At least one member of the presidential panel that recommended using commercial vehicles to transport astronauts to low Earth orbit does not buy a military-style “leader-follower” procurement approach to save money. Jeff Greason, president of XCOR Aerospace, argues that maximum competition in government-supported vehicle development will avoid “monopoly-pricing” later on. And House appropriators' leader-follower idea for NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability competition is no better.
The V-22 is finally proving the value of marrying the vertical lift of a helicopter with the speed of a fixed-wing aircraft after a tumultuous and prolonged development phase.
Christoph Mueller (see photo) has been appointed head of communications for Eurocopter Germany. He was head of communications and strategy for Krauss-Maffei Wegman and a member of the Concepts and Studies team within the former defense division of EADS.
The key to a positive future for the largest U.S. regional carriers, albeit an uncomfortable one for many of them, may have surfaced near the end of the SkyWest conference call on its first-quarter 2012 earnings: first survive, and then potentially thrive.
Bruce Whitman, president and CEO of New York-based FlightSafety International, has been named to the board of directors of the Corporate Angel Network.
Los Angeles Bureau Chief Guy Norris . . . . . . offers a “hail and farewell” to the last flyable Boeing 720, which took its final flight May 9—landing at CFB Trenton, a Canadian Forces base in Ontario, after a short flight from Saint-Hubert in Quebec. It will be inducted into the National Air Force Museum of Canada on indefinite loan from Pratt & Whitney Canada, where it was a flying engine testbed since the 1980s. A brief history, along with photos of the aircraft in action, is highlighted on our Things With Wings Blog.
Brendan Lodge, business development director at JetBrokers Europe, has been appointed 2012 chairman of the Central European Private Aviation International Advisory Board. Other new board members are: Oliver Stone, managing director of Colibri Aircraft; Alan Cunningham, asset finance partner at DLA Piper; Philippa Lienard, a founder of the Aelis group; and Michel Bonte, co-founder and shareholder of Aelia Assurances.
For years the vision of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) plying our nation's airways, performing the dull, dirty and dangerous missions of daily commerce has been a matter of speculation: •Someday, when the technology is sufficiently advanced. •In the future, when there is a market for those technologies.
Jeremy Pisell (see photo) has been promoted to assistant manager of Flight Safety International's Learning Center in Tucson, Ariz., from training director at the company's Bell Helicopter Learning Center in Fort Worth.
EVA Air has added another three Boeing 777-300ERs to the 15 it ordered in 2005. Boeing also identified Air Canada as the purchaser of three 777-300ERs previously noted on the unidentified list. Boeing has seven net 777 orders for the year and 418 of all aircraft types.
Danny Milligan has been appointed CEO of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Systems Europe business, based in London. He was VP-mission and security systems at General Dynamics. Eckehardt Keip has been named managing director of Northrop Grumman GmbH, Freiburg, Germany. He has held the same title at the company's LITEF division.
Limited numbers of expensive unmanned aircraft—each with its own massive intelligence-gathering capabilities—have been a U.S. Air Force staple for years. Now the service is eyeing redirection of its investment dollars into smaller platforms that can function as one huge network that ignores losses to air or cyberattack.
Howard Wheeldon (see photo) has been named managing director-policy, public affairs and media for ADS, the London-based aerospace, defense and security industry lobby group, succeeding Derek Marshall, who has retired. Wheeldon has been an aerospace and defense analyst for 28 years.
What would happen if Ryanair's Michael O'Leary was put in charge of British Airways or if Southwest Airlines' Herb Kelleher was running United Airlines? It seems like a crazy idea, but a similar situation occurred (for a time) in Malaysia—between AirAsia's Tony Fernandes and Malaysia Airlines (MAS).
Three Apollo commanders put their weight behind legislation that would force NASA to move quickly to choose a single commercial crew vehicle to elicit public support. Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan and James Lovell, commanders of Apollo 11, 17 and 13, respectively, told Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee that funds the space agency, that they endorse his panel's approach to commercial crew vehicle development that passed the House last week.
Michael Donahoe has been named research director of Chesterfield, Mo.-based JetBrokers' Market Research Analysis Program. He spearheaded the promotion and development of an anti-terrorism aerial surveillance system using the Hawker Beechcraft King Air as delivery platform.
A recent Viewpoint addressed innovation deficits in the U.S. Defense Department (AW&ST April 23/30, p. 94). Here's a thought. The department is already spending $1.3 billion in Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR). But most prime contractors are ignoring a huge potential in these programs. The DOD should tie the R&D government reimbursement that the primes receive to their collaboration with small businesses and their utilization of SBIR/STTR technology.
The article on engine icing described conditions we experienced in the 1990s while conducting a three-year multi-manufacturer-sponsored study on the topic.
Yousif Hassan Al Hammadi (see photo) has been named acting general manager of Al Bateen Executive Airport, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, succeeding Steve Jones, who has returned to the U.K. Al Hammadi was a member of the airport's senior management team.
Jeffrey Goldfinger, director of business development at L-3 Interstate Electronics, has received the Award of Merit from the American Society for Testing and Materials International, West Conshohocken, Pa. He was recognized for contributions to the ASTM International Committee on Unmanned Aircraft Systems.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency successfully intercepted a unitary ARAV-A short-range target ballistic missile for the first time May 9, using the new Raytheon SM-3 IB. The test took place on the Pacific range and the interceptor was fired from the USS Lake Erie. The new interceptor, which carries an upgraded two-color infrared seeker and throttleable divert-and-attitude-control-system, failed to achieve an intercept during a September flight trial owing to a burn-through of its solid-rocket motor.
