As efforts to integrate unmanned aircraft into civil airspace intensify, industry pundits are eying legal and safety challenges that could be posed by the introduction of autonomous technology into commercial air transport.
While the fight over Australia's international airline market has been capturing headlines lately, major takeover moves by Virgin Australia are set to turn up the heat in an increasingly fierce competition on the domestic front.
Chinese airlines operate 47 flights a day between Beijing and Shanghai, half with widebody aircraft, mainly Airbus A330s. There can be little question of putting more narrowbodies on the route; its congestion and delays are already notorious. So the future must bring increased twin-aisle capacity.
Your well-considered series of articles concerning the Middle East Conflict inform us that, “Iran cannot be bombed out of developing a nuclear-armed missile.” We are then given further details that an Israeli attack might set the Iranian program back two years while a U.S. attack might provide a respite of 5-10 years before a much angrier Iran will possess nuclear weapons. Why, if the goal is a non-nuclear Iran, is so much emphasis being placed on a strategy which will ultimately fail?
Arnee Gomez (see photo) has been named VP-human resources for the Aerospace Group of Lynnwood, Wash.-based Crane Aerospace & Electronics. She was director of human resources at Danaher Corp.
Jay White has been named the winner of Frederick, Md.-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's (AOPA) Joseph R. Crotti Award. White, former president and current general counsel of the California Pilots Association, was honored for his efforts to protect California's general aviation airports and pilots' flight privileges. Sen. John Thune (S.D.) ranking Republican on the Senate Commerce aviation subcommittee, has received AOPA's Joseph B. “Doc” Hartranft, Jr., Award for his work on behalf of general aviation.
The operating efficiencies that the Boeing 787 gains from carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (CFRP) has made those materials—composites—the baseline for the product development team working on the 777X, despite a push by aluminum manufacturers that their lightweight alternatives are more aligned with Boeing's traditional manufacturing methods.
French aerospace equipment manufacturers saw steady growth last year, with revenues up 14% to €11.4 billion ($14.7 billion) and order intake totaling €14.3 billion, including a 20% increase in exports. Olivier Zarrouati, who leads the equipment group at French aerospace industry association Gifas, says the country's equipment-manufacturing industry is entering a new phase.
It came as no surprise. He was 95, after all. But word of his passing Oct. 18 was jarring nonetheless. Legendary characters—and Albert Lee Ueltschi was that—are not easily let go. I've long regarded FlightSafety International's founder as the industry's Last Lion, and Lord knows, he could roar.
John L. Petersen has been elected chairman of the Anoka, Minn.-based Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh Foundation, succeeding Larry E. Williams, who has completed his three-year term. Petersen is founder and CEO of The Arlington Institute.
Douglas Hofsass has been appointed assistant administrator for the Office of Risk Based Security of the U.S. Transportation Security Administration in Washington. He was associate administrator.
The F-35 weapons-drop test program has advanced with another first. A Lockheed Martin F-35A jettisoned its first Raytheon AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range-Air-to-Air Missile (Amraam) on Oct. 19. An F-35A previously dropped a 2,000-lb. Joint Direct Attack Munition while an F-35B dumped a 1,000-lb. version. The Amraam jettison is different, requiring the door-mounted rack to eject the missile.
Dennis K. Diemoz has been named president of Douglas, Isle of Man-based Excalibur Almaz's U.S. operation. He was VP and general counsel of the United Space Alliance and has been company counsel at Lockheed Martin Space Operations.
Spirit AeroSystems Holdings warned of a $590 million forward loss from Boeing, Rolls-Royce and Gulfstream fuselage, nacelle and wing programs as it prepared to report third-quarter earnings. The company said supply-chain savings it anticipated have not been achieved, resulting in a model that is not matching the actual costs of hardware being shipped. After adjusting its cost estimates, the company expects savings going forward.
Space Editor Sean Meade has posted on the On Space blog photos and a video of Xcor Aerospace's full-scale model of its two-seat Lynx suborbital spaceplane—which it intends to debut at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. DeweyW notes: It looks like the pilot drives it with stick, not a yoke, and reads round analog gauges. With no head-up display and only two glass screens, maybe space tech isn't progressing as fast as we thought.
While defense companies and their high-profile trade organization, the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), have been vocal all year in begging lawmakers to avoid automatic budget cuts known as sequestration, set to start Jan. 2, the A&D sector encountered blowback recently for focusing on doomsday job losses that no one wants while not offering much to help lawmakers find a political solution.
Liam Quinn has been appointed business development manager at Johannesburg-based South African Airways. Also joining the airline are: Jon Danks, head of U.K. marketing and communications; Stephen Gerrard, commercial manager; Matt Parr, leisure sales manager; Philip Ariss, corporate sales manager; and Kerry Farmer, online sales manager.
An unequal battle is brewing to replace the airplane that has provided U.S. Navy aircraft carriers with their logistics lifeline to the mainland for half a century, a competition that could lead the service to reevaluate fundamentally how it transports high-priority cargo to its battle groups.
James Culmo (see photos) has been appointed VP of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s newly formed High-Altitude, Long-Endurance Enterprise, based in Redondo Beach, Calif. He has been VP and deputy general manager for the Military Aircraft Systems business. Kathryn G. Simpson has been named VP and deputy general counsel. She was VP-legal, corporate transactions and governance at the Raytheon Co. James W. Stephenson on Dec. 1 will become VP, associate general counsel and sector counsel for the Electronic Systems Sector, succeeding Dennis Cameron, who plans to retire.
