Northwest Airlines expects to emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization on May 31. One potential complication is a rejection of a proposed contract by members of the Assn. of Flight Attendants. The ballot count will be released prior to the expected date of emergence. Meanwhile, Northwest is working to close legal conditions of its court-approved reorganization plan, including funding of a $750-million new equity rights offering.
Boris Bunkin, one of the founders of the Soviet Union's surface-to-air missile systems industry, has died at the age of 85. Bunkin graduated from the Moscow Aviation Institute and began work at what was to eventually become the Almaz design bureau (it was previously known as KB-1 and Raspletin). He initially worked on the S-25 (NATO SA-1 Guild), and went on to become project leader for the program. He led overall systems development on the S-75 (SA-2 Guideline), S-125 (SA-3 Goa) and S-200 (SA-5 Gammon) as well as the S-300P (SA-10 Grumble).
Frank Among has become Honolulu-based vice president e-commerce and William Hoke vice president-finance for the Mesa Air Group. Among was vice president-sales of EZrez Software in Honolulu. Hoke was vice president-finance for North America for Insight Enterprises Inc., Tempe, Ariz. Christopher Wyland has been named vice president-business development for the group's Hawaii-based carrier Go! He was vice president-sales and marketing for California-based The Best Of Inc.
Spacecraft engineers at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) plan to conduct a technical review before setting a schedule for the remaining demonstrations in the Orbital Express mission, which recovered from a critical computer failure after giving controllers a few bad days. The two Orbital Express spacecraft redocked with each other May 19 after spending nearly eight days separated following a malfunction of the AC-2 computer on board Boeing's Autonomous Space Transport Robotic Operations (Astro) servicing spacecraft.
British Airways is to spend £25 million ($49.6 million) on 550 airport vehicles as part of its move to Heathrow Terminal Five, which is due to open in March of next year. Overhauling its vehicle fleet will also reduce emissions at the airport. The number of ground equipment vehicles will be cut from 1,300 today to below 800 in 2010.
William S. Reed, an associate editor for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine from 1958-62, died May 22 in San Juan Capistrano, Calif., following a massive stroke. He was 82. Reed received his U.S. Army Air Corps pilot wings in 1944, and flew both P-40 and P-51 fighters, logging 110 hr. of combat time in the P-51 (Pacific Theater) during World War II. He later attended the U.S. Air Force Institute of Technology, flew F-84Es in Europe and graduated from the USAF Test Pilot School with Class 53D.
Douglas Barrie and Andy Nativi (Washington and St. Louis)
The emphasis is back on high-speed weapons to deal with time-critical targets as a result of the U.S. Air Force's choice of a subsonic platform for its next-generation bomber. The Pentagon is funding research--much of it classified--into options for future long-range cruise missiles, including subsonic, supersonic and hypersonic designs.
NASA HAS PULLED ITS SHARE OF FUNDING, for now, from the Joint University Program (JUP) for Air Transport Research, a 30-year effort also backed by the FAA to provide seed money to help Ph.D. engineering students start research projects. The program funds graduate students' efforts in aeronautical-related engineering programs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Princeton and Ohio universities, and involves quarterly meetings.
Space shuttle managers will consider delaying launch of the space shuttle Atlantis on the STS-117 mission for five days until June 13 as one option to be assessed in the flight's Launch Readiness Review at the Kennedy Space Center May 30-31. Holding to a June 8 launch target is also an option, but there is scant margin for making that schedule.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy has used his first visit to Airbus in Toulouse to signal he wants changes in the EADS governing structure and is willing to inject government cash into the company as part of a capital increase operation. The issue is likely to be front-and-center next month when Sarkozy is to meet again with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. EADS is ruled by a careful balance of French and German interests, but that has also contributed to cumbersome management that is being widely blamed for inefficiencies.
Bombardier and Canadian aviation authorities continue to seek short- and long-term strategies to wipe out a growing safety threat--CRJ flap malfunctions. Canada's Transportation Safety Board (TSB) database indicates 20 flap failures were reported in 2005, 28 in 2006 and 24 in January alone. Most involved CRJ100s/200s. And the total might be higher: flap failure is not a required reportable occurrence under TSB rules. All of which suggests to the board that the frequency of failures is on the rise, and with it concern for safety.
