The nationwide rollout of a data communication network highlights that Nav Canada has a lead role in the global trend of shifting essential ground-to-air exchanges from voice to text. Nav Canada will this year complete the phased introduction of controller-pilot data link communications (CPDLC) throughout its high-altitude airspace. Nav Canada Chief Technology Officer Sid Koslow says that while CPDLC is hardly a new concept—the industry has been talking about it for at least 20 years—this will be its most extensive deployment for domestic airspace.
Terry M. Ryan has been appointed CEO of Arlington, Va.-based VT Group (VT Services), succeeding David J. Dacquino, who will retire. Ryan was president and chief operating officer of the Emerging Markets Group of ManTech International Corp.
A satellite-based version of ADS-B is being developed that offers the potential to provide coverage across all Atlantic airspace, which could mean dramatic changes for oceanic ATM procedures. The Aireon system will rely on an Iridium satellite network instead of ground stations, so it can provide coverage beyond the range of terrestrial ADS-B ground stations. It is considered not suitable for busy domestic airspace, but a good solution for less-congested oceanic airspace.
I have been an avid reader of Pierre Sparaco's column for years, but he is a bit off the mark when he touts Ryanair as an example of how legacy airlines could improve their financial status (AW&ST Jan. 28, p. 14). Ryanair passengers are being treated like cattle and are “nickled and dimed” for everything. I am waiting for the day when breathing on board appears as a surcharge.
George Duchak has been named director of the Information Directorate at the Rome, N.Y., facility of the Air Force Research Laboratory, succeeding the acting director, Col. David P. Blanks.
This week, Aviation Week publishes two editions. The right cover features Paul Sadler's picture of a contrail-streaked sky above Sydney Kingsford Smith Airport's distinctive tower. Airservices Australia is one of the more progressive air traffic management organizations cited in our ATM special report that begins on page 42. Elsewhere in both editions, we explore Middle East defense trends (page 53), Embraer's regional jet plans (page 36), Etihad Airways' India moves (page 22) and the U.K.'s defense budget (page 27).
A caption in the article “Networking” on page 40 of the Feb. 4 issue incorrectly identified the location of instruction. It was at the Pierce County Skills Center, a Grades K-12 program in Puyallup, Wash.
NASA and industry have made substantial progress in minimizing sonic booms by carefully shaping aircraft to control the shockwaves. But a sonic boom is a complex phenomenon, and what works in steady flight might not work so well at other times. Accelerating and turning can cause the shockwaves to focus, creating an amplified superboom. NASA is conducting flight research to determine if a shaped boom can survive the focusing, or if operating techniques must be developed to ensure a superboom never touches down where it can be heard.
David Gee has become VP-engineering at Blackhawk Modifications, Waco, Texas. He has held engineering and leadership roles at Hawker Beechcraft and Raisbeck Engineering. HONORS AND ELECTIONS
There seems to be little hope of better defining U.S. space policy, given the current underfunded NASA vision of human expeditions to Mars and its ambitions to turn responsibility for low-Earth-orbit transportation over to commercial providers, according to members of an expert panel hosted by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy.
After repeated delays in putting a new constellation into orbit, mobile satellite services provider Globalstar launched its fourth and final batch of six second-generation telecommunications satellites Feb. 6 atop a Soyuz launch vehicle from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. European launch consortium Arianespace and its Russian Starsem affiliate said the launcher's Fregat orbital stage injected the six spacecraft into their target orbit after two successive firings following liftoff.
Pres Henne, who led design of the Collier trophy-winning Gulfstream V and G550 and oversaw development of the new G650, is to retire from the business-jet manufacturer on March 31. Henne joined Gulfstream in 1994 from McDonnell Douglas (MDC), where he began his career in 1969. At MDC, Henne was responsible for aerodynamic design of the C-17 wing, and was later vice president and general manager of the MD-90 program. At Gulfstream, he has overseen the introduction of six products and advances such as enhanced and synthetic vision displays.
Gail Mesa Norman (see photo) has been named public relations and promotions consultant for Frederick, Md.-based Women Fly It Forward Frederick. She has been active in the promotion of aviation events in Maryland, including the 2010 Women's Air Race Classic Terminus at Frederick Municipal Airport.
Analysis of the Jan. 31 failure of a Sea Launch Zenit-3S with a big Boeing-built Intelsat communications satellite on board will center on thrust vector control in the Russian-built RD-171 main-stage engine, adding to the woes of Russia's mishap-plagued launch vehicle industry. Efforts by Sea Launch to regain financial momentum after emerging from bankruptcy also will be more difficult. The company has no additional firm missions on its manifest.
USAF Lt. Col. (ret.) John A. Crocker (Tavernier, Fla.)
I was amused to read of four companies vying to build the next-generation training aircraft, the T-X (AW&ST Jan. 21, p. 12). With the expansion of all unmanned aerial vehicle operations, coupled with the extreme cost overruns on the F-35s, plus the specter of sequestration cuts, future U.S. Air Force pilot candidates should be given a Microsoft flight simulator and then strapped into T-38s for years to come. Tavernier, Fla.
Eric Chen (see photo) has become president of Tianjin-based Airbus China, succeeding Laurence Barron, who has been appointed CEO and chairman of EADS China. Chen was senior VP-commercial and external affairs. Rafael Gonzales Ripoll Garzon has been appointed chief operating officer of Airbus China. He was head of the Center of Excellence Empennage/Aft Fuselage of Airbus in Spain.
Demand for pilots is expected to accelerate in the next couple of years as the U.S. economy gets back on its feet. But there are real questions about whether there will be enough qualified candidates to move into the cockpit. Not long ago, I was sure I would be one of them. But I've given up on my dream of becoming an airline pilot. I have run out of money and do not want to add to the debt I have taken on to pay for my college education and flight training for a job that is going to pay me $20,000 a year.
Capt. Nora Burghardt (see photo) has been named program manager for the U.S. Navy's Aircrew Systems Program Office, succeeding Capt. Roger Ligon, who has become military director of the Weapons and Energetics Department at the Naval Air Warfare Center--Aircraft Div. Burghardt was deputy program manager for Air Vehicle Systems in the F/A-18E/F and EA-18G Program Office.
French space agency CNES has tripled its research and technology (R&T) budget to €131 million ($176 million) this year from €42 million in 2005, representing roughly 17% of its budget outside of contributions to the European Space Agency, says CNES's chief, Yannick d'Escatha. By 2015, that figure is expected to grow to more than €150 million, according to figures issued Feb. 4 during d'Escatha's presentation on CNES's estimated €1.6 billion budget for 2013.
Rudolf Schmid has joined Zurich-based Swiss Aviation Training as director of quality and project management, succeeding Karl Spirig, who plans to retire this month. Schmid was lead auditor at a management systems certification company.
For months, Pentagon officials have described the impact of across-the-board budget cuts with gruesome metaphors. The March 1 deadline for those reductions to take effect is now close enough that the military is beginning to drizzle out some long-awaited specifics. In the past two weeks, each of the services has begun to explain some near-term actions and the longer-term impact to weapons systems and deployment schedules.
