In Pierre Sparaco's “Muddled Vision” (AW&ST Sept. 19, p. 21), he has evidenced the same sort of thinking process that prompted the building of the Maginot Line. Has he forgotten the Airbus A380 debacle? Sparaco begins by denigrating Boeing and its officers, and concludes that the U.S. should learn from Airbus. He should also conclude that were it not for the U.S. there would be no Airbus. This nationalistic rant highlights his journalistic bias—and that of AW&ST for printing it.
Kerry Lynch's Business Aviation post: Fight On Over Proposed $100 Obama ATC Fee elicited: RBinDC saying: As a private pilot I'm OK with user fees proposed for corporate jets or any other turbine aircraft, which almost by definition fly IFR and impose costs on the air traffic control system. The people flying/riding in these aircraft are among the most affluent [and should] pay their fair share of the ATC system.
Cedric Goubet (see photo) has been named executive VP of West Chester, Ohio-based CFM International, succeeding Olivier Savin. Goubet was deputy to the chief operating officer of Safran and before that worked for the French ministries of the interior and economy, industry and finance.
Steven Hargin has been appointed leisure sales manager-tour operations in New York for Dubai-based Emirates. He was product manager for special sales at Lufthansa in the U.S. Daniel Cadeaux has become district sales manager in Washington. He was VP in the Americas for British Midland International.
Chad N. Boudreaux (see photo) has joined Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News, Va., as VP-litigation, investigations and compliance. He comes from law firm Baker Botts.
John Spanjers has been named VP and chief operating officer of Memphis, Tenn.-based Pinnacle Airlines Corp., succeeding Douglas W. Shockey, who left the company. Spanjers was president of Pinnacle subsidiary Mesaba Aviation and will remain Mesaba's senior VP-operations.
Stuart McSorley (see photo) has become director of quality for Circor Aerospace, Corona, Calif. He was quality manager at Triumph Aerostructures' Vought Commercial Div.
Chuck Gray, deputy associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington, has been named acting associate administrator. He succeeds Ed Weiler, who has retired from the agency after 33 years.
Patrice Charmey has been appointed sales director in Asia and the Commonwealth of Independent States for Daher-Socata, Tarbes, France. He was sales director at RUAG Aviation.
Donna Hrinak has been named president of Boeing Brazil, based in Sao Paulo. She was VP-global public policy and government affairs for PepsiCo and had been corporate affairs director for Latin America and the EU at Kraft Foods.
Steve Fuhr has been promoted to president and CEO from VP and director of business development of SkyTrac, Kelowna, British Columbia. He succeeds Kathleen Wallace, who remains chairman.
Dennis Gillespie has been appointed planning leader for HOK Aviation + Transportation Group of Los Angeles. A 10-year company veteran, he has worked on projects at New Doha International Airport, Indianapolis International Airport and Transbay Transit Center in San Francisco. Keith Hui has become director of the Asia-Pacific region, based in Hong Kong. He has led modernization programs at Salt Lake City, Honolulu and Kona, Hawaii, international airports.
Dwayne Williams has joined Aero Dynamix, Euless, Texas, as a night-vision goggle specialist. He was director of flight operations at Bell Helicopter Textron.
Scott Neal (see photo) has been named to succeed Larry Flynn as senior VP-marketing for Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga. He was VP for the Central U.S. and has held executive sales positions for the South Central and Northeast U.S.
Joakim Landholm has joined Stockholm-based SASScandinavian Airlines as head of the Commercial Department. He was chief operating officer at RSA Scandinavia.
Joakim Landholm has joined Stockholm-based SASScandinavian Airlines as head of the Commercial Department. He was chief operating officer at RSA Scandinavia.
Benjamin S. Lambeth (see photo) has become a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. He was a senior research associate at the Rand Corp.
Robert Knebel has been named VP-executive aircraft sales for the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean at Embraer Executive Jets, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil. He has held various sales and general management positions with Gates Learjet, Securaplane and Cessna Aircraft.
David Birtwistle, senior VP-business development of Balfour Construction, has been elected to the board of the Washington Airports Task Force, Dulles, Va. Other new board members are: Kenneth E. Gazzola, president and CEO of FlightLogix and former executive VP and publisher of Aviation Week; Jonathan Genn, executive VP and general counsel of Percontee Inc.; and John Milliken, partner in the Venable law firm and former chairman of the Virginia Port Authority board.
John Jackson (see photo) has been elected to the Corporate Social Responsibility Committee of the Los Angeles-based Global Business Travel Association. He is VP-sales and marketing for the Americas at Korean Air.
Guy Hachey is making a big bet on a shaky industry. The president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace is planning to invest more than $1 billion annually during the next few years on new aircraft, technology, facilities and maintenance support. While the largest chunk will be used for the new CSeries commercial jet, Bombardier also is putting considerable sums into the beleaguered business jet market for projects such as the Learjet 85, Global 7000 and 8000 derivatives, and the Global Vision cockpit (see p. 55).
The Hawker Beechcraft AT-6 light attack and armed reconnaissance aircraft, designed to meet the U.S. Air Force's Building Partnership Capacity needs including those of the Afghanistan air force, continues to move through its end-to-end weapons validation testing with the launch of four 500-lb. GBU-12 Paveway II precision-guided bombs last week, says Derek Hess, director of the AT-6 program for Hawker Beechcraft.
Thales's Watchkeeper unmanned aircraft program and BAE Systems Falcon communications effort have made enough progress to avoid being among the first to be put on the U.K. defense ministry's new “Projects of Concern” list, but the Valiant Jetty failed to dodge the political bullet. Running four years late and £92 million ($141.6 million) over cost, the program awarded in 2003 to Amec failed to show progress since coming under scrutiny initially a few months ago by the newly created Major Projects Review Board. The Valiant Jetty is being built for Astute Class submarines.
The Lockheed Martin/Kaman K-MAX unmanned rotorcraft is headed in November for a six-month deployment to support operations in Afghanistan. The helicopter was selected after a demonstration in Yuma, Ariz., in August. Two helicopters will operate from a central base with support personnel distributed at areas that will receive cargo, according to U.S. Navy officials. Results from the Yuma trials validated that K-MAX is capable of delivering 6,000 lb. of cargo daily over a five-day period; roughly 3,500 lb.
Embraer has recorded orders for six E-190 100-seat-class aircraft with six options from GE Capital Aviation Services. First delivery is set for the fourth quarter of 2012. Gecas has 93 E-Jets on lease with 15 airlines plus two that were ordered during the Paris air show for an unnamed South American carrier.
