From locating balloons to re-assembling documents, from crowd-designed vehicles to disaster-response robots, researchers are using challenges to draw ideas from those who would never normally do business with the Pentagon.
As budgets are cut and margins squeezed, and business becomes more competitive, industry is turning to challenges to seek diverse views on difficult problems. And the prize, for the companies, can be ideas, talent or visibility in key markets. “Diversity of thought is key to innovation,” says Ray Johnson, Lockheed Martin senior vice president and chief technology officer. “The more different views you get on a problem, the more you can facilitate a culture of innovation.”
Simon Morris has been appointed VP for Fairfax, Va.-based ICF International's aviation practice in London. He was a principal of A. T. Kearney's airport practice.
Airbus is planning a ground-breaking ceremony April 1 for its new final-assembly plant in Mobile, Ala. Chief Operating Officer-Customers John Leahy says the aim is to complete construction in time for Airbus to start assembling A320s in 2015 and have first deliveries in 2016.
Sierra Nevada, with team member Embraer of Brazil, has once again defeated Beechcraft for the U.S. Air Force's Light Air Support aircraft contract for the young Afghan defense forces. The aircraft will be used for flight-training, close air support, intelligence-collection and other security missions.
April 16-18—MRO Americas/MRO Military. Atlanta. April 17-18—MRO Military. Atlanta. May 14-15—MRO Eastern Europe. Vilnius, Lithuania. Sept. 24-26—MRO Europe. London. Oct. 29-31—MRO Asia. Singapore. Nov. 12-14—A&D Programs. Phoenix. You can now register ONLINEfor Aviation Week Events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/events or call +1 (212) 904-4682.
USAF Gen. (ret.) Kevin P. Chilton has been named to the board of directors of Washington-based Schafer Corp. He was commander of U.S. Strategic Command from 2007 to 2011. HONORS AND ELECTIONS
The U.S. has long been a leader in creating new technologies and in creatively adapting existing ones to new uses. This leadership arises from the interaction of several mutually supportive sectors of innovation. But we face a serious challenge to continuing that creative interaction which is so necessary to keep the U.S. engine of innovation strong.
Joseph J. Trotti has been appointed president and CEO of the aerospace division of New York-based American International Group, covering business development in the Asia-Pacific region, Canada, Europe and Latin America. He was CEO of the global specialties segment of insurance broker Willis.
Andrew Wilson, editor of Vision System Design magazine, will receive the 2013 AIA Achievement Award, presented by Ann Arbor, Mich.-based Association for Advancing Vision (AIA). Wilson was honored for his contributions to the vision and imaging industry.
The item “Meteorite Sparks Interest” in The World column (AW&ST Feb. 25, p. 10) uses words imprecisely, an egregious error for a space technology journal. NASA is quoted using the word 'meteor' correctly, but your headline and text do not. For example, “the meteorite that was traveling at 40,000 mph . . . ” Meteorites travel at zero mph. Richmond, Va. (The reader is correct—Ed.)
Paul J. Gennaro, senior VP and chief communications officer of Aecom Technology Corp., has joined the advisory board of Atlanta-based Emory University's Center for Ethics.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association's climb has yet to level off. The Washington lobby group recently signed three more members—SimCom, CubCrafters and Taylor-Deal Aviation—raising its total to 80 member companies. That's up from 52 just eight years ago.
I disagree with a couple of your recent suggestions regarding killing sacred cows in industrial policy. Small businesses represent the majority of companies in the U.S. and half the total jobs. What is more, nearly all the net new jobs are created by young companies. You claim that Pentagon leaders pay lip service to technology, yet it is in small organizations where the most new technology is developed.
John Pakiela has been named the 2013 recipient of the Medical Transport Leadership Institute Scholarship by the Alexandria, Va.-based MedEvac Foundation International. Pakiela is an associate medical director at MedFlight of Ohio and the emergency medical services director at Akron (Ohio) General medical Center. He was selected for “his dedication to the critical care transport community.”
Columbia Helicopters is set to begin receiving the first of 10 Vertol 107-IIs this month from the Swedish defense ministry. The purchase includes six Boeing Vertol 107-IIs and four Kawasaki Vertol 107-IIs. Three of the tandem-rotor aircraft have been disassembled and are to arrive at the end of the month at Port Tacoma, Wash., before being trucked to Columbia's headquarters at Aurora State Airport south of Portland. The other seven are to arrive by year-end. All are to begin a complete strip-to-bare-metal refurbishment “as soon as possible,” says President Stan Wilson.
Boeing is preparing to install a modified battery system for flight tests in a 787, hoping the FAA will approve its redesign plan by March 6 or earlier.
