USAF Lt. Gen. James M. Kowalski has been named deputy commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He has been commander of Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale AFB, La. Maj. Gen. Stephen W. Wilson has been nominated for promotion to lieutenant general and to succeed Kowalski. Wilson has been commander of the command's Eighth Air Force at Barksdale. Brig. Gen. Scott A. Vander Hamm has been selected for promotion to major general and appointment as commander of the Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) of Air Force Global Strike Command, Barksdale AFB, La.
AgustaWestland says it has reduced drag on its AW609 tiltrotor by 10% as it aims to reduce acquisition and operating costs of the aircraft, which is due to be certified in 2017. The second prototype, based in Italy, has a new-design vertical stabilizer and tail cone, more aerodynamic engine exhaust nozzles and changes to the rotor-spinner cones. The manufacturer says these changes have yielded substantial weight reduction.
Mark R. Baker (see photo) has been named president/CEO of the Frederick, Md.-based Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. He succeeds Craig Fuller, who was president/CEO for five years.
Leo Mendoza has been appointed Latin America sales leader for airlines and fleets for StandardAero. He was Vancouver-based head of technicians and buyers for MTU and had been supply chain manager for Avensa Airlines.
With deeper budget cuts to procurement, research and development expected as the Pentagon implements sequestration cuts in fiscal 2014, the Navy will drop 25 aircraft from its aviation acquisition plan, according to the chief of naval operations, Adm. Jonathan Greenert. A reduction of $14 billion in those accounts for the year starting Oct. 1 means less of each kind of aircraft than had been planned, including fewer carrier-based Joint Strike Fighters, P-8 maritime patrol aircraft and helicopters.
Samuel Vlodinger and Ron Ben-Haim have been appointed to the board of directors of TAT Technologies Ltd., Gedera, Israel. Vlodinger is a senior partner and Ben-Haim a partner in the FIMI Opportunity Funds.
Reviewing the Asia-Pacific civil aerospace industry this week, we see the great range of challenges facing managers outside of the world's main aircraft building centers in the Americas and Europe. India's private aerospace industry, only 12 years old, is grappling with the usual problems of a startup in finding skilled people and volume contracts—although local company Dynamatic is succeeding in high-rate production for Airbus while other Indian companies are carving niches in engineering services.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) John A. Crocker (Tavernier, Fla. )
Unlike readers Mike Canty and Bob Walker (AW&ST Aug. 26, p. 8), I salute USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Thomas McInerney's out-of-the-box thinking on using business jets to fix readiness (AW&ST July 29, p. 54). Having flown military, commercial and corporate aircraft for more than 40 years, I can attest that flying different types of aircraft does not hinder mission effectiveness. Some days I would fly a Boeing 737 in the morning and that afternoon I would strap in my ANG C-130 and fly either a tactical or proficiency training mission.
Avicopter's next step in filling out a product range will be a 3-metric-ton helicopter, provisionally named AC3X2. This follows the indigenously developed 1-ton AC310 piston-engine type and the AC311, a 2.2-ton turbine-engine aircraft apparently derived from the Eurocopter Squirrel, with considerable local changes. Avicopter officials are giving no details of the AC3X2 except for its gross weight, but displayed a model of the aircraft at the China Helicopter Exposition on Sept. 5.
Tony Tyler, the International Air Transport Association's chief executive, said recently that “too often governments see aviation as a luxury and milk it as a cash cow.” Giovanni Bisignani, Tyler's provocative predecessor, has also in the past several years repeatedly accused governments of implementing a narrow-minded cash-cow policy toward airlines.
USMC Gen. (ret.) James N. Mattis has become a member of the board of directors of General Dynamics, Falls Church, Va. He was commander of U.S. Central Command and had been commander of the U.S. Joint Forces Command.
CFM International started up the first version of its new-generation Leap engine at General Electric's test site in Peebles, Ohio, on Sept 4. The test came two days ahead of schedule, says CFM, a GE-Snecma joint-venture company. The Leap-1A is in development for the Airbus A320neo, and is the first all-new CFM engine to enter testing since the original CFM56 of the 1970s. The Leap-1A is set to begin flight tests on GE's Boeing 747 testbed in September 2014, with FAR33 engine certification expected the following summer.
YouTube videos make it look easy, and for pilots, it is easier than in a Harrier. But landing vertically at night, in crosswind, on the moving deck of a ship relies on the highly integrated and automated flight and propulsion controls of the Lockheed Martin F-35B.
Aiming to continue the city's spaceflight legacy, officials in Houston are poised to seek a commercial spaceport license from the FAA to establish a runway-based complex supporting reusable launch vehicles, spacecraft assembly and flight training, as well as aerospace research and education. The proposed spaceport would occupy 439 acres of Ellington Airport property close to NASA's Johnson Space Center.
Supporters of federal financing for the commercial space industry, as well as backers of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, are gearing up for a public relations campaign to renew the U.S. export credit agency (ECA) before its current congressional mandate runs out in a year. The bank has been bombarded with unrelenting criticism in Washington from some politically conservative and free-market critics who believe any ECA distorts free enterprise and should be eliminated—and next year's charter debate will happen weeks ahead of congressional elections.
In direct response to Colgan Air's 2009 accident near Buffalo, N.Y., Congress passed the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010, requiring all crewmembers to have an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license as of July 15, 2013. The rationale: The lack of flight time among pilots at smaller air carriers, also known as regional airlines, was leading to an unacceptable decrease in airline safety. While the FAA has proposed alternative minimums for ATPs, its stance is to keep the new mandate for such a license in place.
Nagakazu Sagara (see photo) has been named vice president-Japan and South Korea for AirBridgeCargo Airlines as vice president-Japan and Korea. He succeeds Katsuhiko Sagami, who will continue as mentor and coach for the region until year-end. Sagara was deputy general manager of Mitsui-Soko Express and had been senior vice president-export for Japan Airlines.
