NASA will spend an estimated $4.38 million with ILC Dover on the design, manufacture and test of a next-generation spacesuit, under a contract announced April 25. Designed to improve astronaut capability during extravehicular activities, the Z-2 suit will operate at higher pressure than previous models, to improve productivity. It will also be designed to work with existing airlocks and new designs in development at the Johnson Space Center.
The European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (Ebace), scheduled for May 21-23, might serve as a prism of sorts for highlighting the differences between the old world and new, business aviation-wise, that is.
Congressional auditors see the U.S. military's almost $14 billion worth of satellite control networks as ripe for consolidation and cost-savings, according to the sentiment expressed in a new Government Accountability Office report. The GAO recommends the Office of the Secretary of Defense direct officials of future satellite acquisition programs to write business cases for proceeding with a dedicated or shared network for satellite control operations, as well as develop a department-wide plan for modernizing the Air Force Satellite Control Network.
Ach du lieber! It is a sight that would surprise and delight the old Graf himself. Technicians in Goodyear's cavernous Wingfoot Lake hangar, near the tire company's Akron, Ohio, headquarters, have begun the months' long process of assembling the first of three LZ NO7-101s (top photo). The airships are descendants of the gassy goliaths that von Zeppelin lofted above Lake Constance more than a century ago.
Mori Hosseini has been elected chairman of the board of trustees of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU). One of three alumni on the board, Hosseini is chairman/CEO of Intervest Construction Inc. As ERAU board chairman, Hosseini succeeds Jim Henderson, who was elected vice chairman. Alumnus Zane Rowe will become board secretary and chairman of the Audit Committee. Rowe taught economics at Embry-Riddle and is a member of the university's Industry Advisory Council for the College of Business. He is the vice president of U.S. and Canada sales for Apple Inc.
This week, Aviation Week publishes two editions. The cover at the far left features the KF-X fighter concept that South Korea is developing (page 46). Elsewhere in both editions are a special report on the Boeing 787 (starting on page 24), a look at the challenges facing Willie Walsh in managing the IAG airline group (page 30), the issues and impacts of FAA flight controller furloughs (page 32) and an examination of U.S. missile tracking satellite efforts (page 33). Our Defense Technology Edition includes additional articles.
Robert S. Rivkin has been named senior vice president/deputy general counsel for international and regulatory affairs, for Delta Air Lines, effective May 6. He has been general counsel at the U.S. Transportation Department and was vice president/deputy general counsel of the Aon Corp.
May 6-9—Regional Airline Association Annual Meeting. Montreal. Contact Cheryl Goldsby of Emerald Media at [email protected] May 13-14—65th Naval Helicopter Association Symposium. Town and Country Hotel, San Diego. See regonline.com/nhasymposium2013 May 14-16—Imdex Asia. Singapore. See www.imdexasia.com/media-coverage.aspx May 21-23—American Helicopter Society's 69th Annual Forum and Technology Display. See www.vtol.org/forum
Amparo Calatayud (see photos) has been apponted manager of FlightSafety International's Learning Center in West Palm Beach, Fla. She succeeds Gil Schnabel, who has been named regional director of regulatory affairs. Calatayud was manager of the Learning Center in Lafayette, La., and has been succeeded by David Welch, who has been promoted from director of training.
I have been a reader of Aviation Week & Space Technology since the mid 1950s. As a high school student in Turkey, the only way I could accomplish this was to go to the American Library in Ankara. Your magazine accompanied me throughout my formal education and my ongoing, decades-long aviation career. So I feel qualified to respond to your article “Calling All Readers” (AW&ST April 22, p. 58).
India's MiG-21, the combat aircraft that has crashed so often it is called the “flying coffin,” will remain in service two years longer than planned. The aircraft has been in service more than half a century and had been scheduled to retire by 2017. But after delays to the Indian air force's modernization program and a reduction in fighter squadrons, the air force will keep the MiG-21 in its active fleet until 2019.
Eight months after becoming the first U.S. airline to obtain FAA approval to use iPads on the flight deck during all phases of flight, American Airlines completed its rollout of the off-the-shelf electronic flight bags across its entire mainline fleet on April 22. Pilots of the carrier's Boeing 757 and 767s, the last fleet types to be equipped, completed a 30-day transition with the iPads as primary sources and paper charts as backups. American first tested the iPad on a 777 in January 2011.
Boeing has recorded 50 more 737 MAX orders without making a customer ID. The orders bring its MAX total to 1,235. The transaction is the second largest of the year—American's order for 100 is tops—and raises total orders to 259, including 203 737NGs and MAXs.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore. )
Bill Sweetman, in a Commander's Intent column (AW&ST April 15, p. 18), talked about lawyers being cheaper than fixing hardware (in reference to Beechcraft's legal challenges to the light support aircraft decision).
Eurocopter has begun self-funded proving trials of its EC145 twin-engine helicopter with an optionally piloted (OP) flight control system. First flights were at the beginning of April, and subsequent trials have seen the aircraft carry underslung loads and conduct observation missions. Early flights in the OPV configuration were flown with a safety pilot. The company says the OPV technology could find its way onto all of its helicopter types.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Norton A. Schwartz, former Air Force chief of staff, has been appointed to the board of directors of Aurora Flight Sciences, Manassas, Va.
Jeff Babione has been appointed vice president/deputy program manager for the F-35 for the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. of Fort Worth. He has been head of the F-16/F-22 Integrated Fighter Group programs. Babione will be succeeded on a temporary basis by Bridget Lauderdale, who has been vice president/general manager of aeronautics operations.
The first Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus commercial cargo carrier is fueled and ready for launch to the International Space Station (ISS), a mission NASA says it can accommodate in late June or early July.
