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.
Eyal Younian (see photo) has become CFO of Israel Aerospace Industries. He held the same position at Scope Metals Group and was a senior audit director at Ernst & Young Israel.
A $150 million contract from the U.S. Missile Defense Agency to Lockheed Martin for its Terminal High-Altitude Air Defense (Thaad) program will allow the company to double the production rate of its interceptors. The contract is the first of its kind for Thaad, bundling 96 missiles for the United Arab Emirates with 44 for the U.S. The production rate will increase to seven or eight interceptors monthly. The funding also allows for the addition of three more launchers for the first two Thaad batteries, which were delivered with an initial three launchers apiece.
While most of Washington's attention is focused on budget cuts, a new study is urging NASA to up its investment in space and solar physics. A National Research Council (NRC) committee says the space agency should expand and accelerate its Heliophysics Explorer Program—which studies the Earth's upper atmosphere—over the next 10 years. The NRC is calling for an infusion of $70 million per year to restore the option of a Mid-Size Explorer mission that would alternate with Small Explorer missions every 2-3 years.
The aeronautics and defense (A&D) business of Paris-based Air Liquide started in the 1980s as little more than a liquid-oxygen tank supplier for fighters and freighters. But over the past decade, the French industrial gas giant's A&D unit has profited from growth in the commercial airline market and has insinuated itself into some of the world's most high-profile defense programs, despite declining budgets in Europe and the U.S.
Triumph Aerostructures–Vought Aircraft Div. awarded a contract to GKN Aerospace for composite winglets and ailerons for the Bombardier Global 7000 and 8000 ultra-long-range business jets. GKN's Munich and Isle of Wight sites will design, build and supply the parts.
Hawker Beechcraft's first customer Hawker 400XPR upgrade has begun with a Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 avionics system improvement. Though the first customer installation has started at its Atlanta facility, Hawker Beechcraft expects to see high demand for the upgrade program in South America, based on the popularity of the predecessor Beechcraft 400A and Hawker 400XP aircraft. With approximately 60 units, South America boasts the second largest number of 400-series jets outside of the U.S.
Though the plan was risky, Alitalia had hoped to stabilize the Italian air transport sector through a merger with Air One and the takeover of smaller carriers. While the Air One deal has been completed, the second goal has fallen flat. Europe's low-fare carriers will gladly take notice. In addition to Windjet, Blue Panorama—an early Boeing 787 customer—was a target. Earlier this month, talks with Windjet failed and the small, low-fare carrier stopped flying a few days later. Blue Panorama appears to be in financial difficulty as well.
I felt compelled to write about a recent article that made my day. William Garvey's “Delivery Flight” (AW&ST Aug. 13, p. 19) documents what the best things in life boil down to—the simple, real experiences of being in the moment, a little on the edge of your comfort zone and living it with no distractions.
Avisa Gulf has become the first stand-alone company in the Middle East and North Africa to receive a Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization approval from the United Arab Emirates. Avisa has been approved to manage airworthiness for the Airbus A318-100, A320-200, Boeing 737-700, and Embraer ERJ 135 and 145 and E-190.
This shadow self-portrait was one of the first images NASA's Curiosity rover returned from the surface of Mars after landing. Collected by Curiosity's left-front hazard-avoidance camera, it is the only image sent to date that shows the ultimate objective of the Mars Science Laboratory mission: the 5.5-km-high (3.4-mi.) Mount Sharp. Sedimentary rock there may hold chemical clues to the history of Mars and its habitability.
