Peter Hokanson (see photos) has been appointed CFO of Yankee Pacific Aerospace Inc., Rye, N.H. Its Largo, Fla.-based Jormac Aerospace subsidiary has named Jerry Koh vice president-flight sciences and Colt Mehler vice president-project engineering. Hokanson succeeds Ron Moore, who was consulting CFO.
A government-issued 10-day notice to LAN Argentina to vacate its 2,500-sq.-meter hangar at Aeroparque airport in Buenos Aires without any forewarning, has provoked aviation labor unions to threaten strikes on Aug. 30 if the notice is not withdrawn. An Argentinean judge blocked the eviction on Aug. 28, and the CEOs of LAN and LAN Argentina met with the government's vice minster of economy on Aug. 29, who told the executives that LAN Argentina was welcome to continue operating in the country.
Luiz Sandler has been appointed vice president-sales for South America for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. He succeeds Bill Arrazola, who has retired. He was sales director for International Jet Traders, Gulfstream's sales representative for Brazil.
Bombardier has also signed an LOI to begin exploratory discussions with Irkut centered on potential collaboration customer support for Russia's 150-210-seat MS-21, which is scheduled to enter service in 2017.
Lufthansa Cargo plans to phase out two of its MD-11s next year in an effort to limit capacity growth. The airline is taking delivery of its first two of five Boeing 777Fs on firm order, one each in October and November. The carrier currently operates 18 MD-11Fs. While it has not grounded any aircraft during the past two years of weak cargo demand, it has reduced use across the fleet.
Young people seem to be getting the message that engineering offers opportunity: 84,000 U.S. students graduated from universities in 2012 with engineering degrees. That is up 12% from 73,000 just six years ago, according to the National Academies. And despite the downturn in the economy and in federal spending, the aerospace and defense industry continues to provide at least some of that opportunity.
Denis Ilin (see photo) has been appointed executive president of Russia-based AirBridgeCargo Airlines. He was head of aviation business development for the Basic Element financial and industrial group and had been AirBridge's senior vice president-strategic marketing and sales.
Mitsubishi Aircraft has again extended the development schedule for its MRJ regional jet, this time by about one-and-a-half years, with first delivery now due in the second quarter of 2017, nine years after the program was launched. The first flight, previously planned for the last quarter of this year, now is not expected until the second quarter of 2015.
Sept. 3-6—39th European Rotorcraft Forum. Moscow. See erf2013.org/ Sept. 5-8—China Helicopter Exposition. See www.helicopter-china-expo.com/ Sept. 9-12—Fifth Boeing/Northrop Grumman/Elysium Joint Global Product Data Interoperability Summit. Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort, Chandler, Ariz. See www.gpdisonline.com Sept. 10-12—AIAA Space 2013 Conference and Exposition. San Diego. See www.aiaa.org/SPACE2013
With future budget reductions all but implemented, the chief of naval operations is underscoring the Navy's major defense acquisition priorities. Adm. Jonathan Greenert says the Navy will deliver the first-of-class USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN-78) aircraft carrier in fiscal 2015 and maintain and modernize carrier air wings by fielding more F/A-18E/F Super Hornets, E/A-18 Growlers and E-2D Hawkeyes.
James P. Sohan has been named director of public safety for the Louisville (Ky.) Regional Airport Authority. He is a retired major in the Louisville Metro Police Department.
It pays to be the new guy, according to data gathered for the 2013 Aviation Week Workforce Study. Pay for new college graduates rose by 3.4% between 2011 and 2012, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE). In the aerospace and defense industry, the increase was slightly lower, at 3.2%. Companies with fewer employees worked to retain their workforces, awarding pay increases on average of 4.1%.
The recent rebranding of EADS into Airbus is a superb example of how to justify a top management decision with some strategic rationale that really does not exist. There was clearly an issue with the EADS brand. The name was poorly recognized internationally, but that problem had less to do with the brand itself than with the underlying dynamics within the group.
Graham Warwick's Leading Edge article “Location, Location” (AW&ST Aug. 5/12, p. 16) presents a key to the way forward in passenger and cargo aviation. Until now, the path was fragmented and murky. But this configuration could work. Open fans (misnamed open rotors) have serious safety problems such as losing a blade. And their above-the-tail mounting can result in trim drag losses, drag and weight from very long struts, and a fratricide potential that makes certification difficult.
With the fog of war lifting from the combat-driven acquisition of UAS, unmanned systems are facing a new level of scrutiny inside the Beltway. The latest example is growing pressure from congressional auditors for Pentagon leaders to ensure the armed services' myriad UAS follow so-called open systems architectures, ultimately making them more affordable and less dependent on original manufacturers.
One hundred years ago, the University of Michigan hired Felix Pawlowski to teach the first U.S. students the subject of aeronautical engineering. Preparing a generation of engineers to build and assure the safety of a country's fledgling airline and aircraft industry was a daunting task. Today, the industry faces a similar challenge in laying the path to develop the nation's next generation of cybersecurity professionals.
