Michael J. Denton has been appointed general counsel/corporate secretary of the Curtiss-Wright Corp., Lyndhurst, N.J. He was corporate vice president-global compliance for Honeywell International.
Continued divergence among international competition authorities on the issues that brought down the GE-Honeywell merger in Europe ``could undermine the growing consensus favoring competition over regulation,'' Justice Dept. antitrust chief Charles James warns. He said the reason the U.S. approved the merger ``was the very reason the EU [European Union] opposed it''--the combined company would have been a more effective competitor. The U.S. and the EU had a doctrinal disagreement, he said, not a trade dispute or a failure to cooperate.
Allied military efforts to root out terrorist networks in Afghanistan might easily lead to large-scale security changes in the region, but an outbreak of major arms races is considered unlikely unless the war spreads dramatically to other countries, or the worsening Israeli/Palestinian crisis spins out of control.
The long-endurance, Northrop-Grumman-made Global Hawk unmanned reconnaissance aircraft will be headed overseas ``within days'' to a forward operating base in Germany and will almost immediately start surveillance of Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Air Force has joined the CIA in using medium-altitude Predator UAVs to strike Taliban targets.
Alliant Techsystems has won a $4-million follow-on work order to continue production of the DSU-33B/B proximity sensor slated for USAF's Joint Direct Attack Munition and other air-delivered ordnance.
Wide area ice detection in aviation apparently has come of age. Goodrich Corp. recently unveiled its next-generation IceHawk system, which provides real-time images of frozen contaminants on aircraft surfaces. It scans a surface by sending a beam of polarized infrared light, and detects ice by analyzing the polarization of the reflected signal. When ice is present, the returned IR signal is unpolarized. A picture of the scanned surface is computed and displayed, with patches of contamination highlighted in red.
David B. Smith has been appointed Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based program development specialist for Spectrum Astro activities associated with the NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He was a principal engineer on the Mars program at JPL.
The Massachusetts Port Authority has hired former Ben-Gurion Airport security chief, Raphael ``Rafi'' Ron, and former head of security at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport, Len Limmer, to help perform a top-to-bottom security audit of Logan International Airport. The move is part of a $12.2-million security upgrade campaign that will include training for ``frontline'' employees by ex-Delta Force officer Jeffrey Beatty and closed-circuit video cameras at 16 airport security checkpoints.
William F. O'Donnell has become vice president-human resources of American Trans Air. He succeeds Richard Meyer, Jr., who is now vice president-labor relations. O'Donnell was head of the Minneapolis office of human resource consulting firm William M. Mercer Inc.
Antoine Bouvier has been appointed executive vice president-commercial helicopters of Eurocopter. He succeeds Laurent Samson. Bouvier was chief executive of Avions de Transport Regional.
SHIPMENTS OF NEW GENERAL AVIATION aircraft in the U.S. fell 13.4% in the third quarter compared with the same period a year ago, but billings increased 1.6% to $2.1 billion, according to the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA). Manufacturers delivered 133 business jets, 54 turboprops and 406 piston-powered aircraft. GAMA President Edward Bolen attributed the downturn to terrorist attacks in the U.S., reversals on Wall Street and its effect on the already-softening economy and subsequent government restrictions against general aviation flight operations.
John Lawrence has become vice president-corporate research for the Goodyear Tire&Rubber Co., Akron, Ohio. He succeeds Richard Steichen, who has retired. Lawrence was director of materials science.
Thai Airways International is expanding services to Europe, Australia/New Zealand and Asia beginning with its winter schedule this week. It is adding a total of seven new 747-400 services to Europe, with additional flights from Bangkok to Paris, Zurich, Rome, Munich and Copenhagen. It is adding a 777-200 flight to Perth and upgrading its Bangkok-Brisbane-Melbourne services from a 777-300 to 747-400.
The last of the former Soviet Union's SS-24 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missile silos in Ukraine will be ceremonially blown up Oct. 30 in Pervomaysk, about 250 mi. south of Kiev, by Bechtel National Inc. of San Francisco. The full clearing of the site will not be completed until next September, however. Bechtel, which previously dismantled 130 SS-19 ICBM silos in Ukraine, began tearing out the SS-24 silos and their support structures under terms of a 1998 contract let as follow-up to the START 2 Treaty.
Contracts for nationwide air traffic management system upgrades in Brazil and China highlight the growing importance of overseas markets for Thales, despite the recent loss of a blockbuster British defense contract.
James S. Childress has been appointed vice president of EMS Technologies Inc. of Atlanta and president/general manager of its LXE Inc. subsidiary. He succeeds Jack Farrell, who has joined Scientific-Atlanta. Childress was vice president-business development of LXE.
Mary Carson Foerster has been named vice president-communications for Boeing Space and Communications, Seal Beach, Calif. She was director of international corporate communications at Boeing headquarters.
Tom C. Moorefield has been named group vice president-sales and marketing for Barnes Aerospace, Windsor, Conn. He held the same position for Honeywell International Aerospace Services.
The first production version of Bombardier's CRJ900 regional jet aircraft made its inaugural flight last week at Montreal Mirabel International Airport. Bombardier test pilot Chuck Ellis described the 86-seat twinjet's performance as ``flawless,'' adding that it ``handled exactly as predicted.'' Ellis, along with test pilot Jacques Thibodeau and flight engineer Ray Tamburro, operated the CRJ900 to an altitude of 17,500 ft. at 250 kt. airspeed during the 2-hr. 3-min. flight.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Robert F. Raggio has been appointed executive vice president of Dayton (Ohio) Aerospace Inc. He was commander of the Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio.
India launched three polar-orbiting satellites, two for international customers, in the sixth flight of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle on Oct. 22. The four-stage rocket, in use since October 1994, lifted India's Technology Experiment Satellite (TES), Belgium's 94-kg. (207-lb.) Proba optical imager and Germany's 92-kg. Bird infrared remote sensing spacecraft into Sun synchronous orbits at least 340 mi. high. The TES spacecraft, which weighed 1,108 kg.
Scott Young has been named vice president-flight operations for Atlantic Southeast Airlines. He was chief pilot and later vice president-flight operations and airworthiness for British Aerospace Regional Aircraft Inc., Herndon, Va.
