Jonathan Archer has become director of engineering and airworthiness for the Washington-based General Aviation Manufacturers Association. He was an associate with Booz and Co., working on projects for the FAA and Joint Planning and Development Office.
Carl Trustee (see photo) has been appointed as vice president of Landing Systems Solutions for the Aerospace Group of Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Lynnwood, Washington. He was head of the Central Engineering Group at Parker Aerospace.
Johann Panier (see photo) has been named CEO of U.S.-based Barfield Inc., which Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance recently acquired. He was head of business development for AFI KLM E&M.
Mark A. Caylor (see photos) has been named corporate vice president/president of Enterprise Services/chief strategy officer and Stephen C. Movius corporate vice president/treasurer of Falls Church, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman Corp. Caylor adds the chief strategy officer role. Movius continues as vice president-investor relations.
S hawn Kling has been named president of Universal Asset Management , Memphis, Tennessee. He has been chairman of Gulf Strategic; a member of the boards of directors of Global Energy & Lighting and Red Arrow Logistics; and strategic adviser to Dynamis Energy. Greg Brinkerhoff has been appointed chief financial officer.
USN Rear Adm. Jesse A. Wilson, Jr., has become director of the Joint Integrated Air and Missile Defense Organization on the Joint Staff, succeeding USAF Brig. Gen. Kenneth E. Todorov. Wilson was executive assistant to the chief of naval operations and interim deputy director of the 21st Century Sailor Office.
John Croft’s “False Promises” ( AW&ST July 21, p. 38), which covers preventing autopilot false glideslope prompts, made me think of the crash of a Gulfstream G-2 into the side of a mountain in Hot Springs, Virginia, on Sept. 26, 1976. I was an air traffic controller at Trenton Mercer Airport in New Jersey, where the aircraft, owned by Johnson & Johnson, departed.
I take exception to the commentary “A Fine Mess” by Madhu Unnikrishnan ( AW&ST July 21, p. 19). It is a naked endorsement supporting Norwegian Air International’s (NAI) attempt to serve the U.S. An opposing opinion should receive equal weight.
“Out There” and related articles ( AW&ST June 23, pp. 38-46) show how NASA and its partners are developing hardware to support an eventual human presence on Mars. But how can the public be inspired to fund a program when the results are so far in the future they won’t be seen by many of today’s taxpayers?
Regarding “Malaysian 777 Shootdown—Another Big Blow” ( AW&ST July 21, p. 12), even though it is well known that surface-to-air missiles emit a white exhaust plume during launch and climb, I have read of no reports of such a plume being witnessed. Is it possible the Russians have developed a stealth combustion propulsion fuel?
Unmanned aerial vehicle developers seek to dispel the public’s fear of rogue machines by insisting there will always be a human in the “kill chain.” However, in “Stealth by Routine?” ( AW&ST July 21, p. 29) the work being described—enabling the Taranis UAV to operate when deprived of data links—amounts to giving it autonomous capability. The difference between asking or not asking for permission entails nothing more than a branch in the code.
Aug. 21-22—Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Worldwide UAS Workshop. Dayton Beach, Florida. See proed.erau.edu or email [email protected] Aug. 22—54th Annual Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine Conference. Bangalore. www.isam.in/ Aug. 25—Ninth Asia-Pacific Congress of Aerospace Medicine. Beijing. www.apfama.org/2014
Two government sensors that may fly in space under the new U.S. Air Force Hosted Payloads Solutions program (see page 27) are a French-built advanced data-collection system that will receive data from ocean buoys and electronic-tagged marine life, and a Franco-Canadian search-and-rescue satellite-aided tracking system. Both were developed for NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and both were left without rides to orbit when the joint civil/military National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (Npoess) was cancelled in 2010.
