Sikorsky Aircraft is bringing oil and gas platform operations into the 21st century with a new satellite-based approach system that takes the human calculation and guesswork out of legacy rig approaches in instrument conditions and at night. The system offers operators an automated arrival tool to reduce crew loading while increasing situational awareness.
Wayne Gilbert West has been appointed executive vice president/chief operating officer of Delta Air Lines. He will succeed Stephen E. Gorman, who plans to retire. West will remain head of Airport Customer Service and Delta TechOps.
Petroleum Helicopters Inc. Sikorsky S-92A departs an oil-drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The company recently began using a Sikorsky-developed automated rig approach system to reduce the workload and increase the safety for S-92 pilots in night or low-visibility conditions. A special report starting on page 38 examines how trends in the oil-and-gas industry and the search-and-rescue business are impacting helicopter operations. The Petroleum Helicopters photo was altered to obscure details of the offshore rig.
Sam Harris has been named as managing director of JetLease Capital, Palm Beach, Fla. He was founder of Aviation Advisors Group and worked in aircraft financing for National City Bank and PNC.
An item in the The World section, “Battery Smoke Grounds 787” (AW&ST Jan. 20, p. 12) lists one symptom that was corrected, but the matter of overloading the battery remains. Why during flight test does the auxiliary power unit (APU) work fine, but a well-used APU in service overloads the battery? As a retired TWA mechanic, I offer these factors for consideration: •Fuel temperatures aboard a recently landed aircraft after a 10-15-hr. flight will be -40F (kerosene @ 60F is hard to get on fire).
Chris Lennon has become head of development of asset management, aircraft deliveries and technical acceptance preparations in the corporate aircraft sector for the London-based International Bureau of Aviation's Asset Management Services. He was head of airworthiness for TAG Aviation. Carl Martin, Ross Armour and Malcolm Hide have been named technical managers.
Jon Buccola (see photo), chairman of Greenpoint Technologies, Kirkland, Wash., has been named Executive of the Year by the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance. The award recognizes Buccola's “dedication to community service, company growth and developing a corporate culture which embodies the values of fun, integrity, teamwork, creativity, customer focus and giving back to the community.”
More than six months after the end of a nine-month halt to flights over hazardous environments by the Eurocopter (now Airbus Helicopters) EC225, all operators of the heavy helicopters, the majority of which are used to support oil and gas platforms, have returned it to the air having implemented a series of interim fixes certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) last July.
Thomas P. Mendez, Jr. (see photo) has become vice president/controller of the Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Calif. He was head of corporate accounting and financial reporting operations.
Avi Cohen, CEO of Israel-based RRsat, has been named 2014 Teleport Executive of the Year by the New York-based World Teleport Association. The award is presented to an individual for “entrepreneurship, leadership and innovation in the development or operation of a teleport-based business.”
The French defense ministry has taken delivery of its first upgraded E-3F Sentry airborne early warning aircraft to be modified by Boeing and Air France Industries. The aircraft is the first of four E-3F Sentrys to complete the mid-life update that is based upon the Block 40/45 upgrade developed for the U.S. Air Force's E-3 fleet. The project is part of a 2010 U.S. foreign military sale worth $324 million. All four aircraft are due to be upgraded by 2016.
Cessna kicked off the flight-test program of its Latitude midsize business jet, keeping the aircraft on schedule for a 2015 certification. The aircraft, which recently rolled out quietly before employees, took to the air three years after Cessna unveiled the aircraft during the National Business Aviation Association's annual convention in October 2011. The first flight, announced Feb. 18, tested flaps, landing gear, pressurization systems, anti-ice capabilities, stability and control. Flight engineers reported that systems performed as expected.
Peter A. Antonenko has been promoted to chief operating officer from executive vice president of the Jetcraft Corp., Raleigh, N.C. Honors And Elections
James R. Muhs has been appointed president/CEO FedEx Trade Networks, Memphis, Tenn. He was senior vice president of U.S. International, Global Planning, Engineering and Trade Services at FedEx Express.
Chris Cannady (see photo) has been Wichita-based appointed OEM sales manager for Universal Avionics, Tucson, Ariz. He has held positions in engineering, management and technical sales with Boeing Military Aircraft, Cessna Aircraft, Bombardier/Learjet and Gulfstream Aerospace.
Investigators probing the crash of a police helicopter in Scotland are questioning why both engines flamed out despite the aircraft still having 10-15 min. of fuel left. The Airbus—formerly Eurocopter—EC135T2 operated for Police Scotland by Bond Air Services had been on a routine police mission and was returning back to its base at Glasgow City Heliport when it crashed onto the Clutha Vaults public house late in the evening of Nov. 29, 2013. All three crew onboard the helicopter were killed as were six patrons in the bar when the aircraft crashed through the roof.
A military fly/drive vehicle inspired by miniature “multicopter” unmanned aircraft is being prepared for its first flight. Advanced Tactics Inc.'s (AT) Black Knight Transformer is the technology demonstrator for a casualty-evacuation and cargo-resupply vehicle that can drive on or off road and fly like a helicopter, manned or unmanned.
The pilots of the UPS Airbus A300-600 that slammed into a hill just short of the runway in Birmingham, Ala., on Aug. 14 appear to have had difficulty programming the aircraft's navigation system, according to an NTSB investigative hearing on Feb. 20. Information from the flight data and cockpit voice recorders shows that the captain of Flight 1354 had intended to fly a “profile approach” into Birmingham, a non-precision arrival created in the aircraft's flight management system (FMS) to provide the autopilot with lateral and continuous vertical guidance to the runway.
For Sikorsky, demonstrating the S-97 Raider high-speed helicopter is even more important now that the U.S. Army has decided to retire its armed scout helicopters and not replace them, at least in the near term. The company, which is building two Raider prototypes on industry funds, believes there is still room, and time, within the Army's long-term budget to acquire a small fleet of new armed scouts before it begins the heavy expenditure of replacing its large fleets of medium-utility and attack helicopters.
USAFR Maj. Gen. (ret.) Ralph S. Clem Jacksonville, Fla. (Nantes, France )
The recently released report by the National Commission on the Structure of the Air Force (AW&ST Feb. 3, p. 12) captures many of the key issues raised and discussed by that body, especially as they relate to the need for optimizing the mix of forces among the three components of the service (Active Duty, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard) in light of shrinking budgets, declining manpower and new mission areas.
The U.S. Air Force has finally given its newest aerial refueler, Boeing's developmental KC-46, a name. Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh announced Feb. 20 at the Air Force Association's Air Warfare Symposium in Orlando, Fla., that the aircraft will be dubbed the “Pegasus,” after the winged stallion from Greek mythology. The aircraft, however, has yet to fly. The first Boeing 767-2C, a commercial jetliner outfitted with plumbing and wiring for the military refueling modifications, is slated to roll out of the factory this summer.
Legacy airlines in Europe and Asia have long recognized the Persian Gulf carriers as a major threat. Now the European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) are exploring an open-skies agreement that they hope will help defend their position and stop leakage of traffic to the three big Middle East hub airports in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Doha.
