Valery Kubasov, the flight engineer on Soyuz 19, which docked with an Apollo spacecraft in Earth orbit in July 1975, died Feb. 19 in Moscow. He was 79. His death was announced on RSC Energia's website, which called him a “high-spirited instructor test cosmonaut.” No cause of death was given.
Washington is pressing its Persian Gulf allies to adopt a regional missile defense architecture—and acquire U.S. systems for it. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns tells the Center for Strategic and International Studies that a multinational approach would be more cost efficient, provide a more layered defense strategy and offer better early warning of launch threats. He notes similar architectures elsewhere that work off a U.S.
Israel Aerospace Industries unveiled a new unmanned air system at the Singapore Airshow, inaugurating a new class that it calls the “super-tactical” UAS. The Super Heron is some 50% larger than the basic Heron or the General Atomics Predator in order to carry a high-performance multi-sensor suite on long-endurance missions. The UAS has completed its flight tests, IAI says, and is “a fully operational system.”
The release of next week's Pentagon budget request to Congress will set the stage for one of the first of several key decisions for Boeing's defense sector, which recently came under new leadership.
Jon Buccola (see photo), chairman of Greenpoint Technologies, Kirkland, Wash., has been named Executive of the Year by the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance. The award recognizes Buccola's “dedication to community service, company growth and developing a corporate culture which embodies the values of fun, integrity, teamwork, creativity, customer focus and giving back to the community.”
AgustaWestland, Airbus and Bell will make their mark this year with a new class of commercial helicopter. Described as the super-mediums, the light-heavies and even the intermediate-heavies, the AW189, EC175 and Bell 525 Relentless will target what is likely to become a crowded market. While all three have approached it from a different perspective, and each comes with its own unique selling points, the biggest question is, who will steal the crown?
Avi Cohen, CEO of Israel-based RRsat, has been named 2014 Teleport Executive of the Year by the New York-based World Teleport Association. The award is presented to an individual for “entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation in the development or operation of a teleport-based business.”
Cessna kicked off the flight-test program of its Latitude midsize business jet, keeping the aircraft on schedule for a 2015 certification. The aircraft, which recently rolled out quietly before employees, took to the air three years after Cessna unveiled the aircraft during the National Business Aviation Association's annual convention in October 2011. The first flight, announced Feb. 18, tested flaps, landing gear, pressurization systems, anti-ice capabilities, stability and control. Flight engineers reported that systems performed as expected.
Chris Reuther has become group vice president-finance for Circor Aerospace & Defense, Corona, Calif. He was lead manager of financial planning and analysis for Sikorsky Aerospace Services and had been CFO of Sikorsky's overhaul and repair business.
The pilots of the UPS Airbus A300-600 that slammed into a hill just short of the runway in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14 appear to have had difficulty programming the aircraft's navigation system, according to an NTSB investigative hearing on Feb. 20. Information from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders shows that the captain of Flight 1354 had intended to fly a “profile approach” into Birmingham, a non-precision arrival created in the aircraft's flight management system (FMS) to provide the autopilot with lateral and continuous vertical guidance to the runway.
USAFR Maj. Gen. (ret.) Ralph S. Clem Jacksonville, Fla. (Nantes, France )
The recently released report by the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force (AW&ST Feb. 3, p. 12) captures many of the key issues raised and discussed by that body, especially as they relate to the need for optimizing the mix of forces among the three components of the service (Active Duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard) in light of shrinking budgets, declining manpower and new mission areas.
The U.S. Air Force has finally given its newest aerial refueler, Boeing's developmental KC-46, a name. Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh announced Feb. 20 at the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., that the aircraft will be dubbed the “Pegasus,” after the winged stallion from Greek mythology. The aircraft, however, has yet to fly. The first Boeing 767-2C, a commercial jetliner outfitted with plumbing and wiring for the military refueling modifications, is slated to roll out of the factory this summer.
James Walker (see photo) has been named Asia-Pacific vice president/managing director of Rockwell Collins. He has been CEO of AutoCRC Ltd. as well as QMI Solutions Ltd., and was general manager and vice president of the Networked Enabled Systems business for Australasia and Southeast Asia for Boeing.
Melissa Hathaway, former acting senior director for cyberspace at the National Security Council, has joined the board of regents of the Arlington, Va.-based Potomac Institute. Hathaway is at the Kennedy School of Government's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs as senior adviser to its cybersecurity initiative, Project Minerva, a joint effort of the Defense Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University.
Peter Griffith (see photo) has been named vice president-sales and marketing for Europe and Africa and Peter Walker (see photo) vice president-sales and marketing for the Middle East and Asia-Pacific for Embraer Executive Jets. Griffith succeeds Colin Steven, who has left the company. Walker follows Jose Eduardo Costas, who is now vice president-market intelligence.
“What Happens Above “(AW&ST Jan. 27, p. 15) is a good commentary about technology-driven changes to sterile cockpits, but it misses the most frightening part of e-tablets being used by pilots on duty.
Chris Cannady (see photo) has been Wichita-based appointed OEM sales manager for Universal Avionics, Tucson, Ariz. He has held positions in engineering, management and technical sales with Boeing Military Aircraft, Cessna Aircraft, Bombardier/Learjet and Gulfstream Aerospace.
As the civil helicopter industry everywhere continues to expand and support economic growth, inconsistent safety methods and programs remain a stumbling block in many nations. Too often, growth in helicopter operations also means an increase in accidents.
The Viewpoint “Protect Airliners From SAM Threat” (AW&ST Feb. 17, p. 58) brings out a keep-a-stiff-upper-lip reaction in me. No one gets out of this life alive. Man-portable air-defense systems are a very unlikely threat to airliners in the U.S. If they were or could become more pervasive, placing countermeasures on U.S. airliners might make some sense. Because no insurance company pays out on acts of war, they are not going to demand that airlines equip their airliners.
In the fraught atmosphere that wracked NASA and the spacefaring world after the Columbia accident in 2003, perhaps the sharpest condemnation stemmed from an off-the-cuff remark by the U.S. space agency's space shuttle program manager. Ron Dittemore said he did not seek imagery from classified reconnaissance satellites that might have revealed the extent of the launch-debris damage to the orbiter's left wing because nothing could have been done anyway. Sean O'Keefe, then the agency administrator, begged to differ.
