John Croft (Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Olathe, Kan.; Phoenix and Tucson)
A line from The Beatles' rock anthem “Back in the U.S.S.R.” nicely sums up a recent morning for Capt. Roger Moore as he piloted an “airliner” from New York to San Francisco: “On the way, the paper bag was on my knee. Man, I had a dreadful flight . . . .” Moore had just endured 5 hr. of constant turbulence, but along with getting paid, he did it for a good cause: making sure certain next-generation avionics are a good fit for the flight deck.
Indonesia's Lion Air will continue to grow its fleet, despite the April 13 incident at Bali's Ngurah Rai International Airport in which the airline's Boeing 737-800, local registration PK-LKS, landed in the sea—short of Runway 09—and broke in two. All 108 people onboard survived, but 46 were hospitalized. Lion President Rusdi Kirana said none of the injuries were critical.
Craig Hoskins has been appointed vice president-safety and technical affairs for Airbus Americas, Herndon, Va. He will succeed Bill Bozin, who plans to retire in July. Hoskins has been vice president/chief safety officer and was an A320 captain for JetBlue Airways.
I enjoyed Michael Bruno's Up Front column,”Slaughterhouse Five,” in which he requested a list of sacred cows that could be eliminated in order to tighten the U.S. budget (AW&ST Feb. 18, p. 12). I've mulled it over and have more to add: •Remove troops from South Korea. Its economy must be 10 times that of North Korea, and the latter has no foreign troops. Our presence is definitely an aggravation, so let us get out and leave South Korea to pick up the slack. •
Metamaterials technology is an emerging field based on the development of tiny, man-made structures that at certain frequencies exhibit acoustic, electromagnetic or optical properties not found in nature.
The FAA predicts flights at 13 major U.S. airports will experience “heavy to moderate” delays because of sequester-driven air traffic controller furloughs slated to begin on April 21, including an average delay of 50 min. at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and maximum delay of 210 min. at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. FAA Administrator Michael Huerta says maximum delays are likely to be infrequent, but that the overall threat to airline performance and passenger convenience is real.
Jeffrey Carrithers, who is president/CEO of Globalair.com, Louisville, Ky., has been named to the board of directors of the Kentucky Institute for Aerospace Education.
As he was recently discussing the pivot of U.S. strategic emphasis to the Asia-Pacific region, Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter repeated an assertion that the U.S. spends more on defense “than the next 16 largest militaries combined.” While Carter's talking point is more or less technically correct, such a comparison does not indicate what an appropriate level of spending should be. A more useful way to think about U.S.
Constance A. Soloway (see photo) has been appointed vice president-human resources of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Linthicum, Md.-based Electronic Systems sector. She was vice president-human resources, office administration, facilities and real estate, environmental health and safety, and flight operations for the company's Enterprise Shared Services organization.
Australia-based low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways is often in the headlines due to its rapid expansion into Asia. But as with other successful airline models, its forays into new overseas markets are built on strong performance in its own backyard.
Perhaps obscured by the haze of bankruptcy, Beechcraft CEO Bill Boisture has grossly missed the target with the most recent appeal of the light air support (LAS) contract (AW&ST April 1/8, p. 22). The company's AT-6 is an excellent and time-proven platform when it comes to primary flight training, but the same can be said of Embraer's A-29 with regards to light attack.
U.S. Army Maj. Gen. David L. Mann has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and assignment as commanding general of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. He has been commanding general of U.S. Army Recruiting Command, Fort Knox, Ky. Brig. Gens. Ole A. Knudson and Gwendolyn Bingham have been nominated for promotion to major general.
Following French media group Lagardere, German car manufacturer Daimler has sold its remaining shareholding in EADS. The company sold a 7.5% stake for €37 ($48) per share for a total of €2.2 billion, part of which was picked up by EADS itself. The move came a day after EADS concluded the buyback of a 1.56% stake from the French government for €480 million and on top of a 1.6% stake acquired from Lagardere for €500 million earlier this month.
Joseph Doubleday has been named director of maintenance for Cambata Aviation International's StarPort at Orlando-Sanford (Fla.) International Airport. He was manager of the FAA's Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Group in Oklahoma City.
Keith Chatten (see photo) has become vice president of engineering for Superior Air Parts, Coppell, Texas. He was associate vice president of engineering for Continental Motors.
Every new warning of war voiced by North Korea, or act of terrorism within the U.S., drives home security officials' cautions about the “era of persistent conflict.” So it is a heck of a time to decapitate national intelligence capabilities—but that is exactly what the 2011 Budget Control Act cuts will do.
William J. Lewandowski, CEO Aerospace Supply Chain Solutions (Severna Park, Md. )
The Viewpoint “Transparency Is Defense World's Achilles' Heel” (AW&ST March 25, p. 58), was misleading since it did not take into account the dramatic and consistent strides that have been made by the defense industry itself in policing and preventing corruption since the mid-1980s. Widespread fraud allegations had called into question the integrity of the defense acquisition process. The situation prompted then-President Ronald Reagan to appoint the Packard Commission to recommend reforms.
Rockwell Collins senior systems engineer Geoff Shapiro tests advanced man-machine interfaces that could be part of next-generation cockpits starting in 5-10 years. Aviation Week & Space Technology takes an in-depth look at future flight decks from the viewpoints of technologist and human factors experts at key avionics makers in the U.S. and abroad, beginning on page 42. Rockwell Collins image by Mike Fager of Fisheye Photography.
