While the closing of their merger agreement caps off a tough regulatory battle, American Airlines and US Airways face an even more daunting challenge in integrating the two carriers and their workforces. Dec. 9 was a significant milestone for the new American Airlines. On that day the merger was officially consummated, American exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and the new parent company's stock was listed. One more court sign-off is needed, but this is regarded as a formality.
Brian Rowe has become business development manager for the intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance programs of Integrated Microwave Technologies, Mount Olive, N.J. He was business manager of Voltronics.
The idea of recycling regional-jet winglets into bookshelves may raise a skeptical eyebrow, but manufacturers are talking seriously about how to manage the end-of-life for their aircraft and engines—however distant that may seem today.
In response to “Reusable Redux” (AW&ST Dec. 2, p. 21), I have to clarify the cost comparison made between the first GPS satellite launched in 1978 and that of the GPS III spacecraft. First, the 1978 satellite was a demonstration, not a production, satellite and had a design life of less than one year; the design life of GPS III is 15 years. Second, inflation was not included in the comparison from 1978-2013.
A project to arm the U.K.'s Joint Strike Fighter force with a new, indigenous, small-diameter, precision-guided munition is advancing and could also form the basis for a surface-launched weapon for naval vessels and land operations.
John M. Gilligan (see photos) has been named president/chief operating officer and Franklin L. Van Rensselaer, Jr., senior vice president-civil and military aerospace of the Schafer Corp., Arlington, Va. Gilligan was president of his own information technology and cyber consulting firm and had been senior vice president and director of the Defense Sector at SRA International Inc. Van Rensselear was vice president-NASA business for the Government Communications Systems Div. of the Harris Corp. and director of space programs within Raytheon's Network Centric Systems.
Aviation Week Senior Air Transport Editor Adrian Schofield was honored at the 2013 Australia and New Zealand Aviation Media Awards, an event held by the National Aviation Press Club in Sydney. Schofield, who works from Auckland, New Zealand, won the Rolls-Royce Trophy for Technical Story of the Year, for an article on automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (AW&ST Feb. 11, p. 46). He was also runner-up in the News Story of the Year category and a finalist for Journalist of the Year.
Jan. 13-17—22nd AIAA/ASME/AHS Adaptive Structures Conference, 52nd AIAA Aerospace Sciences Conference and AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference. All at National Harbor, Md. See www.aiaa.org/EventDetail.aspx?id=18410, 18405, 18406 Jan. 22-24—Fifth Decennial AHS Aero-mechanics Specialists' Conference. Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco. Feb. 4-6—NSISC Space Infosec Technical Workshop: “Space Infosec Addressing New Challenges.” The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. See www.cvent.com/d/j4qndz
By making its announcement on Cyber Monday, Dec. 2, the biggest online shopping day of the year in the U.S., electronic-commerce giant Amazon was certain to get exhaustive and enthusiastic news coverage of its plans to use unmanned aircraft to deliver packages directly to customers. While Amazon has conducted test fights using a small quadcopter UAV to deliver a package, the realities of the FAA's regulatory requirements make it unlikely the delivery service, called Amazon Prime Air, will become available in 2015 as the company suggests.
It's that time of year when ads for timepieces crowd newspapers, home mailboxes and every other game break on television. Since pilots are big watch wonks, I offer up two new models that could jingle any aviator's Christmas bells.
While there is plenty to debate about where U.S. defense budgets could settle in 2014-15, there is no debate about the Pentagon's desire to continue to compete with cutting-edge technology. It expects defense advantages to be sustained through investment in new weapons and support systems that provide a generational lead over those fielded by adversaries.
Reader Kevin A. Capps (AW&ST Nov. 25, p. 8) brings up an excellent point. The fact that the Air Force refused funding to continue flying the SR-71 is but one indicator for a replacement being operational. He mentions that having the SR-71 “out of the bag” prevents plausible deniability when it comes to overflights of other countries' airspace as one of the reasons why any SR-71 replacement has been kept in shrouds.
Steve Taylor, president of Boeing Business Jets, has been elected chairman of the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) for 2014. He was vice chairman of the board and chairman of the Flight Operations Policy Committee and follows Brad Mottier, vice president/general manager for Business and General Aviation and Integrated Systems at GE Aviation. Succeeding Taylor will be Joe Brown, president of Hartzell Propeller. He will continue as chairman of the Policy & Legal Issues Committee.
While green shoots of economic recovery are beginning to emerge in Spain, deep cuts in public spending have had a dramatic effect on the country's armed forces. For the air arm, which was poised to undergo a major modernization, the cuts could not have arrived at a worse time. The service was preparing to introduce new helicopters and transport aircraft while continuing to integrate the Eurofighter Typhoon.
Jason W. Aiken has been appointed senior vice president/CFO of Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics, effective Jan. 1. He will succeed L. Hugh Redd, 2nd, who plans to retire. Aiken holds those positions at subsidiary Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
China is on its way to the first controlled lunar landing in almost four decades—a planned touchdown in the poetically named Bay of Rainbows (Sinus Iridium) to unleash a robotic rover called Yutu (see illustration), an equally poetic reference to the jade rabbit the goddess Chang'e took with her when she flew to the Moon. China's Chang'e-3 mission made it out of low Earth orbit Dec. 1 into a translunar trajectory that sets up Yutu for a landing on Dec. 14.
AgustaWestland is accessing the Internet and the cloud to support the latest addition to its product line. Internet-based tools for flight planning and manipulation of health and usage monitoring systems (HUMS) data will be launched when the new AW189 intermediate-heavy helicopter begins operations early next year.
As expected, Boeing launched the long-range 777X family in grand style at the recent Dubai Airshow. But behind the scenes, the company says engineering work to ready the new derivative for launch has gone better than ever, proving that the Airplane Development organization created in last year's radical shake-up, is working.
Laura Fowler (see photo) has been appointed managing director of recruiting and diversity for the Alaska Air Group. She was senior manager of human resources at Moss Adams and had been vice president-human resources with Blackrock Alternative Advisors.
Northrop Grumman will be a competitor in the U.S. Air Force's Long-Range Strike-Bomber program, CEO Wes Bush said during a Credit Suisse investor call on Dec. 5. Slightly more than a month ago, after Boeing and Lockheed Martin agreed to team on the project, Northrop Grumman declined to say whether it would bid (AW&ST Nov. 4, p. 22).
