Mark Lopez has become director of technical operations for Washington-based Airlines for America. He was an FAA aviation safety inspector and had been director of engineering and maintenance for the predecessor Air Transport Association.
The recent Viewpoint “Barnstormers to Bankers” (AW&ST Nov. 11/18, p. 98) is perhaps a little more gloomy than necessary, because innovative R&D is surely still proceeding in its usual low profile.
The letter by reader David Green (AW&ST Nov. 4, p. 8) is political vitriol that has no place in your magazine. While it tangentially mentioned the U.S. defense budget, it was clearly a political statement. While Green blames the Obama administration for defense cuts, the Republican Congress has had just as much to do with sequestration. Jenkintown, Pa.
X-Plane creator Austin Meyer does not know the names or strategies of his competitors in the flight simulation world, nor does he care to. Meyer's attention is, and always has been, focused on his own projects, which are meant in large part to solve problems he encounters. That tunnel vision, coupled with a strong sense of self-preservation and a “full throttle” approach to any endeavor, has been the secret to business success for the 44-year-old Californian who now makes his home in Columbia, S.C.
As an historian on the SR-71 family, I found Guy Norris's “Beyond Blackbird” (AW&ST Nov. 4, p. 18) about the SR-72 fascinating. Thirty years ago, aeronautical innovator “Kelly” Johnson was the key note speaker at a banquet in St. Paul, Minn., for Honeywell's Defense Systems Div., the group that built the SAS, autopilot, inlet control systems and the INS packages for Lockheed's Blackbirds: the A-12 Oxcart, YF-12A, D-21Tagboard and SR-71.
Otto Suriani, former acting manager of the FAA's New York Airports District Office, has received the 2013 Bill Shea Award from the Albany-based New York Aviation Management Association. He was cited for his 50-year FAA career of “fighting for the fair and equitable treatment of the association's airports. Shea is an aerospace educator and lecturer and was the association's first president.
Dennis Tito, who originally believed he could send two humans on a Mars flyaround in 2018 with funds from his own fortune and the philanthropy of others, has concluded he needs NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) to do the job, with $100 million a year in upper-stage upgrades from public funds spread over seven years.
As defense manufacturers become accustomed to the prospect of lower Pentagon budgets, there is growing concern over the health of the supply chain, particularly the lower tiers and specifically small companies that may be the sole source of critical parts or a unique technology.
Mark Dankberg, chairman/CEO of ViaSat Inc., Carlsbad, Calif., received the Innovator Award from the Arthur C. Clarke Foundation in Washington recently. The foundation promotes the use of space and telecommunications technology for the benefit of humankind.
Edwin Roks has been named vice president/chief technology officer of Teledyne Technologies Inc., Thousand Oaks, Calif., effective Jan. 2. He will succeed Robert W. Steenberge, who plans to retire at year-end. Roks has been executive vice president/general manager of the company's professional and scientific imaging division.
General aviation groups are objecting to a proposed FAA policy that would require pilots and controllers with a high body mass index (BMI), an indicator of obesity, to be screened for a sleep disorder. GA groups say it would set a “dangerous precedent” and is not justified by safety research. In a recent FAA Federal Air Surgeon's Medical Bulletin, Federal Air Surgeon Dr. Fred Tilton says the policy would require aviation medical examiners to calculate the BMI for airman and air traffic control specialist applicants.
Although I like to think of Aviation Week and Space Technology as fundamentally reality-based, two Nov. 4 articles give me pause—“Beyond Blackbird” and “Take Your Partners” (page 22), about a Long-Range Strike Bomber. In “North Cape,” a 1969 novel by Joe Poyer, an advanced hypersonic spy craft powered by a turbo-ram-rocket engine is described in convincing detail. In capabilities and uses, it was similar to the proposed Lockheed SR-72—and just about as likely to fly.
The FAA early next year will convene a new government and industry committee to cut known risk areas in commercial aviation by advocating for voluntary changes in pilot, flight attendant and dispatcher training. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta announced establishment of the new Air Carrier Training Steering Group at a meeting of airline safety officials in Washington on Nov. 21.
A new White House space transportation policy stresses public-private partnerships and “responsive” military space capabilities and allows the commercial launch of foreign rockets from U.S. soil “on a case-by-case basis.” The U.S. space transportation sector is undergoing a period of change as new actors and capabilities emerge and nontraditional public-private partnerships are established, the eight-page document notes.
As a retired U.S. Marine Corps helicopter pilot, I found “Offshore Alert” (AW&ST Oct. 28, p. 38) interesting, mostly for what it did not report, namely, the experience level of the pilots and their hours of instrument time logged—total, and in the last three months. It is inexcusable for a crew to get into the flight conditions as reported. Two pilots were in the cockpit. Where was their scan? CHC Scotia should review its pilot training before encouraging greater use of automation systems.
Jean Chamberlin, vice president-program management for St. Louis-based Boeing Defense, Space and Security, has received the 2013 Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace for her “outstanding career and lifelong commitment to furthering the advancement of women's opportunities in aerospace.” Chamberlin has held leadership roles on several aerospace programs, including the B-2, C-17, CH-47 Chinook, V-22 Osprey and KC-46.
Scott Perkins has become chief engineer of Gibraltar-based WheelTug plc. He was head of Messier-Dowty (USA), where he led the technical development of the Boeing 787 landing gear.
