Peru has ordered a pair of Alenia C-27J Spartan tactical airlifters in a deal worth €100 million ($134 million). The deal, announced Nov. 25, includes what the company describes as a “substantial logistics support package” for the two aircraft. The order comes at a busy time for the aircraft. Alenia is in the process of finishing the assembly of the first of 10 aircraft destined for the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF). The Australian aircraft were ordered through a U.S. Air Force foreign military sale, so will be delivered to prime contractor L-3 Communications.
The Dubai Airshow last month was not only the stage for the much-expected widebody orders and Boeing's 777X program launch. It also proved that almost anything is possible as far as airline business models are concerned. The one airline sector that should be scaring investors away is European regional aviation. Everything seems to work against it—high costs (made worse by small aircraft), increasing low-cost carrier competition, and a weak overall market.
Alton D. Romig (see photo), who is vice president-engineering and advanced systems at Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works, Palmdale, Calif., has been appointed visiting associate in physics at the California Institute of Technology's Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy Div.
NASA's Ames Research Center and Ball Aerospace think they have found a way to resume the Kepler Space telescope's search for Earth-like exo-planets. In May, the spacecraft lost the ability to point precisely in the direction of the new worlds it was trying to locate when the second of its four reaction wheels failed. Now, Ames and its industry partners are proposing a concept they call “K2” that would steer the spacecraft so its orbital path is nearly parallel to the Sun, according to a statement from Ball.
True to her word, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer (Calif.) has reintroduced a bill that would require uniform fatigue standards for pilots. Reps. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) and Timothy Bishop (D-N.Y.) have already introduced companion legislation, the Safe Skies Act, on the House side (AW&ST Jan. 21, p. 21). “Her unwavering commitment will end the cargo carve-out and bring Part 117 back in line with Congress's original intent, one level of safety for U.S. aviation,” touts Independent Pilots Association (IPA) President Robert Travis, whose group represents some UPS pilots.
Bill Sweetman's commentary “Green Dream” (AW&ST Nov. 4, p. 13) deals with aspects of the strategic landpower doctrine and its many implications, but he failed to mention that China has established a presence in space, developed unmanned aircraft, been taking strategic material off the world market under the guise of building new cities, placed certain cities off-limits to outsiders and been building its military factories within mountains or underground. There are many other reasons for considering China a dangerous long-distance threat.
Cris Benavides has become senior vice president-business development of Dynamic Aviation, Bridgewater, Va. He held the same position at A-T Solutions and had been a program manager for BAE Systems Global Analysis.
Jairaj Chetnani has been appointed vice president/treasurer of the Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn. He held the same positions at Quanex Building Products. Chetnani succeeds Robert Starr, who is now senior vice president/CFO.
The European Commission (EC) is taking Portugal to the European Union's Court of Justice, saying the country failed to guarantee independence of the airport slot coordinator. As a result, the EC asserts, there may be distortion of fair competition. The Portuguese slot coordinator is part of Aeroportos de Portugal (ANA), the country's airports operator. ANA employs slot coordination personnel and approves the coordinator's budget.
French Defense Minister Jean Yves Le Drian has confirmed the country will proceed with plans to develop the Future Anti-Surface Guided Weapon Heavy anti-ship missile with the U.K. Formal go ahead for the weapon known as ANL in France, and to be developed by European missile manufacturer MBDA, is expected this month. Development had been a sticking point in the deepening partnership between the U.K. and France. The U.K. needs the weapon for the AW159 Wildcat helicopter to replace the existing Sea Skua. France will use the missile on its new NH90 Caiman Marine helos.
Though the FAA in early November published a final rule requiring U.S. airline pilots to experience and recover from full stalls in the simulator, key details needed to put the training into practice within five years are as yet unfinished and the topic of continuing debate.
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.
