The reaction to Adam Jones's decision to not pursue a career as a pilot (AW&ST Feb. 11, p. 58) has predictably drawn many comments regarding the commitment and devotion necessary to remain in the profession. Many have stated that one's sincerity and passion should be the main criteria that allow them to enter and remain.
Shareholders backed sweeping changes at EADS during an extraordinary general meeting held in Amsterdam March 27, electing a new board of directors and bringing the European giant's governance more in line with that at other aerospace and defense companies by dissolving its Franco-German ownership pact.
After more than decade planning it, seven years trying to achieve it and one failed attempt to do it, U.K. government officials have finally sealed a deal to harmonize the country's multiple search and rescue (SAR) helicopter operations under one agency.
XCOR Aerospace plans to conduct a full-scale, extended-duration hot-fire evaluation of its piston-pump-powered rocket engine as it moves closer to flight tests of the two-seat suborbital Lynx vehicle at Mojave, Calif. In readiness, XCOR is installing a flight-sized liquid oxygen tank in the Lynx fuselage. The propulsion system was mounted to the flight-weight airframe and recently tested for 67 sec., marking the first firing of a full piston-pump-powered rocket engine.
Steve Jones (see photo) has become managing director of Aviation Services, a new unit of the Cambridge, England-based Marshall Aerospace and Defense Group that brings together the management of Cambridge Airport, Business Aviation and the JETability business. He was manager of the company's maintenance, repair and overhaul and charter companies.
The price of EU Allowances (EUAs) under the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS) dipped in March but rallied sharply later in the month on signs that support is growing for measures proposed by the European Commission to curb supply. Representatives from EU national governments are making progress toward agreement to support the EC's proposal to “backload” 900 million EUAs, the Irish presidency of the EU said March 22.
Jay Heublein (see photo) has been promoted to executive VP-global sales and marketing from VP at Cleveland-based Nextant Aerospace. Peter Walker has been named VP-Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific and Richard “Butch” Lang U.S. regional sales director. Walker and Lang held executive sales positions at the former Hawker Beechcraft.
Hannu Juurakko has been appointed to lead the civil air traffic management business area at Vienna-based Frequentis, succeeding Frank Molitor, who will take a sabbatical for several months. Juurakko has held senior management positions at Nokia, Alcatel and Cassidian.
Capt. Jim K. Walton American Airlines (Grapevine, Texas )
A letter in a recent Feedback (AW&ST March 18, p. 8) concerned airfares and the airline mergers. I have only one question: Why do Congress and air travelers expect the airlines to not turn a profit?
Jennifer Ogle (see photo) has become director of human resources for Airbus Americas' Mobile, Ala., assembly facility. She was human resources director at Taylor-Wharton Cryogenics.
Increased labor costs and high charges for ferrying aircraft to foreign countries for maintenance may eventually provide a good opportunity for North American MROs in the long run.
Ashlee Kishimoto (see photo) has been promoted to senior director-investor relations from director of Securities and Exchange Commission reporting and Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance at Hawaiian Airlines.
The second Lockheed Martin Space-Based Infrared Satellite (Sbirs) was successfully launched on a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket March 20 for the U.S. Air Force. The company has acquired the downlink signal for the missile-warning spacecraft and is executing a series of six liquid apogee engine burns to maneuver it into geosynchronous orbit. The payload is scheduled to engage about 30 days after launch.
Guillaume Faury (see photo) has been appointed CEO of EADS's Eurocopter division, succeeding Lutz Bertling, who has resigned. Faury returns to Eurocopter after a tenure as executive VP for research and development at Peugeot.
A highlight of Aviation Week's Laureates gala is always the presentation of the award for heroism. This year, the recipients were the personnel of U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Elizabeth City, N.C., who rescued seafarers of the HMS Bounty caught in Hurricane Sandy in October 2012.
Russia's modernized Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military heavy airlifter, also known as Il-476, started the first stage of assessment trials for the country's defense ministry. The first of 22 test flights planned for this stage took place March 18 in Zhukovsky, near Moscow, lasted 1 hr. 55 min. and involved the prototype 002. The older D-30KP2 turbofans were replaced by more powerful PS-90A-76 engines so the airlifter can use shorter runways. The Il-76MD-90A prototype made its maiden 40-min. flight on Sept. 22, 2012.
NASA has taken down a popular technical reports server after the chairman of the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds the space agency complained the website was particularly popular in China. Shutdown of the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) follows the March 16 arrest of a NASA contractor employee as he awaited takeoff at Dulles International Airport on a flight to his native China.
India is preparing to integrate scientific payloads with its first Mars orbiter, which is scheduled to be launched Nov. 27, says the ISRO chairman. Subsystems are being tested and ground station augmentations are being made at the satellite center in Bengaluru, he says. Integration of the satellite should be complete in September. The Maangalyaan orbiter will carry nine scientific instruments to study the Martian atmosphere, climate, geology, origin and evolution, as well as its past and current habitability.
