John Zaepfel has been appointed to the board of directors of the Hi-Shear Technology Corp. , Torrance, Calif. He was founder/CEO of CPG International, which included Chartpak, Pickett Industries, Clearprint, Planhold and Grumbacher.
The German air force is pushing industry to consider more aggressive unmanned aircraft concepts than are currently on the unclassified drawing board, even as the country’s first steps toward a higher-performance, unmanned system move forward.
Continental Airlines in early 2008 will start installing Class-2 electronic flight bag (EFB) systems by Chicago-based navAero on its 58 Boeing 757-200/‑300s and 26 Boeing 767-200/‑400s, in part to provide pilots with an airport moving-map capability for improved situational awareness. Not many major airlines are retrofitting existing fleets with EFB equipment, although some are taking delivery of new aircraft from Boeing with higher-cost Class-3 EFB systems.
Pardus Capital Management, a New York hedge fund, ignited consolidation fever last week by recommending that Delta Air Lines and United Airlines merge. Pardus owns minority positions in both carriers. The recommendation sent shock waves throughout the industry, but Delta CEO Richard Anderson quelled speculation, saying Delta was not in merger discussions with United.
Russia will work with India on the Chandrayaan-2 robotic lunar exploration mission under a new 10-year agreement just signed in Moscow, supplying a lander and rover for surface operations. The agreement also covers the use of India’s Geostationary Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV), set to launch India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter in April 2008, for joint missions to the Moon. In addition to the launch vehicle, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) will supply the orbiter/mother ship for the combined effort.
New York Sen. Hillary Clinton supports efforts to send humans back to the Moon as part of her overall space and aeronautics platform, despite her failure to explicitly say so in a recent Washington speech.
British Airways is once again pushing up its fuel surcharge on tickets in response to the continued rise in oil prices. The airline last raised its surcharge in June of this year. For long-haul flights of more than 10 hr., the fee increases to £58 ($120) from £43 ($89) per flight; for those shorter than 9 hr., it grows to £48 from £38. The surcharge for short-haul flights is being raised to £10 from £8. BA expects its fuel bill for the year to exceed £2 billion.
A group of investors around Spanish billionaire Alicia Koplowitz plans to submit a formal bid for Iberia in the next few weeks, with an offer price of around €3.60-3.90 ($5.25-5.69) per share (valuing the airline at up to €3.7 billion). It would be the first competitor to the team of TPG and British Airways .
NASA has restored two instruments trimmed from its planned 2009 Mars Science Laboratory lander after some cost-cutting brought them back within the bounds of the tight-money policy being followed by Alan Stern, associate administrator for science. The Mars Descent Imager, designed to photograph the surface below as the lander descends, will fly after all, now that Malin Space Science Systems “has agreed that there will be no additional costs to NASA,” according to a letter from Stern to the planetary science community.
Don Daniels has been named vice president/controller and Noreen Courtney-Wilds vice president-sales of JetBlue Airways . Daniels was assistant controller, Courtney-Wilds has been director of sales and distribution.
Airports Council International (ACI) is pushing for its members to move toward becoming more carbon-neutral. The organization wants airports to implement programs that include: ground service equipment emissions reduction; electrical power and pre-conditioned air supply to aircraft at gates; public transport; energy-efficient infrastructure; environmental management systems; and developing natural habitats surrounding airports.
Robert Wall (Tel Aviv), David A. Fulghum (Tel Aviv)
Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) is exploring the launch of a new regional jet, as well as long-term plans to upgrade the aerospace and defense company’s business jets.
In many ways, it’s the best of times for the global aerospace, defense and airline industries. Production lines are humming at Boeing, Airbus and business aircraft manufacturers as they book orders at a record pace. U.S. defense spending has defied predictions of a slowdown. Almost every U.S. aerospace company outperformed Wall Street’s profit expectations in the third quarter. And airlines are flying packed aircraft and generating profits.
Sikorsky will develop a new version of the Schweitzer 333 helicopter for Saudi Arabia in a move that underscores the health of the Middle East rotorcraft market, and its rapid transformation into a balanced civil/military market. Under a deal struck here last week worth more than $1 billion to the Saudi interior ministry, Sikorsky agreed to supply nine Schweitzer 434s, an upgraded version of the 333, along with 16 S-92 transports and 15 S-72Ds, a new variant equipped with a Thales glass cockpit.
The Boeing Business Jet stands at a crossroads in avionics technology—exploiting all the flight deck systems available to airlines operating the 737, while serving as a showcase for advanced bizjet avionics that air carriers may one day want. The BBJ often serves as a pathfinder for the latest systems that eventually could find their way onto commercial 737 flight decks.
A December launch to the International Space Station for Europe’s Columbus laboratory in the space shuttle Atlantis is looking more likely after a week of orbital catch-up by the station crew. Expedition 16 commander Peggy Whitson and flight engineer Dan Tani are scheduled to go outside the station twice this week—on Nov. 20 and Nov. 24—to connect power and data cables and ammonia cooling pipes as they continue pushing to recover time lost to an emergency solar array repair Nov. 3 (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 36).
Capt. Robert W. Fogelsanger (America West/US Airways)
While Capt. Scott Theuer claims the US Airline Pilots Assn. has enough cards to call for an election to get rid of ALPA (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 17), I cannot imagine that USAPA would get cards from any former America West pilot. Why would any America West pilot support an organization whose only reason for being is to throw out the Nicolau seniority award and staple more than three-quarters of the former America West pilots to the bottom of the seniority list?
Eurocopter has acquired full control of U.K.-based McAlpine Helicopters as part of a move to reinforce its network of sales and support facilities. McAlpine, in which Eurocopter already held a 10% stake, supports a fleet of 200 rotorcraft and employs about 170 people.
David J. Buonanno has been named to the board of directors of the Air Industries Group Inc. , Bay Shore, N.Y. He has been an executive with the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. and General Electric Co.
Gorik Hossepian (see photos) has been named vice president-navigation and positioning systems for the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Navigation Systems Div., Woodland Hills, Calif. He was vice president-situational awareness systems and has been succeeded by Ike Song, who was director of strategic programs and business development.
Martin Bentrott has been named vice president-Middle East and Africa sales for Boeing Commercial Airplanes . He succeeds Lee Monson, who will be taking a leave. Bentrott has been vice president-sales and marketing operations.
In the past two years, Boeing boosted its business aviation sales with high-value orders for 15 wide-body jets (mostly 787 VIPs) worth $3.5 billion. Since a 787 VIP costs two to three times more than a BBJ narrow-body 737, these recent wide-body orders produced revenue within roughly $2 billion of what has been earned in a dozen years of selling 151 BBJs. And the demand for 787 VIP models is so strong, the company says it could sell nearly $2 billion more of them in the next few years if only they were available.
The U.S. Army has ordered $17 million worth of Raytheon’s TOW bunker-buster missiles for the Canadian Army. A total of 462 missiles will be delivered in the first international sale of the new fragmenting, high-explosive warhead design, which is optimized to destroy a range of targets, particularly those associated with complex urban terrain.
Rhett C. Ross has become president of Teledyne Continental Motors Inc. , Thousand Oaks, Calif. He succeeds Bryan L. Lewis, who will be retiring on Feb. 1. Chris T. Kuehn will succeed Ross as president of Teledyne Energy Systems Inc. Kuehn was its vice president of commercial products-hydrogen generators.
