Senate passage last week of a bipartisan budget deal framework has set off a scramble. First, Congress has until Jan. 15 to pass spending bills for 2014, allowing the Pentagon to “buy back” readiness for the military nearly lost by last year's budget cuts and clarify its budget blueprint for fiscal 2015-19 by February.
After reading “Return of the Penetrator” (AW&ST Dec. 9, p. 20), it seems clear that it is time to rethink the aircraft. Look where the X-47B is now. The U.S. Air Force does not need a folding wing, nor the heavy-duty naval landing gear, nor size restrictions of compatible naval ships. Go back to 2007-08 and study what stage the design was at when the program split.
Paul A. Robinson has joined Focus Investment Bank of Washington as a senior adviser on the government, aerospace and defense sectors for middle-market companies. He was founder of AeroTech Research and was an engineer with NASA.
Ralph Leach (see photos) has been named managing director of marketing and sales for the FlightSafety Academy, Vero Beach, Fla. He was vice president-business development for Jet Asia in China and a senior consultant with CMR in London. Randy Annett has been promoted to manager of FlightSafety International's Learning Center in Tucson, Ariz. He succeeds Kelly Allender, who has been promoted to manager of Dallas Learning Center. Annett was assistant manager of FSI's Cessna Learning Center in Wichita.
Jan. 21-22—MRO Latin America. Rio de Janeiro. Feb. 4-6—MRO Middle East. Dubai. Feb. 10—Air Transport World's 40th Annual Airline Industry Achievement Awards. Pan Pacific Singapore Hotel. March 4-5—Defense Technology and Affordability Requirements Conference. Washington. March 6—Aviation Week's Laureate Awards. Washington. April 8-10—MRO Americas. Phoenix. Oct. 7—MRO Europe. Madrid. You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events.
China Airlines will set up a budget carrier with the brand of Singapore Airlines affiliate Tigerair. The goal is to begin operations at the end of 2014. The network will cover major destinations in Northeast and Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, China and Taiwan, says the Taiwanese carrier, which will own 90% of Tigerair Taiwan. Tigerair will own 10%.
Malcolm Venturi has been appointed sales and service manager for southern and western Australia and the Asia-Pacific region for Vector Aerospace Engine Services-Atlantic of Toronto. Honors And Elections
Problems with a cooling loop on the International Space Station prompted NASA to reschedule last week's planned launch of the Orbital Sciences Corp.'s ORB-1 resupply mission to the ISS until at least Jan. 13. The launch of the Antares rocket and Cygnus cargo capsule from the Wallops Flight Center, Va., will mark the first under an eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract between Orbital and NASA. The cooling system difficulties surfaced Dec. 11, when a flow-control valve in Loop A of the station's dual loop external cooling system faltered.
“Reusable Redux” (AW&ST Dec. 2, p. 20) discusses reusable launchers. An image of the X-30 National Aero-Space Plane (NASP) is featured, which the article states never flew because the technology was not available.
Charlton C. Walker (see photos) has become vice president/associate general counsel/Information Systems sector counsel for the Falls Church, Va.-based Northrop Grumman Corp. He was the sector's assistant general counsel. Harry Q.H. Lee, 2nd, has been appointed vice president-corporate contracts, pricing and supply chain. He was vice president-contracts, pricing and program business operations for Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.
Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC) has completed all of its milestones under NASA's Commercial Crew Development 2 (CCDev2) program, which culminated in the first free-flight test and runway landing of its Dream Chaser spacecraft at Edwards AFB, Calif. While the company says all of the goals of the flight were achieved, the Oct. 26 test was marred by a landing gear deployment failure that caused the vehicle to veer off the runway after touchdown and sustain damage.
It is becoming evident that the crew piloting the Asiana Airlines Boeing 777 that crash-landed on approach to San Francisco International Airport last July were not qualified to fly that aircraft. Aviation is a field of scientific absolutes. V speeds are not guidelines. The ability of a qualified pilot is just as absolute. Airplanes have become increasingly complex, with the addition of flaps, retractable gear, autopilot, flight management systems, etc. These systems must work correctly. Thus, a qualified pilot must operate these systems correctly.
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. 14-17—National Business Aviation Association (NBAA) Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference. New Orleans. See www.nbaa.org/events/sdc/2014/ Jan. 22-24—Fifth Decennial AHS Aero-mechanics Specialists' Conference. Holiday Inn at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco.
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.) is going out with a bang. The staunch foe of the Chinese government on human-rights and national-security grounds says he will not seek reelection in 2014, but before he goes, he wants President Barack Obama to drop plans to capture an asteroid and nudge it into lunar orbit. With China's landing of a small rover on the Moon (see page 45), Wolf warns that a new space race is at hand. “[W]hether we like it or not, the U.S.
Nick L. Stanage has been named chairman of the Hexcel Corp., Stamford, Conn. He will continue as president/CEO. As chairman, Stanage succeeds David E. Berges, who will be retiring on Dec. 31.
Israel's Urban Aeronautics has completed untethered, automated test flights of its AirMule vertical-take-off-and-landing unmanned aircraft as it prepares for mission demonstrations next year. The 1,000-kg (2,200-lb.) ducted-rotor air vehicle conducted several short flights that included vertical takeoff, flight to a specific location and back to a vertical landing, the company says. A second prototype is planned to fly in the second half of 2014 and is likely to be powered by an uprated Turbomeca Arriel 2 turboshaft.
Spencer Dickerson is among four executives at the Alexandria, Va.-based American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) with new positions. He is now senior executive vice president-global operations/secretary to the board of directors. He remains head of the U.S. Contract Tower Association and the International Association of Airport Executive programs.
Alexandre de Gunten, business development officer for the Flight Support Group of the Heico Corp., Hollywood, Fla., has received the 2013 Federico Block Award from the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA). De Gunten was recognized “for transforming [ALTA] into a powerful and well-recognized voice for commercial aviation in the region.” The award is given to a person who advances the interests of the aviation industry in Latin America and the Caribbean. Block was the late longtime chief executive of Grupo Taca.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has demonstrated a sense-and-avoid system on its Predator B unmanned aircraft. The test demonstrated short-term collision avoidance and longer-term self-separation, the company says. The company-owned Predator B was equipped with three sensors with which to detect and track cooperative and non-cooperative aircraft. The flights included two intruder aircraft.
