As a captain for a major airline and a former retired military pilot, I am in total agreement with Jeff Schneider's recent Viewpoint “ATP Won't Make Airlines Safer” (AW&ST Sept. 9, p. 62). You do not need 1,500 hr. to be an airline pilot. In fact, the less time you have the better because you have fewer bad habits to overcome. Many high-time pilots—both civil and military—arrive at the airlines with careless habits and attitudes that must be remedied.
A timed competition is underway to become the clean air successor to nasty avgas. The standard fuel for most light aircraft, 100 octane, low lead (100LL) is very much on every Earth defender's “environmental pariahs” list, thanks to that second L. Produced and consumed in paltry amounts compared to autogas and diesel, 100LL has become a “boutique” fuel. It also has the dubious distinction of being the last fuel containing lead—specifically, Tetraethyl—to prevent engine knock and boost performance.
Now that Orbital Sciences Corp. has launched its Antares/Cygnus combo off to the International Space Station, NASA soon will have two routes to the orbiting laboratory. That will come in handy as the U.S. agency works to use the $100 billion engineering marvel as much as possible. Building the ISS was an accomplishment without precedent, but keeping it supplied with experiments and food is not that easy either.
Michelle Thaller, assistant director of science for communications at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is among the nine women who have been named to receive awards or scholarships Oct. 29 from Washington-based Women in Aerospace (WIA).
Pilar Albiac-Murillo has been appointed executive vice president-operations for the Airbus Defense and Space Div. She has been chief operating officer/CEO of Cassidian Spain. Christian Scherer will be the Airbus division's executive vice president-sales and marketing. He has been Cassidian's chief sales officer and head of international operations. And, Lars Immisch, currently head of compensation and benefits for EADS/Airbus human resources, will be the new division's executive vice president-human resources.
Signing for Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry last week put the U.S. imprimatur to the U.N. Arms Trade Treaty (AW&ST May 20, p. 23). But the compact is unlikely to be ratified by the Senate anytime soon, as a majority of senators have indicated their opposition or concern. A powerful lobby, the National Rifle Association, opposes any move to track or regulate small arms. The U.S.
A U.S. and Russian Soyuz crew docked with the International Space Station late Sept. 25, completing a third consecutive “express” four-orbit launch-to-rendezvous transit to restore the orbiting science lab to a crew of six. The Soyuz TMA-10M rocket lifted Expedition 37 Soyuz commander Oleg Kotov, NASA flight engineer Michael Hopkins and Russian flight engineer Sergey Ryazanskiy. The crew launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Sept. 25 at 4:58 p.m. EDT (Sept. 26 at 2:58 a.m., local time).
Operators of 157 Boeing 737s and 777s will have five years to change out Honeywell-built pilot display systems that the FAA says could flicker or go blank in the presence of Wi-Fi devices. Problems were found during a 2011 Wi-Fi compatibility test in a 737 on the ground. The agency in a final airworthiness directive, says the affected displays “exhibited flickering and blanking” when exposed to Wi-Fi emissions at power levels below what the displays are required to tolerate.
Ron Cook (see photo) has been appointed corporate senior vice president for New York-based L-3 Communications and will continue to lead the company's London operations.
David Moorehouse (see photo) has been named president/general manager of TRAK Microwave, Tampa, Fla. He was general manager of Cobham subsidiary Nurad Technologies.
Bennie Johnson has been named managing director of flight crew management systems, Sunae Park managing director of airport services and Sandy Stelling managing director of customer research and development, all for Alaska Airlines. Johnson has been managing director of flight operations planning and resource management; Park director of inflight resource management; and Stelling director of operations.
While U.S. Navy aviation mishap numbers and rates have declined in recent years, the Navy is especially vigilant about potential UAV-related accidents, which are categorized separately. “The mishap rate through Sept. 19 . . . with four mishaps was the best rate in history through this date,” the Navy Safety Center says. But UAVs are not counted in that tally, because they have not posted enough historical flight hours. UAV accidents, including a December crash of an MQ-8B Fire Scout, cost the Navy a total of $67 million in 2012. The U.S.
Russell Ford has become CEO and Marc McGowan senior vice president of the business aviation sector of StandardAero, Tempe, Ariz. Ford has been president of the Carlton Forge Works and Dickson Test Group of the Forged Products Div. of the Precision Castparts Corp. McGowan succeeds Scott Taylor, who is retiring. McGowan was vice president-business development and strategy for business aviation.
When the European Regions Airline Association (ERA) members assemble for their annual meeting in Salzburg, Austria, this week, they should make sure not to miss a presentation scheduled for the last day. Doreen Welsh, one of the flight attendants on US Airways Flight 1549 that ditched into the Hudson River in New York following a devastating bird strike, will tell attendees about what probably were the most dramatic moments of her life and how she survived the incident.
In Bill Sweetman's recent column “Counter-Stealth” (AW&ST Sept. 16, p. 16), he writes: “By 1995, everyone knew that shape was the major driver of RCS (radar cross section),” hence the Russian answer (a new radar) to our stealthy Joint Strike Fighter.
Sikorsky has begun assembly of the first of two S-97 Raider prototypes after delivery by Aurora Flight Sciences of the all-composite fuselage for the first of the high-speed, coaxial-rotor, light tactical helicopters. Assembly is underway in West Palm Beach, Fla. The first of the industry-funded Raiders is scheduled to fly at the end of 2014. The structure comprises a single integrated nose, cabin and tail cone. Sikorsky is aiming Raider at the U.S. Army's Armed Aerial Scout requirement.
