Stacey Bechdolt has been appointed director-safety and technical affairs for the Washington-based Regional Airline Association. She was manager of training compliance and AQP coordinator for Comair.
Brian Lindquist (see photo) has joined Dallas Airmotive, Dallas, as Northwest U.S. engine manager. He was maintenance, repair and overhaul sales manager for Western Aircraft, Boise, Idaho.
May 23-24—Airport Council International-North America/Airlines for Americas Airport Deicing Management Conference. Crowne Plaza Hamilton, Washington. See www.aci-na.org/conferences/2012 May 23-24—Shephard Group's Helicopters and Unmanned Vehicles Pacific. RACV Royal Pines Resort. Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia. Also, June 21-22—Military Simulation and Training India. Air Force Auditorium, New Delhi. See www.shephardmedia.com
The new Berlin airport's operator, Berliner Flughafen, said last week that it will be impossible to meet the projected June 3 opening date. CEO Rainer Schwarz said the delay is needed because the terminal's fire protection system appears unready and cannot be guaranteed to function properly within the next three weeks. The operator plans to announce a new date this week.
Celeste Bynum (see photo) has been appointed West Coast sales manager for Herndon Products, O'Fallon, Mo. She was a sales manager with UFC Aerospace in California.
Fly-by-wire controls are commonplace in fixed-wing aircraft, but a rarity in rotorcraft. Cost is usually cited as the reason for not using FBW, despite its performance advantages, but now Kazan Helicopters is removing fly-by-wire from its light twin-turbine Ansat because of safety concerns.
Rep. Bill Shuster (R-Pa.) is following in the footsteps of his father, Bud, as a champion of transportation funding. In many ways, the younger Shuster is dealing with a far different Congress—one stuffed with members who lack legislative experience and were elected as agents of change.
In an article on the Mitsubishi Aircraft MRJ program in the May 7 issue (p. 41), the number of options was misstated; the correct number is 60. The title of Hirofumi Takahashi, president of Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. of America, was misstated. Further, the manufacturer now advises that about 1% of the first aircraft needs to be remanufactured.
U.S. and Australian researchers say a rocket-boosted, hydrocarbon-fueled scramjet successfully operated for around 12 sec. while accelerating to Mach 8 from Mach 6.5 during a May 1 test from the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Hawaii. The flight was the fourth of 10 planned under the Hypersonic International Flight Research Experiment (HIFire) program, started in 2006 to develop technology for long duration scramjet flight at Mach 8. Given that the vehicle reportedly reached an altitude of around 100,000 ft. and clocked up a test time of 12 sec., versus the 8 sec.
As the U.S. looks for ways to reduce an immense budget deficit, planners in the military and intelligence communities appear to be questioning whether they really need two commercial imagery providers to supplement the super-capable government spacecraft. And that has set off a messy dance between two publicly traded satellite operators, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, about whether they should merge and on what terms.
At first glance, the display looks familiar: rolling computer-generated terrain unfolding to mountains in the distance, a contour-hugging grid providing a sense of depth, while overlaid symbology informs and guides the pilot. The idealized three-dimensional world presented by synthetic vision is becoming known to civil pilots but, “flying” over Salt Lake City in a Rockwell Collins-built military-helicopter simulator, closer examination of the displays reveals a level of detail not seen on the screens in business-jet cockpits.
“Cold Comfort” (AW&ST April 23/30, p. 84) highlights difficulties researchers have had in explaining and predicting the formation and accumulation of ice inside jet engines. It is quite possible this phenomena is biological in origin.
With India last week approving a $700 million contract with Switzerland's Pilatus to purchase 75 new PC-7 basic propeller trainers, the Indian air force (IAF) may also need to look outside the country for a fleet of intermediate jet trainers.
Greg Setter has been named account manager at BDN Aerospace, Mesa, Ariz. He comes from Honeywell Aerospace, where he was marketing communications strategy manager for the commercial aviation businesses.
Chinese regional airline Okay Airways aims at expanding, with an order for 20 aircraft and a new subsidiary carrier for regional routes that would be open to strategic investors. It plans to order 20 Xian MA60s, adding to five currently in its fleet and two more due in the next few months, Deputy President Liu Jieyin tells local media, adding that Okay is preparing its application to the Civil Aviation Administration of China to set up the subsidiary.
Joseph Weiss has been tapped by the Israel Aerospace Industries board of directors to replace retiring Itzak Nissas as CEO and president. Weiss was general manager of the Systems, Missiles and Space Group.
Louis Saint-Cyr (see photo) has joined Hawaiian Airlines as VP-customer services. He was VP-inflight services and also has held senior positions at Air Canada.
For most air travelers, access to high-speed Internet at 30,000 ft. is neither easy nor cheap. It's not that inflight broadband is unavailable to commercial and business jet passengers—a number of airlines are gradually adding connectivity options to their fleets. But despite the uptick in broadband-enabled tablets and smartphones in recent years, WiFi in the sky has been slow to gain traction in the broader airline community, where it can be sluggish, spotty and expensive.
May 23-24—MRO Regional: Eastern Europe, Baltics and Russia. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 19-21—MRO IT Conference & Showcase. Miami. Oct. 9—MRO IT Europe. Amsterdam. Oct. 9—Aircraft Composite Repair Management. Amsterdam. Oct. 9-11—MRO Europe. Amsterdam. Nov. 6-7—A&D Programs. Phoenix. Nov. 14-15—MRO Asia. Singapore. PARTNERSHIPS June 26-28—JEC Show Asia. Singapore. July 9-15—Farnborough International Airshow.
Perhaps it is best not to apply the proverb “a friend in need is a friend indeed” to the U.K. as it returns to buying the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing (Stovl) version of the Joint Strike Fighter.
Etihad Airways has taken another bite out of its original 25-aircraft Airbus A350-1000 order, canceling seven more of the aircraft and leaving its backlog for the long-range, twin-widebody at 12 units. The move represents the only further Airbus cancellations in April, bringing this year's total to 17 aircraft. In April, Airbus booked 14 new orders: 11 A330-300s for Garuda Indonesia, an A330-200 and -300 for Air Lease Corp and an A318 Elite business jet. Deliveries last month reached 183 units, 16 more than at the same time last year.
Robert Murphy has been appointed CEO of Cobham, Wimborne Minster, England, succeeding Andy Stevens, who has retired. Murphy was executive VP-Products Sector for BAE Systems. Honors and elections
