Shammi Ratti has been named Seattle-based director of the air transportation business at the URS Corp. He has been involved in the management of construction projects at Tampa (Fla.), Oakland (Calif.) and Las Vegas international airports.
Capt. (ret.) Thomas Heidenberger (Chevy Chase, Md. ), US Airways (Chevy Chase, Md. )
In the ensuing months much will be seen, read and talked about with respect to Asiana Airlines Flight 214. “Automation Paralysis” (AW&ST July 15, p. 22).
ITEP Turboshaft A new 3,000-shp engine would reduce specific fuel consumption by 25% while increasing power by 50% in helicopters now powered by General Electric T700 turboshafts. A high priority for the U.S. Army, the Improved Turbine Engine Program (ITEP) is planned to get underway this year, with the powerplant expected to be available by 2019. Competing demonstrator engines are already running: General Electric's GE3000 and the Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney HPW3000.
The room was packed and the crowd restive. The men at the front were droning on about inspection times, service bulletins, authorized shops and such. Finally, one fellow in the audience had had enough. He stood up and, as best I recall, said something like, “All that's fine, but you're ignoring the real problem.” And with that he eyed his fellow attendees and said, “All of you who have had an inflight failure, raise a hand.” It seemed like about a third of the room had an arm up.
Capt. (ret.) Marty Case (Euless, Texas ), American Airlines (Euless, Texas )
“Automation Paralysis” quotes the right-seat pilot as saying “pull back” to correct a below-PAPI (precision approach path indicator) glideslope condition. This indicates his lack of swept-wing aircraft aerodynamics in the approach configuration.
Lori Garver, the deputy NASA administrator who essentially represents the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy on the agency's ninth floor, is losing a key ally in her ongoing battles with more traditional NASA management. President Barack Obama has named Beth Robinson, NASA's chief financial officer, as undersecretary of energy, that department's No. 3 post. A Ph.D.
A French hybrid aircraft being developed by a group of engineers under the Ocean Vital Foundation project is gaining on its goal to attempt a transatlantic flight within the next two years. Project officials say they expect to undertake the mission—the key milestone ahead of industrial production—in June 2015, to coincide with the 51st Paris air show.
Monica Beusch has been named general manager of Jet Aviation Zurich and head of the company's fixed-based operation services in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia. She has been one of the company's business development executives.
Rodney C. Adkins has been named to the board of directors of Atlanta-based UPS. He is senior vice president-corporate strategy at IBM and was senior vice president of its Systems and Technology Group.
Aaron Mooi has become Fort Worth-based president/general manager for the Americas and Sara Wynne head of quality for Europe, based in Derby, England, for Pattonair. Mooi was head of the government services supply chain for Aviall.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V lifted off July 19, carrying the second of the U.S. Navy's new narrowband communications satellites to orbit. At almost 7.5 tons, the Mobile User Objective Systems (MUOS-2) was the heaviest payload to ride the Russian-powered vehicle to orbit. Built by Lockheed Martin, the spacecraft was lofted by an Atlas V 551 with a 5-meter fairing and five strap-on solid-rocket boosters. The first MUOS was launched Feb. 24, 2012, and began limited operations late last year.
In “Lead With LPDs”—a letter in Feedback (AW&ST July 1, p. 8)—you incorrectly rendered the acronym LPD as Landing Pad Dock. LPD stands for “Amphibious Transport Dock.” The “P” has nothing to do with “Platform” or “Pad.” It comes from the U.S. Navy's AP/LP designations in which the “P” refers to a Personnel Transport as opposed to Cargo (K, C already being used for Cruisers) as in the AK/LK series. Radcliff, Ky.
Alexander Muller-Gastell has become CFO and Juan Jose Daboub a member of the board of directors of the Germany-based Signalhorn Group of Companies. Muller-Gastell was European finance director of Britax-Römer Kindersicherheit. Dahoub is a former managing director of the World Bank.
Christopher Celtruda (see photos) has been appointed CEO of the Merex Group, Camarillo, Calif. Stuart Reid has become director of international business development and Carl Vickers director of operations for Merex, Inc. Celtruda was managing principal at Destiny Equity Partners and had been president of Gardner Denver Industrial Products. Reid was manager of strategic growth programs for Circor Aerospace, and Vickers was quality control manager for commercial, military and aerospace airframe structures at the Arden Engineering Division of PRV Aerospace.
Liberalization may not be for everyone. The Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) seems to be accepting a bigger role for private airlines while looking less favorably on a carrier that is partly foreign owned.
Norbert Ducrot (see photo) has become president/CEO of Eurocopter China. He will remain senior vice president for China, South Korea and Japan. Ducrot has been senior vice president-Asia-Pacific, and chairman of Eurocopter China, Eurocopter Japan and Singapore-based Eurocopter Southeast Asia.
The final report on the September 2010 crash of a UPS Boeing 747-400 freighter in Dubai has reignited the long-standing feud between the NTSB and FAA over the need for video recorders in airliner cockpits.
John Daniel Caine has been named president of Tailwind Technologies Inc. company Mayday Holdings, Denton, Texas, and its subsidiaries Mayday Manufacturing and Hi-Tech Metal Finishing Co. He held several positions in the George W. Bush administration and was chairman of the U.S. Small Business Association Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs.
Sequestration-forced budget cuts are driving a drastic decline in U.S. military training capability, and the impact could lead to an unsettling concept known as tiered readiness. According to Gen.
Charles Bosworth (see photo) has been appointed manager of public relations and communications at Jet Aviation St. Louis. He succeeds Ann Hein, who has resigned. Bosworth has been a writer for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, The New York Times and The Chicago Tribune.
Switzerland's Solar Impulse may have crossed the U.S. on solar power, but its prototype is far from an everyday aircraft. Proving solar power can be a practical way of flying is the goal of Solar Flight and its Sunseeker Duo, now flying in Italy.
While budget worries are clouding the future of the FAA's NextGen program, the agency is making significant progress in deploying an automation system that will be a crucial foundation of the modernization effort.
