“Data Driven” (AW&ST Sept. 2, p. 36) notes that The Active Pilot Monitoring Workshop (APM) was challenged to find a method that can help pilots become better monitors.
Daniel Gelston has become vice president of Cobham Tactical Communications and Surveillance, Herndon, Va. He was vice president and business unit lead for Sotera Defense Solutions and had been counterterrorism director at BAE Systems.
Scientists will spend 100 days studying the Moon's tenuous atmosphere after this spectacular launch from Wallops Island, Va., on a solid-fuel Minotaur V rocket—photographed from the top of New York's Rockefeller Center, 200 mi. away. Built by NASA's Ames Research Center, the 884-lb. Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (Ladee) gave its handlers a few tense hours right after its Sept. 6 liftoff when fault-protection limits shut down its reaction wheels. Controllers disabled them to restart the wheels, and later fixed a star-tracker misalignment.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) James E. Bradley (Westmoreland, Kan. )
A recent Commander's Intent commentary (AW&ST Sept. 2, p. 13) talked about the U.S. playing electronic-warfare (EW) catch-up. This reinforces my experience that the U.S. Air Force electronic-warfare systems always “get the hind teat” and end up playing catch-up when they are needed to counter a threat. The U.S. Navy seems better at keeping up with the state of the art.
Sarah Feinberg has been appointed chief of staff to U.S. Transportation Department bySecretary Anthony Foxx. She was a special assistant to the president and senior adviser to then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and had been director of communications and business strategy at Bloomberg.
In “Feast of Fixes” (AW&ST Aug. 19, p. 28), higher winds and sea states to test the Joint Strike Fighter on carrier decks sounds good. But this will also be a test of loading procedures.
When the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) launched its Long-Range Anti-Ship Missile (Lrasm) program in 2009, the threat to U.S. Navy warships from China's ballistic and supersonic anti-ship missiles looked serious. It still does, but now that the stealthy Lrasm has begun flight tests, mixed messages from the Pentagon have led Congress to cut back on funding for procurement.
Former Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver heads out the door with a candid admission that there will not be enough money to launch the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in 2017, as planned.
BAE Systems and Rolls-Royce have crafted an exclusive partnership to propose the Hawk trainer equipped with the Adour Mk951 engine for the U.S. Air Force's forthcoming competition for 350 aircraft to replace T-38s. The Mk951 incorporates the use of a full-authority, digital-engine control unit and offers 6,500 lb. of thrust. BAE's team is likely to compete against a Lockheed Martin/Korea Aerospace Industries group offering the T-50 and a General Dynamics/Alenia combination with the M-346.
Robert Cohen (see photos) has been promoted to president/CEO of the TECT Corp., Fort Mitchell, Ky. He was president of TECT Power and has been succeeded by Anthony Ratica, who was an executive at Standard Aero.
USAF Lt. Gen. James M. Kowalski has been named deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He has been commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale AFB, La. Maj. Gen. Stephen W. Wilson has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and to succeed Kowalski. Wilson has been commander of the command's Eighth Air Force at Barksdale. Brig. Gen. Scott A. Vander Hamm has been selected for promotion to major general and appointment as commander of the Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) of Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale AFB, La.
Porter Airlines has submitted a second proposal that calls for further noise reductions, as public consultations begin on its request to extend the runway at Toronto's downtown island aircraft and allow the carrier to operate Bombardier CSeries jets. The original plan, submitted in April when Porter placed a conditional order for up to 30 107-seat CS100s, is to extend the runway by 168 meters (500 ft.) at each end. The new proposal would increase that to 200 meters at each end to allow a reduced-thrust departure to lower noise further.
The legislative proposal to harmonize and revise EU rules on flight and duty limitations and rest requirements (FTL) for air crews has entered its final stage, and the European Parliament (EP) and Council are reviewing the draft regulations. The outcome is not clear, however. The European Cockpit Association (ECA) and pilot unions across Europe have stepped up their lobbying of EP members to reject the proposal.
John Croft's “In the Dark” (AW&ST Aug. 26, p. 35) about last month's crash of UPS Flight 1354 was very informative and covered many aspects of the hazards of flying an approach at night, but it did not address the danger posed by the terrain on the approach to the runway in question at Birmingam (Ala.) Shuttlesworth International Airport (BHM).
