“Miracle at Kham Duc,” painted by preeminent aviation artist Keith Ferris, depicts the moment when Col. Joe Jackson's Fairchild C-123 was most vulnerable to enemy fire as he and his crew were performing a daring rescue. It is one of Ferris's favorite paintings. “I always become part of events as I research and paint them; my mission is to bring the viewer into the scene with me,” he says. “This story was a real cliff-hanger, with the aircraft under continuous fire.
Contestants for the Google Lunar X Prize will have to be careful around Apollo hardware and other human artifacts on the Moon as they vie for prize money promised for returning images of historic spacecraft with their landers. The X Prize Foundation, which organized the $30 million prize, has agreed to include NASA guidelines for preserving historic sites on the Moon as it evaluates proposals from the privately funded teams in the competition. Teams are looking for ways to add to the winnings, and selling up-close imagery is one possibility.
XCOR's Lynx vehicle mockup (AW&ST May 14, p. 26) looks broadly similar to the design of the never-flown Boeing X-20 Dyna-Soar, a single-pilot spaceplane that was canceled by the U.S. Air Force in December 1963. I wonder if there has been some migration of data from that earlier project to the Lynx, perhaps via subsequent spaceplane design efforts that benefited from the Dyna-Soar work. Clearwater, Fla.
There is no magic formula for a profitable airline business model, says Lim Kim Hai, head of Australia's Regional Express (Rex). Rather, success comes from focusing on a raft of minor details, and constantly searching for new ways to do them better.
The personal animosity generated by US Airways' very public advances toward AMR Corp.'s American Airlines division and the union furor that preceded that action have obscured something very important that is about to occur in the U.S. airline industry: Regardless of who is involved, more consolidation is coming, and it will likely bring an end to US Airways.
William Clarey (see photo) has become Mid-Atlantic sales director for Savannah, Ga.-based Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. He succeeds Bill McLeod, who was promoted to VP-Central U.S. sales. Clarey was the Pacific Northwest sales director for Hawker Beechcraft.
General Electric has increased its 2020 revenue target for its business and general aviation engine segment because of strong orders. The company had set a target of reaching $1 billion in business jet powerplant revenue by 2020, but with orders already booked, the company knows it will surpass that level, says Brad Mottier, vice president and general manager for GE Aviation business and general aviation. The engine division also is closing in on several key milestones for its product portfolio.
With a half-dozen Boeing CH-47Fs already acquired, the Netherlands is moving to standardize its fleet by replacing CH-47Ds with “F” models. The goal is to extend the service life of the transport fleet to 2045, the defense ministry tells legislators. Spending for the purchase will run through 2019.
On Jan. 17, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the U.S. would not sign the EU's Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. Instead, the U.S. would invite other spacefaring states, including members of the EU, to negotiate an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities using the EU document as a launching point. The administration's new direction should not come as a surprise, but will prove counterproductive in achieving its own goals.
All congressional eyes are on the Air Force's F-22 Raptor, given the Lockheed Martin fighter's problems with its oxygen-delivery system. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta placed restrictions on Raptor operations May 15—including a noteworthy deployment to the United Arab Emirates—and ordered the Air Force to rush into place an automatic back-up system. The first retrofit is due in December, and starting in January, 10 aircraft will be retrofitted per month.
In a recent interview, Leo Christodoulou, program manager of the Energy Department's Advanced Manufacturing Office, made many excellent points regarding the need to design manufacturability into product concepts and initial designs (AW&ST May 7, p. 53).
Arianespace Chairman and CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall says he does not fear competition in the launch business from China. He notes that U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) have effectively stopped Beijing from becoming a player in the international satellite launch business because they prohibit companies from shipping satellites to China if they contain U.S. parts deemed to have military applications.
In a bet on better times ahead, Bombardier is pressing on with its long-awaited replacement of the Learjet 40XR and 45XR with the launch of Learjet 70 and 75. Although this smaller end of the business aircraft market is still far from recovery, Learjet Vice President and General Manager Ralph Acs, notes: “The market will get better over time,” and the company is at a point where it should be “refreshing” its offering. “We want to come out of the down market with fresh, new products.”
Kevin Worthington (see photo) has joined Dallas Airmotive as engine manager for several Midwest U.S. states. He was a sales representative for Duncan Aviation's Battle Creek, Mich., facility.
The U.S. Marine Corps' aviation plan envisions buying the most expensive fighter jet and rotary-wing aircraft in the Pentagon's arsenal today. This scenario strays far from the longtime culture of the service, which has been known for the past 100 years—since it began employing aviation—for making do with older, less sophisticated equipment. But operational requirements have grown, as has the demand for Marine aviation assets to support ground forces.
Isn't the AL-31 engine that powers the Sukhoi Su-27 a turbofan rather than a turbojet, as cited recently (AW&ST April 9, p. 13)? Beaverton, Ore. (The reader is correct—Ed.)
Raytheon's Mark E. Russell and James A. Horkovich have been named fellows of the Washington-based American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Russell is VP-engineering, technology and mission assurance. He has published peer-reviewed papers on active, electronically scanned arrays, as well as radar systems, missiles, photonic technology, solid-state transmitters and communications systems. Horkovich is chief engineer of the collaborative weapons project in the Advanced Missiles and Unmanned Systems product line at Raytheon Missile Systems.
For a country with one of the world's most immediately pressing defense problems, South Korea spends a lot of money on weapons with wider applications. Its ambitions for power-projection capability reaching far beyond the Korean peninsula are becoming increasingly obvious. Indeed, the defense ministry has, perhaps unintentionally, brought the issue into focus with a rare public discussion of its indigenous land-attack missiles, especially a cruise missile program that has been flying under the radar of Western public attention.
U.S. Navy Vice Adm. (ret.) Daniel P. Holloway (see photo) has been named VP-customer relations for Huntington Ingalls Industries shipbuilding division, Pascagoula, Miss. He was director of military personnel plans and policy on the staff of the chief of naval operations.
ATR delivered its 1,000 aircraft on May 3. Aviation Week data show that ATR 72-family aircraft represent 56% of the world's 60-plus-seat turboprops in scheduled service. As regional airlines renew their fleets with larger turboprops and regional jets, the market is split: Many U.S. operators are simply trying to survive while others around the world thrive. ATR photo.
William Clarey (see photo) has become Mid-Atlantic sales director for Savannah, Ga.-based Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. He succeeds Bill McLeod, who was promoted to VP-Central U.S. sales. Clarey was the Pacific Northwest sales director for Hawker Beechcraft.
