Richard “Ben” Hirst has been promoted to executive vice president/chief legal officer from senior vice president/general counsel of Delta Air Lines. He was Northwest Airlines' senior vice president-corporate affairs/general counsel before the two air carriers merged.
The delivery of All Nippon Airways' 18th 787-8 on May 14 marked the model's return to a regular manufacturing rhythm since Boeing halted deliveries in January in conjunction with a shutdown in commercial services due to lithium-ion battery safety concerns. Installation of a new fire containment system for the batteries continues for the 50 delivered 787s, which are reentering service.
As the smallest member of the MAX family, Boeing anticipated the 737-7 would be a slow seller, so it placed it last behind the larger 737-8s and 737-9s that airlines appear to prefer when deliveries begin in 2017.
A U.K. government committee is backing expansion of London Heathrow Airport and calling plans for a new airport in the Thames Estuary “not commercially viable.” In a report on the U.K.'s Aviation Strategy, the cross-party group said expansion of Heathrow is “necessary.”
Andrew Compart (Washington), Michael Bruno (Washington)
The future of the U.S. Export-Import Bank is again being threatened, just as the export credit agency (ECA) is registering record loan activity at the behest and benefit of the U.S. aircraft industry. If the confluence of events gains momentum, the bank could be forced to suspend or even end new loan-making, which could hurt Boeing, the bank's primary aircraft exporter, as it competes for foreign sales with Airbus—supported by three ECAs—and other state-affiliated manufacturers worldwide.
I found “Flatlining” by Sean Broderick (AW&ST May 6/13, p. 63) interesting in that it regurgitates perceptions and economic models promoted by the major airlines, with no discussion of alternatives. I also noted the lack of mention of other small-jet carriers (e.g: Trans States Holdings, PSA) and how they fit into the picture. The way major airlines continue to pit small-jet carriers against each other is a pitiful way to do business.
There is no shortage of candidates for feedstocks from which to make biofuels, from camelina to poplar and switchgrass to wood chips. But it is taking time to find ones that can be sustainably cultivated, harvested and transported in the quantities required to make commercial volumes of jet fuel.
Oliver Evans (see photo), who is chief cargo officer for Swiss International Air Lines, and Enno Osinga (see photo), senior vice president-cargo at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport, have been elected as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of The International Air Cargo Association for two-year terms. Evans, who was vice chairman, succeeds Michael Steen, executive vice president/chief commercial officer of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings.
Scientists have “terabytes” of data from NASA's Kepler extra-solar planet-finder to analyze, but the failure of a second reaction control wheel on the space telescope probably means it will not be able to measure more of the faint flickers of distant stars when a planet passes in front of them.
Once an unquestioned benefit, armed UAVs are increasingly becoming an issue for Washington. The latest instance involves exporting the capability—even to close allies like Britain and Italy—and the Missile Technology Control Regime, a voluntary international arms control body. The regime restricts the sale of unmanned air systems that can deliver weapons of mass destruction, which had meant platforms like cruise missiles and nuke warheads when it was first created in the 1980s, but increasingly ensnares large UAVs such as Northrop Grumman's Global Hawk.
John Schumacher has become vice president-business relations for GenCorp Inc., Sacramento, Calif. He was president of the Astrium Americas subsidiary of EADS North America and had been vice president-Washington operations for GenCorp subsidiary Aerojet.
The U.S. Army has concluded that the path forward for its Armed Aerial Scout (AAS) requirement is either a service life extension program (SLEP) for the Bell OH-58D/F Kiowa Warrior or a new development program. After evaluating five off-the-shelf candidates, “we did not find a single aircraft out there that could meet Army requirements,” Lt. Gen. William Phillips, principal military deputy for acquisition, told American lawmakers.
What a difference a decade makes. In 2000, China's labor rates were a fraction of those for U.S. workers, the dollar was strong, oil prices were relatively low, and the promise of access to the Chinese market had manufacturers hopping to get into China.
For an organization that exists to think decades ahead to prevent technology surprise and enable military superiority, the future for U.S. national security looks particularly uncertain to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa).
Germany has halted the purchase of the Euro Hawk signals-intelligence platform over concerns the aircraft cannot be certified to fly in the country's civil airspace. Germany has one Euro Hawk, a variant of the RQ-4 Global Hawk fitted with an EADS Cassidian sigint sensor package. The aircraft will fly in support of sensor testing until September.
Speaking of strain on systems, the Swissport baggage handlers went on strike, unannounced, at the Brussels Airport on May 12. I had the joy of experiencing this firsthand when I landed there for a connecting flight on May 13. I didn't learn of the strike until 15 min. before Brussels Airlines announced the boarding of my flight to Vilnius, Lithuania.
U.S. Air Force controllers will slot an updated GPS satellite into the mid-Earth-orbit timing and navigation constellation following its successful launch May 15 on this United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 from Cape Canaveral. Liftoff of the 3,600-lb. spacecraft came at the opening of its launch window at 5:38 p.m. EDT. The launch vehicle's Centaur upper stage ignited twice during the 3-hr. 24-min. mission and included a 3-hr. coast phase between burns.
Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee (NTSC) on May 14 issued pilot-related “immediate” safety recommendations to Lion Air as it continues to investigate the April 13 crash of a Boeing 737-800 at Ngurah Rai International Airport in Bali (AW&ST April 22, p. 11.) The aircraft touched down in water just short of Runway 09, following a non-precision VOR/DME instrument approach.
Steven J. Cortese has been appointed executive vice president-Washington operations for DRS Technologies. He succeeds Phillip M. Balisle, who is retiring. Cortese has been senior vice president-government relations and corporate communications at ATK.
Four years after interest all but died in a new generation of midsize, long-range business jets, Honeywell is refreshing plans to develop a new or derivative engine for the sector amid signs of a coming market revival.
The South Korean defense ministry has ensured production of the Korean Aerospace Industries (KAI) T-50 series until at least 2016 with an order for about 40 units of the FA-50 light-attack variant. The move helps keep alive the T-50's chances of filling the U.S. Air Force's T-X program. With the latest order, KAI's T-50-series production rate looks likely to rise from an average of around one unit a month.
Airbus has completed a round of lightning tests for the A350. They lasted around three days and included lightning-strike simulations and measurements of voltage and current levels on several metallic harnesses. The current injection was much lower than in the case of an actual strike, but results are being extrapolated. Airbus has embedded metallic foils in the composite fuselage to ensure sufficient conductivity.
