Last year, the airline industry broke all previous records in relation to flight safety. Flying has never been safer, statistics show, so it would only be natural for all parties involved to congratulate themselves. But no one should rest on their laurels. As Tony Tyler, the International Air Transport Association's (IATA) director general, says: “Every accident is one too many and each fatality is a human tragedy.” We should all be proud of the fact that we are looking at the best safety performance since commercial flying was invented in 1914.
Tim Gibson, assistant director of cybersystems, has been promoted to Laboratory Technical Staff, the top engineering designation at Cambridge, Mass.-based Draper Laboratory. He is Draper's principal investigator on Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency High Assurance Cyber Mobile Systems program and technical lead for Draper's internally funded Cyber Physical Systems project.
The emergence and strong sales of Frank Robinson's R66 Turbine is causing helicopter manufacturers to think again about the light single-turbine market. For years, Robinson Helicopter Co.'s piston R22 and R44 were considered to be in a league of their own, but the development and certification of the R66—of which nearly 200 were delivered in 2012—has raised eyebrows, as it begins to impinge on markets that were previously strongholds of models produced by Bell Helicopters, MD Helicopters, Enstrom Helicopter Corp. and to some extent Eurocopter.
The main goal of the past few years for Air New Zealand and Qantas has been turning around the losses in their international operations. Now, there are clear signs that their revival plans are succeeding. This is particularly true for Air New Zealand, whose long-haul unit has achieved its first half-year profit in five years. While Qantas is not quite that far along, it is undeniably heading in the right direction, with its international operation shrinking its loss dramatically in its latest earnings report.
The deficit-reduction measure that went into effect March 1 cuts 7.9% from discretionary defense spending and 5.3% from non-defense discretionary spending. Surely, Washington's latest manufactured crisis will not do any serious damage, will it? Well, consider this:
USAF Maj. Gen. Norman J. Brozenick, Jr., has been assigned to vice commander, Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Fla. He has been commander, Special Operations Command-Pacific, U.S. Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. Maj. Gen. James J. Jones has been assigned to assistant deputy chief of staff, operations, plans and requirements, USAF headquarters, Pentagon. He has been director, operations and deputy chief of staff, operations, plans and requirements, USAF headquarters. Maj. Gen. James K.
Denmark will re-open its competition for a fighter to replace its F-16s, the country's government formally told the Joint Strike Fighter program office last week. Denmark is a Tier 3 JSF partner and was originally expected to order 48 F-35As. The decision was taken after Eurofighter asked to rejoin the competition, the Danish defense ministry says, adding it also expects Boeing to pitch the F/A-18E/F and Saab the JAS 39E Gripen. The JSF remains a candidate. Denmark expects to select a new fighter in mid-2015.
Calum Laming has been appointed general manager-customer experience for Auckland, New Zealand-based Air New Zealand. He has held senior customer experience and marketing roles at Virgin Atlantic Airways and Procter & Gamble.
AW&ST: What challenges have been presented by your fleet growth? Hockin: In a short space of time, Virgin Australia has gone from operating just Boeing 737s to also operating Embraer 190s, Airbus A330s and 777-300ERs. The challenge has been around having a far more varied fleet rather than just a larger fleet. What are your heavy maintenance arrangements in Australia?
Shinichiro Ito (see photos) has been appointed president and CEO of Tokyo-based ANA Holdings and chairman of All Nippon Airways Co. He was president and CEO of ANA Group, where he will be succeeded by Osamu Shinobe, currently senior executive VP. ANA Chairman Yoji Ohashi will become chairman of ANA Holdings.
Steven J. Smith has been engaged by Chicago-based Airlink as its new executive director. He has been director of program development at 300Brand and Americas sales director in the Civil Aerospace department of Rolls-Royce North America.
Adam Jones did a wonderful job presenting the thorns in a pilot's career path. One thing that could be added to his list is the future rest rule about to take affect that will keep people away from home even more, making this job even less desirable. Boulder, Colo.
Turboprop manufacturers ATR and Bombardier predict buoyant prospects for prop-powered regional airliners which continue to grow in size. ATR is ramping up production to deliver 80 ATR42/72s this year and forecasts a market for some 3,350 aircraft worth $80 billion in this category over the next 20 years. Bombardier, which now has 47 operators of its Q400 in 22 countries, sees a market for some 2,850 over the same period.
European regulator EASA granted the Airbus Military A400M type certificate on March 13, another milestone as the company pushes to get the first aircraft delivered to the French air force before June and the Paris air show. As part of the military trials, Airbus Military has begun tests of more advanced military functions, including air-to-air refueling as well as the dropping of supplies and paratroopers. According to the company, the five-strong fleet of A400M development aircraft has now completed some 4,800 hr. and more than 1,600 flights.
With a U.K. commitment to increase its European Space Agency contribution 25%, the space industry is becoming a major economic driver in Britain. The nation's £1.2 billion ($1.8 billion) pledge to ESA programs is part of a larger €10-billion ($13 billion) spending package the agency approved last November, making the U.K. the agency's third-largest funder—after France and Germany—and positioning Astrium U.K. to reap the benefits.
China denounces suggestions that its aircraft industry simply copies others' successful designs. But another reason for its rapid advances has been revealed by Kamov general designer Sergei Mikheyev, who says the Russian design bureau secretly designed the baseline version of the Changhe Z-10 attack helicopter for China in the mid-1990s.
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Universal Avionics is close to certifying a micro-electromechanical (MEMS)-based attitude and heading reference system (AHRS) that the company says will enable it to better compete with avionics providers offering the technology for retrofit on business jets and turboprops.
I agree with reader David Thompson about the need to cancel the F-35 program (AW&ST March 4/11, p. 8). After 11 years its project managers can't even predict the year in which its development will have been completed. Should production ever begin, the unit cost will likely cause order cancellations.
Jon Remington (see photos) has been named VP and controller of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Technical services sector, headquartered in Herndon, Va. He was director of business management and division controller of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems military aircraft systems. Milou Carolan has become VP-human resources and administration for the Information Systems sector.
It's been 10 years since the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) began its careful probe into the reasons NASA lost a second space shuttle. The late Sally Ride, a member of both the CAIB and the Rogers Commission set up after the first shuttle disaster, famously commented at the time that she heard an “echo of Challenger” in the loss of Columbia. Now many of the conditions that allowed the U.S.
