Briana Nansen (see photos) has been appointed executive flight solutions representative and Rudy Morin service planning coordinator at Dallas-based Business Jet Access. Nansen was an international recruiter for Real Foundations in Australia, and Morin was aircraft records auditor for Omniflight Helicopters.
Aerospace executives' skepticism about the prospects for implementing the NextGen air traffic control system is fading. With Congress finally having passed an FAA reauthorization bill that allows for new methods of financing the overhaul of air traffic management—the primary hurdle to persuading the airline industry to invest in NextGen equipment—execs are increasingly pointing to the potential payoff. In fact, the campaign now has so much momentum that it will be difficult to block implementation, says Fedex President and CEO David Bronzcek.
Airbus and Boeing face a common problem, with so much interest in their new narrowbodies, the A320NEO and 737 MAX—how to fill production gaps as existing products are replaced.
Reader Capt. Brien Bluhm says in a recent letter (AW&ST April 2, p. 10) that he is worth the price he is asking and that pilots are always blamed for the airlines' financial problems. I too am a pilot, but I have a different take on the situation. I see unions as the problem. They forced airlines into unproductive contracts that let pilots work less that the FAA minimum while being paid as if they had worked the maximum allowable hours. These unproductive work rules allow pilots to be paid for not working.
For EgyptAir, it will be crucial that the country's June presidential elections bring greater political stability if the airline is to have any hope of seeing passenger traffic returning to normal. The Star Alliance carrier has been through a tumultuous 14 months following the civil unrest and violence that toppled the nearly 30-year regime of President Hosni Mubarak. Then in August, Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi was toppled from power.
Robert Tavares has been appointed president of the Electronics Group of Lynnwood, Wash.-based Crane Aerospace & Electronics and David Bender president of Crane's Aerospace Group. Tavares was president of e2V, and Bender was president of both the Aerospace and the Electronics groups.
The government of Saudi Arabia has given the green light to BAE Systems to build 48 additional Eurofighter Typhoons even as the two parties continue to work out contractual details associated with changes in the program. The company notes that the contract for final assembly of the 48 additional aircraft—on top of the 24 bought initially—now has been signed. In January, the company reported the money for the aircraft had been allocated, but no contract had been completed. The program has changed over time.
AgustaWestland North America has delivered two U.S.-assembled AW139 search-and-rescue helicopters to the Egyptian air force under a foreign military sales contract from the U.S. Army. The medium twin-turbine helicopters were assembled at the European manufacturer's Philadelphia plant. The Army operates a small number of AW139s overseas under its non-standard rotary-wing aircraft program.
Three months after its launch, the U.S. Air Force has accepted control of Wideband Global Satcom-4 following Boeing's in-orbit testing of the spacecraft, which is based on the 702HP commercial payload. WGS-4 will be the first Block II in operation following USAF acceptance testing. Block II spacecraft include a radio-frequency bypass that allows three times faster data rate transmissions of airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery than the Block I series for the first three WGSs. WGS-5 is in production and due for launch in 2013.
Canada's government has stripped its Department of National Defense of the lead role in the country's planned acquisition of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter, placed a cap on the program's cost and directed the DND to evaluate alternative ways to sustain Canada's fighter force, in the wake of a scathing report from the country's auditor-general, Michael Ferguson.
USN Rear Adm. (ret.) James A. Robb has been named president of the National Training and Simulation Association, Arlington, Va., succeeding Rear Adm. (ret.) Fred Lewis. Robb was an officer in command of Top Gun and has been an independent consultant specializing in defense acquisition and global political/military affairs.
All eyes are on SpaceX and this Falcon 9 launcher, which is poised to send its first Dragon cargo capsule to the International Space Station. Success could open the door to routine commercial human spaceflight, as envisioned by the Obama administration. Failure probably would not slam the door shut, given the other vehicles vying for a piece of the action. Either way, the plan to support the International Space Station with commercial cargo and crew transport has started big changes in the space launch industry that could enable the hoped-for low Earth orbit economy.
More than a decade after the bottom dropped out of the prospective U.S. commercial launch market, the U.S. Air Force is struggling to deal with the continued financial ramifications of that unrealized opportunity. Those challenges are compounded by NASA's decision to rely on Russian rockets for its cargo missions in the near future, so the burden of shepherding the bloated U.S. launch infrastructure has now fallen into the lap of the Air Force.
Safran's Aircelle division struck a new accord with Applied Composites Engineering in Indianapolis to repair Aircelle thrust reversers for the Embraer ERJ 145 and E-170 and E-175. Marc Laubreaux, senior vice president for customer service, says Aircelle also is pursuing repairs for parts for other single-aisle aircraft. He sees an opportunity for the nacelle work on first-generation CFM56-5-powered Airbus A320s.
Boeing has regained some lost ground in 787 sales with the addition of four orders from Russia's Transaero Airlines. But it also reduced its net order count by one as of its April 10 listing, leaving it with 25 lost orders against 19 additions for the year. The company's total order book stands at 415 net orders, including 413 from the 737 NG/MAX series.
USAF Maj. Gen. Michael J. Carey has been appointed commander of the Twentieth Air Force, Air Force Global Strike Command/commander, Task Force 214 of U.S. Strategic Command, F.E. Warren AFB, Wyo. He was deputy director for command and control and nuclear operations for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. He will be succeeded by Col. Timothy G. Fay, who has been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. Fay has been commander of the 2nd Bomb Wing, Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale AFB, La. And, Maj. Gen. Barbara J.
Jean-Pascal Meo (see photo) has been named general counsel at Eurocopter Group, Marignane, France. He was head of corporate matters in the legal department.
Finnair is launching labor talks to shed 280 positions as the airline moves to outsource engine and component services to SR Technics. The move is part of a wider Finnair group effort to realign the business and seek €140 million ($185 million) in savings. The airline did not disclose the value of the outsourcing deal or expected savings. Airline COO Vile Iho says, “This plan is based on a thorough analysis, where we first examined the costs and structures of our own operations, and then compared the results to tens of external service providers.”
Winglets and a lift-distribution control system are next on the agenda as Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Air Force pursue fuel-burn improvements on the large fleet of C-130s. Although principally aimed at the C-130J, with more than 250 now in operation, some of the features could also find use on older models. The effort fits in with a larger USAF effort to reduce fuel-burn fleetwide.
With the ability of heavy-lift rockets to perform piggyback launches, and even after making 100 A2100 geosynchroneous communications satellites since 1996, Lockheed Martin has not seen two launched on the same ride.
The race is on to become one of the six U.S. sites responsible for testing UAVs in civilian airspace. The contest represents a huge opportunity at the dawn of a new industry, and a call last week from the FAA attracted interest from businesses large and small, universities, airports, lawmakers and the U.S. Army. The FAA says it will choose the test sites by December and is currently looking for comments that will help it winnow the many contenders.
