Italians are developing a grudge when it comes to Pentagon procurement, and it may come back to haunt the U.S. government. The latest source of frustration is the U.S. Air Force's proposal to mothball 21 C-27J Spartans now on contract with U.S. prime L-3 Communications and the aircraft's maker, Finmeccanica's Alenia Aermacchi unit. At least 13 C-27Js have been delivered, and the Air Force plans to continue production of the final eight—in various stages of construction in Italy—because it would cost more to terminate the contract.
In his article about Mooney Aircraft (AW&ST Feb. 6, p. 23), William Garvey notes that the Kerrville, Texas, manufacturing facility has aged, and suggests that its age contributes to high costs. But there is a bigger story here—why have manufacturing costs to build small airplanes steadily increased since the 1960s? The Kerrville plant routinely produced three M-20s each day back then, using about 1,000 man-hours per plane. Similar facilities—Piper in Vero Beach, Fla., and the Cessna Pawnee factory in Wichita—had even higher production numbers.
Ryan Huss and Brad Homeyer have been appointed airframe service sales representatives for Duncan Aviation in Lincoln, Neb., and Provo, Utah, respectively. Huss was Bombardier Challenger team leader and Homeyer served Bombardier Challenger and Global operators. Joe Tulowitzki has joined the Turbine Engine Service Sales Team. He spent nearly 12 years at Dallas Airmotive.
Larry Loftis (see photos) has been named VP and general manager of the 787 program at Boeing Commercial Airplanes in Seattle. He headed the 777 program and succeeds Scott Fancher, who becomes VP and general manager of the 777 program.
NASA will try to use its advanced technology programs to mollify planetary scientists outraged over the shutdown of the agency's ambitious plans to explore Mars in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). That may help restore some calm, as long as the capabilities developed as part of NASA's new open-ended technology push advance scientists' stated need to examine Mars samples in laboratories on Earth. So far, it is not clear that the work that is just getting started will be able to do that.
European Union emission allowance (EUA) prices eased back in the first half of February, moving lower in line with German power prices and profit-taking on January's gains.
India is not only one of the world's top 10 defense markets, it is growing and heavily reliant on foreign suppliers, with only 30% of its defense needs met domestically.
Girma Wake has been named chairman of Kigali, Rwanda-based RwandAir. He was CEO of Ethiopian Airlines. Rica Rwigamba, head of tourism and conservation for the Rwanda Development Board, also joins the airline's board. Honors and Elections
Paul Witt has been named general manager of Stevens Aviation's Donaldson Center in Greenville, S.C. He was general manager of a Cessna Aircraft service center.
James L. Roche has been named global aerospace and defense manager of Ann Arbor, Mich.-based CIMdata's Aerospace and Defense Product Lifecycle Management consulting practice. Roche joined CIMdata in 2011 after a 20-year career as an international consultant. Clive Richardson has become regional sales director for AJ Walter Aviation, London. He was a global engine management specialist at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies.
Nearly 16 years after Boeing seriously revisited the idea of stretching the 747, the company is concluding final flight tests of the first airline derivative of the 747-8 in readiness for an expected service debut in April.
Anderson Leveille grew up in Stowe, Vt., and got his first high-school job in the circa-1820 sawmill his dad owned. There were no blueprints or tolerance gauges, so maintaining the wooden teeth on the mill's bevel gears, which were lubricated with sheep tallow, taught Leveille the value of creative engineering.
Chinese airlines, struggling to find flight crews, offered three-year pilot contracts with salaries 70% higher than the U.S. average, at job fairs in Miami and Las Vegas in the past week, says one of the organizers, Pan Am International Flight Academy. The carriers hired almost 100 of 750 pilots who attended the job fairs. The airlines are expected to continue their efforts at hiring in the U.S., with another job fair planned for next year.
While the 500 customers Virgin Galactic has signed up—at $200,000 each—for a few minutes of microgravity on SpaceShipTwo (SS2) attract the headlines, the company is also seeking a different kind of passenger for its suborbital flights: scientists who are just as eager to buy research space in a box, or even a test tube.
Dulce Carrillo-Kuti has become director of communications and media relations for the Miami-based Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association. She was manager of corporate communications for Latin American divisions at Avon and The Clorox Co.
EADS plans another flight-trial campaign using its Barracuda unmanned aircraft demonstrator in Goose Bay, Labrador, this summer. EADS has been using Barracuda to help validate technologies to allow unmanned aircraft to operate in uncontrolled airspace. A previous flight-test campaign focused on the use of traffic-alert collision avoidance systems as part of an unmanned aircraft's sense-and-avoid technology suite.
Pilots still talk of flights across the Atlantic Ocean—one of the busiest international sectors in aviation—as “a crossing.” It implies an element of voyaging into the unknown. In air traffic management (ATM) terms, it also involves something a bit less romantic: changing flight information regions (FIR) at least three times and arriving into an air traffic system unlike the one from which the aircraft departed.
Israel is preparing for the first test-firing of the Arrow 3 missile defense system designed to be counter Iran's long-range weapons. The system features a new interceptor and upgrades to the Green Pine radar already part of the Arrow 2 system. Preparatory tests have been successful, says Israel Aerospace Industries program chief Itzhak Kaya.
Air traffic surveillance is set to extend from Europe to North America for the first time thanks to satellite-based coverage that is being established across the northern reaches of the Atlantic. Although the program has run into delays, when finally completed it will yield major safety and efficiency gains for key international air routes.
Lillian Ryals of The Mitre Corp. has been elected board chairman for 2012 of Washington-based Women in Aerospace. Other new officers are: Stephanie Schierholz, NASA, president; Renee Leduc Clarke, I.M. Systems Group, president-elect; Noelle C. Miliard, EADS North America, secretary; Emma Hinds, The Tauri Group, treasurer; and Jennifer Hoil, Longbottom Communications, VP-communications.
The mothballing of 38 C-27s by the U.S. Air Force detailed in “Looking East” (AW&ST Feb. 6, p. 31) is simply outrageous. The justification to shepherd a multibillion-dollar acquisition program requires certification of a bona-fide need for the requested equipment. As a 30-year Defense Department acquisition professional and engineer, I have been trained to ensure that the government buys only equipment that is needed by the warfighter (political considerations notwithstanding).
On Ares, the defense technology blog, a post about the U.S. Navy's prototype railgun firing includes video of the BAE electromagnetic railgun in use. The topic is covered in depth on page 33. The blog post elicited: Frink-L noting: I'd like to see some footage where they fire a full load of sabot and sub-projectile, instead of just what looks to be a weighted sabot. Of course, the full-up projectile might pose down-range recovery problems, or just be classified—or both.
Passengers stranded due to Spanair's decision to stop operating at the end of January are home, and ticket holders who never made their trips have until April 15 to try to get reimbursed. The airline, which ceased operations due to “exceptional circumstances,” according to its website, has been under financial duress for years.
Hong Kong Airlines is now casting doubts about its recent order for 10 Airbus A380s. “It is possible that China's purchases of Airbus planes will be affected by the carbon-emission program,” the carrier's CEO, Yang Jianhong, said. He refers to the EU's emissions trading system, which is facing fierce international opposition. Last month, officials of 23 countries assembled in Moscow to discuss retaliation.
