Brian Walker has been appointed manager of customer experience for the service operation and Jessica Rowden general manager of the Albuquerque, New Mexico, location of Cutter Aviation. Walker was manager of aircraft services for the -McKinney/Addison facility in Texas. Rowden was general manager of the Colorado Springs location.
Dan Webster has become managing director of Melbourne-based Elbit Systems of Australia. He succeeds Shlomo Weizer, who has a new position at Elbit Systems. Webster was vice president-programs and had been director of services and support for Thales Australia.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. John F. Wharton has been appointed commanding general of the Army Research, Development and Engineering Command, Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. He was commanding general of the U.S. Army Sustainment Command, Rock Island Arsenal, Illinois.
Fred Graffam has become interim CFO of DigitalGlobe, Longmont, Colorado. He succeeds Yancey L. Spruill, who has resigned. Graffam has been vice president-financial planning and analysis.
A version of this article appears in the September 8 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. The U.K. has decided to retain its second Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier, HMS Prince of Wales, reversing plans to mothball it, made in 2010. The decision, which had been expected in the next Strategic Defense and Security Review, in 2015, was announced by Prime Minister David Cameron at the end of the NATO summit in Newport, Wales. Work on the ship is underway at the Rosyth naval dockyard near Edinburgh.
Richard Nevill has been appointed vice president of the Customer Services Div. of Aircelle, Le Havre, France. He was head of customer support and services for AgustaWestland Helicopters.
Janice Starzyk of International Launch Services has been named president of the Washington Space Business Roundtable. She succeeds Stephen Ganote of Avascent.
Leda Chong has become Beijing-based Asia-Pacific senior vice president for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. She was head of the Asia-Pacific region for the aerospace business group of parent company General Dynamics.
Charlotte R. Zilke has been named director of conventions for the Alexandria, Virginia-based Helicopter Association International. She was manager of convention services.
A version of this article appears in the September 15 issue of Aviation Week & Southwest Airlines updated its livery for the first time since 2001 as part of a multifaceted brand campaign. A single new logo—a stylized heart—now accompanies all internal and external communications, such as its “Rapid Rewards” frequent-flier program and its new booking website.
A version of this article appears in the September 15 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev gets his first look at solid ground after 169 days orbiting Earth on the International Space Station (ISS). Flight engineer Artemyev, Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of NASA and Alexander Skvortsov of Russian Federal Space Agency Roscosmos, also a flight engineer, landed safely in Kazakhstan Sept. 11 in their Soyuz TMA-12M capsule.
A version of this article appears in the September 15 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. Obituary: Noel W. Hinners, a U.S. space scientist who helped explore the Moon, Mars and beyond, died Sept. 5 in Littleton, Colorado. He was 78 and had been suffering from complications of basal cell carcinoma.
A version of this article appears in the September 8 issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology. Helicopter operator Bristow has accepted the first of 11 Sikorsky S-92 helicopters to be used on an 11-year U.K. government search-and-rescue contract. The Long SAR contract will begin in April 2015 and will see Bristow operate 22 helicopters, 11 S-92s and 11 AgustaWestland AW189s from 10 bases at civilian airports and airfields. They will replace the Sea King helicopters flown by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy.
