Emily Richard (see photo) has been promoted to assistant VP-strategic communications and external affairs from director of corporate communications and government relations of the Metropolitan Nashville (Tenn.) Airport Authority.
It wasn't easy to kill Lockheed Martin's F-22, but resurrecting the Raptor could be just as difficult. Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney put the issue in play during a Sept. 8 interview with a Virginia television station near the Air Combat Command at Langley AFB, saying if he were elected president, he would add more of the fifth-generation fighters. But it's not clear whether the pledge aimed squarely at the local audience would fly even if Romney wins in November.
On our Ares defense blog, Associate Managing Editor Jefferson Morris posted a Northrop Grumman video of its X-47B in action, noting that it is well worth a look. Readers concur:
Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver raised some eyebrows last week with a provocative sound bite: “We're going back to the Moon.” A prime mover in the Obama administration decision to kill the “Moon, Mars and Beyond” Constellation program, Garver explained that she was talking about cislunar space, with a mission as early as 2017. That would be the planned first flight of the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle atop the planned heavy-lift Space Launch System.
Kim Chan (see photos) has been named VP-Asia of Zurich-based Jet Aviation and Stefan Benz VP of the company's maintenance, repair and overhaul, and fixed-base operation services in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Chan was a senior manager at HNI International, and Benz was VP-MRO sales for Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
A prototype vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) suborbital launch vehicle under development by Masten Space Systems crashed Sept. 11 during a flight test at Mojave, Calif. Masten Business Development Director Colin Ake says the Xaero rocket was preparing to make a vertical landing and was around two-thirds of the way through its mission when the accident took place.
I have a question about a photograph that ran in The World section (AW&ST Aug. 13, p. 17) that depicts a short-takeoff-vertical-landing (Stovl) F-35 dropping a 1,000-lb. Joint Direct Attack Munition during weapons testing. Why spend the money on a stealth aircraft with an internal weapons bay if you are going to hang non-stealthy AIM-9 missiles on the wings?
China has given final approval for Beijing- based Air China to buy five Boeing 747-8 passenger aircraft, completing a deal announced last year. The order is the first in 14 months for the 467-passenger, four-engine transport and raises the model's order count to 111: 35 passenger aircraft and 76 freighters. It also increases the year's sales count for Boeing to 671 aircraft, 667 of which are for single-aisle 737NGs and 737 MAXs.
USAF Brig. Gen. Balan R. Ayyar has been assigned to become rule-of-law deputy for U.S. Forces-Afghanistan, under U.S. Central Command in Kabul. He has been commander of the Air Force Recruiting Service and director of recruiting at Headquarters Air Education and Training Command, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph AFB, Texas. Honors and Elections
Airbus Military is once again investigating the loss of a boom from one of its A330-based Multi-Role Tanker Transports (MRTTs). On the eve of the ILA Berlin Air Show, the company encountered an embarrassing problem with its A330-based tanker program. During a post-production checkout flight, the refueling boom of a tanker bound for the United Arab Emirates fell off the aircraft in flight. This is the second such incident for Airbus Military.
Nongluck Phinainitisart, chief commercial officer of Thaicom, and Jean-Paul Hoffmann, VP-corporate communications for SES, have been named to the New York-based Society of Satellite Professionals International's Awards Committee.
It is probably a myth that exit-row passengers actually read the briefing cards on commercial aircraft, but there is another latent hazard that has gone largely unaddressed. A recent flight I was on was nearly filled—except for the extra-price exit-row seats. In an emergency evacuation event, there could have been pandemonium with panicked passengers trying to figure out how to open the exits. It is a safe bet that this condition was not taken into consideration when the aircraft underwent its certification trials.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. has finished assembling the first Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet intended for Mexican carrier Interjet. This green aircraft is undergoing flight trials and should be delivered to SuperJet International, the joint venture between Sukhoi and Alenia Aermacchi, by the end of September.
If circumstances dictate outcomes, Ethiopian Airlines should be a small carrier. It is based in one of the world's poorest countries that has an economy still largely dependent on agriculture. And yet, the airline's management is building a regional powerhouse.
