Diane Daegele (see photo) has been appointed vice president-business management for the Unmanned Systems Div. of the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s Redondo Beach, California-based Aerospace Systems sector. She was director of business management for the company’s Space Systems.
Paul Martin has become president of the Aerospace and Industrial Divs. of Oxford Performance Materials Inc., South Windsor, Conn. He was head of military and government activities for the Sikorsky Aircraft Co. and had been executive vice president of the Lockheed Martin Skunk Works.
Brian Perry has been appointed president of Mercury Defense Systems, Cypress, California. He was vice president/general manager of Mercury’s Services and Systems Integration group.
David Weingart (see photo) has been appointed Washington-based executive vice president of GRA Inc. He was director of strategic initiatives at the FAA and had been chief of staff to its administrator.
John L. Plueger has been named to the board of directors of Wichita-based Spirit AeroSystems Inc. He is president/chief operating officer of the Air Lease Corp. and was CEO of the International Lease Finance Corp.
Joseph DeMartino has been named chief operating officer of St. Louis-based LMI Aerospace Inc. He was a consultant to the aerospace industry and had held executive positions with GKN Aerospace, also in St. Louis.
Kevin Trosian has become vice president-corporate development and investor relations for Los Angeles-based Global Eagle Entertainment. He held a similar position at Mindspeed and had been vice president-finance and investor relations at Power-One.
James Lackey (see photo) has been appointed executive director of the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research, Development and Engineering Center at Redstone Arsenal, Huntsville, Alabama. He was director of engineering.
Paul Gregorowitsch has been named CEO of Oman Air. He succeeds Wayne Pearce, who has left the company. Gregorowitsch was chief commercial officer of Air Berlin and had been CEO of Martinair and an executive at KLM.
Werner Rothenbacher has become managing director/senior vice president-technical of Airberlin Technik. He succeeds Marco Ciomperlik, who has become chief restructuring officer for the Airberlin Management Board. Rothenbacher was senior vice president-technical operations at Etihad Airways.
Ryan Hartman has been named president/CEO of Boeing subsidiary Insitu , Bingen, Washington. He was senior vice president-programs and succeeds Steve Morrow , who is retiring.
Reader Dan Patterson demonstrates a lack of basic understanding of unmanned aerial vehicle avionics and mission software in his “Breached Branch” comment about the Taranis unmanned aerial vehicle ( AW&ST Aug. 4, p. 8).
Your August 4 issue provides an extensive overview of the state-of-the-art and future possibilities of aircraft tracking. What strikes me is that even though the disappearance of MH370 seems to have spurred the implementation of all these new technologies, none of them would have actually prevented the event from happening. It appears that MH370 was being tracked, but the transponder was deliberately turned off. Why can the transponder be turned off by the pilot?
With regard to several letters in recent weeks referencing “False Promises” ( AW&ST July 21, p. 38) about false glideslopes, please note that transport pilots should use (most do) a 3-for-1 ratio as a backup for accuracy on descent to landing. Specifically, at 3 mi. the aircraft should be at 1,000 ft.; at 6 mi., 2,000 ft., and so on. If you are not on this ratio you are not on the proper glideslope. The 3-for-1 method helps to ensure arriving at the correct airport. It is simple and it works.
I agree with the premise of the subject editorial that Pratt & Whitney’s silence regarding the F-135 problems is “disappointing but perhaps understandable.”
When the U.S. Army and, at some point, the Marine Corps select a new rotorcraft, they would do well to keep in mind the hard lessons of past wars. In tactical situations, steep, fast approaches and close-in maneuvering to tight landing zones are sometimes necessary. In such circumstances, tiltrotor aircraft with their relatively wide wingspans and more restrictive maneuvering envelopes are at a disadvantage compared with more conventional designs like coaxial rotor helicopters.
The fact that the British were even considering early retirement of the Royal Air Force’s airborne stand-off radar (Astor) system, “Staying Alive” ( AW&ST Aug. 4, p. 53), reveals an appalling ignorance about which military capabilities are important. Anyone with an elementary understanding of modern warfare should realize that vehicles have transformed how armies fight by providing them with mobility, heavy firepower, armored protection and supplies.
Northrop Grumman has unveiled a vertical-launch, horizontal-landing reusable booster design for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency’s XS-1 experimental spaceplane.
“The ‘A’ Word” ( AW&ST Aug. 11/18, p. 40) notes that the U.S. is spending billions of dollars to develop unmanned autonomous aircraft and other robotic machines. If I was a cash-strapped enemy of the state, I would be spending my limited funds on developing software that would allow me to take control of the aircraft in flight and send it back to destroy its base of operations.
I agree with the premise of the subject editorial that Pratt & Whitney’s silence regarding the F-135 problems is “disappointing but perhaps understandable.”
