Andrew David has joined Melbourne, Australia-based Jetstar as head of the carrier's Australia and New Zealand operations, effective in mid-2013. He is CEO of Tiger Airways Australia.
Your editorial “Don't Misinterpret Entrants Slow Pace” (AW&ST Nov. 19, p. 58) is correct as far it goes, but requires insight. Boeing and Airbus are pretty much building reengined older aircraft models and Comac is building new-model aircraft with no previous experience in this field—and no FAA certification. Bombardier, on the other hand, is building a brand-new aircraft. It has all the expertise required to launch the CSeries and the manufacturer even has resources to help out Comac with its C919.
Lufthansa expects to add Hong Kong, followed by Mexico as the next international destinations for its growing fleet of Boeing 747-8s when additional aircraft arrive next year. The airline began 747-8 service from Frankfurt to Los Angeles on Dec. 10. Lufthansa 747-8 chief pilot Elmar Boje said the aircraft will also be introduced on flights to Miami and Chicago in 2013.
Turkish Airlines completed a deal announced in October to buy 15 Boeing 777-300ERs, adding to the 12 it already has in operation. Separately, Boeing's largest leasing customer, GE Aviation Services Co., picked up four 737-800 options from an 85-aircraft order it completed in October. As of Dec. 11, Boeing holds 1,068 net orders for the year. As of the end of November, it has made 537 deliveries. Its 2012 goal is 585-600 total deliveries, including a combined 70-85 747s and 787s.
The launch of the Indo-French Saral navigational satellite has been delayed until early next year, an Indian space scientist says. The satellite was initially slated to be lofted on Dec. 12 on board the Indian space agency's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The mission has been postponed in view of “technical issues” that cropped up during the program, the scientist at the Indian Space Research Organization says. Although the new launch date has not yet been set, it will “likely happen in January or February.”
In the wake of flight and certification testing of the PW1500G, Pratt & Whitney and Bombardier have made the surprise decision to build the CSeries without a novel propulsion feature known as the variable area nozzle (VAN).
After 14 years of trying, North Korea has finally joined the countries capable of launching a satellite into orbit. But the success was short-lived. The nation's space program is also experiencing the bitterness of the failure to keep its spacecraft stable. North Korea succeeded Dec. 11 on its six attempt to orbit what officials there call an Earth-observation satellite. The U.S. led a group of nations, including Russia and China, that warned North Korea not to proceed with the mission. China has since expressed “regret” over it.
A small engineering firm on Florida's Space Coast is looking to recover some of the revenue and jobs the region lost with retirement of the space shuttle fleet by offering maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services to the commercial spaceflight industry that the Obama administration hopes will take the shuttle's place.
Robert E. Rosati, who died on Oct. 24, was known as the “father” of the International Aero Engines (IAE) consortium, which brought together Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, MTU Aero Engines, Japanese Aero Engine Consortium and Fiat to develop the V2500. He was 88. Rosati flew 49 combat missions during World War II, forming an attachment to P&W engines as a top-turret gunner and radioman in Pratt-powered U.S. Navy aircraft. Rosati joined the company in June 1953 as a trainee test engineer on the J57.
Delivery of a run-out CRJ100 to an engineering college in Montreal is highlighting Bombardier's commitment to the recycling of its aerospace products, specifically the new CSeries narrowbody. According to Fassi Kafyeke, director of strategic technology for Bombardier, the goal of the CRJ100 end-of-life (EOL) project is to study the most efficient ways of recycling an aircraft, which will provide feedback for the airframer's engineers to find better ways to build recyclable components.
As Indian carriers race to form a strategic alliance with international airlines, grounded Kingfisher Airlines may emerge as the first to benefit from foreign direct investment. Debt-ridden Kingfisher, which has been grounded since Oct. 1 following labor unrest, is currently in talks with various investors, including Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, for a possible stake sale. Aerospace industry sources indicate that the Persian Gulf-area carrier is close to buying a 48% stake in the Indian airline for about 30 billion rupees ($553 million).
Amy Svitak (London), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
Thales Alenia Space and Gazprom Space Systems are confident that efforts to recover Russia's Yamal 402 Ku-band commercial telecom satellite will succeed, but it remains unclear how much of the spacecraft's 15-year service life will be lost. A premature shutdown of the Briz M upper stage on its International Launch Services (ILS) launch vehicle Dec. 9 left Yamal 402 in the wrong orbit, and controllers are using its onboard station-keeping/attitude control propellant to adjust it.
Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace members at Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita have approved a six-year contract with a 92% “yes” vote. The contract covers 795 engineers.
The JF-17, a single-engine fighter Pakistan and China jointly developed, will be as ubiquitous as the Dassault Mirage once was in Pakistan, and possibly in other developing countries as well.
Jan. 7-10—AIAA's 51st Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention, Grapevine, Texas. See www.aiaa.org/asm2013 Jan. 9-10—Fourth Annual China Aerospace Manufacturing Summit. Post Hotel, Harbin City. See www.galleonevents.com/2013CAMS Jan. 9-11—Army Aviation Symposium and Exposition. Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center. National Harbor, Md. See www.ausaaviation.org
David Haaksma (see photo) has been appointed manager-aerospace bearing repair for the aerospace and defense business of Canton, Ohio-based Timken Co. He was director of aerospace engine and gearbox segments for SKF Engineering. Honors and Elections
Col. (Res.) Eli Alfassi (see photo) has been named corporate VP for India for Ben Gurion International Airport-based Israel Aerospace Industries. He has been the Israel Defense Forces' military attache in India.
Boeing is investigating if the failure of an electric generator which grounded a newly delivered Qatar Airways Boeing 787 on Dec. 9, is related to issues with the same component that prompted the diversion of a United Airlines 787 to New Orleans on Dec. 4. The Qatar aircraft developed the problem on its delivery flight from Seattle. Boeing says it working to “understand the root cause of this issue and take the appropriate next steps.” Qatar CEO Akbar Al Baker says the airline will demand compensation from Boeing for the losses incurred by the grounding.
To what must be hundreds of modifications available to King Airs must be added yet another: a swept, 96-in.-dia. four-blade propeller system. Developed by engineers from Hartzell and Raisbeck Engineering, the new “Swept-Turbofan Propeller” should be available for King Air 200 series retrofit by March. While swept blades have been used to propel other turboprops—most notably the Airbus Military A400M and Lockheed Martin C-130J airlifters—the new Hartzell/Raisbeck prop, according to its designers, is the first certified for a business turboprop.
Reader Laurence Scott, who probably lives near the Winfrith Heath nuclear facility in Dorset, England, should not worry about the impact of aircraft on nuclear reactors (AW&ST Dec. 3, p. 10). Definitive studies have shown that the worst feature of an airliner impact to such protected entities was, somewhat surprisingly, that of the nosewheel.
NASA will spend the next 16 months nailing down exactly how its three commercial crew contractors plan to meet the agency's detailed requirements for flying astronauts to the International Space Station and bringing them back to Earth in one piece. The agency will spend almost $30 million with the three companies—Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corp. and SpaceX—on the first phase of the “certification products contracts” (CPC) that will bring the vehicle designs they are developing into line with NASA's formal safety requirements.
A probe into an upper-stage low-thrust anomaly during an October GPS launch has verified that a leak occurred in the RL10B-2 engine. But, a root cause continues to elude investigators, and satellite owners are proceeding with Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) missions only if they are willing to accept any extra risk resulting from the unknowns surrounding the incident.
