Hannele Malin has been appointed VP-internal auditing at Finnair, succeeding Erkki Lehtinen, who will retire. Malin was manager for government, risk and compliance services at Deloitte & Touche.
Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros (see photo), chief of staff of the French air force, has become director of the European Air Group, based at RAF Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, for a two-year term. He succeeds Lt. Gen. Aarne Kreuzinger-Janik, commander of the German air force.
Bill Gerstenmaier (see photo), NASA associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, has received the Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics award, given by the Washington-based American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was recognized for his leadership in human spaceflight, culminating in the space shuttle and International Space Station programs.
Innovation has become a mantra for aerospace in part because the industry is worried about losing its edge. Pressure on research spending and global competition from other industries have companies concerned about where the ideas and talent will come from.
France and Germany have faced substantial differences over the direction their largest space programs should take as economic turmoil in Europe has forced both countries to rethink a commitment to modernize the Ariane 5 launch vehicle while starting work on the rocket's successor.
Bernd Munzenmayer has become senior sales adviser for Pro Star Aviation, Londonderry, N.H., supporting new Sales Director Clark Gordon. Munzenmayer is a founder of Pro Star. Julie Weber has been promoted to VP from senior director of people for Southwest Airlines.
A quality-control shortcoming on the internal structure of the aft fuselage of the Boeing 787 is adding another task to the company's post-production “to-do” list as it tries to catch up with the new jet's delivery schedule.
“LASt Chance” (AW&ST Jan. 2, p. 31) states that the U.S. Air Force wants 20 light-attack/advanced training aircraft for the Afghan air force, and it seems that the Super Tucano is the choice—for $1 billion. Well, even with my CPA credentials I have a hard time wrapping my head around that staggering sum. Are we just going to stuff $1 billion in leaf bags and ship it down to Rio to the Embraer treasury? Brazil's economy is doing well, why don't they pick up a chunk of the tab?
Those looking for signs that the aircraft financing crisis in Europe is ebbing will take heart from the fact that one of China's main business-jet lessors is turning to Europe to tap the market for dollars. That is a stark turnaround from just a few weeks ago, when there were ample concerns that European lenders, particularly in France, were frozen out of easy dollar access because of counterparty risk concerns among U.S. money markets.
Marenco Swisshelicopter, a Zurich-based company, will unveil a high-visibility cockpit concept for its new multi-purpose single, the composite SKYe SH09, at Heli-Expo in Dallas this week. Configured with Sagem 10-in. displays and large transparencies above, before and below the pilot, the SKYe SH09 will have a maximum takeoff weight of 6,170 lb. and seating for up to seven passengers. Baselined with a Honeywell HTS-900 turbine, the helicopter will have a cruise speed of 140 kt. and a range in excess of 430 nm with standard tanks.
Finally, with Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood's son among a set of Americans facing Egyptian criminal charges under a crackdown there on Western nongovernmental groups, senior lawmakers are rethinking whether to continue sending more than $1 billion in annual military aid to Cairo. “We have to have every aspect of our relationship with Egypt examined until these people are removed from any indictment and allowed to leave,” McCain says. The decision doesn't come lightly; the Pentagon and industry have cultivated close ties with the Egyptian military for three decades.
French helicopter engine maker Turbomeca will increase its R&D budget by 25% this year and hire 100 more engineers as it pursues dual goals of renewing its product line by 2020 and developing hybrid powerplants. “This is an intense period of development for us,” says Chairman and CEO Olivier Andries. “R&D spending will represent 15% of revenues. [The company achieved sales of €940 million, or $1.24 billion at current exchange rates, in 2010.] This follows a 20% increase in 2011 over 2010.”
Lawmakers will get to do some cringing of their own, as well, as the top U.S. military officer is loudly proclaiming that the Defense Department must be allowed to pursue another round of base realignments and closures (BRAC) to best meet Washington's budget-cutting mandate. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, says only another BRAC process would allow leaders to properly rid the Defense Department of excess infrastructure as it downsizes. “By the way, I didn't pass the Budget Control Act,” Dempsey says of the August law.
In Senior Editor Guy Norris's “NASA's Push Toward Carbon-Neutral Airliners,” he notes, among other things, that: The program is divided into six main technical challenges to reduce drag, weight, energy consumption, emissions and noise, and to develop revolutionary tools and methods to bring it all together. The piece elicited: Alexandre saying
I would like to respond to a reference to NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver's cultural reference that was related in “Make or Break” (AW&ST Jan. 2, p. 22). Frank Morring, Jr., is too good a reporter not to have researched the background of her comment, rather than repeating a snippet out of context.
