William “Danny” McCutchen has become VP and general manager of New York-based Argosy's Logistical Services. He was VP of the parent company's supply chain management operations.
Alan Weakley has been named president of CSC Aerospace and Defense's North American Public Sector Defense Group, Falls Church, Va. He was president of ATG military services.
Gavin Baiera and Richard Buccarelli have joined the board of directors of New York-based Travelport. Baiera is managing director of Angelo, Gordon & Co., while Buccarelli is a managing director at JPMorgan Chase.
Dewey Houck has been appointed VP and general manager of Boeing's Information Solutions Organization, Arlington, Va. He was VP of its Intelligence Systems Group.
Kevin Michaels, David Stewart and Hal Chrisman have joined Fairfax, Va.-based ICF International as VPs. Michaels and Stewart are the co-founders of AeroStrategy, and Chrisman has held aerospace consulting and executive positions.
Kevin Laughlin has been promoted to CEO from chief commercial officer of Intense, North Brunswick, N.J. He is a former chairman of the Industrial Laser Advisory Board for the Laser Processing Consortium at the Penn State Applied Laser Research Laboratory.
Sarah A. Webster has been named editor in chief of Manufacturing Engineering magazine, Dearborn, Mich., succeeding Brian Hogan, who has retired. Webster was the business and automotive editor of the Detroit Free Press.
Bob Silsby has joined Chantilly, Va.-based TASC as VP of its Business and Technology Office. He was technical director and chief executive of the CIA's National Reconnaissance Office Ground Enterprise Directorate. Honors and Elections
Cornell University Prof. Steven W. Squyres, who is principal investigator on the Mars exploration rovers, has been appointed chairman of the NASA Advisory Council, succeeding Kenneth Ford.
Myra Gross (see photos), program manager-naval and marine systems for Northrop Grumman's Electronic Systems sector, Linthicum, Md., has received the company's professional achievement-industry award, at the 16th annual Women of Color in Technology conference for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) in Dallas.
As a Nov. 23 deadline bears down on a congressional “Super Committee” tasked with agreeing on how to cut another $1.2 trillion from the U.S. budget deficit during the next 10 years, Democrats and Republicans remain far apart (see p. 54). One area of possible compromise is an overhaul of the U.S. corporate tax code. At 35%, the federal tax on corporations is one of the highest in the world, putting U.S. companies at a disadvantage with their competitors in Europe, Asia and Latin America. It also is distorted by a mishmash of credits and deductions.
Republic Airways, the U.S.-based parent of low-cost carrier Frontier Airlines and three regional airlines, has wrapped up its agreement with Airbus to purchase 80 A320NEO family aircraft. Frontier will operate the aircraft beginning in the second half of 2016, although by then Republic might no longer be the majority owner of the low-cost carrier.
California's Orange County Board of Supervisors has approved an incentive plan to entice airlines to start direct flights from the newly expanded John Wayne Airport (JWA) to Mexico. The incentive includes a $300,000 rent credit for terminal costs associated with Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) fees, and a regular daily departure slot from the tightly controlled airport. Although JWA has flights to Canada operated by WestJet, all passengers clear U.S. customs in Canada.
With 79 aircraft, Air Lease Corp. is on target for having 100 by year-end says President and Chief Operating Officer John Plueger, after release of the Los Angeles company's third-quarter results. Air Lease bought 14 aircraft in the quarter and entered into leases of 17 airplanes with 11 customers. Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy says passenger growth continues “at a strong rate in many regions of the world.” The company had a pretax profit margin of 31%, up from 15% in the second quarter, and net income of $18.3 million on revenues of $92.1 million.
The U.S. Navy has awarded Boeing a $1.7 billion contract for seven P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, the second low-rate initial production award for the program. The first, for the initial six production aircraft, was made in January. Boeing also is building six of the 737-derived submarine hunters for its flight-test program. Boeing also won a $48 million contract to develop the Type 4 advanced mission computer for the EA-18G and F/A-18E/F. The hardware is intended to increase warfighting capabilities. A production contract is expected in 2012.
Boeing, now formally offering radio-frequency identification (RFID) to keep parts-records in aircraft already in service, is looking at introducing the technology as factory standard on commercial and military aircraft. The company expects the FAA to certify the system by year-end, says program manager Phil Coop. The system went on the market only a year after Boeing and electronics and software supplier Fujitsu launched it, mainly because development began six years ago with the aim of fitting RFID as standard equipment on the 787.
The Indian government is signaling that Boeing soon will be awarded a contract for 22 AH-64D Apache Longbow Block IIIs for the Indian air force (IAF). The rotorcraft, which is used by the U.S. Army, is said to have outperformed the rival Russian Mil Mi-28N Night Hunter in tests and was strongly recommended by the IAF earlier this year following trials in 2010. The new helicopters will replace the IAF's aging Mil Mi-35s.
Embraer will develop a second generation of “E-Jets” with new engines, wings and landing gear, forgoing the option of creating a larger aircraft that would challenge Airbus and Boeing head-on.
What product is essential for flight controls but a mystery to some aeronautical engineers? With allowances for scale, a dentist or surgeon might recognize it. If your answer is flexible shafts you obviously have a knowledge of how thrust reversers, flaps and slats work. Or, maybe, you've just had a lot of cavities.
Long a bastion of secrecy, suspicion, obstreperousness and procedural lunacy, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is showing signs of change for the better regarding its interaction with business aircraft operators. A ray of light after years of darkness.
It's among the world's largest oil companies, but ExxonMobil says it is done serving business aviation and is shuttering its Avitat system. In the doing, it's merely following other Big Oil outfits. Many within the fixed-base operations and fueling business say they've anticipated the withdrawal for some time. Foremost among them is Craig Sincock, president and CEO of Avfuel Corp. of Ann Arbor, Mich.
Experienced participants in international airline conferences will confirm that one of the basic rules that is presented by the second panel (at the very latest) is: In the airline industry, size matters. While that may not be the case for every carrier—and a large footprint does not protect airlines from failure—the statement definitely applies to British airline BMI.
On his first swing through town as chief of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), Tony Tyler, the former Cathay Pacific CEO, opines that the EU is “misguided” if it believes the furor over the emissions trading system it plans to force upon carriers serving the continent will fade away once it is in place. A bill pending in Congress would prohibit U.S. airlines from participating, and other nations have threatened retaliation.
Back on the ground, the U.S. transportation secretary should make sure tarmac-delay rules are enforced and consider requiring airports to plan for aircraft stuck on runways, say Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine). In a Nov. 10 letter to Secretary Ray LaHood, the senators praised his department for putting new rules in place—a move they say has already reduced such incidents. But a recent 7-hr. delay at a Connecticut airport prompted them to chastise LaHood for failing to enforce them.
