Aviation Week & Space Technology

Customer support will be crucial to the C919’s success

Airlines are healthier, but returns are still subpar

Freight volumes are slumping worldwide, but Asia bucks the trend with targeted approach

While cargo operators are parking fuel-hungry Boeing 747s and MD-11s, passenger operators are loading up the belly holds of their new widebody aircraft.

NASA plans to award $4.9 million for concept studies for its proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM), slated to launch in 2019. The six-month

The May 16 crash of a Russian Proton M/Briz M rocket has been attributed to the malfunction of a bearing on the upper-stage steering engine turbo pump, according to a Russian federal investigation into the mishap. The failure led to the loss of Russia’s Express AM4R, a telecommunications satellite built by Airbus Defense and Space for the Russian Satellite Communications Co. That spacecraft was intended to replace the Express AM4 lost during an August 2011 Proton M/Briz M failure caused by a programming error in the guidance system.

After two weeks of uncooperative winds at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility, NASA is suspending efforts to test-launch a disk-shaped

The Hubble Space Telescope has begun preliminary observations with the aim of finding a Kuiper Belt object that NASA’s New Horizons mission can visit

Dassault Mirage 2000 fighter aircraft of Qatar’s Emiri Air Force have been flying in Anatolian Eagle exercises at Konya Air Base, Turkey, this month

Sikorsky plans to deliver at least six operationally capable CH-148 Cyclone maritime helicopters by June 2015 to allow Canada to begin replacing its

Boeing is preparing to deliver the first 787-9 to launch customer Air New Zealand early in July following the award of U.S. and European type

The first launch of Russia’s light-class Angara rocket is expected from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on June 25, according to Russian space agency

The director of the U.S. Defense Logistics Agency, Navy Vice Adm. Mark Harnitchek, says the DLA has “already put money in the bank” as it moves to cut

India will conduct the first canister-based trial of the 5,000-km (3,100-mi.), nuclear-capable Agni-V missile in the next few months. As a prelude to

Jim Hammett (see photo) has been appointed chief flying instructor for U.K.-based - Bournemouth Helicopters.

USAF Lt. Gen. James M. Holmes has been appointed deputy chief of staff for strategic plans and requirements at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. He

Tom Konicki (see photos) has been named director of business development for U.S. and foreign government programs, and T.J. Ogden as director of international security and compliance for Pacific Propeller International, Kent, Washington. Konicki was the Southeast Asia branch chief for the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for international affairs at the Pentagon. Ogden was manager of security operations and enterprise projects at Aerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington.

Trevor King has been appointed general manager of Landmark Aviation’s London Luton Airport facility. He was business development director for the

Paul Watts has become general manager of the Lafayette, Louisiana, aircraft assembly facility for Bell Helicopter. He will remain Bell 505 program

Thierry Lubin has been named vice president-marketing and sales for AFI KLM Engineering and Maintenance group subsidiary CRMA, Elancourt, France. He

Daniel R. Godin (see photos) has been appointed president of MRO Solutions and Nathan A. Skop executive vice president-contracts and compliance for the Merex Group, Miramar, Florida. Anthony Grant has been named Camarillo, California-based vice president-business transformation. Godin was an executive at Circor, Sermatech and United Technologies. Skop was a lawyer in private practice and had worked for Boeing and General Dynamics.

Morgan Littell has become vice president-business aviation development for the UMB Financial Corp., Kansas City, Missouri. She was manager of sales and customer relations at Ametek B&S Aircraft.

David J. Anderson has been named to the board of directors of B/E Aerospace, Wellington, Florida. He is retired as senior vice president/chief

Pyotr Motrenko (see photo) has been appointed managing director of Russian Helicopters’ Rostvertol subsidiary. Outgoing General Director Boris Slusar was named chairman of Rostvertol and Dmitry Lelikov , the CEO of parent company Oboronprom, as deputy chairman.

I have wondered why the F-22 fleet seems to get so little attention or so little duty in active combat zones. I keep reading about what appear to be significant limitations on the F-35—reader Mike Greenway’s letter at the moment—( AW&ST May 12, p. 9), and can only conclude that the air force is clinging to the F-22 because it is more likely to be capable of standing up to the advanced airplanes of our potential adversaries.