The Pan American Aviation Safety Team is developing a regional awareness campaign aimed at reducing the number of approach and landing accidents and regional team leaders are organizing local initiatives in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific regions.
The war on terrorism's demand for pilots is less problematic than in the Persian Gulf war because of the slump in air travel and the resulting surplus of airline pilots. ``We are very careful of . . . a large call-up that could devastate a community, the police force, the fire force and the same thing with the airlines,'' said Maj. Gen. Paul Weaver, director of the Air National Guard.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China is confident the country's three major maintenance, repair and overhaul companies (MRO) will have work through the end of next year because there are more than 600 commercial jets in service with 21 airlines, according to a CAAC official. Walter Heerdt, general manager for Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Co.
Mike Herbert has become senior program development specialist in the Colorado Springs office of Spectrum Astro. He retired in June as a U.S. Navy captain. David B. Smith has been named program development specialist for business development with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. He was vice president-engineering/chief technical officer at SpaceDev and is a former principal engineer on the Mars program at JPL.
Pamela Elledge has been named to the board of directors of Washington-based Universal Air Travel Plan Inc. She is director of agency and corporate programs for Delta Air Lines.
Delta Air Lines Chairman and CEO Leo Mullin last week reassured Wall Street that the carrier can ``tough'' its way through the industry's current financial crisis, despite the ``near-term gloom,'' and emerge stronger than it was prior to Sept. 11. Still, he conceded that ``recovery is not visible at this point,'' and that the company's financial performance will remain depressed for some period.
Douglas Anderson has become chief financial officer of Geneva-based SITA, and Ian Riddell deputy managing director/chief operating officer of SITA Information, Networking and Computing. Anderson was senior vice president/chief financial officer for the UPS Logistics Group, while Riddell was director of information management and e-business for Cathay Pacific Airways.
Flight readiness for Japan's Mitsubishi F-2 close air support fighter will double in the next five years as the 1960s-era F-1 is brought off line. Operational readiness will climb steadily from 32 in the current fiscal year, ending Mar. 31, 2002, to 65 in fiscal 2005. These increases will boost the number of total operating aircraft for Japan's air force to 377 in fiscal 2004, but the total falls back to 365 the next year as the last of 27 F-1s is removed from service.
Delta Air Lines CEO Leo F. Mullin said last week that 85% of the 13,000 job reductions called for in the airline's post-Sept. 11 recovery program will be voluntary retirements or leaves of absence. This puts the airline's involuntary job reductions at 2,000 (1,700 pilots and 300 employees from other work groups), far below the original forecast of 1,700 pilots and 11,300 employees. Mullin noted the ``collective pain'' of job cuts will also be considerably less than what was expected.
Australian Army aviators recently deployed an extended-range fuel system (ERFS) fitted to their fleet of Chinook helicopters. The ERFS has a dual function, extending the range of the Chinooks as well as doubling as a forward air refueling point for other rotary-wing aircraft. Each ERFS tank holds approximately 3,200 liters (845 gal.) of fuel, and each Chinook can be configured to carry up to three of the tanks.
Keith Lockwood has been named director of sales and service for North American airline accounts, Emilio Morales senior manager for sales and service in Latin America, Matthew Wing senior marketing manager for data link programs, Mark Shoemaker director of sales and service for North American business aviation and Raymond Larkin marketing director for cabin systems, all for Teledyne Controls of Los Angeles.
South Korea has taken its first step in winning a reputation for developing high-technology aircraft with the rollout of the T-50 Golden Eagle advanced jet trainer/light combat aircraft.
Gil West has become Greensboro, N.C.-based executive vice president/chief operating officer of the Aviation Sales Co. He was vice president-engine and component technical operations for Northwest Airlines.
When an acquaintance brings up a technological disaster--perhaps the Challenger loss in 1986 or the sunken Kursk submarine--those of us at the other end of the chat already know the basics. We've had plenty of TV bulletins, news articles and official reports to frame our thinking.
Dan Stravinski has become vice president of human resources for the Avidyne Corp., Lincoln, Mass. He was vice president-administration of Prime Response, Cambridge, Mass.
Russian Soyuz cosmonauts Victor Afanassiev, Konstantin Kozeev and French astronaut Claudie Haigner returned to Earth on Oct. 31 after spending eight days on board the International Space Station. They delivered a fresh Soyuz escape vehicle and returned to Earth in the older Soyuz ISS lifeboat that had been on board since Apr. 30.
With only days to go before the Nov. 13-15 meeting between Presidents Bush and Putin, State Dept. officials don't know whether an agreement can be reached on a new strategic framework to replace the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. ``We are in very intense discussions with the Russians,'' said John Bolton, who oversees arms control for the State Dept. Bolton was reluctant to say what the expectations for the summit are. However, he indicated a partial agreement is conceivable.
The Finmeccanica group's interminable discussions with Airbus are stalled again: Italy is no longer expected to acquire a stake in the European company or become a risk-sharing partner in the A380 mega-transport. Also, the Italian air force no longer plans to procure A400M airlifters produced by the Airbus Military Co. This reversal is not the result of budget constraints or of rethinking industrial strategy.
Dain M. Hancock, president of the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co., has received the 2001 Society of Automotive Engineers' Aerospace Engineering Award. He was cited for his engineering and later program development work for the F-16 worldwide.
Former U.S. Defense Secretary Harold Brown and Arthur Levitt, former chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, have been named to the board of directors of Santa Monica, Calif.-based Rand. Brown is a partner in the venture banking firm Warburg, Pincus and Co. and a counselor to the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. Levitt is a senior adviser to the Washington-based Carlyle Group.
Robert Huffman has been named president of the Interstate Electronics Corp., Anaheim, Calif. He succeeds Richard Tierney, who is retiring. Huffman was vice president-marketing.
The space shuttle Endeavour was rolled under heavy security from the Kennedy Space Center Vehicle Assembly Building to Pad 39B on Oct. 31 in preparation for its scheduled launch to the International Space Station later this month. U.S. Air Force F-15s flew combat air patrols over Kennedy during the 6-hr. rollout and the time of the move was not announced in advance. NASA will also maintain unusual secrecy for the launch. Unless the ISS is maneuvered to change the liftoff time, the launch will occur as planned at about 7:45 p.m. EST on Nov. 29.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives emerged victorious 218-214 late last week in a showdown with Democrats over measures to boost airport and airline security. The primary difference between the parties' positions was whether airport security workers, including screeners, should be on the federal payroll or employed by contractors.
At least one U.S. airline is turning low load factors into good public relations. Denver-based Frontier Airlines will ``serve our community'' by donating vacant seats to Colorado nonprofit groups, schools and religious organizations, said President Sam Addoms. The number of seats will depend on availability, and holiday blackouts apply. A majority of free seats will be used by organizations that ``need to travel but lack the funds to do so,'' Addoms said.
