Ethiopian Airlines has begun operating its first Boeing 787, using it to inaugurate scheduled service to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on Aug. 18. Ethiopian plans to operate the 787 on services within Africa for several weeks before putting it on the Washington route in September. Initial African destinations include Johannesburg and Nairobi.
Christoph Debus has become head of Thomas Cook Airlines UK and will be leading the group's airline board together with Ralf Teckentrup, CEO of Thomas Cook's German airline division Condor. Debus was chief commercial officer at Air Berlin.
Instead of the U.S. Army, Navy, Air Force and the engine manufacturers funding research on biofuels, there should be just one agency spearheading the effort. I suggest NASA. The results should be unclassified and available to all countries, except for what is necessary to protect patents. Military leaders should concentrate on warfighting, not on alternative energy. Redding, Calif.
U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) Peter W. Chiarelli, a former vice chief of staff, has been appointed to the board of directors of the Harris Corp., Melbourne, Fla. He is CEO of One Mind for Research.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The U.S. Army is making headway with plans to demonstrate the utility of nanosatellites and small, low-cost, mobile launchers. (Kestrel image: U.S. Army)
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) Cindy L. Jaynes has been appointed commander of the Fleet Readiness Centers at NAS Patuxent River, Md. She was assistant commander for logistics and industrial operations at Naval Air Systems Command, also at NAS Patuxent River, Md.
Sept. 4-5—Association of Aerospace Industries' Human Factors and Error Management Short Course. Nah Wah Building, Singapore. See www.aais.org.sg/human_factors Sept. 4-7—Netherlands Association of Aeronautical Engineers' 38th Annual European Rotorcraft Forum. Amsterdam Marriott. See http:erf2012.nlr.nl Sept. 6-9—56th Annual Tailhook Reunion/USMC Aviation Centennial. Nugget Hotel, Reno, Nev. See www.tailhook.org Sept. 8—Barberton-Lowveld Air Show and Fly-In. Barberton Airport, South Africa. See www.bushair.co.za/fly-in
EADS company Cassidian Aviation Training Services (CATS) has selected Cirrus SR20s and SR22s to provide training services to the French air force and navy. A fleet of 13 SR20s will be used for training pilots at the Salon de Provence air base. Seven SR22s will provide navigator training and liaison flights. Another three SR20s will train students of the Ecole Navale at Lanveoc-Poulmic naval air station.
India and Russia are likely to sign a contract soon worth more than $11 billion for the research and development phase of the T-50 fifth-generation fighter aircraft. The first prototype of the jet is scheduled to arrive in India by 2014, after which it will undergo extensive trials at the Ojhar air base. The second prototype is expected to arrive in 2017 and a third in 2019. The aircraft, to be jointly developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. and Sukhoi Design Bureau, is called the Perspective Multi-Role Fighter, and will be based on Russia's PAK FA program.
Lisa Porter has become senior vice president of Teledyne Scientific and Imaging, Thousand Oaks, Calif. She was director of Intelligence Advanced Research Projects in the U.S. Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and had been NASA associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate and senior scientist in the Advanced Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
Airport management for the Russian airport in Baikal, located in southeastern Siberia, has contracted with Lufthansa Consulting to develop a 15-year strategy for the facility, which was acquired by international investment and industrial group Metropol in May 2011. Lufthansa Consulting will provide an analysis of the airport's market potential, a technical assessment and a 15-year forecast.
Cathay Pacific Airways expects to expand its network in India by adding service between its Hong Kong hub and Hyderabad, India's fourth largest city. Service will begin Dec. 1, with flights leaving Hong Kong four times each week on an Airbus A330-300. Cathay Pacific previously added freighter service between Hyderabad and cities in eastern and northern Asia. It will maintain passenger flights to Mumbai, New Delhi and Chennai in India.
Aleksei Alyoshin is among new members named to the board of directors of Moscow-based Russian Helicopters. He is first deputy director-general of the Russian Technologies State Corp. and succeeds on the board Dmitry Kolodyazhny, managing director of the United Engine Building Corp. Andrei Reus remains board chairman. He is general director of Oboronprom.
As engines become increasingly reliable and stay longer on-wing, the battle over spare parts is becoming a sensitive sparring ground as manufacturers try to guard a traditional source of income and maintenance-savvy airlines try to cut costs. The stand-off is set to become more intense in the U.S. where Delta Airlines' Technical Operations maintenance arm is exploring a raft of new technologies for engine overhaul and repair, some of which is currently performed by the original manufacturers, as part of efforts to cut costs and boost revenue.
Jeffry D. Frisby has been named president/CEO of Triumph Group Inc., Berwyn, Pa. He has been president/COO and will succeed Richard C. Ill, who will remain as chairman.
Sept. 4-5—Association of Aerospace Industries' Human Factors and Error Management Short Course. Nah Wah Building, Singapore. See www.aais.org.sg/human_factors Sept. 4-7—Netherlands Association of Aeronautical Engineers' 38th Annual European Rotorcraft Forum. Amsterdam Marriott. See http:erf2012.nlr.nl Sept. 6-9—56th Annual Tailhook Reunion/USMC Aviation Centennial. Nugget Hotel, Reno, Nev. See www.tailhook.org Sept. 8—Barberton-Lowveld Air Show and Fly-In. Barberton Airport, South Africa. See www.bushair.co.za/fly-in
Add the Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopter to the list of 50-year-olds still going strong. It has become the company's longest continuously produced aircraft since the first H-47 was delivered to the U.S. Army on Aug. 16, 1962. Boeing is nearing completion of a $130 million renovation of its Chinook facility in Ridley, Pa., near Philadelphia, for producing the latest model, the CH-47F. Thus far, more than 1,200 Chinooks have been produced for 18 operators, with more than 800 in service for combat, cargo and humanitarian relief missions.
