Tim Riddell has been promoted to chief pilot from line pilot at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Ga. He is joined on the company's Airborne Product Support team by new pilots Duey Kautzmann, Jonathan Headley and Durban Morrow.
The U.S. government may take aviation for granted, especially when it comes to investing in it. But most major airlines are now in contract negotiations with many of their labor unions. Let one of those unions call a strike, and see how fast a Presidential Emergency Board is created to enjoin the workers from walking out. Politicians will then declare that aviation is a “vital” part of the economy. Rye, N.H.
No industry presents a more open and inviting target for hacking than aerospace, which includes companies of all sizes that are responsible for many of the world's greatest and most imaginative accomplishments in science and engineering. They have the ability to push the frontiers of human capabilities and commercial endeavors through their leadership and vision. However, they lack an understanding of the hacker's mentality.
Europrop International (EPI) has received the civil type certificate for its TP400-D6 turboprop from the European Aviation Safety Agency. The military qualification of the engine is due toward year-end, although much of the engine team's focus for this year will be on helping Airbus Military achieve civil certification of the A400M, says EPI President Simon Henley. EASA notes that this is the largest turboprop is has ever certified. The certification program involved about 12,000 running hours. EASA notes that 8,000 hr.
General aviation in Europe will become more ubiquitous and aircraft will become easier to operate. At least that is the picture being painted by several European Union research programs now under way. But many hurdles loom, including the continent's crowded airspace, a political environment often hostile to aviation, and a feeling that environmental concerns require airline and airport growth to be curtailed. In the research realm, however, these issues largely remain on the sidelines.
Military technology is making one of its periodic course reversals as a result of much-touted unmanned aircraft that are proving to be more demanding of manpower, money, bandwidth and over-the-horizon communications than predicted.
The U.K. is again working on readying WAH-64 Apache attack helicopters for ship-based operations after several years during which the mission lay dormant with the system heavily involved in land-based operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Three WAH-64s are deployed on the HMS Ocean amphibious assault ship and are participating in Exercise Cougar 11, to prepare the way for the Royal Navy replacing its new Response Force Task Group in the summer. This will provide the ability to respond on short notice to pop-up crises.
Avic and partners have test flown a pilotless version of the Brantly B-2B helicopter, promoting it as having military and civilian uses including surveillance and search-and-rescue missions. With the V750, the helicopter has a gross weight of 757 kg (1,670 lb.), payload of 80 kg and a range of 500 km (310 mi.), say the Chinese companies, Weifang Tianxiang Aerospace Industry, Qingdao Haili Helicopters and Avic's trading company, CATIC. The piloted Brantly B-2B got its type certificate from the FAA in 1959.
As a commercial freight pilot who works the same hours as controllers, I can only imagine what's in store for the industry when the FAA's “new” crew duty/rest rules are released this year. I can only hope they have not decided to implement the controllers duty/rest requirements, along with staffing of only one operator for a shift. Sounds like “it's OK to talk about problems at the FAA, it's not OK to talk about the FAA's problems.” Terminate Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood for sleeping on the job, not the controllers.
Bill Sweetman (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington)
Photography of U.S. military technology left behind in the May 1 raid against Osama bin Laden shows that previously unseen stealth-like enhancements to rotorcraft played a critical role in the mission to take down the Al Qaeda leader.
Orbital Sciences Corp. will launch a test version of its Taurus II rocket from Wallops Island, Va., in early- to mid-October as a risk-reduction step on the way to full-up commercial cargo flights to the International Space Station. With congressional approval of a funding resolution for the remainder of fiscal 2011, NASA has added the $100 million flight to Orbital's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) work, underscoring the importance to the U.S. space agency of commercial cargo deliveries once the space shuttle stops flying.
Barring some surprise unlikely for a Washington insider who has faced Senate confirmation more than once before, Leon Panetta will become the 23rd U.S. secretary of defense. On a good day, the job is nearly impossible, says Johns Hopkins University scholar Charles A. Stevenson. Only half of those serving as SecDef last more than 18 months, he points out in his authoritative book about the post. Eight have been fired or allowed to resign. One committed suicide shortly after leaving.
Dori Robau Alvarez (see photo) has been appointed senior representative of corporate communications for American Airlines' Mexico, Caribbean and Latin America division. She was media relations manager for Macy's Southeast region and had been a television news anchor for the Miami Herald Media Co.
Helicopter orders from the Russian military are up and commitments for new types are on the horizon, marking a stark turnaround from the days when military orders were unable to sustain Russia's domestic manufacturing industry.
When two airlines agreed in March to drop a lawsuit that prevented Chicago's O'Hare International Airport from issuing $1 billion in bonds for a new runway, it cleared an obstruction for one of the world's largest airport construction programs. The O'Hare program, now estimated at $6.6 billion, also surmounted a hurdle in January when officials won a long-standing legal battle with a church regarding a cemetery that needed to be relocated so that a runway could be completed.
The European Aviation Safety Agency is calling on operators of the Airbus A320 family of aircraft to address problems with the cargo loading system and cracking fuselage nuts. A May 5 airworthiness directive (AD) addresses a previously identified problem with tie-down points of YZ latches on the cargo loading systems, which do not withstand maximum loading requirements and thereby potentially allow unrestrained cargo to damage the lower deck cargo holds. EASA says the rectifying action, called for in 2006, has not been properly installed across the fleet.
Rick Stephens' Viewpoint on the problems of educating children for the work world was spot on (AW&ST April 4, p. 84). Yes, there is indeed much more to an educated person than the ability to regurgitate rote memory learning on a test, or to simply memorize keypad inputs to achieve a passing result on some sort of computer “scenario.”
The Russian air force is one step closer to fielding the latest upgrade to the Su-27 Flanker now that Sukhoi has begun flight tests of the first production Su-35S. The 1.5-hr. maiden flight took place on May 3 at the Komsomolsk-on-Amur assembly site in Russia's Far East. After completing factory trials, the aircraft will be delivered to the air force.
After a slow start, the U.S. and Australian Hypersonic International Flight Research Experiment (HIFire) is poised for seven more flights in quick succession.
The Virgin Blue Group will be unifying its various international and domestic operations under a single brand—Virgin Australia—by the end of this year, an important step for a carrier looking to challenge its legacy rival Qantas.
Paul Neal has become a principal consultant in the Washington office of Parsons Brinckerhoff. He was head of surface transport for the London Olympic Delivery Authority and a management consultant handling assignments related to airport access and transportation planning for special events. Honors and Elections
French military test personnel late last month demonstrated the AASM's ability to engage a fast-moving ground vehicle even in difficult engagement scenarios. The test involved the laser-guided version of AASM, which in its basic GPS-guidance and infrared-seeker mode is already being used operationally. The air-to-ground weapon was launched from a Rafale fighter at the Biscarosse test range at a range of more than 15 km (9.4 mi.) with the aircraft flying off-axis by 90 deg. from the target, which was itself moving at 80 kph.
Beijing continues to reveal new additions to its growing fighter inventory. The latest pictures feature its Shenyang J-15 Flying Shark design, which is intended to populate the decks of the country's first aircraft carrier.
Andrew P. Pearce (see photo) has been appointed London-based director of aircraft sales for the U.K., Europe and the Middle East at Montreal-based Innotech-Execaire Aviation Group.
