Rob Powers has been named senior vice president-human resources of Textron Systems , Wilmington, Mass. He was head of human resources at the Textron Financial Corp.
Space ministers will meet at the European launch center in Kourou, French Guiana, next week in an attempt to draw up an agenda for reinvigorating Europe’s slumbering space program.
Ron DiLeo has been appointed senior vice president-marketing and sales, Joe Laughlin vice president-North America sales, Chris Vukelich vice president-distribution and eCommerce, Tracy Sandford vice president-marketing and Jonathan Rossman manager of revenue management, all for the OpenSkies division of British Airways . DiLeo was senior vice president/general manager of business travel in Europe for American Express, while Laughlin was vice president-sales for United Airlines. Vukelich was a senior executive with British Airways, Hilton International and Travelport.
Pratt & Whitney started flight tests of its 30,000-lb.-thrust GTF demonstrator on the eve of the Farnborough show. The sortie kicks off a planned 40 hr. of trials on a company-owned Boeing 747SP testbed and follows 250 hr. of Phase 1 and 2 ground testing that began in November 2007.
Russian experts will get a look at a pyrotechnic bolt they hope will aid their investigation of separation anomalies on the past two Soyuz reentries, after a touch-and-go extravehicular activity (EVA) at the International Space Station July 10. The two Russian members of ISS Expedition 17 sliced into the thermal insulation on their Soyuz TMA-12 lifeboat with a serrated knife to photograph a latching mechanism and remove the explosive bolt.
Neil Getter has become executive vice president of the Willis of New York Inc. subsidiary of Willis Group Holdings. He was a regional practice leader and senior account executive for Aon.
USAF Brig. Gen. Randal D. Fullhart has been selected for promotion to major general and appointment as vice commander of Air Force Cyber Command (provisional), Barksdale AFB, La. He has been deputy chief of the Central Security Service of the National Security Agency, Ft. Meade, Md., and will be succeeded by Brig. Gen. Noel T. Jones. Jones has been commander of the 56th Fighter Wing, Air Education and Training Command, Luke AFB, Ariz., and will be succeeded by Col. Kurt F. Neubauer, who has been selected for promotion to brigadier general.
Belgium’s federal government has reached an agreement with the country’s three regional governments on how to divide €178 million ($278 million) in Airbus A350XWB-related subsidies. The money is to enable Belgian aerospace companies to fund research and development necessary for them to participate in the A350 program. Companies will be required to pay back the subsidies.
The French air force will see a major upgrade of its Mirage 2000Ds with the planned replacement of the PDLCTS targeting pod with the Damocles system. Thales already has sold the system for French air force and navy Rafales, but the verdict had been pending on how to improve the standoff range for Mirage 2000Ds. French armaments agency DGA has placed an order with Thales for an initial batch of nine pods, with deliveries to take place starting mid-2009 and finishing up in 2010.
Herman Shanian has been named business development director for Aerodyne/Circor Aerospace , Irvine, Calif. He was director of sales for the Data Devices Corp. Dale Johnson has been appointed CAP engineering manager for Circor Aerospace. He was product manager for Aerodyne Controls Inc.
Finnair is seeing a further deterioration of the balance between capacity and demand that pushed its June load factors down to 73.4%, or 3.6 percentage points below the same period last year. Traffic was up only 5.3%, while capacity grew 10.4%. Consequently, the airline made schedule adjustments and capacity cuts in long-haul traffic. Finnair also reports that during the first six months, unit revenues were lower than in the previous year, decreasing 0.9%.
Several former senior managers from federal agencies with roles in Earth science and human health are urging the creation of a federal organization “to meet the unprecedented environmental and economic challenges facing the nation.” The proposed Earth Systems Science Agency would combine the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Geological Survey into a single organization, says the group, which includes former presidential science adviser John H. Gibbons; Charles Kennel, a former NASA associate administrator, and D.
EADS has entered exclusive talks with French aerospace and defense contractor Daher to sell a large stake in Socata, the aerostructures and general aviation business. The deal is expected to close in a few months. Daher executives have signaled they will back Socata’s ambitions to expand its product offering. Daher and Socata already are teamed in pursuing aerostructures work on the Airbus A350XWB.
Air France-KLM will limit its coming winter season to 2% capacity growth, with the subsequent summer season to be held to a similar level. That’s far below the growth rates of past seasons and less than half of the more than 4% growth rate forecast just a few weeks ago for the 2008-10 period. The airline also is in talks with rail providers about a potential teaming arrangement to handle the stiff competition fast trains represent in Europe for its short- and medium-haul network.
Air Transport Services Group (ATSG), parent of cargo operator ABX Air, is working on multiple options to maintain revenues if DHL reduces its reliance on ABX Air and shifts air lift to rival UPS. ATSG will rely on redeployment of many of its 44 Boeing 767-200s in the Asia-Pacific region and other growing areas of the world. The Wilmington, Ohio-based cargo company is trying to work with DHL to determine availability of the 31 767s currently committed to DHL service.
July 21-23—American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics’ 44th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit. Connecticut Convention Center, Hartford. Also, July 24–25—2008 Regional Leadership Conference. Hartford Marriott. And, Aug. 18–21—AIAA Guidance, Navigation and Control Conference and Exhibit/26th AIAA Applied Aerodynamics Conference/AIAA Atmospheric Flight Mechanics Conference and Exhibit/AIAA Modeling and Simulation Technologies Conference and Exhibit, and AIAA/AAS Astrodynamics Specialist Conference and Exhibit.
An Aster 30 missile successfully intercepted a target simulating a theater ballistic missile (TBM) in the first operational test of the Franco-Italian SAMP/T ground-based medium-range antimissile defense system. Expected to begin deliveries toward year-end, the SAMP/T will be the first European system capable of defeating TBMs of the Scud-class.
Forrest Colliver has been appointed vice president-business development of Ottawa-based EMS Satcom . He was director of business development for commercial aircraft solutions for Thales Aerospace.
Aviation Week & Space Technology: How has the structure of Tactical Missiles Corp. (TRV) developed since its 2002 creation? How do you actually manage and focus a corporation which now includes so many enterprises?
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft has notified Superjet 100 launch customer Aeroflot of delivery delays. The first of the regional jets will not be handed over until the third quarter of 2009, about a year later than planned. Africa
Allen Thompson has been appointed vice president-flight operations/chief pilot for the Seattle-based Alteon Training subsidiary of Boeing. He was director of flight training.
