George Puthoff and Glenn Gray have joined the maintenance and avionics department of San Diego-based Jet Source. Puthoff was parts manager at Air Resorts and Crownair, and Gray, a returning Jet Source employee, held positions in corporate aircraft procurement.
Jeffrey Wood (see photo) has been named senior VP for Tempe, Ariz.-based StandardAero's airlines and fleets business, taking over from interim leader Jennifer McNeill, who will return to her post as VP-sales, marketing and business development. Wood was senior adviser for Irving Place Capital's aerospace practice.
Mike Twyman (see photo) has become VP and general manager of Northrop Grumman's Defense Systems Div., McLean, Va., succeeding Barry Rhine, who is retiring. Twyman was VP for Integrated Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence Systems.
Graham Evitt (see photo) has become Dallas-based BBA Aviation's Rolls-Royce M250 regional sales manager at engine repair and overhaul subsidiary H+S Aviation, Portsmouth, England. He was commercial engineer for the M250.
USAF Brig. Gen. Martin Whelan has been promoted to major general and named director of requirements at Air Force Space Command Headquarters, Peterson AFB, Colo. He was director of the Nuclear Support Directorate in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Fort Belvoir, Va. Whelan has been succeeded by Brig. Gen. Michael E. Fortney, who was chief of the Nuclear Operations Div. at U.S. Strategic Command Headquarters, Offutt AFB, Neb. HONORS AND ELECTIONS
Paul Kirby (see photo) of Cerretani Aviation has been elected 2012 chairman of the National Aircraft Resale Association, Grapevine, Texas. Other new board members are: treasurer, Brad Harris, Dallas Jet International; secretary, Herb Knight, Tempus Jets; Jay Gantt, Gantt Aviation; Nick Schneider, Global Wings; Tobias Kleitman, TVPX 1031 Exchange Co.; and Louis Seno, Jet Support Services.
Julie A. Sattler, a VP and general manager of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., has been named to receive the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award from Women in Aerospace, Sunnyvale, Calif. Sattler was recognized for leadership and the development of space-based communication systems for warfighters.
Pilot and business aviation executive Clay Lacy has been inducted into the Kansas Aviation Hall of Fame in Wichita. He also recently received the National Business Aviation Association's Meritorious Service to Aviation Award for his dedication to building the business aviation industry.
David Giger, director of Dragon spacecraft development and propulsion for SpaceX, is among three space professionals to receive the 2011 Promise Award from the New York-based Society of Satellite Professionals International. The others are: Bradley Patterson, senior project manager of Intelsat; and Rohit Iyer Seshadri, senior member of the technical staff at Hughes Network Systems. The award recognizes the potential of young satellite professionals to play leadership roles in the industry. Tom Eaton, president of Harris CapRock, received SSPI's Mentor Award.
Nicholas E. Calio is not afraid of a fight. As the White House's legislative affairs director under U.S. President George W. Bush, the longtime Washington insider secured a string of victories on Capitol Hill, including congressional authorization for Bush to wage war on Iraq. And when Calio in January became president and CEO of the Air Transport Association (ATA), he was expected to bring some much-needed vigor to the U.S. airline industry's lobbying organization.
The United Arab Emirates' insatiable appetite for aerospace industry growth continues with the Quest Group's backing of the development of an unusual helicopter concept that would allow passengers and crew to escape in a pod in case of an accident. The Dubai-based family-owned business is putting its money and support behind a Ukrainian tandem helicopter program that could lead to a system being certified in around four years. First flight of a prototype is likely in 2013, with initial production starting in 2014.
Boeing has secured an order from Indonesia's Lion Air for 201 Boeing 737 MAX aircraft and 29 737 NG aircraft, says the White House. The deal includes options for 150 more aircraft, it adds. The White House issued its statement to coincide with President Barack Obama's visit to Indonesia. LionAir has the world's largest fleet of 737-900ERs.
Turkey's AtlasJet is buying Bombardier CSeries narrowbodies, providing a much-needed boost to the Canadian manufacturer's flagship commercial airliner program. The deal, not yet firm, is for 10 single-class CS300s and five options, and valued at up to $1.18 billion. It is the first pure low-fare airline order for the CSeries, notes Bombardier Aerospace President Guy Hachey, who notes customers have spoken for 262 CSeries aircraft (133 represent firm orders). AtlasJet deliveries would start in the first quarter 2016 and end in mid-2017.
GE Aviation is “not interested” in delivering an engine for Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) MS-21, GE's president and CEO, David Joyce, told Aviation Week at the Dubai Air Show. He confirmed there have been “some discussions” through the CFM International joint venture as to whether a version of the Leap-X engine could be used. UAC has selected the Pratt & Whitney PW1000G as the only foreign engine to power the aircraft, but industry sources say further negotiations have reached a difficult phase.
Engine Alliance, in combination with Airbus, is adding a 72,000-lb.-thrust rating to the GP7200 engine to the A380 catalogue to offer additional takeoff weight performance on short runways. A software upgrade to the full-authority digital engage control system is due to undergo flight testing in the coming months, with the goal to certify the thrust rating next year. The setting allows 7.5 more metric tons of payload on a 2,500-meter (8,200-ft.) runway or 240 nm more range.
The beleaguered Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads), managed by a Lockheed Martin-led consortium, has executed its first full flight test. The PAC-3 Missile Segment Enhancement interceptor—an upgraded PAC-3—executed a complex “over-the-shoulder” maneuver to simulate attacking an airborne target from behind. Intercept was not a mission goal, and the missile executed a planned self-destruct. Passage of this test was a key goal for Meads development.
Elettronica will supply the self-protection system for Italian air force AgustaWestand AW101 combat search-and-rescue-helicopters. The Virgilius system, which will be installed on 11 rotorcraft, includes radar warning receiver/electronic support measure functionality, as well as countermeasures. The latter will only materialize in the second phase of the program, with the addition of a solid-state radar jammer and ELT/ 572 directed infrared countermeasures.
Chinese officials have declared success for the Shenzhou 8 mission of their manned space program, after the capsule—designed for human transportation but unmanned on this occasion—returned to Earth in western China on Nov. 17. The chief objective of the mission was to show that Shenzhou 8 could dock with the Tiangong 1 orbital laboratory, which was also unmanned. The procedure was executed twice. The next two missions in the manned space program, Shenzhou 9 and 10, are due next year. At least one is likely to be manned.
A State Department official said the U.S. will press for several so-called transparency and confidence-building measures (TCBMs) at next year's Group of Government Experts (GGE) on Outer Space TCBMs established by a United Nations General Assembly resolution. Frank Rose, deputy assistant secretary for the Bureau of Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, told the U.S.
The In Orbit column of Nov. 14 (p. 24) incorrectly identified Mike Houts, the project engineer on NASA's nuclear-thermal rocket environmental simulator at Marshall Space Flight Center.
A lightweight automatic ground-collision-avoidance system (Auto GCAS) that depends on a terrain database of the entire world housed in a smartphone is being flight tested by NASA.
For U.S. regional airlines, the booming business and comfortable profits of the previous decade must already seem like ancient history. Recent developments at Republic Airways and American Airlines suggest that the new challenges they face, in this decade of change and potential upheaval for their industry, are not about to get any easier.
