The National Transportation Safety Board findings in the crash of New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle's Cirrus SR20 (AW&ST May 7/14, p. 92) provide a thorough analysis of the flight into a Manhattan apartment building, but overlooks a plausible factor that may have contributed to the accident.
David Pritchard, Alan MacPherson, Canada-United States Trade Center (State University of New York at Buffalo)
In the Mar. 15 Aviation Daily article "Hazy: Competition for Boeing and Airbus May Emerge," you quoted International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) Chairman and CEO Steven Udvar-Hazy as saying China and Russia may emerge as competitors to Boeing and Airbus.
Cheryl L. Janey (see photo) has been named president of the Falls Church, Va.-based Civil Programs unit of the Harris Corp.'s Government Communications Systems Div. She was vice president-business development and strategy for the Commercial, State and Local Group of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Technology Sector.
Mauricio Botelho will remain as chairman of Brazil-based Embraer's board of directors after stepping down as president/CEO. He has been succeeded by Frederico Fleury Curado, who was executive vice president-airline market. Curado has been succeeded by Mauro Kern Junior. Antonio Julio Franco and Flavio Rimoli have been named executive vice president-organizational development and executive vice president/legal counsel, respectively.
A communications satellite developed and orbited for Nigeria by China is moving toward its geosynchronous station over Somalia following launch from the Xichang space center May 14 on a Long March 3B booster. The flight is China's fourth space mission this year and the 96th straight launch success since the Long March program was revamped in 1998. Two Compass navigation system spacecraft and an oceanographic satellite have also been launched by the Chinese in 2007.
Airbus is expected to decide in a few weeks whether to boost wide-body production rates, now that management has approved an increase in single-aisle production to 40 aircraft per month from 32. The new production rate should be reached by the end of 2009, with a rate of 38 aircraft a month by mid-2009.
An obituary for Mercury 7 astronaut Walter M. Schirra incorrectly identified the aircraft he flew in combat during the Korean War (AW&ST May 7/14, p. 27). It was the F-84E.
Avio is forecasting sustained growth for the current year, notwithstanding the weak dollar and slow pace of its military and civilian MRO activities. First-quarter results show an 8% revenue increase compared with the same period last year; new orders have brought the order book to €4.4 billion ($5.94 billion)--€400 million were added in the quarter. Avio also reported that it closed 2006 with a 9% revenues increase, €1.4 billion. The company continued to lose money, though, with a €16-million loss, largely due to the heavy debt as a result of the December 2006 buyout.
The Japanese military may be eyeing the Lockheed Martin F-22 Raptor as a candidate to update its fighter forces, but Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-Hawaii) says no one should expect any support from him. Abercrombie, chairman of the House Armed Services air-land forces subcommittee, calls himself "a real reactionary" when it comes to selling sensitive defense technology--like the stealthy fighter's cruise missile-detecting radar and wideband data links--to foreign governments (AW&ST Apr. 23, p. 20).
Operating margins at Rockwell Collins Inc. have risen steadily over the last five years from less than 15% to a pace of nearly 21%. Clay Jones, the company's folksy but driven CEO, doesn't hesitate when asked if those impressive figures can be pushed even higher. "Absolutely," he says, adding the caveat that he won't shortchange research-and-development spending or acquisition opportunities to maintain the streak.
The Spanish air force has accepted the first of five P-3Bs being upgraded with a new mission system. The modification is being performed by EADS CASA, and service entry is expected soon, the aircraft maker says. The P-3s are equipped with the FITS (fully integrated tactical system) mission equipment and feature communications and sensor upgrades, including a new electronic intelligence subsystem and synthetic-aperture/ inverse synthetic-aperture radar. The equipment was tested during several NATO exercises.
Timothy Adam has become vice president-Americas of Seattle-based Boeing subsidiary Alteon Training. He succeeds John Alexander, who is retiring. Adam was director of training programs and business administration for United Airlines.
Aircraft lessor AerCap is boosting its order for Airbus A330-200s to 30 aircraft, after having agreed in December to buy 20 of the twin-widebodies. The deal will boost AerCap's fleet to 107 aircraft. AerCap CEO Klaus Heinemann notes that the decision to take 10 more aircraft was made with customers for 13 of the first 20 A330s already secured. "The order for an additional 10 aircraft will help us to expand our portfolio further in the attractive market for modern, smaller wide-body aircraft, and to meet the demands of our global customer base," he says.
Secret reconnaissance and eavesdropping spacecraft were tapped to aid in the search for three Army soldiers taken prisoner May 12 by Al Qaeda-aligned terrorists in Iraq. The National Reconnaissance Office imaging constellation--four Advanced KH-11s with visible and infrared capabilities and four Lacrosse imaging radar spacecraft--makes a total of 16 passes daily over the Mahmoudiya target area about 20 mi. south of Baghdad. Eavesdropping spacecraft in geosynchronous orbit have been looking for Al Qaeda communications related to the capture of the soldiers.
Lockheed Martin expects to complete installation of Stepped-Frequency Microwave Radiometers (SFMR) on two WC-130J "Hurricane Hunters" for USAF's 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Sqdn. by the end of June. SFMRs--pod-mounted beneath the aircraft's wing--are expected to improve the accuracy of wind speed and rainfall measurements at sea level, thereby improving the National Hurricane Center's understanding of storms. The SFMR readings will be taken at a pressure altitude of 700 millibars (about 10,000 ft.).
SES is taking a step toward satellite standardization in an effort to improve mission flexibility, reduce lead time for new satellite procurement and cut costs.
I'm amazed that Airbus Military is allowing its engine testing contractor to further jeopardize the already delayed A400M airlifter program (AW&ST Apr. 23, p. 28). In your article, Marshall Aerospace itself points out many of the reasons that the too-small C-130 is a bad choice for flight-testing the very large engine and propeller: *Aerodynamic uncertainties about the flight behavior of the trials aircraft with the large heavy engine installed. *Integrating the engine on the aircraft will be a particular challenge.
The speckled nose of shuttle Atlantis's external tank shows some of the nearly 2,500 hail-damaged areas repaired in the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, as the STS-117 stack moves out of the building and back to Pad 39A on May 15. Kennedy and United Space Alliance personnel at the pad were preparing late last week to transfer into the orbiter the S3/S4 solar array truss structure that has been elevated since late February in the Pad 39A payload changeout room. It was then that a hailstorm forced delay of the launch that had been planned for March.
Chinese conglomerate Citic Pacific says it is negotiating to sell its 25% stake in Air China Cargo to one of its partners, Air China, clearing the way for Cathay Pacific to move into the freight joint venture. The freight deal is part of a wider link between Air China and Cathay that also saw the transfer of Dragonair to the Hong Kong long-haul carrier.
Mark Adams has been named to the board of directors of Houston-based Spacehab. He is chairman/president/CEO of Advocate, MD Financial Group Inc. Adams succeeds Michael E. Kearney, a retired Spacehab president/CEO.
U.S. Army Lt. Gen. (ret.) Larry J. Dodgen, former commander of U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and U.S. Army Forces Command, has become Huntsville, Ala.-based vice president-strategy for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s missile systems business.
Flight tests are underway to implement short- and long-term improvements to the Eurofighter Typhoon. The Italian air force's first front-line Typhoon squadron has started testing the IRIS-T imaging infrared guided dogfight missile. The unit, based at Grosetto in northern Italy, may deploy with the missile to the test range at Decicmomanu in Sardinia in October for firing trials. Operational test pilots also will be involved.
