An MD-83 operating on behalf of Air Algerie crashed in Mali on July 24. Contact was lost 50 min. after takeoff from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and the aircraft went down around 70 km (44 mi.) from the city of Gao, according to Air Algerie. Mali President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita told Reuters on July 24 that wreckage was spotted between the northern towns of Aguelhoc and Kidal.
An Ariane 5 ES rocket is scheduled to launch Europe’s fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV-5) to the International Space Station July 29, after commercial launch services provider Arianespace performed additional checks on a subsystem inside the launcher’s Vehicle Equipment Bay (VEB). Previously slated to launch July 24, liftoff is now scheduled for 8:44:03 p.m. local time from Europe’s Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana.
NASA wants information on the possible use of privately owned spacecraft orbiting Mars to relay data back from future rovers as a commercial service. With its final planned scientific orbiter scheduled to reach Mars in September, the agency issued a request for information seeking ideas for private spacecraft that would collect data from unspecified future robotic missions to Mars and relay it back to Earth, perhaps with high-bandwidth laser communications links.
Sierra Nevada Corp. and the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plan to work together to find potential uses—and alternative launchers—for the U.S. company’s Dream Chaser lifting-body commercial crew and cargo spacecraft. Under a “memorandum of cooperative understanding,” Sierra Nevada and JAXA will study “potential applications of Japanese technologies and the development of mission concepts for the Dream Chaser spacecraft,” the company says.
Sweden has decided not to make a formal offer of the Saab JAS 39E/F Gripen to Denmark because Sweden believes its neighbor’s requirement is loaded in favor of the Lockheed Martin F-35A Joint Strike Fighter. The Swedish FXM defense export agency announced on July 21 that it would not bid, leaving the Eurofighter Typhoon and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet in a contest against the F-35A. The decision follows “a comprehensive assessment that the state and the industry have made together,” according to FXM Director-General Ulf Hammarstrom.
India says the offer of Dassault Aviation for transfer of technology in the medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA) deal is fully compliant to the specified requirements and negotiations are progressing to finalize the purchase of 126 Rafale fighters. The Indian air force hopes the deal will be completed during the fiscal year that ends March 31. “If that happens, we will probably start receiving the aircraft from late 2016 or early 2017,” says an air force official. For MMRCA, the defense ministry has been in contract negotiations with Dassault for about 20 months.
With mounting evidence that MH17 was shot down by Ukrainian separatist rebels who believed that they were engaging a military aircraft, attention is focusing on the Russian-built Almaz-Antey Buk-M1 ground-based air defense system (Gbads) that destroyed the airliner.
Sean I. McCormack has been named vice president-communications for Seattle-based Boeing Commercial Airplanes , succeeding Mark G. Hooper , who plans to retire Sept. 1. McCormack has been Boeing’s corporate vice president-communications for government operations in Washington. Anne C.
Christina Johansson has become chief financial officer of Zurich-based SR Technics. She succeeds Angelo Quabba, who is leaving the company. Johansson was vice president-finance at the Poyry Energy Business Group of Switzerland.
Darrell Frey has been named director of international service center operations for the Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Savannah, Georgia, and Thomas Anderson director of product support for its site at Long Beach (California) Airport. Frey was director of regional service center operations, while Anderson was director of final phase operations for the G550 and G450.
Giovanni Spitale (see photo) has been appointed president of Unison Industries, Jacksonville, Florida. He was general manager for GE Aviation’s Flight Efficiency Services and was its global C919 program leader in Shanghai.
Terry Lutrick has been appointed sales manager for California, Nevada and Arizona, and Ed Henry sales manager for the Mid-Atlantic U.S., both for West Star Aviation, East Alton, Illinois.
Kevin Weiss (see photo) has become vice president-human resources for L-3 Communications of New York. He was senior vice president-human resources for for L-3 Aerospace Systems.
During the Farnborough International Airshow this month, Israel Aerospace Industries CEO and President Joseph Weiss talked with Paris Bureau Chief Amy Svitak, about plans to expand the company’s presence in the global space sector with exports of remote-sensing and communications satellites.
Perhaps reader Donald Peterson ( AW&ST July 21, p. 9) has confused the current Orion space capsule with the 1950s/60s era Project Orion, an interstellar spacecraft powered by detonating atomic bombs and riding the blast waves, which is, I’m fairly certain, what reader Jeremiah Farmer was referring to ( AW&ST June 30, p. 8). A 1968 study by Freeman Dyson (ow.ly/zt7jm) calculated possible speeds of up to 10,000 kps., thus making a one-way trip to Alpha Centauri take ∼90 years, with no slowdown at the other end.
Frank Morring, Jr.’s “Exploration Election” ( AW&ST June 23, p. 18) deserves careful attention. The 2016 presidential election may result in establishing a dismal NASA strategy that will endure for years.
David Hewitt, executive vice president for safety of Wheels Up, has been named chairman of the Alexandria, Virginia-based Air Charter Safety Foundation. Greg Kinsella, president/CEO of Key Air, is the new vice chairman. Hewitt succeeds Jeff Baum, president/CEO of Wisconsin Aviation.
Jim Welch has been appointed chairman of the Louisville (Kentucky) Regional Airport Authority board of directors. He was vice chairman and has been succeeded by Phil Lynch. Jon Meyer has been reelected secretary-treasurer. Welch is vice chairman of the Brown-Forman Corp. and Lynch is its vice president-corporate communications. Meyer is partner/chairman of Jones, Nale and Mattingly, certified public accountants.