Tony Charaf, senior vice president of Delta TechOps, has won the Nuts and Bolts Award in the airline category from the Washington-based Air Transport Assn. Eric A. Mendelson, president of the flight support group of the Heico Corp., won the award for the non-airline category. Charaf was honored for more than 30 years of service and contributions to the aviation engineering, maintenance and materiel industry. Mendelson was recognized for leading Heico's 2,000 employees in creating top-quality, cost-effective solutions for their airline customers.
Russia's federal space program will require a total of 26 fixed-base communications satellites, and a further 12 mobile communications satellites through 2015. The program also sees the introduction of the Express 2000 satellite bus, intended to allow Russian industry to compete effectively on the global communications market for the first time.
On May 19-20 the Chino Air Museum Planes of Fame held its 50th anniversary air show. In addition to the dozens of rare World War II warbirds, the only three flyable Lockheed P-38 Lightnings in the world performed during the air show. The trio included "Glacier Girl," the P-38 recovered in 1992 from under 268 ft. of ice and snow in Greenland. This P-38, along with seven other P-38s and two B-17s, made forced landings on July 15, 1942.
Lufthansa and TAM plan to spend the next several months exploring possible areas for closer cooperation. The first step is expected to be code-sharing on national and international flights. But there's also talk of the carriers coordinating their schedules and linking their frequent-flier programs.
Delta Air Lines is placing its second order in the past four months with Bombardier for CRJ900s. The latest addition will add 14 regional jets to Delta's fleet.
If all goes according to plan, Northwest Airlines executives will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on May 31 to mark the airline's exit from bankruptcy reorganization and the debut of its new stock under the ticker symbol "NWA." They're sure to receive a warmer reception on Wall Street than they're getting from employees.
Marc T. Henderson, who is media relations manager for the Miami-Dade Aviation Dept., has been elected president of the Greater Miami Aviation Assn. The following were elected as officers: first vice president, Dan Sullivan, senior vice president of FFC Services; second vice president, Benny Benitez, founder/CEO of the 94th Aero Claims Group; and third vice president, Steven Daun, technical director of sales and marketing, for Aeroservice.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), in the interests of air safety, is calling for the FAA to install carbon monoxide detectors in air traffic control towers. The move followed evacuations at the Washington Dulles control tower and New York terminal radar approach control center (Tracon) this month due to carbon monoxide leaks that debilitated several controllers on duty.
USAF Col. (ret.) David A. Carlson (Melbourne, Fla.)
I have always been in total agreement with George S. Kendall in that the KC-767 will have less infrastructure impact than the KC-30, and is the preferred technical choice (AW&ST May 7/14, p. 10). However, he misses my point that we need competition, and the KC-30 is the closest viable rival.
It's not hard to imagine the gloating--if not outright merrymaking--that might well be going on in the boardrooms and operations centers of U.S. legacy hub-and-spoke airlines these days. After years of restructuring and draconian cost-cutting, they're beginning to see light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
Capt. Yves Enderle, Former Member (Eurocontrol Runway Safety Team, Brussels, Belgium)
Regarding your article on Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport (AW&ST Apr. 23, p. 58), how in the 21st century can planners design taxiway/runway crossings that are recipes for collisions? The location of taxiways to and from the planned third runway requires aircraft to cross Runway 01L/19R. The planned third runway should be linked with perimeter taxiways to the north and south that avoid crossing Runway 01L/19R by going around both of its ends. Let's hope these planners amend their construction plans for safety's sake.
SwiftAir, which contracts with major logistics operators such as DHL and FedEx, has leased a Boeing 737-300F from Dublin-based aircraft lessor AWAS. The airline's director general, Fredrik Groth, says the aircraft forms "the foundation of Stage-III-compliant freighter operations" and will allow the airline to keep expanding its freighter business. SwiftAir's fleet of 34 aircraft includes Embraer 120Fs, ATR 42/72s and Boeing 727-200Fs.
James Callan has been promoted to general manager for aerospace and defense from manager of global marketing, business planning and international sales for the rail business for the Timken Co., Lebanon, N.H. He succeeds Leong Fang, who has become vice president-sales and marketing in China.
French policy in defense, foreign affairs and air transport is likely to see some new directions, following key ministerial appointments on May 18. Both the defense and foreign affairs ministries went to people outside of President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative UMP party: defense to centrist-party member Herve Morin, and foreign affairs to socialist Bernard Kouchner. Analysts say this might mean these ministries' activities will enjoy a lesser priority than under former president Jacques Chirac.
