One of the National Transportation Safety Board's chief political operatives, Peter Goelz, is leaving to lead the worldwide crisis-communications practice at a Washington-based public relations firm whose clients include a coalition of major airlines and airframe and engine makers. Effective on July 5, Goelz is resigning the NTSB's No. 2 administrative post of managing director. General Counsel Dan Campbell will take over as acting managing director.
France expects that closer European defense ties, stronger industrial partnerships and combined procurement initiatives will boost military procurement spending efficiency.
NASA-funded upgrades to the 48-in. Oschin telescope at Palomar Mountain near San Diego will aid astronomers searching for asteroids that could be headed toward Earth. The instrument's pointing system has been computerized and an electronic camera was added to the 50-year-old telescope. The space agency's Near Earth Asteroid Tracking (Neat) program has been using a fully automated, charge-coupled device (CCD) camera mounted on a 39-in. telescope operated by the U.S. Air Force on Maui's Mt. Haleakela.
William Readdy, former director for space shuttle requirements in the Office of Space Flight at NASA headquarters in Washington, has been named deputy associate administrator of that office. Michael Hawes, formerly NASA's chief engineer for the International Space Station, has been named deputy associate administrator for space development. Succeeding Readdy is Norm Starkey, who was executive director of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.
Leonard R. Dest has been appointed executive vice president of International Launch Services of San Diego. He was executive vice president-international businss development for Hughes Space and Communications of Los Angeles.
In the wake of growing concern over the loss of skilled aviation technicians and falling enrollments in technical schools, a coalition of U.S. aviation organizations is implementing the ``Make It Fly'' program designed to promote aviation maintenance as a career choice.
Despite strong manufacturer campaigns promoting new 100-seat Boeing 717 and Airbus 318 jets, at least one key airline executive believes the race may go to new or stretched version regional jets built by Bombardier, Embraer and Fairchild-Dornier. The 70-100-seat market ``is going to be very important,'' with estimated sales as high as 2,600 units over the next 10 years, according to Dietmar Kirchner, senior vice president of corporate purchasing and properties for Lufthansa.
The final phase of the U.S. aerospace/defense industry's consolidation may be poised to begin in earnest, with the largest companies that coalesced around multiple mergers and acquisitions divesting non-core businesses. Some of this long-awaited activity--an essential process that must be completed before consolidation can be judged an unqualified success--has been ongoing for the last year.
Airlines of the Star Alliance have established a ``Star'' purchasing organization, based in Los Angeles, to promote, control and monitor joint purchasing. Alliance member airlines spend about $9 billion on outside purchases annually, not including fuel and new transports, according to Dietmar Kirchner, senior vice president for corporate purchasing and properties for Lufthansa. The addition of alliance member All Nippon Airlines and, possibly, Singapore Airlines, later this year, will further increase purchasing clout.
Surrounded by displays of new mobile phones, ground station and Internet technology, satellite makers and users expressed more interest in how to widen their market than trepidation about the economy of Asia when they gathered here late last month. ``There is some evidence that the region's economy has seen the worst,'' Hughes Space&Communications International President Michael J. Houterman told the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Summit.
UPS' acquisition of the assets of Challenge Air Cargo, a leading Miami-based Latin American operator, should be completed in six months or less, according to UPS officials. The U.S. express and package delivery company and Challenge reached a purchase agreement a week ago, setting the stage for establishing UPS as the largest air cargo and express carrier in Latin America. Regulatory approval of the ownership change is required.
AlliedSignal Aerospace is working with Bombardier to provide its RE220 Auxiliary Power Unit for the new CRJ-700 regional jet as part of a one-piece, bolt-on composite tailcone assembly. AlliedSignal already is contracted to supply APU kits to the manufacturer that include the aircraft's APU and related inlet, exhaust, bleed air, mounting, surge and drain systems. The company's expertise in engine nacelle technology is similar to that needed to design and build the tailcone structure, according to Tom Johnson, vice president for APUs, engines and systems.
The U.S. government may tout its commitment to deregulation and the free-market, but periodic imposition of new taxes has a way of reshaping airline operations. When a new ``head tax'' (ticket tax plus per-segment fee) was instituted, Southwest Airlines found it necessary to introduce longer-haul service to ``offset the punitive effects of those additional costs,'' according to Southwest chief Herb Kelleher. New flights of more than 1,000 mi. have been quite successful, with load factors running as high as 80%.
Our recent stories on ``Aerospace in Crisis'' clearly struck a nerve. We have received dozens of letters (see pp. 6-7), e-mails and telephone calls so far. Almost all of them reinforce the broad frustration and concern that we found in the interviews that led to the stories (AW&ST June 21, p. 63, and www.aviationweek.com/aviation). Over and over, we heard that today's aerospace industry is plagued by a lack of vision at the top, a Wall Street-driven focus on stock prices and quarterly returns, endless downsizing and a mindless preoccupation with cutting costs.
Jay Ziegler has become vice president-corporate communications for the Comsat Corp., Bethesda, Md. He has been assistant U.S. trade representative for public affairs.
THE NATIONAL DATA CENTER AT EDINBURGH UNIVERSITY will provide a wide range of geospatial data and map services over the World Wide Web. It will use geospatial software technology from Laser-Scan and digital mapping data from more than 250,000 maps from Ordnance Survey, the national mapping agency of Great Britain. The U.K. Hydrographic Office has invested 1.3 million pounds ($2 million) in a system developed by geographic information system (GIS) specialist Laser-Scan, in a project largely driven by concerns about a Y2K compatibility.
A LOCKHEED MARTIN TEAM WILL BUILD and supply F-16 simulator training to the U.S. Air Force at 18 mission training centers around the world under a fee-for-service contract similar to the one for F-15 services provided by Boeing. The first two centers should be operational in mid-2002, each with two to four training devices. USAF wants to network the devices with others located remotely for distributed tactical training, including mission rehearsals. Superior visual systems will be one key attribute.
Congressional appropriators and the White House are engaged in a game of chicken over NASA's Fiscal 2000 budget. Domestic spending caps agreed to by Congress and the White House will force a cut of at least $5 billion next year to the account that funds veterans and housing departments and independent agencies. Estimates floating on the Hill show NASA facing a cut of $1 billion or more. Appropriators would like to break the caps now that the federal budget is in a surplus but want the White House to take the blame for lifting the caps.
Philippine Airlines has decided to seek the assistance of Lufthansa German Airlines in restructuring its airline and maintenance activities, boosting plans by the European carrier to diversify into new business areas.
The center part of the International Space Station's truss backbone was transported on NASA's Super Guppy on June 10 to Kennedy Space Center from Boeing's Huntington Beach, Calif., facility. The 44 X 15-ft. ``S0'' center piece will have the port and starboard wings of the truss attached in orbit to each end. The truss carries large solar arrays at the tips. The face shown in the foreground attaches to the port wing, the right side will attach to the U.S. laboratory module, and the face at the far end attaches to the starboard wing.
U.S. and Chinese relations haven't mended since the May bombing of China's embassy in Belgrade and some fear relations may be worsening. ``Currently, we have virtually no contact with the Chinese military,'' said Kurt Campbell, the Pentagon's Asia/Pacific affairs guru. ``There is no engagement at all.'' There is concern that without dialogue, China will again more actively proliferate missile technology. Furthermore, Campbell said, ``What I think is troubling about this particular period is the extent to which China-U.S. relations are under siege in China.''
Lydia H. Kennard has been named interim executive director of Los Angeles World Airports, effective Aug. 18 upon the retirement of John J. Driscoll. Kennard has been first deputy executive director.
