John was editor of Aviation Week's ShowNews for nearly two decades. He retired in 2020. His background in business journalism before joining Aviation Week includes stints at Reuters, the American Banker daily banking newspaper and as business news editor at the Milwaukee Journal and the Cincinnati Enquirer.
A lifelong aviation enthusiast, John has been a private pilot for 34 years and won an award at EAA Oshkosh for his restoration of a vintage British Auster army spotter aircraft. He is currently building a 1920s Staaken Flitzer biplane from plans. John attended his first Farnborough Air Show in 1952, when just eight months old.
An advanced MultiScan weather radar appears to be a major factor in Rockwell Collins winning a place on Boeing's 7E7 Dreamliner. The avionics company will supply cockpit displays, communication and surveillance systems with a potential value of $2 billion over the life of the program. "Our WXR-2100 MultiScan weather radar was very critical," said Bryan Vester, senior director of marketing and strategic management for Rockwell Collins Commercial Systems. "It was a key factor in the decision."
Global Jet Shares, launched at the NBAA convention as the only fractional aircraft program offering pre-owned Gulfstream IIIs, will make its fleet Stage 3 compliant with hush kits from Quiet Technology Aerospace (QTA) of Opa Locka, Fla. The first will be installed in January 2004, and Global Jet Shares has committed to equip its next four GIIIs with the $1.35 million QTA Stage 3 Hush Kit. Quiet Technology has installed 10 hush kit sets since receiving its STC in January, and plans to install another three by year-end.
Beauty may prove to be only skin deep once Honeywell's Structural Anomaly Mapping (SAM) is unleashed on the business jet market, for SAM can see through the gloss to flaws within, discovering cracks and corrosion in metal, and debonding and delamination in composites--flaws that quietly lurk in wait of a structural failure. SAM is, in effect, the first CAT scan for business jets. Its robotic sensors can inspect and diagnose an airplane overnight, without taking it out of regular service.
