I would be grateful is someone could tell me whether any manufacturers of heavy transport aircraft place video cameras on the wingtips of their aircraft. Cameras placed to view control surfaces and engines inflight would be invaluable in the event of a malfunction. A lot of guesswork could be taken out of what happens next. For the flight engineer to be able to do a virtual walk-around at any time in a flight could be a helpful routine even during normal flights.
An article on the U.K. Merlin helicopter fleet in the July 29 issue, “High Expectations” (page 24), misstated the name of the mission system on the Merlin Mk2. The correct name is MCSP Tactical System.
A Lunar X-Prize contender plans to mount a commercial mission to the Moon as a step toward a private lunar sample-return flight around 2020 and ultimately, perhaps, lunar mining for water and valuable minerals. Moon Express Inc.—a strong contender in the $30 million Google Lunar X-Prize competition—says it will mount a follow-on mission to the Moon's south pole in partnership with the International Lunar Observatory Association (ILOA), one of the piggyback customers for its X-Prize entry.
Brendan Curran (see photo) has become president of the Aerospace Group of Crane Aerospace & Electronics, Lynnwood, Wash. He was vice president-strategy, business development and partnerships for Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines and had been an executive with Hamilton Sundstrand, another United Technologies company.
I picked up a subscription to Aviation Week while attending the Oshkosh (Wis.) air show in 2011 and have enjoyed your publication immensely ever since, although mail delivery from the U.S. to Australia can be a little erratic. I know you have to cater to a broad audience, but I'd like to see more on aircraft design, construction, technology, performance, maintenance, safety, usage, retirement and industry trends.
Nick L. Stanage has become president/CEO of the Hexcel Corp., Stamford, Conn. He succeeds David E. Berges, who will be executive chairman until retiring Dec. 31. Stanage has been president/chief operating officer.
USN Adm. Cecil E.D. Haney has been named commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He has been commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Haney succeeds USAF Gen. C. Robert Kehler. Rear Adm. (lower half) Cindy L. Jaynes has become executive officer for air anti-submarine warfare, assault and special mission programs at NAS Patuxent River, Md. She has been commander of fleet readiness centers/assistant commander for logistics and industrial operations at Naval Air Systems Command at NAS Patuxent River.
As the European Union's biggest defense powers pare back military budgets, the crisis in public spending is bolstering the EU's case for taking on more responsibility in the realm of defense, space and security. The European Commission (EC) issued a long-awaited slate of broad policy proposals last month that would harmonize defense commerce in Europe, develop common standards, fund dual-use R&D and ultimately see the EU's executive arm purchase and operate its own military hardware.
Jim Grant (see photo) has been named senior vice president-military programs for the Beechcraft Corp. of Wichita. He was vice president-new business for the Lockheed Martin Corp.
The serious fire that occurred July 12 at London Heathrow Airport is attributed to the combustion of an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) device (AW&ST July 22, p. 22). For those keeping score, please note that a simple tally shows the Number of Passengers Saved By Fitting of ELTs = 0. Number of Aircraft Seriously Damaged/Destroyed By Carriage of ELTs = 1. Would that well-meaning regulators and lawmakers take a moment to consider such odds before demanding action to mitigate some already improbable event.
Charles B. Johnson has been appointed to the advisory board of the Los Angeles-based Saker Aircraft Corp. He is president of Practical Aircraft Solutions and has been president of the Cessna Aircraft Co., the Aviation Technology Group and Beyond Aviation.
NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) should be able to reach the high-retrograde lunar orbit where the agency wants to reposition a small asteroid, based on the results of its preliminary design review (PDR). Top SLS managers at Marshall Space Flight Center say the planned 321-ft.-tall, 70-ton-capability Block 1 vehicle passed muster with a series of review boards for a first flight in 2017.
Nunzio Gambale, CEO Locata Corp. (Griffth, Australia )
I would like to thank Graham Warwick for his article “Synchronicity” (AW&ST July 8, p. 15). He did an excellent job of covering Locata's technology and its implications for the U.S. Air Force and others. I knew the article had been published when I received a rash of emails about it from business acquaintances in the U.S. and beyond. You obviously reach a large and informed audience. Given that Warwick only had a short time to talk to me via phone, his understanding and coverage are outstanding.
John McGraw has become head of regulatory affairs for the Alexandria, Va.-based National Air Transportation Association. He was deputy FAA director of Flight Standards Service.
Europe's legacy airlines are in great danger and could disappear in the next 20 years, according to a French government-sponsored think tank, the Commissariat General a la Strategie et a la Prospective (CGSP). The analysis was headed by Claude Abraham, a highly respected expert who was in charge of the French civil aviation authority (DGAC) in the 1970s and 1980s. Now, in his capacity as the investigation team's coordinator, he reports directly to Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) has flown an improved version of the MQ-1C Gray Eagle unmanned aircraft with twice the payload and endurance of the Block 1 aircraft now flown by the U.S. Army.
Robert Trimborn has been appointed business development director for the American Airports Corp., Santa Monica, Calif. He was that city's airport director.
How unmanned aircraft have matured over more than a decade of war is illustrated by the AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven. This hand-launched UAV is often overlooked, even though it outnumbers all other U.S. unmanned systems put together—there were 5,394 in service as of November 2012 —but advances in microelectronics have given the Raven capabilities previously associated only with larger aircraft. Small size brings challenges. “Our engineers operate within a tight SWAP [size, weight and power] trade space,” says AeroVironment Vice President Steve Gitlin.
Maturing unmanned technology is fueling U.S. studies of how autonomy could benefit civil aviation, including the potential for reduced crewing on commercial aircraft and a future airspace system beyond NextGen. In a June presentation to senior industry and university representatives, NASA noted that “technology is not the overwhelming barrier” to using autonomy to enable single-pilot operations. Social acceptance, certification methods and cost-effective integration of air-ground technology and procedures are listed as the challenges.
