CargoLifter's CL160 airship, although generating interest from potential customers, is hampered by delays and a massive cost increase. The company, however, says it has enough cash to survive in the short term and plans to raise more funding soon.
The first preproduction AB319 helicopter crashed in northern Italy on Apr. 22, killing one of two crewmembers on board. The twin-engine AB319, which is scheduled to obtain certification later this year, is a joint venture of Bell Helicopter Textron and AgustaWestland's Italian arm.
Sir Freddie Laker, founder of Laker Airways Ltd. and Laker Airways (Bahamas) Ltd. and the originator of Skytrain, has been named to receive the 2002 Tony Jannus Award, which is sponsored by the Tampa and St. Petersburg (Fla.) Chambers of Commerce and recognizes contributions to the commercial aviation industry. The award is named after Jannus, who was the pilot of the world's first scheduled flight, on New Year's Day 1914, between Tampa and St. Petersburg.
Leonard M. Greene, founder/chairman of Safe Flight Instrument Corp., has devoted more than 55 years to improving the safety of flight and aircraft performance. Along the way, he has made humanitarian contributions to a wide variety of people. Greene is the cofounder and vice president of the Corporate Angel Network, which provides free flights on corporate aircraft to cancer patients. Founded in 1981, the network has made more than 10,000 flights.
Amit Morag has been appointed San Diego-based vice president-business development for the Aurora Flight Sciences Corp., Manassas, Va. He was a marketing executive for unmanned aerial vehicles at BAE Systems North America.
In May 2001, Europe formed MBDA, the world's second largest missile producer, with annual revenues in excess of $2 billion. The cross-border group combined the missile businesses of EADS, BAE Systems and Italy's Finmeccanica in an initiative that contributed significantly to advancing the European aerospace and defense's industry consolidation and streamlining.
Larry McCracken, vice president-public relations for Boeing, has been appointed chairman of the Aerospace Industries Assn.'s Communications Council for 2002. He succeeds Dennis Signorovitch, vice president-communications for Honeywell. Vice chair will be Phyllis Piano, vice president-corporate affairs and communications for Raytheon.
U.S. Navy officials plan to operate unmanned and manned aircraft in a single unit as they explore how UAVs can best augment existing intelligence, surveillance and electronic warfare systems. The tie-in between manned aircraft and UAVs will first be tried with P-3 units and Global Hawk high-altitude endurance UAVs. The Navy wants to buy a small number of the UAVs to evaluate maritime surveillance concepts and to determine whether some P-3 missions can be carried out by the unmanned system.
Jim O'Neill has been appointed president of the TASC business unit of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Information Technology Sector, Herndon, Va. He was senior vice president/general manager of Oracle Services Industries. O'Neill succeeds Jim Frey, who is retiring.
Federal agents arrested more than 92 airport workers at Washington's three major airports last week as part of a nationwide crackdown on employees with access to secure areas who have falsified employment information. Those arrested include construction workers, janitors, food workers and at least two baggage screeners. Charges include social security fraud, falsifying criminal history in employment papers and immigration fraud.
THE U.S. ARMY IS BUYING two more mobile ATC systems and five fixed-base systems from Raytheon, under a $20.8-million production option. Each self-contained AN/TPN-31 air traffic navigation, integration and coordination system (ATNAVICS) is mounted on two wheeled vehicles and two trailers, and can be carried in a single C-130. With an S-band air surveillance radar, L-band secondary surveillance radar/IFF, X-band precision approach radar and the company's AutoTrac air traffic management system, it provides all-weather surveillance to 25 naut. mi.
Keith Andersen has been named chief financial officer of AOG Air Support Inc., Kelowna, British Columbia. He succeeds Debbie Barron, who will be vice president-operations.
An experimental mechanical cryocooler installed last month on NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has cooled the infrared detectors on the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (Nicmos) to their target temperature and held it there ``rock solid.'' That means the instrument could begin returning images again early next month. Darrell Zimbelman, the NASA systems engineer responsible for the cooling system, said Nicmos was switched on Apr. 18 to begin a 17-day checkout after the cryocooler held the detectors at 74.8K.
The Aviation Safety Council of Taiwan's final report on Singapore Airlines Flight 006, scheduled for release Apr. 26, provides no probable cause for the Oct. 31, 2000, accident that killed 83 people. Rather, it identifies complex multiple safety deficiencies--including procedural errors and airport infrastructure problems--found during the 18-month investigation. The report also outlines recommendations to correct deficiencies and remedial actions that have been taken.
NASA's decision to shift major shuttle orbiter modification work from Boeing's Palmdale, Calif., facilities to Kennedy Space Center will allow orbiter upgrades to take place more routinely, rather than delaying significant work until major teardowns at Palmdale every 3-4 years. Large-scale inspections and addition of hardware--such as the new glass cockpit to be installed in Discovery at Kennedy as part of its first major mod at the launch site--will still only be performed on multiyear cycles.
Each year, Aviation Week&Space Technology gives special awards of recognition to young people who have demonstrated exceptional leadership and academic skills, and have chosen to pursue careers in aviation and aerospace. These are the people who will take over where today's leaders and visionaries leave off, and they deserve our wholehearted encouragement and support. Outstanding cadets at the service academies, with a demonstrated interest in aviation, receive Breitling Aerospace watches, courtesy of Breitling USA.
Photograph: Laureate for Lifetime Achievement Noel W. Hinners stands between AW&ST's David North and Kenneth Gazzola. Noel W. Hinners, a former special-assignment vice president for Lockheed Martin Space Systems-Astronautics, devoted a lifetime to American aerospace, serving in both industry and government prior to his retirement in January. He headed the company's Flight Systems unit for six years, overseeing development and operation of spacecraft for several NASA Mars programs, as well as the Stardust and Genesis Discovery missions.
Weapons experts are pressing Congress to enact specific security precautions against radiological terrorism, along with preemptive measures to block the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons (see p. 34). Sig Hecker, the veteran weapons authority at Los Alamos National Laboratory, told a Senate panel last week that if the synchronized aircraft attacks of Sept.
Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Fiscus has been named the U.S. Air Force judge advocate general. He was a staff judge advocate at the wing, numbered Air Force and major command levels.
David Sislowski has become vice president/general counsel and Ian Arthur senior director of marketing and brand management of Frontier Airlines. Sislowski succeeds Arthur Voss, who is retiring as is chief executive Sam Addoms. Sislowski was senior vice president/general counsel of Alexander Capital. Arthur was president/managing partner of Tretorn.
In every major military conflict, a few innovative developments seem to stand out. There were radar and guided missiles in World War II, Korea yielded helicopters and swept-wing jets, and the Persian Gulf war saw the debut of Joint-STARS and the stealthy F-117. The war in Afghanistan was no different. This time, the U.S. Air Force's Global Hawk high-altitude, endurance unmanned aircraft stepped into the spotlight.
Don Stephens has been promoted to director of operational planning and performance from general manager of operational performance and Delta Connection Inc.
A bird strike has forced Lockheed Martin to postpone delivery of the eighth F-22 to Edwards AFB, Calif. One of the two F119 engines ingested part of a hawk early in flight. The chase plane saw the incident and alerted the F-22 pilot, who returned to Lockheed Martin's Marietta, Ga., facility. The aircraft and engine performance remained nominal, although USAF safety officials have since seen engine damage and will likely replace the F119.
