Sunshine McCarthy (see photo) has joined Hilton Head, S.C.-based Baldwin Aviation as director of training. She was VP, facilitator and strategist for ServiceElements of Scottsdale, Ariz.
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The Airbus A350-800 has lost half of its firm orders since 2009 and appears to be commercially the weakest member of the new long-haul aircraft family. But Airbus nonetheless still plans to build it.
Hussein Massoud, former civil aviation minister of Egypt, has been honored by the Johannesburg-based African Airline Association for guiding the association through a period of crisis in 2011 and developing a business plan that has helped the group to succeed. Hussein also has been chairman and CEO of the Egyptair holding company.
Daniel Thomas has been appointed SRC Fellow and Military Sensing Symposia Fellow at the Syracuse, N.Y.-based Syracuse Research Corp. He was a technology director within the company's Defense and Environment Solutions Div.
Ron Calvin has been promoted to managing director of inflight operations from director of customer service for the Eastern U.S., based in Washington, for Alaska Airlines. He has managed customer service and ground operations at 17 airports.
Prof. T. Nejat Veziroglu (Coral Gables, Fla. ), University of Miami (Coral Gables, Fla. )
Thank you for covering the latest research and development on supersonic and hypersonic transports (AW&ST Nov. 26, pp. 40-53). I submit that technology exists to develop an over-the-ocean (long-distance) 300-passenger commercial supersonic aircraft with Mach 2-3 maximum speed running on hydrogen fuel. It could be developed over 15 years and should not be too expensive to own and maintain for airline companies, and to fly for passengers. I foresee the following benefits:
The U.S. Marine Corps' new CH-53K heavy-lift helicopter is one step closer to beginning flight trials, following the delivery last week of the first prototype ground-test vehicle. The development program, led by Sikorsky, will include four flight-test vehicles for trials starting in 2014. The Pentagon estimates the cost of buying 200 CH-53Ks to be $25.7 billion.
Klaus Froese (see photo) has been appointed managing director of Tyrolean Airways, succeeding Gaudenz Ambuehl, who held the position during the transition of the Austrian Airlines Group into Tyrolean. Froese has been managing director of Lufthansa CityLine.
No accident was ever more visible than the horrific, fiery crash of an Air France Concorde on takeoff from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport in 2000. So it probably should have come as no surprise that French prosecutors felt compelled to find a culprit.
A Washington Outlook item in the Dec. 3 issue (page 23) incorrectly stated the outcome of pre-flight pressure testing on the International Space Station's Unity node. According to NASA, the 1996 tests were halted before the node structural test and flight articles reached the maximum design pressure of 23 psia “based on predefined sensor cutoff data being met.” Those strain gauges were positioned to test anticipated “high stresses on the radial port gussets,” and no cracks were discovered in the hardware by subsequent inspections, NASA says.
Boeing delivered the 377th 737 of 2012 to United Airlines on Dec. 3, marking the greatest number of a commercial family delivered by the manufacturer in one year. The aircraft was a 737-900ER. The previous record, also held by the 737, was 376 aircraft delivered in 2010. With much of December remaining, the final new figure for 2012 is likely to near 390. The delivery tally comes just over a month after Boeing broke a record for net orders taken for a model in one year with the 737. In October, net orders for the 737 exceeded the 846 set in 2007.
Lufthansa is launching its new concept for European direct services on July 1, 2013, six months after the group's direct services unit is to be merged with low-fare affiliate Germanwings. The new airline, to be called Germanwings, is a blend of premium and no-frills products and is the group's last effort to turn around its short-haul network into profitability.
The Airbus A330 has proven to be an extremely popular aircraft, even after the launch of the Boeing 787. It delivers a lot of what most airlines need. Now Airbus is adding further to its capabilities. The European manufacturer has revealed plans to increase the maximum takeoff weight of its two A330 versions. It plans to offer the A330-300 and A330-200 in 242-ton variants giving the aircraft, respectively, 500 nm and 350 nm more range.
Brad Harris of Dallas Jet International has been elected 2013 chairman of the Dallas-based National Aircraft Resale Association. Other board members are: Nick Schneider, Global Wings, treasurer; Jay Gantt, Gantt Aviation, secretary; and board members Ben Murray of General Aviation Services, Paul Kirby of Cerretani Aviation, Louis Sen of Jet Support Services and Tracey L. Cheek of Aircraft Title Insurance Agency.
I would like to add to the ongoing discussion my thoughts regarding nuclear capabilities. In 1966, I was a captain attending the Air Force Squadron Officers School. In one assembly discussion, the subject was weapon delivery and whether China had the capability to deliver a nuclear weapon to the U.S. The answer then was the same as implied by readers Robert H. Schmucker and Marcus Schiller (AW&ST Nov. 26, p. 10), “No. They don't have a delivery system.”
Ferco Aerospace Group, a 250-employee supplier in Franklin, Ohio, once counted itself fortunate to have a position on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. The family-owned business manufactures sheet metal brackets, engine tubes and other parts for the JSF's Pratt & Whitney engines. Now, Washington is seized up with political and budget gridlock over a “crisis” manufactured by the very people now trying to resolve it (see page 12).
David Castelveter has been elected president of the Aero Club of Washington for 2013. Other new officers are: Pete Dumont, Air Traffic Control Association, VP; Greg Principato, Airports Council International-North America, treasurer; and Margaret Jenny, RTCA, secretary. Bob Bergman of UPS is the immediate past president.
The 787 incorporates three independent 5,000-psi hydraulic systems. The left and right systems power flight controls, wing spoilers and their respective engine thrust reversers, while the center system powers flight controls as well as landing gear actuation, slats, flaps, spoilers and nose-gear steering. Pumps that are engine- and electric motor-driven power the left and right systems.
The future of Virgin Atlantic has been one of the big unknowns in the European air transport sector. Now it seems it might join forces with Delta Air Lines, a move that would have repercussions far beyond the two players.
As North Korea prepares to launch a satellite, over the objections of the U.S. and the United Nations, a test of the missile-defense system designed to protect the U.S. against an attack from the Korean peninsula was delayed again. The Defense Department is moving assets into the Pacific region to monitor North Korea's launch, which Pyongyang says is slated to take place Dec. 10-22. Assets include Navy destroyers as well as intelligence-collecting aircraft outfitted to detect a launch and characterize the missile's capability once lofted.
I would like to expand a bit on a point made by reader Alex Torralbas (AW&ST Nov. 26, p. 10), which was written in reaction to a statement attributed to a manufacturing executive about sidestepping unions, in “Made in the U.S.A.” (AW&ST Oct. 29, p. 46). Torralbas decried that sentiment and made several salient points. I would like to add that if workers are treated as commodity blunt objects, you will inevitably drive off the real talent and destroy the magic that creates innovative ideas on the assembly line and in the products.
Boeing is investigating the failure of a main electric starter/generator on a newly delivered United Airlines 787, which forced the crew to divert to New Orleans on Dec 4. United Flight 1146 from Houston to Newark, N.J.,, with 174 passengers and 10 crew, landed safely. Although the crew initially suspected the aft electrical and electronics (E/E) bay as the source of the problem, Boeing confirms that inspections made after landing revealed no signs of fire or arcing.
