John Suttle has been named senior vice president-international business development of BAE Systems Inc., Arlington, Va. He was senior vice president-communications and had been senior director of communications for General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products.
The Eureka! moment of its creation came during a sit-down at a barbeque restaurant in Denison, Texas, back in 1991. As things turned out, there must have been magic wafting from the Jones Family BBQ firebox, because one of business aviation's greatest successes was served up that day along with the brisket, ribs and pulled pork.
It is a golden instrument, in more ways than one. NIRcam, the Near-Infrared Camera for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is wrapped in a gold insulating foil, the better to maintain its operating temperature of 35K (-397F). But it also will play a golden role for the three other instruments on the $8 billion mission, which is to put astronomy's largest orbiting observatory into service in 2018.
Trials have begun on a series of optimized transatlantic flights which will test technologies and ideas destined for use in the next generation of air traffic management systems. Air traffic control organizations in Canada and the U.K. hope these “perfect” flights will offer fuel savings of up to half a ton per transatlantic sector and help reduce delays without increasing workload for pilots and controllers.
The wing spar for the U.S. Air Force's KC-46A tanker, traditionally the first piece for major assembly in a new aircraft, was loaded into a tooling jig at Boeing's widebody factory in Everett, Wash., on June 26, kicking off a manufacturing process that should see aircraft rollout in January and a first flight next June.
In “Pacific Punch” (AW&ST June 24, p. 47), Michael Fabey writes that the U.S. Navy is planning to send a little ship with little guns into China's front yard, hoping that this foray will not offend the Red Dragon. I am guessing they cannot send an aircraft carrier group because of the advances in China's anti-ship missile capability. What is the point? Placerville, Calif.
The Republican-controlled House Appropriations Committee is moving to further rein in federal subsidies under the Essential Air Service (EAS) program to small cities, according to a committee report explaining its version of next fiscal year's funding. If enacted, the provisions would prohibit EAS payments to communities requiring a per-passenger rate of subsidy in excess of $500, half the $1,000 limit imposed under the Airport and Airway Extension Act of 2011. At the same time, other recent restrictions would be maintained.
USAF Brig. Gens. Edward M. Minahan and Michael T. Plehn have been selected for promotion to major general. Minahan has been appointed director of strategy of policy, programs and logistics at U.S. Transportation Command Headquarters, Scott AFB, Ill. He has been principal director to the deputy assistant secretary of defense for Middle East policy at the Pentagon. Plehn will succeed Minahan and has been deputy director of the Special Plans Working Group at U.S. Central Command Headquarters, MacDill AFB, Fla. And Plehn will be followed by Col. James C.
Differences in structure and timing between European and U.S. airspace transformation programs are keeping alive the spectre of divergent equipment and training solutions mucking up the transition to next-generation operations. These divergences could result in international airlines having to purchase, install and train pilots for separate avionics systems to be used in Europe, the U.S. and elsewhere, an outcome industry says will tip the equipage cost-benefit scales in the wrong direction.
Pierre Sparaco's “The End of Redundancy,” which addresses the possibility of one-man or unmanned cockpits (AW&ST June 24, p. 20), brought to mind a venerable joke: In the future, airplanes will be flown by one pilot and a dog. Why the dog? To make sure the pilot doesn't touch anything. Zurich, Switzerland
Germany has retired its long-serving fleet of McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom IIs after 40 years of operation. The last day of flight operations took place on June 25. Despite the introduction of the Eurofighter into service with the Luftwaffe back in 2006, the Phantom remained in front-line operation, providing an armed quick-reaction alert capability to potential aerial threats in German airspace.
If some joker had mislabeled a box set of the Coen brothers' movies as a management textbook, it would explain much of the history of European unmanned air system developments. It's a good story and the bickering among the participants produces classic quotes, but by the time the Stranger or Tommy Lee Jones delivers his closing speech, you are sometimes left wondering what the whole thing was about. My impression at the Paris air show was that some kind of direction may be emerging from the chaos.
Shenzhou 10, China's longest human mission, ended safely early June 26 with a parachute landing in Inner Mongolia. Touchdown of the mission's return capsule with its crew of two men and a woman came at 8:07 a.m. local time (8:07 p.m. June 26 EDT), 15 days after it was launched from the Jiuquan launch site on a Long March 2F rocket. Astronauts Nie Haisheng, Zhang Xiaoguang and Wang Yaping emerged from the lander, smiling and apparently healthy. Nie, the mission commander, was ending his second spaceflight. Wang is China's second female astronaut.
A political move to cancel Italy's plan to buy of 90 F-35s threatened to split the country's governing coalition June 26, but was averted by a last-minute compromise that makes future batches of aircraft subject to prior parliamentary approval. Opposition groups, including the fast-growing M5S party are working with members of Prime Minister Enrico Letta's center-left Democratic Party (PD) to block the F-35 plan, but the coalition government, comprising the PD and right-wing parties, supports it.
Reader Marvin L Melsha, Jr., asked the cause or source of “a dark (sic) gaseous extension of perhaps 8 ft. before you see flame glow” (AW&ST June 24, p. 10). The dark extension consists of a “screen” of carbon-particle residue in the comparatively cool fuel-rich gas-generator exhaust used to cool the metal shingle extension of the liquid-cooled tubes wall of the upper portion of the nozzle exit bell. At close range, one can see that the engine nozzle consists of two sections.
I note that the authors of the Viewpoint “Small UAVs Pose No Civil Threat” (AW&ST May 27, p. 58) are attorneys based in Washington, D.C. I'd like to see their client list. Would it possibly include UAV manufacturers? In light of the recent abuse of power by the Internal Revenue Service, the National Security Agency and numerous other scandals, are we supposed to believe UAVs won't be misused? I am skeptical about that and suspect I'm not alone.
Mark Smith (see photos) has joined Airbus Americas, Mobile, Ala., as manager of health, safety and environment, and Darren Gates has been named facilities manager. Smith was health and safety manager for Georgia Pacific. Gates has been a facilities and operations manager at ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA.
The Defense Department says it will take steps to better employ the potentially under-used Civil Reserve Air Fleet (CRAF), even as the U.S. transitions from a wartime posture. The Pentagon supplements its military aircraft with cargo and passenger services from commercial U.S. carriers eager for the guaranteed government business, which includes minimum spending in peacetime.
July 15-17—49th American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronatics/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit. San Jose, Calif. See www.aiaa.org/EventDetail.aspx?id=16854 July 16-17—RotorTech Asia-Pacific Conference & Exhibition 2013. Singapore. See www.rotortechasia.com July 16-18—Second ISS Research and Deve-lopment Conference. Denver Marriott City Center. See www.astronautical.org/node/96 Aug. 11-15—AAS/AIAA Astrodynamics Specialist Conference. Hilton Head, S.C. See www.aiaa.org/EventDetail.aspx?id=13178
