John Schwartz (see photo) has joined Method Machine Tools and Matsuura Machinery Corp., Sudbury, Mass., as product manager-USA. He was VP-sales and marketing at IEMCA.
Richard Garcia, executive chef at Boston's 606 Congress restaurant, has been named head of the Dine Boston Visiting Chef program at the Airmall at Boston Logan International Airport for a three-month tenure.
Richard Nordstrom has become Geneva-based OnAir's managing director for North America in Seattle. He was sales and marketing director at Connexion by Boeing.
Beth A. Raynor is the new human resources manager of Aspen Avionics, Albuquerque, N.M. She owned and managed a technical recruiting firm that specialized in the engineering and information technology industries.
Douglas Stanley has been named interim VP-research and program development at the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), Hampton, Va. He was principal research engineer on the aerospace engineering faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology and visiting professor at NIA.
Robert E. Curry and Michael P. Thomson (see photos), veteran engineers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., have been appointed to oversee the center's airborne science missions and aeronautical research. Curry, who was director of the Science Mission Directorate, has become chief scientist; and Thomson, who was director for flight operations, is succeeding Curry.
Mike Brand has been named to the board of UCA Holdings, Asheville, N.C. He comes from a career at Goodrich Corp., where he was VP of Boeing 787 entry into service and earlier president of the landing gear division.
Richard “Flip” Bodine, Jr. (see photo) has become VP-sales and marketing for Fastems, West Chester, Ohio. He was CEO of Bodine Assembly & Test Systems and director of market development for Automation Tooling Systems.
Sean O'Connor has been appointed general manager for SR Technics America. He was the Zurich-based company's global head of sales, following a stint as head of sales-Europe.
James Kelley (see photos), Jeff Kilgore and Darrell Frey have been promoted to directors of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.'s Savannah, Ga., Service Center Operations, each for a specific series of models. Kelley was senior manager-MRO, Kilgore was senior operations manager and Frey general manager. Jamie Fields, senior manager-MRO, has been named director of repair and overhaul services.
David Mindell, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be a scholar in residence at Aurora Flight Sciences, also in Cambridge, Mass., for the next year.
Jah Mackey has been appointed marketing director of Moller International Inc., Davis, Calif. He was a principal of Oceanus Marine Group Inc. and had been marketing manager of Bay Propeller.
USAF Maj. Gen. Robin Rand has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and to become commander of the Twelfth Air Force (Air Forces Southern) of Air Combat Command, Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz. She was special assistant to the Air Force vice chief of staff at the Pentagon. Maj. Gen. Walter D. Givhan has been appointed deputy assistant secretary of state for plans, programs and operations. He was commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology of Air Education and Training Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio. Maj. Gen.
Mark Bitterman has joined Denver-based United Launch Alliance as VP-Washington operations. He was senior VP-government and external relations at Orbital Sciences Corp.
Julie Kyse has been appointed VP-transport for Expedia Partner Services Group, Bellevue, Wash. She was VP-Latin America and the Caribbean for British Airways. Honors And Elections
Mark Hoberecht and Ken Burke of NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, were part of a team honored by R & D magazine for developing one of the Top 100 technologically significant new products in 2011. The team, which developed the non-flow-through proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell for long-duration space missions, also comprised Ian Jakupca of Qinetiq North America, Bill Smith and Alfred Meyer of Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen, James McElroy of McElroy PEM Technologies and Christopher Callahan of Callahan Engineering.
Jane Garvey has been named to receive the Air Traffic Control Association's 2011 Glen A. Gilbert Memorial Award. The first woman to receive the honor, Garvey is chairman of Meridiam Infrastructure North America and a former FAA administrator.
Pete Huff, former mayor pro tem of McKinney, Texas, and owner/founder of Dynamco, has been elected vice chairman of the Frontiers of Flight museum in Dallas. Other officers are: treasurer, Eric Stroud, certified public accountant and president of The Hoak Fund; and secretary, David Norton, partner in law firm Shakelford, Melton and McKinley.
Pete Huff, former mayor pro tem of McKinney, Texas, and owner/founder of Dynamco, has been elected vice chairman of the Frontiers of Flight museum in Dallas. Other officers are: treasurer, Eric Stroud, certified public accountant and president of The Hoak Fund; and secretary, David Norton, partner in law firm Shakelford, Melton and McKinley.
It took three years, but Louis Chenevert has made United Technologies Corp. his company. With an $18.4 billion deal to acquire Goodrich Corp., the chairman and CEO of the aerospace-industrial conglomerate is placing a costly bet on the future of the commercial aircraft sector (p. 28). He is also stepping out from under the big shadow cast by his legendary predecessor, George David.
Airbus Military has successfully completed rejected-takeoff and emergency-evacuation tests for the A400M airlifter as it continues to target year-end civil and military type certification.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects airlines to post a higher collective profit this year than predicted earlier. IATA forecasts a $6.9 billion profit for 2011, up from its previous prediction of $4 billion. That equates to a 1.2% net profit margin. However, IATA believes 2012 will be a worse year for airlines, with profits reduced to $4.9 billion and a 0.8% margin, far below earning the cost of capital as an industry.
The CIS-wide Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC) cites bad weather and pilot error as the causes of a June 20 crash of a RusAir Tupelov Tu-134A airliner in Petrozavodsk, Russia. The IAC investigation concluded that crewmembers failed to initiate a go-around over the airport and instead continued to descend despite a lack of visual contact with approach lights and ground reference points in deteriorating weather.
Chile's antitrust court has conditionally approved LAN Airlines' merger with Brazil's Grupo TAM but is seeking major concessions. For the two carriers to proceed with the merger, the court is asking LAN, a member of Oneworld, and Star Alliance's TAM to pick just one alliance and sever ties with the other, while opening up their new frequent-flier program to other airlines for five years.
Air France-KLM Group says it intends to order 25 Boeing 787-9 aircraft, raising the order total for the stretched version of the new aircraft to 291 and 846 for the family from 56 customers. The 787-9's design is still under way but final configuration has been completed. Initial production is set to begin next year. First deliveries are expected in 2013.
