenue service in 2003 on the Boeing 777. Sales of more than 10,000 units for new and retrofit aircraft are forecast for the next 10 years.
Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. has received an MAR-145 approval certificate for A320/321 heavy maintenance up to and including C3 checks, component repair and nondestructive testing, from the Macau Civil Aviation Authority.
