International Editor Robert Wall's recent Ares blog “French UAVs: Who is Up, Who Is Down?” prompted this comment: Stan saying: Interesting story. As a side note, the senate now has a socialist majority (for the first time). The socialists are not good friends with Serge Dassault, a right-wing senator who owns many newspapers and was CEO of Dassault Aviation.
Howard Eng has been appointed president and CEO of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority, starting late in the first quarter of 2012. He is executive director-operations at Hong Kong International Airport.
William H. Jolly (see photo) has been named president of Huntsville, Ala.-based WestWind Technologies. His 25-year career in mechanical and aerospace engineering includes executive positions in technical services and manufacturing for government customers.
Christian Schleifer has been appointed to a one-year term as president of the International Civil Aviation Organization's Air Navigation Commission, based in Montreal. He comes from a 13-year tenure at the Austrian Civil Aviation Authority in the department of certification and airworthiness.
Michelle James (see photo) has become director of marketing and communications at Universal Avionics, Tucson, Ariz. She was relationship marketing manager.
Troy Miller (see photo) has been appointed regional VP-military and special mission sales at Savannah, Ga.-based Gulfstream Aerospace. He was a Gulfstream V pilot for Corporate Jets.
Jason Chamberlain has become president and CEO of HDT Global, Solon, Ohio, succeeding John Gilligan, the company's chairman, who has been interim CEO since March. Chamberlain was president and chief operating officer.
Trudy Carson (see photo) has become air service development manager at the Metropolitan Nashville (Tenn.) Airport Authority. She held a similar position at Tampa (Fla.) International Airport.
George Schindler, president of CGI Federal, Fairfax, Va. has been appointed president of the parent company's U.S. operations. He will be succeeded by Donna Ryan and follows Donna Morea, who is retiring.
Chaz Counter (see photo) has been named air operations and change management consultant for Baines Simmons, Chobham, England. He was a military air operator for the Royal Air Force and a consultant in human performance improvement.
Dave Hopkins has been named director-aircraft programs and commercial agreements for California Pacific Airlines in Carlsbad. He comes from Air Transport Business Development Inc.
USN Capt. Kevin Peterson has become the new program manager of the Network Enterprise Domain Program Office of the Joint Tactical Radio System in San Diego, succeeding Capt. Jeffery Hoyle.
Sean O'Keefe (see photo) has been named chairman of the National Defense Industrial Association, Herndon, Va. He is CEO of EADS North America and a former NASA administrator.
Joseph Ackerman, president of Elbit Systems, Haifa, Israel, has received the Brazilian Air Force Merit Medal, presented by the Brazilian ambassador to Israel, H.E. Maria Elisa Berenguer, who praised Elbit and the Brazilian air force for strengthening the ties between Brazil and Israel.
Sikorsky Chief Test Pilot Kevin Bredenbeck has received the Lancaster, Calif.-based Society of Experimental Test Pilots' Iven C. Kincheloe Award, which honors contributions to an aerospace program by a test pilot. Bredenbeck flew the X2 technology demonstrator last year to an unofficial speed record for conventional helicopters.
John Infanger, editorial director of Airport Business magazine, has been honored for 25 years of service to the aviation community by San Diego-based Airports Council International-North America.
Brad Elstad, Republic Airways VP-safety and regulatory compliance, has been elected chairman of the Washington-based Regional Airline Association Safety Council. Brad Sheehan, Atlantic Southeast Airlines director of safety, is vice chairman.
Thomas E. Romesser has been selected for a three-year term on the Ottawa-based National Research Council Aeronautics Research and Technology Roundtable. He is VP-technology development for the Advanced Programs and Technology Div. of Northrop Grumman's Aerospace Systems Sector.
In less than a month, the European Union's emissions trading system (ETS) expands to include aviation, and the chorus of opposition from airlines worldwide grows louder. Airlines claim—to some degree, accurately—the strides made in the last few decades toward a more fuel-efficient fleet show that the industry is serious about carbon emissions and the environment. But even the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and U.S.
Boeing is optimistic about gaining FAA certification for the first 787 capable of flying long-haul international routes in the next few weeks, following completion of flight tests of the improved Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 “Package B” engine on Nov. 28. The upgraded engine, tested on 787 ZA004, is designed to bring performance to within 1% of Boeing's original specification and will be rated at 70,000 lb. thrust for delivery of the first long-range 787-8 version for All Nippon Airways.
A preliminary report by Polish authorities into the wheels-up landing of a LOT Polish Airlines Boeing 767-300 at Warsaw on Nov. 1 says investigators discovered an open circuit breaker that disabled the back-up mechanism for lowering the landing gear. The 767, on a flight from Newark (N.J.) Liberty International Airport to Warsaw with 221 passengers and 10 crew, was belly landed after several attempts to lower the gear failed.
The U.S. Trade Representative is studying steps the EU says it has taken to comply with last spring's World Trade Organization (WTO) determination that certain EU subsidies to Airbus are illegal under international trade rules. The U.S., EU, Boeing and Airbus all weighed in on the matter Dec. 1, but had little substantive to say because the report detailing the steps Europe is taking had not been made public by evening. The EU's deadline for complying with the ruling was Dec. 1.
The French senate wants the government to buy General Atomics Reaper unmanned aircraft rather than Israel Aerospace Industries Heron-TPs for the country's interim medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV requirement, as a cost-saving measure. The senate approved an amendment calling on the government to buy the Reaper and put industrial considerations on the back burner near-term; Dassault is fronting the Heron-TP purchase. The Reaper procurement also should free up money to be used on the long-term program, the senators suggest.
Russia's Irkut Corp. has begun deliveries of Yakovlev Yak-130 combat trainers to the Algerian air force. The first three aircraft arrived on An-124s on Nov. 29. Irkut has already assembled all 16 trainers ordered by Algeria in 2006 and plans to complete the deliveries by the end of 2016. The Algerians will use Yak-130s to train pilots for Sukhoi Su-30MKA fighters also supplied by Irkut. The trainer has a glass cockpit and a reprogrammed fly-by-wire system that can replicate the characteristics of Russian Generation 4-plus fighters.
Some 300 proposals submitted by more than 200 small businesses will get a chance to advance under grants awarded under NASA's space technology program that could total almost $40 million, depending on contract negotiations. Topics selected under the ongoing Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer programs reflect the agency's desire to push a wide variety of technologies that can enable future human and robotic space exploration and enhance U.S. aeronautics.
