The MA60 twin-turboprop transport aircraft is a stretched version of the Xi'an Y7-200A, in turn a variation on the Antonov An-24. The 52-60-seater is powered by two 2,750-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127J engines. Initial flight and delivery of the MA60 took place in 2000. A freighter version, the MA60-500, is also marketed. In May 2010, a new variant, the MA600, was awarded certification by the Civil Aviation Administration of China. It features reduced weight, an upgraded cabin, new avionics (the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 suite) and a host of other improvements.
Xian is developing a twin-turboprop regional airliner dubbed the MA700. This aircraft is a clean-sheet design, not an MA60 variant. Features include six-blade propellers, a T-tail and an unswept, high-mounted wing. Plans call for an initial variant seating 76-78 passengers. A stretched 90-seater would follow. MA700 service entry is targeted for 2018. Xian intends to pursue FAA and EASA certification for the MA700. The MA700 could eventually replace the MA60/MA600 in production.
Ronald J. Mittelstaedt and Keith E. Smith have been appointed to the board of directors of SkyWest Inc. and its subsidiaries, SkyWest Airlines Inc. and ExpressJet Airlines Inc. Mittelstaedt is chairman/CEO of Waste Connections Inc., and Smith is president/CEO and director of the Las Vegas-based Boyd Gaming Corp.
USAF Maj. Gen. Steven L. Kwast has been appointed commander of the Curtis E. LeMay Center for Doctrine Development and Education/vice commander of Air University of the Air Education and Training Command, Maxwell AFB, Ala. He has been director of the Air Force Quadrennial Defense Review in the Office of the Vice Chief of Staff at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. Maj. Gen. Samuel D. Cox has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and appointment as deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services at USAF Headquarters.
The Afghan air force has taken delivery of its first Lockheed C-130H Hercules. The first of two ex-U.S. Air Force aircraft were handed over on Oct. 9 in Kabul as the fledgling air arm is trying to rebuild its airlift capability after the USAF halted support for its Alenia C-27As at the end of 2012. Afghanistan becomes the 70th country to operate the Hercules.
Engineers at Lockheed Martin and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory were downloading data from NASA's Juno probe late last week after the $1.1 billion spacecraft put itself into safe mode during a close Earth flyby designed to sling it toward Jupiter. Early indications suggested the spacecraft was in good shape and could complete its mission to collect data on the gas giant's structure and composition from a polar orbit around the planet.
Ethiopian Airlines CEO Tewolde Gebremariam, ShelterBox USA Inc. President Emily Sperling and Team Rubicon co-founder William McNulty have joined the advisory council of Washington-based Airlink.
While the uncertainty of two years of budget cuts and stop-gap spending bills may still not seem tangible to the public, “sequestration” is creating “chaos” for defense contractors.
Hobbled by the government's partial shutdown, the National Transportation Safety Board is standing down, except for the most pressing cases. “The agency can engage in those activities necessary to address imminent threats to safety of human life or for the protection of property,” the board said Oct. 10. Though it is clear investigators would be recalled for a major transportation disaster, how the NTSB is defining other “imminent threats” is murkier.
Avianca Brasil has selected Byogy to supply renewable biofuel and signed an offtake agreement for alcohol-to-jet (ATJ) fuel. The U.S. biofuel developer already has an agreement in place in Brazil to convert ethanol produced from sugarcane into jet fuel. In March 2012, the company announced a feedstock agreement with Brazilian sugarcane ethanol producer Itapecuru Bioenergia. ATJ is expected to be approved for use in aircraft during 2014, and Byogy CEO Kevin Weiss says commercial production is on tap to begin in Brazil between late 2015 and mid-2016.
Graham Maxa has been appointed finance director of Fine Tubes, Plymouth, England. He was group financial controller at the Oxfordshire company Prodrive.
“Introducing ALIS” (AW&ST Sept. 16, p. 45) gave me pause. Here is a $448 million development program with a future value in the billions that will coordinate and manage the logistics and operation of the F-35, the world's most sophisticated and expensive fighter. And yet, those who created and are implementing it believe that the acronym for Autonomic Information Logistics System is ALIS. I hope this is not indicative of additional potential surprises coded into the network.
