In 1989, when I was 15, I saw two airplanes I could not identify. Several months later, William B. Scott wrote of three secret aircraft that had been reported around the country. I wrote to Aviation Week & Space Technology and within a few weeks, I received a call from Mr. Scott. Instantly the voices of disbelief from those I had told became voices of admiration.
George Vardoulakis (see photos) has become vice president-tactical systems for F/A-18 programs and William J. Schaefer the Washington-based vice president-business development for the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Integrated Systems Sector, El Segundo, Calif. Vardoulakis was director of the company's F/A-18E/F program. Schaefer is a former deputy assistant Navy secretary for planning, programming and resources.
Japan's Koichi Wakata and France's Leopold Eyharts have been assigned slots on future long-duration expeditions to the International Space Station. This move continues the trend to broader international participation on the orbiting facility as NASA delivers pressurized modules supplied by the European Space Agency and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency. Wakata, the first Japanese astronaut assigned to a station expedition, is scheduled to be on board when the last of three elements for Japan's Kibo laboratory arrives in the winter of 2008 on STS-127.
Is anyone awake at the FAA? If not, perhaps they are fatigued after flying with me on a "reduced-crew-rest" trip to Hong Kong. As a 777 captain for a major U.S. airline, our layover times are being reduced to dangerous levels. Imagine flying non-stop (16-plus hr.) from the New York area to Hong Kong and departing for home with as little as 10 hr. block-to-block rest, which yields 6 hr. of hotel sleep, if lucky.
Indonesia is considering a further order for BAE Systems Hawk trainers and light attack aircraft, although wary of the price, which it says is three times as high as some competitors'.
Airbus appeared tantalizingly close last week to signing off on a contract to provide A330-200 tanker-transport aircraft to Saudi Arabia. On Feb. 12, the French ministry of defense announced that it had struck a deal to sell an unspecified number of tankers to Riyadh, only to say hours later that it had spoken too soon. Paris still hopes to wrap up the transaction within a multibillion-euro arms agreement.
Tony Varney (see photo) has become finance director and Roger Lantz vice president-sales and marketing for Central Europe for Saab subsidiary Gripen International. Varney was financial director of the Radar Systems Div. of AMS, while Lantz was vice president-human resources at Saab AB.
EPPS AVIATION AT DEKALB-PEACHTREE AIRPORT in Atlanta has been appointed as a modification center to install the Alliant cockpit in King Air 200s. Avidyne developed the integrated, flat-panel cockpit for retrofitting King Airs with S-TEC and the system includes an IntelliFlight 2100 Digital Flight Control System (AW&ST Jan. 29, p. 58).
The time needed by a U.S. warplane to electronically pinpoint an enemy radar is being compressed to less than a second from today's 30-sec. standard. Near-instantaneous computation of the source of electronic emission to within tens of meters or less--even in very crowded radio-frequency environments--is considered a crucial need for development of the Pentagon's portfolio of electronic, network and information attack tactics.
The article "Vanishing Act" appears to have missed the fundamental cause for decline in the ranks of aerospace and defense engineers during the past two decades. Further, the Viewpoint by Deloitte Consulting's Tim Short and Jim Schwendinger goes in the direction that, at best, is triage (AW&ST Feb. 5, pp. 44 and 54).
Latin American Air Transport Assn. (ALTA) member airlines carried 92.4 million passengers last year, a 3.9% increase in traffic compared with 2005. Varig service cuts caused a slight decline in traffic (0.6%) and capacity (0.2%) during the year, which in part reduced overall load factor by three percentage points to 70.8%, compared to 2005.
Details about President Bush's Fiscal 2008 budget continue to trickle out. The large version of the active electronically scanned array MP-RTIP radar--a key element of the now canceled E-10 multi-sensor command and control aircraft--is still alive and being considered by the U.S. Air Force as an upgrade to the E-8 Joint Stars long-range surveillance aircraft. In its smaller version, the radar remains in the budget as an upgrade to the Global Hawk Block 40 long-endurance, unmanned reconnaissance aircraft.
The U.S. government's outsourcing of information technology work will increase nearly 6% annually, reaching $18 billion by 2011, according to a new forecast by Input, an IT market research firm in Reston, Va. It notes that as federal agencies move to shift more core IT activities to the private sector, they're moving away from mega-contracts, breaking up work into pieces that can be outsourced without a lot of red tape.
David Bond, David Collogan and John M. Doyle (Washington)
Now, at least, everyone knows what they're arguing about. Nearly a year later than promised and after more than two years of jockeying for position among aviation groups, the FAA unveiled a user-fee-based funding plan for air traffic control that will pit two of the most powerful congressional lobbying organizations--airlines and general/business aviation--against each other.
I am not surprised as to why people are less likely to study engineering than in the past. I have been in the aviation industry most of my career as an engineer and have seen it change dramatically.
The European Union hopes to take the first steps this year to ensure that EU members will work together more closely when the next generation of military communication satellites is built and launched.
Automated satellite servicing perfectly illustrates the dichotomy in the approaches of Europe and the U.S. to space research. U.S. efforts, focused on the Orbital Express project, are led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa), with Boeing and Ball Aerospace as the main contractors. Geared to Defense Dept. requirements but with possible commercial spinoffs, Orbital Express aims to test autonomous component exchange, refueling and automatic rendezvous/docking techniques using chase and target satellites (AW&ST June 5, 2006, p. 47).
THE PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA IS SENDING NINE OFFICIALS, including Li Zongji, deputy director general of the Air Traffic Management Bureau, to this year's Civil and Military Air Traffic Management Summit. The Air Traffic Control Assn. meeting is being held in Asia for the first time. AeroThai, Thailand's air navigation service provider, is hosting this year's meeting in Bangkok Feb. 26-Mar. 1. FAA and U.S. Defense Dept.
India could be on the brink of opting for a European solution for an army contract for 197 light helicopters, although the U.S. competitor insists it is still in the race. Some say Eurocopter's AS 550 Fennec will replace the aging fleet of Chetaks (Alouette II) and Cheetahs (Alouette III), leaving Bell Helicopter's 407 in the dust. India's Army Aviation Corps proposes to buy 60 helos outright with the remaining 137 to be built under license by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. in a $500-600-million deal. The new rotary wings will be used to ferry loads of up to 165 lb.
FAA, DEFENSE DEPT., AEROSPACE INDUSTRY and airline officials will meet at an RTCA-hosted symposium on Mar. 19 in Washington to review FAA plans for a next-generation air traffic system. Officials from the European Air Traffic Alliance will also participate. Panels will discuss the FAA's Operational Evolution Partnership and the bridge to what is now being called the NextGen system for U.S. air transportation. NextGen was recently known as the Next-Generation Air Transportation System (NGATS).
Japan Airlines' latest strategic plan has failed to impress industry analysts, who say the company will continue to struggle until it acts more decisively to cut costs. The airline plans to haul staff numbers down by 8% during the coming three years, to 48,800 from the present 53,100, and it will maintain the reduced salaries that were introduced last year.
Keri Kohler has become executive assistant and scheduler for the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Assn. She was executive assistant to U.S. Rep. Ben Chandler.
Gail Delaney (see photos) has been promoted to vice president/controller from assistant controller of ITT Night Vision, Roanoke, Va. Mike Alvis has been appointed vice president-programs. He was director of Value-Based Leadership Development at ITT Defense, McLean, Va.
