Bill Sweetman's “Save the JSF. Really?” (AW&ST Aug. 19, p. 19), advocates several actions that could result in significant cost reductions for the Defense Department. However, there are a few of points that deserve additional thought before program cancellation becomes reality.
Oct. 2-4—JEC America. Boston. www.jeccomposites.com/eventsjec-americas-2013 Oct. 7-10—Sixth AAS Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium: “Bringing Exploration Forward.” University of Alabama at Huntsville. See www.astronautical.org Oct. 14-16—51st Annual SAFE Association Symposium. Grand Sierra Resort & Casino, Reno, Nev. See [email protected] Oct. 22-24—National Business Aviation Association Convention and Exhibition. Las Vegas. See www.nbaa.org/events/name/
The U.K. Parliament Transport Committee plans to hold an inquiry into helicopter safety following the crash of a Super Puma into the North Sea on Aug. 23, which killed four oil workers. Committee Chairman Louise Ellman said: “We have heard worrying evidence that the workforce has lost confidence in the helicopters, which they have no choice but to use. We want to look at what has gone wrong and whether the government can do more to improve safety.”
Sarah Feinberg has been appointed chief of staff to U.S. Transportation Department bySecretary Anthony Foxx. She was a special assistant to the president and senior adviser to then-White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and had been director of communications and business strategy at Bloomberg.
Daniel Godin has been promoted to vice president-operations for North America from general manager of the New York and Ohio facilities for Circor Aerospace Products, Corona, Calif.
Former Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver heads out the door with a candid admission that there will not be enough money to launch the heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rocket in 2017, as planned.
I agree with the editorial “The Time Bomb of Complacency” (AW&ST Sept. 2, p. 50) that the U.S. cannot be complacent about aeronautics R&D—one of the few sectors where we have a positive export balance of trade. And I agree that NASA Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Jaiwon Shin needs support for increasing the NASA aeronautics R&D budget. But Shin needs to understand the history behind why Administrator Charles Bolden receives “less pressure from the entire aviation community than he does from a single congressman with a pet space project.”
The Pentagon and NASA will spend $44 billion on developing and launching spacecraft over the next five fiscal years, including a $7 billion chunk to develop NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. In a report to the U.S.
USN Rear Adm. (lower half) David F. Baucom, who has been selected for promotion to rear admiral, is expected to be named director of strategy, policy, programs and logistics for U.S. Transportation Command, Scott AFB, Ill. He is commander of Defense Logistics Agency Troop Support, based in Philadelphia.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) activity in the defense sector has been at a standstill in 2013 in the over-$100 million category. There have been several noteworthy commercial acquisitions announced by companies with defense operations: Rockwell Collins said last month it is buying Arinc from Carlyle, and Alliant Techsystems is purchasing Caliber Co. from Norwest Equity Partners and Bushnell from MidOcean Partners. But heading into September, the number of defense deals with prices in excess of $100 million is easy to add up: zero.
Yannick Kerriou (see photo) has been promoted to assistant manager from director of training of FlightSafety International's Paris-Le Bourget Learning Center.
Raymond Duquette (see photo) has been appointed president/general manager of CAE USA, Tampa, Fla. He succeeds John Lenyo. Duquette was vice president-global business development and sales for CAE Inc. and had been vice president-sales, marketing and business development for CAE USA.
A three-man U.S.-Russian crew is back on Earth after a successful 5.5-month expedition to the International Space Station. Weary but in good shape, NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy, Expedition 36 ISS commander Pavel Vinogradov and fellow cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin were assisted from their capsule by helicopter-borne Russian recovery teams within minutes of touching down under parachute at 10:58 p.m. EDT Sept. 10 (8:58 a.m. Sept. 11 local time).
Chris Harano has been promoted to CEO from president of Leading Edge Aviation Services, Costa Mesa, Calif. He succeeds Mike Manclark, who will become non-executive chairman. Harano previously was president of InsulTech. Daniel Zeddy has been named CFO.
“Data Driven” (AW&ST Sept. 2, p. 36) notes that The Active Pilot Monitoring Workshop (APM) was challenged to find a method that can help pilots become better monitors.
