As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, its director declassified troves of data on the KH-9 Hexagon, a first-of-a-kind satellite blending the resolution of 2 ft. (at the time considered high) with wide-area coverage.
I find it curious that Southwest Airlines was showcased as an “early adopter” of required navigation procedure (RNP) operations (AW&ST Oct. 17, p. 44). My employer, Alaska Airlines, has been conducting RNP approaches for years and pioneered the technology. Southwest is a Johnny-come-lately by comparison. Bellevue, Wash.
Has anyone in the Air Force or other services thought about fuel savings via replacement of the B-52's eight engines with four of the type of that power the C-17? The combined thrust would be slightly higher while conserving tons of fuel annually, and engine maintenance costs would be halved. Also, winglets could be added as is being contemplated for the C-130 and C-5, and the fuselage's tail cone could be flattened and squared off (similar to those on MD-11s and 777s) to reduce drag.
Reading “Shapely Solutions” (AW&ST Oct. 17, p. 43) brought an early equivalent invention to mind. In 1951, U.S. Patent 2,576,981 “Twisted Wingtip for Airplanes” was granted to Richard Vogt, a renowned aircraft designer.
Homaid Al Shemmari has been named chairman of the Mubadala Aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul network, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and Zurich. Other recent appointments are: Jeremy Chan executive vice chairman; James Stewart group CEO; Abdul Khalid Saeed president-Middle East and North Africa; Andre Wall, president-Europe; Abdulla Mohamed Shadid, chief commercial officer; and Pierre Steffen, chief supply officer.
Kevin Healy has been named senior VP at Campbell-Hill Aviation Group, Alexandria, Va. He was senior VP-marketing and planning at AirTran Airways. Also from AirTran is Campbell-Hill's new research manager Benjamin C. Lewis, who was a strategic planning analyst and revenue management analyst at the airline. Erik K. Ford has signed on as VP. He has held management positions at Oliver Wyman and Eclat Consulting.
Christopher Cook has been appointed global aerospace business development manager for Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings, Andover, Kan. He was director-acquisitions and business development for the automotive international division. Anthony Arzave has been named account executive for the Western U.S. Karen O'Hara moved up to global aerospace sales manager after a tenure as account executive for the automotive division original equipment interiors business.
Kevin Watassek (see photo) has been named director of engineering for Odyssey Aerospace Components, Denton, Texas. He was owner and a partner in B&D Design Services.
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.
