Bill Bruner has become assistant NASA administrator for legislative and intergovernmental affairs. He was acting assistant administrator and had been on staffs of the Air Force and Defense secretaries.
Norway has added to Lockheed Martin’s sales book with a $304-million contract for the first foreign military sales of four stretch versions of the C-130J Super Hercules airlifter. Another contract is expected to be signed next year. One aircraft is to be delivered in 2008, followed by one in 2009 and two in 2010. They are to replace 40-year-old C-130Hs.
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Northrop Grumman has installed provisional landing gear on the first X-47B Unmanned Combat Air System demonstrator for the U.S. Navy. The provisional landing gear, produced by General Electric, will be used for vehicle fit checks, airframe proof testing and vehicle movement during manufacturing. A more robust baseline landing gear, which would meet carrier landing requirements, has been designed.
Charles Nardello has been named senior vice president-operations for Hawaiian Airlines . He was vice president-maintenance and engineering and succceeds Norm Davies, who has retired.
Paul Drayson, the British minister for defense equipment and support, resigned last week. The move came shortly before the second version of the goverment’s Defense Industrial Strategy (DIS) was issued. Drayson was the driving force behind the DIS, and the associated procurement reform. He had been in post for 30 months, and recently there were signs of tension over policy. There are also widespread concerns that the government faces difficult funding choices amid suggestions there is not enough cash to implement all that Drayson wanted within DIS 2.
Paul Nash insults me and every other airline pilot by assuming all of us are somehow unsafe and always seem to be inebriated. It seems like pilot-bashing may be fun and excusable, but I would say that since 9/11, our air traffic control system (thanks, National Air Traffic Controllers Assn.) and airline pilots are still the best in the world.
Denmark’s Terma AS and the National Aerospace Laboratory of the Netherlands signed an agreement Nov. 8 to establish a center of expertise on electronic warfare based in the Netherlands.
Singapore’s Tiger Airways will establish a franchisee airline with the South Korean city of Incheon, racing against rivals to set up in untapped markets and exploit the huge potential of no-frills aviation in Asia. The latest expansion move by the budget carrier, 49% owned by Singapore Airlines, will create perhaps the most widely spread narrow-body operation in the world.
American Airlines Capt. Steve Roach (El Dorado Hills, Calif.)
As a captain of a wide-body for the world’s largest airline, I read with dismay the letter you published from Paul N. Nash in which he displays his callousness as he bashes pilots (AW&ST Oct. 29, p. 10).
Steve Wallach, a San Francisco-based Boeing 747 captain, has been elected chairman of the Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Assn. at United Airlines , succeeding Mark Bathurst. Jeff Barath was elected vice chairman.
John M. Doyle (Washington), David Collogan (Washington)
A Homeland Security Dept. plan to secure general aviation aircraft entering the U.S. could have the unintended consequence of making international travel more difficult for GA operators and their passengers.
Indonesia’s Lion Air will be the first to use carbon brakes on Boeing 737-900ERs, replacing conventional steel brakes common on single-aisle jets. Although the carrier chose Goodrich carbon brakes over a design by Messier-Bugatti, certification tests will be conducted next month on both sets, which are projected to perform similarly. Lion Air has ordered 100 737-900ERs equipped with steel brakes and five have been delivered. The airline will retrofit the planes with carbon brakes.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Metz has been named director of the Joint IED (improvised explosive devices) Defeat Organization , which is headquartered in Arlington, Va. Metz has been deputy commanding general/chief of staff of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command.
Boeing is in the final stages of flight testing an auxiliary fuel tank system that will increase the range of the 777-200LR to its maximum design limit of up to 9,450 naut. mi., fulfilling development ambitions for the twinjet that were originally put on hold amid market doldrums in mid-2004.
Amy Butler (Washington), David A. Fulghum (Washington)
The U.S. Air Force’s Boeing F-15 grounding is being felt around the globe, with other nations such as Japan and Israel halting flights of their Eagles, and with the Navy shifting its carrier-based air power to Southwest Asia. F-15 operations were suspended pending review of a Nov. 2 crash. “A possible structural failure” was involved in the Missouri Air National Guard F-15C crash, which could have larger implications about the integrity of the entire F-15 fleet, say USAF officials.
After eyeing the Bush administration’s Fiscal 2008 budget request since February—and not doing anything about it for more than a month into the new fiscal year—Congress got busy last week moving defense appropriations. Appropriators hammered out an agreement for baseline funds, and both the House and Senate quickly scheduled action to ratify it. The bill totals $459.3 billion, reflecting 9.5% annual growth and a cut of only about $3.5 billion from Bush’s request.
The Norwegian armed forces are bracing for a major round of cutbacks and reorganizations, if recommendations by the nation’s defense chief are accepted by the government and approved by parliament. The changes—presented by Gen. Sverre Diesen and published Nov. 5—are designed to enable the forces to maintain operational credibility at a time of shrinking budgets and high procurement costs.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.’s worldwide in-service fleet of Gulfstream IV and Gulfstream IV/SP business jets has accumulated more than three million flight hours. The company has delivered 535 of the large-cabin, long-range, twin-engine jets during the past 20 years, and the fleet has developed a 99.92% dispatch reliability rate, says President Joseph T. Lombardo. The first GIV built entered service in June 1987, and the last entered service in September 2003.
American aerial firefighting is a national embarrassment. It’s time to shell out for a couple of squadrons of Bombardier CL-415s. With the value of the losses in California, we could have bought hundreds of those planes. We’ve tried to rely on U.S. industry and all we’ve come up with is the DC-6. The CL-415s aren’t space shuttles. Buy a hundred!
Minnesota-based Ballistic Recovery Systems Inc., and CIMSA Ingenieria de Sistemas in Spain have agreed to work together on development of a long-term strategic partnership. Under terms of the pact, BRS and Cimsa officials will work together to develop and manufacture new parachute systems designed for the aerospace industry worldwide. In addition, the company reports a 28.6% increase in third-quarter earnings compared with the same period a year ago.
Brad Baker has been named to the advisory board of Dallas-based Tactical Air Defense Services Inc . He is CEO of Nexus Biometrics Inc. and is a former executive director of the Florida Housing Finance Corp.
Etihad Airways has begun interlining with Australia’s Virgin Blue. The United Arab Emirates carrier has been flying to Sydney since March and Brisbane since September. The carrier says the service between Sydney and Abu Dhabi has been so successful that it will increase the frequency to 11 flights a week from next March.
The U.S. Army estimates the per-unit cost for the Bell Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter (ARH) is now expected to be about $9 million—up from slightly less than $5.5 million before problems earlier this year—according to Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt, director of Army Aviation. Total program cost is now expected to be about $3 billion. That includes cost increases due to problems at Bell’s manufacturing facility as well as the Army’s decision to increase its buy to 512 of the Bell 407-derivatives.
