The International Air Transport Assn. is calling for the Obama administration to boost funding for air traffic control modernization as part of economic stimulus efforts. In a speech in New York Feb. 19, IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani said he understands the focus is on “jobs and the economy,” but noted that “aviation can play a pivotal role in economic recovery . . . smart investments—not bailouts—in air transport will pay off in even more jobs and boost other industries.”
Air France Cargo formally took delivery of the first Boeing 777 Freighter on Feb. 19 following certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) on Feb. 6. The initial-delivery aircraft, the third 777F off the production line, first flew on Feb. 7. The FAA certificated the 777F on Feb. 3.
Obituaries: Konrad Dannenberg, who witnessed the first space launch in 1942 as a rocket engineer in Nazi Germany and went on to help develop the Saturn V Moon rocket for NASA, died Feb. 16 in Huntsville, Ala. He was 96. One of the last surviving members of Wernher von Braun’s celebrated “Rocket Team” that came to the U.S. after World War II, Dannenberg was introduced to rocketry by Max Valier, a German pioneer in the field. Dannenberg studied diesel engineering at Hanover because he considered the fuel-injection systems applicable to rocket engines.
Andrew Woodworth has become sales manager for Australasia for Dallas-based BBA Aviation Engine Repair and Overhaul . He was turboprop and rotorcraft account manager for GE Aviation Systems in Australia.
Douglas Barrie (Bangalore, India), Neelam Mathews (Bangalore, India)
India is planning to fly the baseline variant of its Kaveri turbofan engine on a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 testbed within the next 3-4 months, even as it prepares to effectively re-launch the engine, drawing on Snecma’s M88 core to improve overall performance. The Kaveri is India’s entrée into the combat aircraft turbofan market, but the drawn-out development has yet to provide a engine for the originally intended platform, the Light Combat Aircraft (Tejas).
Lukas Braunschweiler (see photo) has been appointed CEO of Ruag Holding , Berne, Switzerland, effective June 1. He will succeed Toni J. Wicki, who will retire but remain on the board of directors. Braunschweiler has been CEO of the Dionex Corp., Sunnyvale, Calif.
The European Commission has granted antitrust approval to plans by Rolls-Royce and Mubadala to establish an engine maintenance joint venture. The two companies announced their plans last year to provide services to customers in the Middle East. Mubadala’s Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technologies would provide on-wing care of Rolls-Royce Trent engines as well as performing engine changes and operating an asset management service for components and accessories.
Within a span of five days, the U.S. Congress passed a $787-billion economic stimulus package, the government doubled its backing of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to $400 billion, President Barack Obama unveiled a $75-billion proposal to stave off home foreclosures and General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC asked for another $22 billion in federal bailouts. That’s a lot of money—roughly the equivalent of funding two Iraq wars. But Sandy Cutler isn’t holding his breath.
Your accolades in the Laureate nomination for the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Team are well deserved (AW&ST Jan. 12, p. 53). However, I question your labeling it the “NASA/Lockheed Martin . . . Team.” Not one of the named members works for NASA and only one (Kevin McNeill) for Lockheed Martin. Jim Graf and Richard Zurek are employed by Caltech at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and Alfred McEwen works for the University of Arizona.
David Pitchforth has been named managing director of Boeing U.K. Rotorcraft Support . He was director of business transformation/senior vice president for U.K. government business of the AgustaWestland Military Div.
The Indian air force plans to expand its combat fleet to 42 squadrons by 2022, from the 32 at the end of 2007, says the defense minister, adding that the locally developed Light Combat Aircraft will enter service in 2010-11.
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has become the first U.S. facility to install and test avian radar. The risk of bird strikes to aircraft was highlighted on Jan. 15 when Canada geese caused a dual-engine failure on US Airways Flight 1549. The FAA-funded research project at Sea-Tac is a collaborative effort with the University of Illinois. Sea-Tac’s experimental avian radar is installed on top of the airport office building and will be used to monitor bird movements in the vicinity of the airport.
One increasingly important safety-related educational topic during the 2009 Heli-Expo show this week in Anaheim, Calif., will be how to reduce accidents involving emergency medical service helicopters flying at night in reduced visibility. During the past 20 years, 49% of accidents involving EMS rotorcraft were traced to flying in reduced visibility at night, and that combination continues to be a serious safety issue, according to the Helicopter Assn. International (HAI).
Clyde Space, a Glasgow, Scotland-based company specializing in components for cubesats and other small spacecraft, is at work on a constellation of tiny satellites that can give emergency service personnel worldwide quick notice of a blooming wildfire before it erupts into a conflagration such as those that have ravaged southern Australia. In this image, collected Feb. 13 with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer on NASA’s Aqua Earth-Observing System satellite, the deadly fires continued to burn in the mountains east of Melbourne.
Wichita State University’s National Institute for Aviation Research has completed tests of a full-scale ScanEagle Compressed Carriage, long-endurance autonomous unmanned vehicle for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. The tests were conducted in NIAR’s Beech Wind Tunnel and centered on collecting aerodynamic data on thrust and drag. An electric motor and propeller were used to replicate the aircraft’s heavy fuel propulsion system, according to David Langness, program manager for ScanEagle. The vehicle is 4 ft. long with a 7.5-ft.
Although its membership companies are now reeling from the global financial crisis and political recrimination in Washington, the General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. (GAMA) reported Feb. 17 that 2008 was a year in which the industry posted a record $24.8 billion in deliveries.
User feedback is causing Selex Galileo to adjust its plans for the Falco tactical unmanned air vehicle, with an eye on improving payload options and making the system more responsive in the field.
Stephen R. Ball has been appointed CEO of Lockheed Martin UK , succeeding Ian Stopps, who is retiring. Ball has been managing director of Lockheed Martin UK INSYS.
NASA and the European Space Agency will take steps toward merging their outer-planet exploration plans, eyeing a mission that would send separate U.S. and European spacecraft to visit the four largest moons of Jupiter circa 2026, while also researching a possible joint visit to Saturn’s moons Titan and Enceladus.
Chris Strong has become vice president-membership marketing for the Washington-based National Business Aviation Assn. He was director of business operations for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Assn.
Washington may be full of change, but its mystification with North Korea is no different, nor is its concern about missile launches. North Korea has said that a widely expected launch is related to its space efforts, but Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in Tokyo last week that Pyongyang has not complied with international rules on notification of space launches. “We will continue to seek ways to discourage them from launching a missile for any purpose,” she said.
Astrium Services has concluded an agreement with the French armed forces to supply Ku-band up- and downlink bandwidth for France’s SIDM medium-altitude long-endurance UAVs deployed in Afghanistan. Astrium already provides such service for SIDMs based in France. The Afghan SIDMs were accepted in January and recently flew their first missions, Astrium said.
Juliana P. Blackwell has been named director of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Geodetic Survey . She was chief of the survey’s Observation and Analysis Div. Blackwell succeeds Dave Zilkoski, who is retiring.
Tan Soon Keat and Garrick Andrews have been appointed surveyors in Singapore and Wellington, New Zealand, respectively, for London-based Airclaims . Keat was sales director for AAR Landing Gear Services, while Andrews was head of fleet and maintenance management for Vincent Aviation.
NASA’s Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope has imaged a gamma-ray burst with the greatest total energy ever witnessed. The explosion, designated GRB 080916C, took place at 7:13 p.m. EDT on Sept. 15, 2008, in the constellation Carina. Working in tandem, Fermi’s Large Area Telescope and Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor instruments provided a view of the blast’s initial emission from energies between 3,000 to more than 5 billion times that of visible light.
