Even as NASA launched Endeavour (left) on its final flight into space, crews were preparing Atlantis (right) for the last flight of the space shuttle era.
The cause of the crash of Air France Flight 447 could start coming into sharper focus soon, with the French air accident investigation office, the BEA, planning to provide a new interim report during the summer.
The Royal Air Force next year plans to reactivate the just disbanded XIII Squadron as its second Reaper unmanned aircraft unit and move control of the vehicle to the unit's new home base at RAF Waddington. So far, RAF Reapers have been controlled from Creech AFB., Nev., collocated with U.S. Air Force operations. The shift comes as the U.K. is preparing to double its Reaper force to 10 vehicles at a cost of £135 million ($219 million).
Paul Goffredi (see photo) has been tapped to become vice president of business development at Carrollton, Texas-based Killick Aerospace. He was director of operations for the Pratt & Whitney PW100 engine program and program director for all Honeywell engine programs at Dallas Airmotive.
Training and organizing military cyberforces will demand monumental changes, not the least of which is building a mind-set that transcends current policies, international agreements and borders. Cybertraining is shaped by rapid advances in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) gathering, information fusion and the resulting availability of data. These factors make intelligence the principal driver of real-time military operations as deliberate, long-term targeting becomes a thing of the past.
An Argentine satellite with a U.S.-built primary instrument will begin measuring the salinity of Earth's oceans with unprecedented detail this summer, provided its planned June 9 launch goes well. The Aquarius/Satelite de Aplicaciones Cientificas (SAC)-D spacecraft is scheduled to lift off on a Delta II from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., to begin a three-year mission that will map ocean salinity globally.
Appearance is not everything, but airlines know well that it is a major component of the passenger experience. And the exterior of an aircraft—including the sheen of its livery—is arguably as important to public perception as the cleanliness of its interior. With post-recession demand on the rise, airlines aim to catch up on the fleet refresh work they delayed.
Emerging aerospace powers have relied heavily on state-owned enterprises to build up their product portfolios. But India appears ready to try another approach, putting increased faith in the private sector long eager for such a role.
As the elected leader who in 1993 drafted the proposal to restructure the FAA (AW&ST Feb. 22, 1993, p. 34), I find Adrian Schofield's recent Air Intel commentary “Dropping the Pilot” to be particularly compelling (AW&ST May 9, p. 18). The FAA chief operating officer (COO) was original intended to report to a board of directors, not the FAA administrator. Throughout the years, the COO position was drawn into the administrator's oversight. The political implications we predicted are evident today.
The threats to and vulnerabilities of U.S. cyberoperations are rolling over military planning like a tidal wave. Fundamental weaknesses in the technology indicate massive damage can be inflicted on the U.S. through the cybersphere—and there is no way to stop it.
Paul G. Pastorek has been appointed chief counsel and corporate secretary of EADS North America, Arlington, Va. Pastorek was associated with the law firm Adams and Reese for 27 years as a partner, litigator and corporate attorney.
A labor-management drama is playing out in Boeing's Puget Sound airplane factories this spring, even though negotiations between the company and District Lodge 751 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) on a new contract are not set to get underway until August.
Already struggling to fill the pipeline of engineering talent needed to sustain and grow its business into the future, the escalating demand for cybersecurity professionals is both a challenge and an opportunity for the aerospace and defense industry. The opportunity is in hiring individuals with skills that equip them to become the next generation of industry leaders. The challenge is in competing with every other industry sector and the government for the limited pool of talent.
Bradford R. Rich has been named president of St. George, Utah-based SkyWest. Michael J. Kraupp was named chief financial officer and treasurer, and Eric J. Woodward is the new chief accounting officer.
Mario Diaz, general manager of Landmark Aviation's San Antonio facility, has been named the company's Manager of the Year. Diaz was selected because he increased his location's revenue, improved customer service and built strong relationships with the San Antonio airport.
Reader Roger Horrell wonders why Ford-class aircraft carriers are not fitted with stabilizers (AW&ST May 9, p. 8). Stabilizers control roll, not pitch. To my knowledge the only oceangoing vessels controllable in pitch are submarines. Crawford, Colo.
Who would have guessed that buying shares of Delta Air Lines would be the equivalent to shorting Exxon-Mobil? An unusual correlation has emerged in the stock market this year: When the price of oil rises, the share prices of airlines fall, and when the price of oil falls, airline share prices rise.
A ruling by a World Trade Organization appeals body contains good news for both Boeing and Airbus in the long-standing battle between the U.S. and European Union over large commercial aircraft subsidies. As has become standard in the multi-step process, both sides declared victory after the ruling, although there are no clear winners. The appeal was to DS316, the case the U.S. brought against Airbus ahead of the counterclaim, DS353, for which the appeals process is still ongoing.
Justin von Hagel has been named director of Aerospace Parts Programs for Sedro-Woolley, Wash.-based Janicki Industries. He was director of engineering at Triumph Composite Systems.
The German government has unveiled its armed forces restructuring plan. Troop strength is to be cut to 185,000 from 220,000. The air force will undergo restructuring into two commands, one for support and another for deployable forces. The navy will be organized into two deployment flotillas, a naval aviation command and training and support elements.
It appears House and Senate conferees have reached a compromise on the FAA reauthorization bill to keep the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, possibly by cutting $30 million from the $200 million per year in federal subsidies by knocking out cities that are within 90 mi. of a decent-sized airport. That's what Chuck Howell, president of the largest subsidized carrier, Great Lakes Airlines, is hearing. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood says the Obama administration and several congressional conferees are solidly behind EAS.
Philip Lear has joined the sales department of intelligence technology company Envitia, Horsham, England. He held a business development position at Commerce Decisions, which became Qinetiq Commerce Decisions.
With much attention on Russia's efforts to revive its combat aircraft fortunes, the country also is more quietly making inroads in reviving its military transport aircraft activities. Russia's United Aircraft Corp. (UAC) is completing assembly of the first prototypes of the new Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military transport, also known as Il-476 or Item 476. The first flight prototype and the aircraft to be used for static testing are being built at the Ulyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP facility, a UAC subsidiary.
General Electric says a newly-defined performance improvement package (PIP) will bring the Boeing 747-8 engine to within 1% of fuel-burn targets, but acknowledges additional upgrades will be needed to close the final gap with a follow-on upgrade package.
EADS and Boeing are poised to start booking record revenue from their commercial aircraft businesses, but their underlying aggressive production plans are not without risk. After curtailing output in 2009 because of the global economic slowdown, both Airbus and Boeing have been moving rapidly to ramp up and set production targets that exceed pre-crisis plans. Output of both single-aisle and widebody airplanes is increasing rapidly and the two largest aircraft makers are on track to deliver more than 1,200 aircraft in 2013 and 1,400 in 2014.
