Vienna-based Schiebel Group has received a "Permit To Fly" for its Camcopter S-100. One of the first UAVs to qualify under the amended European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) Regulation, the Camcopter S-100 is the first helicopter UAV to meet the requirements. The permit is issued for those aircraft not holding a type certificate yet, but are still able to perform safely under EASA-approved flight conditions. With this document, national flight permissions within European Union member states can be obtained more easily.
Andrew Brandenburg has been named general manager of Loud Engineering and Manufacturing, Ontario, Calif., a Circor Aerospace company. Tom Sharpes has become sales manager for North America of Circor subsidiary Circle Seal Controls, Corona, Calif.
NASA is preparing to ship several tons of emulator hardware to test compatibility of a third connection node with the rest of the International Space Station, and contemplating internal modifications to handle a full complement of crewmembers.
A former senior English judge, Lord Woolf, is being lined up by BAE Systems to examine how the company conducts its business. The move is in response to bribery allegations related to the Al Yamamah program with Saudi Arabia. BAE denies the allegations and says, "It is not aware of any proposed investigation" into the claims by the U.S. Justice Dept. The British Guardian newspaper says the Justice Dept. is on the brink of an investigation.
James L. Welch has been appointed to the board of directors of SkyWest Inc. and subsidiaries, SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines. He is retired president/CEO of YRC Worldwide Inc.
In response to a few comments on the Cessna Mustang (AW&ST May 28, p. 8; Apr. 30, p. 54), I got my instrument license on the four-legged range course into Detroit City Airport. My son took delivery of the first Mustang to a private pilot, N600DE. My first flight was from Ogden, Utah, to Vero Beach, Fla. At FL410 [41,000 ft.] over the Colorado Front Range, many large jets were complaining of turbulence. We were contacted and replied: "in smooth air." Big jets' response: "too heavy to get there."
As the 787 heads into full-scale production, the senior executive at aft fuselage maker Vought Aircraft Industries has resigned while Wall Street scrutinizes every jot and tittle that may trip up Boeing's tight schedule for a first flight in late summer and start of deliveries next May.
Scott Whittaker has become vice president-strategic programs for the Americas for Atlanta-based Fokker Arinc (Alabama Instrument and Radio Inc.). Whittaker was director of operations and has been succeeded by Jan-Ynse Miedema, who was manager of procurement for Fokker Services.
Morgan Advanced Ceramics, a manufacturer of ceramic, glass, metal and engineered coating solutions, has been tapped by Photek to supply hexagonal ceramic insulators for intensifiers used in NASA's Owl Mission. Owl is the first Earth-orbiting system designed to study air showers initiated by ultrahigh-energy cosmic rays (UHECR). The ceramic in the Owl's "eyes" will allow an accurate image of these particles to be generated.
Mark Lange has been appointed manager of product sales for the International Communications Group, Newport News, Va. He was the senior design engineer for Gulfstream Aerospace.
UPS's Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) capability soon will allow visual approaches in less-than-visual conditions. This capability is included in the SafeRoute suite of software developed by ACSS (a Thales and L-3 Communications company) for UPS. It involves the Cockpit Display of Traffic Information (CDTI), which allows a UPS pilot to see the freighter he has been assigned to follow in the arrival stream. The lead aircraft broadcasts its GPS position. This means when visibility drops below what is needed for visual flight rules on approach (7 naut.
Jack W. Boisen (see photo), who is vice president-cargo for Continental Airlines, has been elected chairman of The International Air Cargo Assn. Ulrich Ogiermann (see photo), president/CEO of Cargolux Airlines International of Luxembourg, was elected vice chairman of TIACA. Boisen succeeds Gary Bartek, manager of cargo development at Kansas City (Mo.) International Airport.
A company that got its start doing risk analysis for nuclear power plants in Britain now has a small section devoted to aviation risk assessment and surveys for clients ranging from Eurocontrol to London City Airport.
Rockwell Collins engineers are testing all 787 avionics subsystems in tandem to pinpoint any faulty interactions before the new cockpit system flies for the first time in August or September. The goal is to uncover and fix data-sharing problems between subsystems early in development, says Greg Irmen, director of all Boeing programs for Rockwell Collins. The company has a new role on this project helping the airframer with systems integration and overseeing the contributions of some of the other avionics suppliers.
