With relentlessly rising fuel prices confronting the airline industry, why don't airlines set up a collectively owned refinery system and get control of their operations? Petroleum by-products that they do not consume, they should sell. How hard is that. Windsor Locks, Conn.
Aviation Week Paris Bureau Chief Amy Svitak's coverage of discussions between ESA and China regarding the latter docking at the ISS sparked these exchanges: anonymous asserting: I hope this doesn't happen. Cooperating with China is a typical French move meant to upset the U.S. Capricorn opining:
To understand the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) market, one first needs to understand the worldwide airline fleet. TeamSAI notes in its global MRO forecast for 2012-22 that the airline fleet grew 3.2% in 2011 to 20,840 in-service commercial jet aircraft. Expect the passenger fleet to grow 4.4% and the cargo fleet to increase 3.3% each year in the next decade, predicts TeamSAI in the 10-year MRO forecast it unveils this week at Aviation Week's MRO Americas Conference.
President Barack Obama may be coming under growing pressure for his not-so-sotto-voce promise to Russian President Dmitry Medvedev that—assuming Obama wins re-election this November—he will have more leeway next year to pursue further negotiations over missile defenses and reducing nuclear weapons; but he may yet get the last word.
Reader Don Melton's comments regarding his operation of Caribous in Vietnam to reference the current C-27 meltdown was timely (AW&ST March 19, p. 11). Shortly after, Sen. Rob. Portman (R-Ohio) and his colleagues had quite an exchange with U.S. Air Force leadership over “mothballing” the C-27.
When international customers first signed up for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, they brought a love-at-first sight attitude to the table. But now that actual purchase decisions have to be made, a far more sober attitude prevails as a result of program delays, increased costs and budget realities. Anxiety still exists in many quarters but, one-by-one, the U.S. and Lockheed Martin are persuading partners to take the next big financial step and make purchase decisions, with the total foreign commitments now topping 100 fighters.
Tom Winkelmann has been named VP and general manager of the Pacific Northwest operations of TECT Aerospace of Wichita, succeeding Robert Perry. Winkelmann was president of Smiths Tubular.
Finally, as Europe and China prepare to talk potential cooperation over the International Space Station in Paris this month, NASA's top official is tempering expectations absent approval from Congress and all five nations supporting the orbiting outpost. “We've got to discuss it through the inter-agency process and find out, okay, what is it that they want to do, if and when they come on board,” Administrator Charles Bolden says. He adds that while NASA is prohibited by U.S.
It is too early to tell if it just another case of engineering exuberance associated with hypersonics or something more substantive, but there is a palpable sense among French developers that high-speed missile and air vehicle concepts are ready for the development stage.
USAF Lt. Gen. Burton M. Field has been named deputy chief of staff for operations, plans and requirements at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon. He has been commander, U.S. Forces Japan and commander of the 5th Air Force, Pacific Air Forces, Yokota AB, Japan. Brig. Gen. Carlton D. Everhart, 2nd, has been selected for promotion to major general and appointed vice commander of the 3rd Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Ramstein AB, Germany.
Juha Jarvinen has been appointed managing director of Finnair Cargo and Finnair Cargo Terminal Operations, effective May 14, succeeding Antero J. Lahtinen, who will retire this year. Jarvinen is VP-international ground handling at SAS Scandinavian Airlines.
FedEx Express faced high no-fault-found rates and failure modes on its MD-10 versatile integrated avionics (VIA) unit. Removal rates were increasing. FedEx has full automated testing equipment sets and knowledgeable avionics test bench mechanics who can repair circuit cards down to the piece part, but Patrick Doyle, FedEx Express's senior manager of powerplant and avionics maintenance, knew they needed outside help to get to the root problem. He contacted OEMs Boeing and Honeywell, which undertook hundreds of hours of analysis.
It's no secret that Boeing's space systems unit is aggressively pricing bids in an effort to grow its commercial business segment as government spending flags. But even the most bullish observers were taken aback by an estimated $400 million deal just signed with Asia Broadcast Satellite (ABS) and Satellites Mexicanos (SatMex) to build the first all-electric commercial telecom spacecraft intended for launch to geostationary orbit.
Troy E. Meink, director of the Signals Intelligence Systems Acquisition Directorate, and Larry D. Bell, director-Space Systems Program Office, both at the National Reconnaissance Office, have been selected to receive the Joseph V. Charyk Award given by the Washington-based National Space Club, for leadership within the signals field.
It is always a good strategy to emphasize jobs and economic growth in an election year. That is what the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAW) are doing as they urge Congress to address a looming budget deadline that could bring $600 billion in defense cuts over the coming decade, plus deep reductions to NASA and the FAA for NextGen air traffic modernization.
Doug Nichols (see photo) has been promoted to chief operating officer from chief financial officer at Aerion Corp., Reno, Nev. He is a former senior executive of the Boeing Co.
Robert J. Stevens, the CEO of Lockheed Martin, went to Capitol Hill on March 14 with a message for lawmakers: You're making my life hell. At issue are automatic cuts to U.S. defense spending scheduled to take effect next January. If Congress and the Obama administration cannot reach a budget compromise by then, military budgets will be hit with a $53 billion cut in 2013 and another $450 billion in reductions during the next nine years.
Ron Nussle has joined Los Angeles-based ICON Aircraft as VP-operations. He was director of strategic supply chain management at Cessna Aircraft and spent 12 years at Honeywell Aerospace.
Russian state-owned aircraft maker Irkut is lobbying for the U.S. Export Import Bank (Ex-Im) to back the MS-21, Russia's new narrowbody aircraft in development. Irkut says the aircraft should qualify because Pratt & Whitney is supplying its geared-turbofan engines. There are also other U.S. companies that are suppliers to this program, Irkut adds, noting that there is precedent for Ex-Im support of Russian-made aircraft in that Ex-Im supported the Pratt-powered Ilyushin Il-96M.
Russia is expanding its inventory of S-300V4 surface-to-air missile systems. The defense ministry has signed a contract with Almaz-Antey to equip three battalions with the latest version of the S-300 for commissioning in the Southern Military District.
The National Aeronautic Association has awarded the 2011 Robert J. Collier Trophy for the year's “greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America” to the Boeing 787. With its selection, the company's newest widebody jet joins the 747 and 777 as Collier winners. The award is celebrating its centennial as the nation's most prestigious aeronautics honor.
At a time when years-long delays in aircraft development programs almost seem the norm, the timeline of the Robinson Helicopter Co.'s R66 offers a refreshing counterpoint. Frank Robinson, founder of the Torrance, Calif., company delayed developing a turbine-powered model until Rolls-Royce agreed to produce a derivative of its Model 250 engine.
Amy Svitak (Washington), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
Jilted by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) has decided to press ahead with its ExoMars program in partnership with the Russian space agency Roscosmos, which plans to contribute Proton launch vehicles and a new entry, descent and landing system to the ambitious two-pronged Mars mission in 2016 and 2018. Russia's arrival as the savior of ExoMars is not without cost, however, as ESA will now have to fund development of a rover for the 2018 mission that NASA had previously planned to share.
