Air Deccan Managing Director and Founder Capt. (ret.) G.R. Gopinath Now that it has discovered the low-cost carrier model, Asia is moving quickly to master it. Discount carriers' share of the region's market was just 1% in 2001. It's now reached 20%, according to the Sydney-based Center for Asia-Pacific Aviation. Following that cue, Indian low-cost carrier Air Deccan has its eyes on capturing the attention of the nation's fast-rising middle class.
The rains came. And by the time they finally stopped at Ft. Greely, Alaska, last summer, electronics components at seven interceptor missile silo underground vaults had suffered $38 million worth of water damage. The silos were being built for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, and flooding was confined to their Silo Interface Vaults (SIVs)--prefabricated underground spaces adjoining the silos. The Missile Defense Agency (MDA) estimates that 40-70% of the factory-installed electronics modules in the SIVs will have to be replaced.
Letters 8-10 Who's Where 12-13 Industry Outlook 17 Airline Outlook 18 In Orbit 19 News Breaks 20-26 Washington Outlook 27 A European Perspective 65 Arrivals 66 Classified 79 Contact Us 80 Aerospace Calendar 81
Constantine Klakis, director of engineering for World Airways, and Leon Cornelius, manager of the carrier's maintenance programs, have received the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award from the FAA. The award, named in honor of Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic in powered flight, recognizes the lifetime accomplishments of senior mechanics. Klakis began his career as a U.S. Air Force mechanic in 1956.
Graham Niven has been named Singapore-based vice president-marketing for Northeast Asia and Angus Greene as Dublin-based vice presidents-marketing for France, Italy, Malta, and North and sub-Saharan Africa, both for the Commercial Airlines Group of CIT Aerospace. Niven was co-founder and director of Crichton and Co. Greene was a regional sales director with Airbus and director of marketing with BAE Systems.
Gary L. Crittenden, who is executive vice president/chief financial officer of the American Express Co., has been nominated for the board of directors of Atlanta-based UPS.
NASA/industry team that developed and operated the Stardust comet sample return spacecraft--Don Brownlee, Tom Duxbury, Peter Tsou and Joe Vellinga During a 3.2-billion-mi., 7-year roundtrip Stardust made a daring and dangerous close flyby of the comet Wild 2, then returned to Earth with 4-billion-year-old rock and dust samples that will revolutionize studies on the formation of the Solar System.
Mooney Airplane Co.'s M20TN Acclaim is a Texas-bred speedster that takes single-engine performance to the next level, with cruise speed, long range and cabin comfort that competitors will find hard to match for the money. The M20TN Acclaim is the result of nearly 60 years of design evolution that began in the 1920s with company founder Al Mooney, whose talent for designing fast and efficient airplanes is legendary. Today's Mooney engineers have maintained that tradition and the Acclaim is a tribute to the company's never-ending quest for more speed.
Indonesia's largest airline, Garuda, has ordered 25 Boeing 737-800s, weeks after the government responded to safety incidents by calling for the country's carriers to operate aircraft no older than 10 years. A government review of aviation safety finds that none of the country's airlines fully meets international standards, though some met lesser requirements it described as minimal.
Steve Slusarczyk (see photo) has been named vice president-maintenance for Flightstar Aircraft Services, Jacksonville, Fla. He was director of operations at Timco Aviation Services.
U.S. Army Aviation Director Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt says the helicopter industry is reacting too slowly to the Pentagon's needs for war-replacement aircraft. "While the military may be on a war footing, our nation's industry is not," he said last month. Mundt says he's lost 130 aircraft--a combat aviation brigade's worth of helicopters--since the U.S. military began operations in Afghanistan. Deliveries on orders placed with war supplemental funds are only now taking place. "They create a good product, but I sure need them a whole lot faster," Mundt says of industry.
Simon Ramo (see photo) acknowledged applause from employees at the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Space Technology Sector, Redondo Beach, Calif., during a ceremony marking the company's 50th year in space. Ramo's many achievements were recognized during the ceremony, which featured the formal dedication of a street named in his honor at the company's Space Park campus. Ramo was a co-founder of Space Technology Labs and TRW Inc. (the "R" in TRW, acquired by Northrop Grumman in 2002).
John C. Willis, 3rd, has been appointed chief operating officer and Charles L. Curry vice president-operations and product development for SkyPlus Technologies, Jacksonville, Fla. Willis was president of Raytheon Aircraft Services, where Curry also was an executive.
