Woody McClendon (see photos) has been appointed sales manager-rotorcraft training at New York-based FlightSafety International. He has been senior VP-sales and marketing of PrivatAir, aviation manager for the UCLA MedStar program and an instructor for FlightSafety. Doug Gill has been named director of engineering for the company's visual simulation facility in St. Louis.
Etienne Veber has been named chief commercial officer and executive VP of Precise Biometrics, Vienna, Va. He has held executive positions at Learning Resources, Merisant, Nutra-Sweet Co. and Monsanto Corp.
Budget and political decisions made in Berlin, Brussels and Washington will help shape the global aerospace industry. So it was not surprising that an undercurrent of anxiety ran through the recent Farnborough air show (see p. 43). Uncertainty from a financial crisis in Europe, potentially hefty cuts to U.S. defense spending, and slower economic growth in Asia and Latin America have put buyers and suppliers on edge.
Dave Schmitz has been named chief operating officer of Cubic Defense Applications of San Diego. He was VP and general manager of Cobham Sensor Systems' microwave business. Donald Haring is the new VP-human resources. He held the same title at Thomas & Betts.
With an eye on fuel efficiency, some airlines are turning to turboprop aircraft instead of jets. The new 90-seat model from French-Italian manufacturer ATR looks especially promising in this market, which makes it all the more perplexing that ATR has been unable to persuade its shareholder EADS to commit to investing in a more modern family of turboprops.
Next year, Indonesia's Lion Air group will receive a Boeing 737-900ER every 15 days, and an ATR 72-600 every 30 days, expanding its fleet by a third in 12 months. Garuda Indonesia plans to double its fleet within the next 3.5 years. Taking delivery will be the easy part. For every new narrowbody, an airline needs to employ at least six pilots, and to do a Boeing 737 line-maintenance check requires four maintenance technicians. The difficult part will be finding enough of these maintenance technicians and pilots to support the fleet growth.
You can tell when the top leadership of China is not satisfied with an economic sector. It fires off a public memo addressed to the provinces, certain major cities and central government departments. It lists its gripes, sets out its objectives and states what it wants done. Then it hopes they will listen. Such a memo, better called a policy guideline, has just emerged with the stamp of the state council, China's equivalent of the national cabinet. Its subject is aviation.
The powerful rocket engine developed in the 1960s to launch the first men to the Moon could be reprised in the 2020s as the powerplant for strap-on boosters that NASA hopes to use in heavy-lift human missions to Mars. (Image: NASA)
While the continuation of litigation associated with the tragic Air France Concorde fatal accident near Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG) appears regrettable and may seem pointless, I wish to offer some pertinent information that was not addressed in Pierre Sparaco's commentary “A Concorde Mystery” (AW&ST July 9, p. 26).
Joseph P. Doherty has been named CEO and a board member of Clearview Capital company GCR, New Orleans. He was executive VP, government sector president and chief operating officer for Affiliated Computer Services.
An article on Spain's S-80 submarine program (July 2, p. DT24) misidentified the legacy platform that was supposed to rationalize Europe's shipyards. It was the Scorpene sub.
A recent Washington Outlook column states that cybertheft of U.S. intellectual property is estimated at near $1 trillion and is suspected to largely involve China (AW&ST July 16, p. 23). The U.S. debt to China is now around $1.2 trillion. While we certainly need to improve our own security, perhaps we should wield some leverage to encourage China toward better recognition of IP rights. Los Angeles, Calif.
Hawaiian Airlines is taking steps to launch a regional subsidiary, and has signed a letter of intent to buy an unspecified number of turboprops. The carrier plans to eventually have up to six aircraft in the subsidiary. While the type is not being revealed yet, the carrier is bound by union agreements to restrict turboprop operations to aircraft with no more than 69 seats. Hawaiian says up to 50 seats is the right configuration for the routes it has in mind.
Rockwell Collins has joined forces with Boeing to develop a flight-deck upgrade for the 767 and 757 using 787 technology. Supplemental type certification is expected in the second quarter of 2014. This coincides with the start of deliveries of 46 new-build 767-300 Freighters to FedEx Express, the unidentified launch customer for the cockpit upgrade.
The benefits of satellite-based approaches, precision landing systems and autoland capability have all been recognized for years. But new initiatives to seamlessly link these technologies promise even greater gains in streamlining air traffic and improving low-visibility operations.
Dan Bennewitz has become chief operating officer and Jim Reinhart head of development and operations at Quality Technology Services, Overland Park, Kan. Bennewitz was VP of IBM Sales Model, and Reinhart has held executive roles at Genworth.
•“The aircraft goes beyond 2g—which is well within what it is designed to take. I can't say the same thing about the passengers.” —Boeing Commercial Airplanes chief test pilot Mike Carriker on the 787's flying display •“LauncherOne will go around the world in 80 min. It's actually 90 min., but I thought that sounded better.” —Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson, unveiling the new LauncherOne smallsat system •“There will be a 319NEO for all those people that don't want to buy the CSeries.”
Also on the Ares blog, Defense Technology Chief Editor Bill Sweetman writes about collaboration between Sweden and Switzerland on the new JAS 39E/F version of the Saab Gripen. Hardcore says: It is interesting to compare the cockpit to that of the F-35. They look nearly identical, but I bet there are differences on the inside. Super cruise has replaced info on max speed. A logical step, of course.
Dave Franson has been promoted to president from executive director of the Wichita Aero Club. New board members are: John Ek, publisher of the Wichita Business Journal; Sean Weaver, executive VP-assurance services at Allen, Gibbs & Houlik; Rod Wilson, Goodrich Interiors; Stephanie Harder, manager of community affairs and internal communications at Cessna Aircraft Co.; Kim Nussbaum, publisher of The Wichita Eagle and David Van der Wee, VP-marketing, business and general aviation for Pratt & Whitney Canada.
July 31-Aug. 9—Fatigue Concepts. Aircraft Structures for Safety Inspectors and Engineers. Larkspur Landing, Sacramento, Calif. See www.fatcon.com Aug. 7-10—Association of Unmanned Systems North America 2012 Exhibition. Mandalay Bay Hotel. Las Vegas. See www.auvsishow.org/auvsi2012 Aug. 13-14—Bombardier 2012 Safety Standdown Latin America. Grand Hyatt Sao Paulo Hotel. See www.safetystanddown.com
Three veteran space travelers are settling in on return visits to the International Space Station, after their Soyuz launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Air Show Videos Check out these and other videos in the digital edition of Aviation Week on leading tablets and smartphones or go to AviationWeek.com/Farnborough. Engine problems forced Airbus Military to pull its A400M from the flying display for the second year in a row. But Europrop insists issues with its TP400 will not threaten the airlifter's scheduled 2013 entry-into-service. Watch the A400M in action.
MTU Maintenance Hanover has announced the repair of its 3,000th International Aero Engines V2500. The V2500, which powers the Airbus A320 family, was delivered to International Lease Finance Corp.
