Colin Jowers has become global director of business technology for London-based Air Partner. He was global chief operating officer of Royal Bank of Scotland's Global Banking and Markets Research and Strategy Div.
I was reading “Game Changer,” Frank Morring, Jr.'s profile of Lori Garver (AW&ST Jan. 13, p. 40), and was delighted to see a reference to my late husband: “space-colonization activist” Gerard O'Neill. All his papers and work are now housed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center archives. It is wonderful to realize his dream lives on. Princeton, N.J.
Maj. Gen. James M. Richardson has been appointed commanding general of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala. He was commander of the U.S. National Support Element Command-Afghanistan. Richardson succeeds Brig. Gen. James H. Dickinson, who has been named deputy to the inspector general in the Office of the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon.
Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., has been named chairman of the Washington-based Atlantic Council's board of directors. He succeeds former U.S. national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, who was interim chairman, and Chuck Hagel, who is now U.S. defense secretary. Huntsman is a former governor of Utah and U.S. ambassador to China and Singapore. Scowcroft remains chairman of the council's International Advisory Board.
China has begun flight testing a high-bypass-ratio turbofan that is expected to greatly improve the performance of the Y-20 heavy airlifter and potentially power the C919 commercial aircraft. The engine is the 28,700-lb.-thrust WS-20, according to local media that have published photographs of it in the left inboard position of an inflight Ilyushin Il-76 testbed. WS-20 is apparently the military name of the powerplant that has also been called SF-A for civil purposes.
Offer the airlines new ways to save millions of gallons of jet fuel and they will practically bite your hand off. That is the clear signal to the aerospace industry as Airbus and Boeing continue to rack up record-breaking orders for their new generation of reengined and more efficient commercial aircraft.
Virgin Galactic plans long-duration hot-fire ground tests of its 47,500-lb.-thrust NewtonTwo kerosene-fueled rocket engine “in the coming months,” following a full-mission duty cycle test of this 3,500-lb.-thrust NewtonOne engine. The work at Virgin's static test stand at Mojave, Calif., supports company plans to supplement its suborbital human spaceflight business by launching small satellites from its WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft.
Fabio Rebello (see photo) has been named senior vice president-international sales for Florida and Latin America for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga., and David Pearman (see photo) general manager of the Gulfstream service center in West Palm Beach, Fla. Rebello was vice president-sales for Latin America for Bombardier Aerospace. Pearman was general manager of Gulfstream's component repair facility in Lincoln, Calif.
Analysis of temperature and other data from more than 1,000 meteorological stations worldwide has found 2013 was the seventh warmest year since 1880, adding more evidence to the long-term rise in global warming, according to NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York. Nine of the 10 warmest years in the 134 covered by the analysis have occurred since 2000, and the 10th was 1998. The latest GISS analysis finds 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 in global temperature averages.”
Louis C. Seno, who has been a trustee of the Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is now vice president-corporate relations and government affairs. He was president/CEO of Jet Support Services Inc. and remains chairman emeritus and special adviser to its board of directors.
Boeing and General Dynamics have finally reached an agreement in the long-standing dispute over the cancellation of the U.S. Navy's A-12 Avenger stealth aircraft program. The nearly $400 million agreement would bring the case to an end in exchange for in-kind payments from the companies. Under the agreement, General Dynamics will provide $198 million in credits to the Navy toward the design, construction and delivery portions of the DDG-1000 program, according to spokesman Rob Dolittle. The agreement was contingent upon Congress providing authorization for the deal.
As they reach cruise altitude, the crew of the high-wing Boeing airliner throttle back its twin turbofans to idle. Verifying that battery levels are adequate, they then do something that would be unthinkable in today's aircraft: They shut down the gas turbine core of each engine.
A new ruling by those on the Hill who referee federal contractor bid protests could serve as a warning to government contracting officers and A&D businesses alike as industry heads for a new wave of spinoffs, mergers and acquisitions. In a Dec. 27, 2013, decision published Jan. 13, the Government Accountability Office sided with Wyle Laboratories against Science Applications International Corp. (SAIC) and its spinoff Leidos over a potential $1.76 billion deal NASA awarded the latter for medical, biomedical and health services supporting human spaceflight programs.
When I read “Sikorsky, Lockheed Design Tailsitter for VTOL X-Plane” (AW&ST Dec. 23, 2013, p. 11), I wondered whether Lockheed remembers its history. In the early 1950s, both Lockheed (XFV Salmon) and Convair (XFY Pogo) built vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) turboprop prototypes for the U.S. Navy. Only the Pogo had enough spare horsepower (and a very brave pilot) to attempt VTOL flight-testing. Taking off vertically was the easy part. Landing vertically (backward) with a foward-facing pilot was where things got tricky.
Over the last several years, the tri-service F-35 fighter program has gradually retired risks and reduced costs, in the process acquiring broader political support. More than 50% of the program's flight-testing schedule has been completed, and no major problems have been identified. The fighter's F135 engine has seen similar progress. With 11 allies committed to buying the airplane, the program looks unstoppable.
USAF Col. (ret.) Michael R. Gallagher (Hillsboro, Ore. )
The C-27J fiasco is a prime example of doctrine over common sense (AW&ST Dec. 2, 2013, p. 23). The U.S. Air Force fought a turf battle with the Army to protect its single manager for fixed-wing airlift mission role resulting in the Army losing a needed capability and taxpayers enduring more waste. Even worse, this was a case of deja vu all over again. During the Vietnam War, the Air Force wrestled the twin-engine light short-takeoff-and-landing C-7 Caribou away from the Army, believing centralized management would be more efficient.
Boris Johnson is not the “former mayor of London” as stated in “Crunch Time,” an article about runway expansion at Heathrow and Gatwick airports (AW&ST Dec. 23, 2013, p. 49). He was reelected to the four-year post of mayor on May 3, 2012, and his comments are extremely important to the ongoing debate about airport enhancements. Poughkeepsie, N.Y.
Alternative fuel research by the federal government will continue to have a bright future under the fiscal 2014 omnibus appropriations deal that became law Jan. 17, despite Republican objections. Tucked inside the 1,582-page bill—passed within days of being unveiled on Capitol Hill to avoid another shutdown—is language supporting ongoing development of alternative fuels, according to aides for Sen. Patty Murray (Wash.), a leading Democrat in the upper chamber.
The drag-reducing benefit of flying in formation has been known for decades—far longer if you are a bird—but making it practical is the challenge. Geese join up in V formations when they migrate, but all are headed in the same direction; finding opportunities for formation flying within military and commercial air-transport networks crisscrossing the globe is harder.