John Bendoraitis has been named senior vice president/chief operating officer of Spirit Airlines. He has been chief operating officer of Frontier Airlines and was president of Comair Airlines.
Among advanced developments hindered by the ongoing budget saga on Capitol Hill is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's proposed XS-1 experimental spaceplane. Darpa is polling industry for interest in developing a reusable hypersonic vehicle with expendable upper stages that can put as much as 5,000 lb. in space up to 10 times over 10 days. But Boeing, which has a lot of relevant technology in its X-37 spaceplane, isn't ready to commit. There is some uncertainty about what is and isn't going to be funded, Muilenburg says.
The Scottish government has announced a plan to nationalize Prestwick International Airport near Glasgow. The airport, owned by Infratil, is losing around £2 million ($3.2 million) per year. Infratil has been trying to find a buyer for the facility since March 2012. The Scottish government plans to buy the airport and let a private company run it, in a bid to safeguard jobs in an area that has high unemployment levels.
Marc Welinski has become deputy director of broadcast and broadband for Paris-based Euroconsult. He was director of marketing and commercial strategy at Eutelsat.
Jim Duffy, Director of Strategic Planning FAA Commercial Space Transportation Office (Washington, D.C. )
Regarding Orbital Sciences Corp.'s approach to Cygnus design as covered in “Skinning the Cat” (AW&ST Sept. 30, p. 20), Orbital did not “buy components wherever possible to avoid reinventing the wheel.” The late David Low, a former astronaut who was serving as senior vice president and program manager for Orbital's commercial orbital transportation services (COTS), and I (an Orbital executive at the time) established the approach for COTS in about half an hour in his office (at the start of our proposal effort).
As of late last week, the U.S. government was in the second week of drastically curtailed operations and Washington was flirting with inaction on a technical fix needed to make good on its treasury's obligations. One major defense company chief we spoke with last week described the federal budget process as “chaos” and the impact on the industries we cover as “a destructive force” (see page 31).
The Pentagon is proceeding with upgrades to correct deficiencies in the original F-35 helmet made by Lockheed Martin subcontractor Vision Systems International (VSI). The F-35 Joint Program Office on Oct. 10 issued a stop-work order to BAE, the alternate helmet developer. Plans to conduct a flight demonstration of the two have been dashed, resulting in a cost avoidance of $45 million to continue maturing and testing the alternate design, according to a statement from the F-35 office.
George Ullrich has become senior vice president-strategy development for Applied Research Associates Inc., Albuquerque, N.M. He has been chief technology officer of the Schafer Corp. and was senior vice president-advanced technology programs at the Science Applications International Corp.
It seems that more and more companies are turning to advanced tiltrotor designs for a variety of uses, most recently shown in the proposals to replace the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk and Boeing AH-64 fleets with the Bell Helicopter V-280 Valor and the tiltrotor now being designed by Karem Aircraft (AW&ST Oct. 7, p. 13). While the tiltrotor capabilities of speed, range and vertical takeoff and landing are advantageous, as demonstrated during Operation Unified Protector in 2011, they require a wide wingspan to function.
Vanessa Hudson has been named senior executive vice president for the Americas for Qantas Airways. She succeeds Wally Mariani, who has retired. Hudson was executive manager for strategy and planning for Qantas Domestic.
Paul Saunders has become global product manager for Flatirons Solutions, Irvine, Calif. He was operations director for Conduce Software and has worked for Eurocopter and Triumph Air Repair in the U.K. and Dubai.
Smarting from South Korea's decision to sideline Boeing's F-15 Silent Eagle and reopen bidding for a new fighter, the company is now strategizing to capture some—but not all—of a forthcoming buy. Boeing Defense, Space and Security President Dennis Muilenburg says the company is still investing in development of the Silent Eagle, which has conformal fuel tanks, a stealthy weapons bay, fly-by-wire controls and a digital electronic warfare system. Boeing remains in the game for Seoul's yet-to-be-revamped F-X Phase 3 competition.