Australian budget carrier Virgin Blue is setting itself up for long-planned services to the U.S. with an order for six Boeing 777-300ERs, an agreement to lease a seventh and options on six more. Rival Qantas Airways has ordered nine A320s for its budget unit, Jetstar, for delivery by 2009 and is beefing up its own domestic capacity by shifting four 767-300s from international operations. The 767s had been earmarked for sale.
Bombardier Safety Standdown Director Robert Agostino As head of flight operations for Bombardier Business Aircraft in Wichita, Kan., Bob Agostino's job is to make sure his demonstration pilots are competent, prepared and thoroughly knowledgeable about the aircraft they fly. But first and foremost, he must ensure that they operate safely.
Readers have questioned two facts reported in the "50 Years of Spaceflight" articles in the Mar. 19/26 issue. On p. 59, the date for the Apollo 8 "Earthrise" photo is given as Dec. 29, 1968. That is the date that the color photograph was released by NASA, two days after Apollo 8 landed. On p. 78, the duration of the Gemini 7 should have been cited as 13 days, 18 hr.
Karl Kettler suggests that few, if any, academic management theories have ever been translated into effective applications. In his view the isolated world of the academic is at least partly to blame. I agree that life in academia is extraordinarily isolated, not much removed from that of the monasteries that spawned the prototype universities. However, there is another culture clash between application and theories espoused by academia.
The Europeans (not just EADS and Airbus) appreciated the warm welcome given to the A380, both in New York and Los Angeles, when Lufthansa and Qantas Airways operated route-proving flights involving the mega-transport's first landings in the U.S. Looking beyond the uncertainties surrounding the A380's business plan--and the endless U.S.-European Union battle over state aid--the U.S. media's balanced and generally upbeat reporting acknowledged the emergence of a new era in air transportation.
MARKET FOCUS Fuel prices, consolidation cooldown put damper on airline stocks 24 NEWS BREAKS F-35A in first takeoff with afterburner, ninth flight in test series 35 RAF Eurofighter Typhoon in its first firing of an Asraam 36 Boeing unveils first structure that one of its own factories has made for the 787 37 Operators of CFM56-powered aircraft replacing thousands of fuel filters 38 Japan orders urgent check of its Dash 8s after nose gear fails to deploy 38 WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS
President's Message 7 Letters 10-14 Who's Where 18-22 Industry Outlook 27 Airline Outlook 29 In Orbit 31 News Breaks 35-38 Washington Outlook 39 Classified 119 Contact Us 120 Aerospace Calendar 121
Fifty years ago, the launch of Sputnik 1 marked a pivotal moment in human history. To commemorate the anniversary, AW&ST editors on three continents have prepared a special package of essays, starting on p. 51, that traces the first half-century of spaceflight. The editors explore how the ability to send machines and humans beyond the atmosphere has altered our culture and economy in ways no one could have foreseen in 1957. Depicted on the cover are Sputnik 1 (upper right); the International Space Station as it should appear on the Oct.
PIAGGIO AERO INDUSTRIES HAS DELIVERED TWO P.180 Avanti II business aircraft to Italy's Border Patrol Agency. The airplanes are equipped with FLIR for monitoring and interdicting immigration and smuggling activities and an ambulance kit for emergency medical missions. The P.180 is capable of flying 1,800 naut. mi. at 400 kt. and is powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-66B turboprops. The Border Patrol also operates 12 Piaggio Aero P.166s.
Being in full agreement with both writers on the subject of unmanned aerial vehicles and civil airspace (AW&ST Feb. 26, p. 6; Feb. 12, p. 46), I must say there has always been a big difference between a UAV and a remotely piloted vehicle. I have always associated UAVs with military or intelligence operations and when the time comes they will be used anyway. For non-military use, I prefer to use an RPV and think now is the time to create an RPV pilot license.
Europe's Herschel infrared telescope has completed a series of crucial tests intended to verify the performance of its vital cryostat. The 2.5-meters-high, 2-meters-wide cryostat must keep Herschel's instruments at 1.7 K (-271.3 C) so they do not emit infrared signals that can interfere with telescope measurements. Following bakeout to remove residual water and other volatiles, the cryostat went through a simulated launch campaign, followed by tests to monitor its behavior in ambient and deep-space conditions.
Retrofit of Eclipse 500 very light jet aircraft with an enhanced aircraft integration system, Avio NG, should begin this summer, when the new system is expected to be certified. Eclipse Aviation and original system supplier Avidyne parted ways in late February for reasons the two parties agreed not to discuss publicly. Eclipse, which is footing the bill for retrofitting, says the switchover will be seamless to customers and not affect the Eclipse 500's $1.52-million price tag.