Northrop Grumman has selected its own Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS), an AESA radar, for its Broad Area Maritime Surveillance (BAMS) proposal for the U.S. Navy. The sensor would provide the Global Hawk UAV with 360-deg. coverage for the maritime mission. The Global Hawk is pitted against a Predator-based solution from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems and a Gulfstream V manned/unmanned proposal led by Boeing. The Navy plans to make a decision this fall.
Half the detailed design work on the 777 freighter has been completed and released to suppliers, and the aircraft is on schedule for a fourth-quarter 2008 delivery to launch customer Air France, Boeing reports. The freighter is based on the 777-200LR passenger airframe. Boeing has 71 orders.
NASA's Griffin, who backed away from skeptical comments about global warming soon after he made them in a radio interview, softens his comments further in a Capitol Hill appearance promoting the administration's NextGen air traffic management modernization plan. Joining other administration officials, Griffin says advanced technology that NASA will help develop will enable aircraft to land sooner and closer together, reducing delays and fuel consumption.
Dan Avicola has been named general manager of Dallas Airmotive's Lafayette, La., component repair facility. He was a production supervisor for all engine lines at a different facility.
Bidders have until July 30 to submit proposals on the upper-stage instrument unit for NASA's planned Ares I crew launch vehicle under an RPF announced yesterday. The unit will carry guidance, navigation and control avionics for the shuttle-derived vehicle. Selection of a contractor to work with NASA designers, build development and flight hardware and provide engineering support through 2016 is expected in November. Meanwhile, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has picked Aerojet to build developmental engines for the initial Ares I first-stage roll-control system.
Checkmate, the Air Force's small unit for getting creative, fast-turnaround ideas to warfighters, is being kicked upstairs from the operational level to the strategic. The organization first gained attention during the 1990-91 Persian Gulf war, when officials needed to speed up planning for wrecking Iraq's computer-controlled integrated air defenses and warfighters needed to know what was available in the classified world. Checkmate was a key player in planning and executing the air war. Now the Air Force chief of staff, Gen. T.
This month, Evergreen International Airlines will assume operations of Boeing's 747-400 Dreamlifter fleet now that the FAA has granted a type certificate for the aircraft to haul 787 airframe assemblies. Boeing plans a fleet of four of the specialized freighters (it only needs two for the 787's initial production schedule). The Boeing Design Center in Moscow produced plans for the fuselage modification, which lengthened the structure 10 ft. and increased its internal volume to three times that of a standard 747-400.
Thai Airways International says it has no current plan to set up a subsidiary airline, despite its earlier proposals to establish a cheaper operation for domestic routes. The carrier also says the reopening of the old Don Muang airport in Bangkok, which was partly prompted by structural problems at the new Suvarnabhumi facility, is boosting aircraft utilization.
Embraer has added a software enhancement to its Aircraft Health Analysis and Diagnosis operational management system to improve dispatch reliability of its 170/190 regional jet family. Aircraft health information has been relayed in-flight since the system was fielded a year ago. Now new capabilities are added, such as real-time alerts and maintenance messages, and better fault analysis features.
Jeff Gruber, an instructor in aviation maintenance at Columbus (Ohio) State Community College, has been named chairman of the Technical Committee of the Washington-based Professional Aviation Maintenance Assn. Other new committee chairs are: Education Committee, Tony Bailey, director of maintenance operations for Pentastar Aviation; Awards Committee, Donna Bricker, general manager for Tdata and a second lieutenant in the Civil Air Patrol; and Publication Committee, John L. Wichtk, FAA project coordinator for Rapco Inc.
In an effort to establish a nationwide operational base, JetDirect Aviation Holdings of Berwyn, Pa., has acquired Novato, Calif.-based air charter operator Sunset Aviation for an undisclosed sum. Sunset operates a fleet of 25 aircraft, giving JetDirect a total of 130. Sunset's fleet includes Cessna Citation IIs; Hawker Beechcraft 800XPs, Beech Baron 58s and Beech King Air 200s; and Pilatus PC-12s. Sunset also operates full-service maintenance facilities at three bases in California.
