Citing the increased cost of security and earlier budget cuts, the U.S. Navy has canceled this year's air show at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland. Originally scheduled for Sept. 28 and 29, the annual show has always been a big draw from southern Maryland and the Washington area. The Chesapeake Bay area station is the home of the Naval Air Systems Command and the Navy's test pilot school. Navy officials say they will have a show in 2003 to celebrate the first flight centennial.
Unexpected difficulties will delay the service entry of Europe's Artemis experimental satellite communications satellite by around four months, but are not expected to impair the important technology mission. European Space Agency officials said transfer of the spacecraft from a circular parking orbit 31,000 km. (19,375 mi.) above the Earth to its final 36,000-km. geostationary orbit, using ion thrusters, has been proceeding steadily. The satellite had been left stranded in substandard orbit following an Ariane 5 launch failure in July 2001.
James A. Beer has been named London-based vice president-Europe of American Airlines. He was vice president-corporate development/treasurer. Beer will be succeeded by Beverly Goulet, who has been managing director-corporate development. Art Pappas has been appointed managing director of American's Los Angeles International Airport operation. He succeeds George Hazy, who is now vice president of American's hub in Miami. Pappas was Northeastern U.S. managing director for customer service.
CAE has won aviation training contracts totaling U.S. $16.31 million from four carriers: American Eagle, Atlantic Coast Airlines, South African Express Airways and Air New Zealand. As part of the 10-year Air New Zealand contract, CAE will install an Airbus A320 flight simulator and provide follow-up training for Airbus-trained pilots.
The solid-state Lightwave 2100 flashlight uses four white-light-emitting diodes that have a typical life of thousands of hours. Built with a printed circuit board to control the flow of voltage from three AA alkaline batteries, this helps the batteries last as much as 14 times longer than those powering conventional flashlights, according to the company. Water resistant and designed for use in all weather conditions, the flashlight includes rubber over-molding and an industrial-grade on/off switch rated to 10,000 on/off operations.
Valery Okulov has been reappointed general director of Moscow-based Aeroflot and Sergei Frank, who also is Russia's transport minister, was renamed chairman.
A top-level team of U.S. Air Force and Lockheed Martin executives descended on Edwards AFB, Calif., in mid-July to review what was seen in Washington as slower than expected progress on F-22 Raptor testing. The command performance included USAF Secretary James Roche; Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper; Materiel Command chief Gen. Lester Lyles; Marvin Sambur, assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition; Darlene Druyun, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force for acquisition and management; and Maj. Gen.
The A380 mega-transport is well on its way to becoming a reality with its maiden flight already scheduled for December 2004. Airbus Chief Executive Noel Forgeard in the last few weeks has said repeatedly that the huge program is on-cost and on time. He added that the A380 will enter service in the decade's second half, when additional capacity will be badly needed to absorb traffic growth between major city-pairs on long-haul routes.
Turbomeca recently opened a repair center near Rio de Janeiro, for Arriel 1 engines. They power helicopters made by Eurocopter, Sikorsky, Agusta and Kawasaki. Brazil is the only Turbomeca presence for engine maintenance in South America, but marks the company's 26th repair and overhaul site worldwide. The support capacity at the new site is now 50 turbines per year.
Allan H. Hoehl has become federal security director for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration for New York's LaGuardia Airport. He is a retired three-star chief and commanding officer in the New York Police Dept.
Fred K.Y. Lo has been appointed director of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), Charlottesville, Va., effective Sept. 1. He has been a distinguished research fellow and director of the Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics of the Academia Sinica in Taipei. Lo will succeed Paul A. Vanden Bout, who has resigned to become interim director of the Joint Atacama Large Millimeter Array Office. W. Miller Goss, former assistant director of New Mexico operations for NRAO, will be interim director.
Boeing's two X-45A unmanned combat air vehicle demonstrators were displayed together for the first time on July 11, and are to fly together next year to test communications between the craft, coordinated flight paths, mission replanning and cooperative targeting. The X-45A flies autonomously with no direct stick input from a pilot. Flight tests will examine the proper level of operator involvement.
NASA and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) are releasing 30-meter (98-ft.) radar topographic map data for the entire U.S. collected during the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) flown in 2000. The agencies also agreed to provide 90-meter (295-ft.)-resolution SRTM terrain elevation data from non-U.S. sites to qualified researchers. Still in discussion is whether to provide the best 30-meter data of non-U.S. areas to the general public internationally. Those data, which are potentially militarily significant, are saddled with more restrictions.
Raytheon Aircraft Customer Support is offering operators Support Plus--a plan that provides owners of Raytheon aircraft a series of options covering all maintenance issues for a monthly service fee. Ed Dolanski, vice president of customer support, said the program ``eliminates surprises'' because owners can ``plan their budgets with confidence'' since they will know exactly how much they are spending each month.
After considerable haranguing, there are the first indications that Europe, or at least the U.K., is beginning to loosen purse strings to boost defense funding. British defense spending will rise $5.51 billion by 2005-06 in response to the renewed threat of terrorism and the need to try to narrow the capability gap. The fortuitously timed spending hike comes on the eve of the Farnborough air show.
Larrie Cable has been appointed vice president/general manager for Information Dominance Systems at BAE Systems Information and Electronic Warfare Systems, Nashua, N.H. He was director of maritime information warfare.
Robert Stangarone has been named managing director of Broadgate Consultants Inc. of New York. He was vice president-corporate communications for Fairchild Dornier and held senior communications positions at Litton Industries, Rolls-Royce, Pratt & Whitney and Sikorsky Aircraft.
Giovanni de Carlo and Luca Bianda have been appointed regional directors for Swiss in Geneva and Lugano, respectively. De Carlo was general manager for sales and marketing in western Switzerland, while Bianda was fleet chief for Crossair.
This new series of pressure sprayers is designed to operate less expensively than air motor pump systems. The sprayers, for use with chemical products designed for corrosion control, lubrication and penetration, have no moving parts and operate on 80 psi shop air. Liquids ranging in viscosity from light solvents to heavy, thick fluids can be sprayed. The systems, ranging in size from one quart to five gallons were developed specifically to treat complicated aircraft structures.
First launch of the Boeing Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) from Pad 37B at Cape Canaveral will be delayed until at least Oct. 9. Launch had been targeted for late August, but pad preparations and initial processing of the first vehicle on the pad encountered delays. The Delta IV twin strap-on solid rocket motors initially would not fit their attach points on the core vehicle already mounted on the pad, so workmen had to grind and slightly reshape the attach points so the solids could be fitted.
Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon remembers last August as far more dramatic than the traveling public might. That's when Ansett's world began to unravel publicly after 66 years as one of Australia's pioneering carriers. Using larger aircraft than normal on many routes, Qantas added the equivalent of seven years of growth virtually overnight to fill the domestic gap left by Ansett Australia. The airline grew 50% in the six months that followed the Sept. 11 travel shock of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
Delta Air Lines reported a $162-million net loss and a $127-million operating loss for the second quarter, worse by $39 million and $13 million, respectively, than the same three months of 2001. Pulling back from earlier optimism about being profitable by year-end, CEO Leo Mullin predicted similar losses in the third quarter.
Moreno Martini has been appointed senior vice president-legal and corporate affairs of Finmeccanica. Giancarlo Grasso has been named senior vice president-product policy, Agostino Melani senior vice president-logistic services and Nicolas Zalonis adviser on marketing and commercial issues.
