Mary Hefty (see photo) has been appointed managing director of station operations for Horizon Air. She was director of customer service-airports in the Western U.S.
Elbit Systems is launching a maritime configuration of its Hermes 900 medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV, aiming at the growing demand for unmanned aircraft in maritime missions worldwide, particularly in Asia. The company plans to unveil the configuration at the Aero India 2013 show in Bengaluru this week. Israel's recent discovery of offshore natural gas made maritime surveillance one of its top-priority missions.
Doreen “Dola” Lawrence (see photo) has been appointed VP-inflight services at Hawaiian Airlines, succeeding Louis Saint-Cyr, who became VP-customer services last year. Lawrence was director of inflight and catering for Virgin America.
Mark Blanks has been appointed manager of the unmanned aircraft systems program at Kansas State Universityin Salina. He was interim director and flight operations manager for the unmanned aircraft systems program and an assistant professor of aerospace maintenance management at Middle Tennessee State University.
Ruth Bishop (see photo) has been named sector VP of quality, safety and mission assurance in the Herndon, Va.-based Technical Services sector of Northrop Grumman Corp. She was director of mission assurance for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance and Targeting Systems division in the Electronic Systems sector.
Thank you for the article about the Kodiak—an amazing aircraft (AW&ST Dec. 31, 2012/Jan. 7, p. 20). I was the lead engineer on this project for the first few years, and spent eight years with the company (in two stints) working through the initial type certification, and then up till the gross weight was increased to 7,255 lb. in 2010.
In winter-spring 1970, Boeing encountered “ovalization” problems with the engines on its 747. Several of the type were sidelined on the tarmac in Seattle with blocks of concrete where the engines were supposed to hang. Boeing will resolve the battery problem on its 787 as it did with its 747 wrinkles. Like the Marines, “The difficult will be done immediately, and the impossible will take a little longer.” New York, N.Y.
The freighter conversion business begins 2013 with a clear division: The market for narrowbody conversions is dynamic and growing, while the market for widebody aircraft has stagnated. The market's current status is belied by the statistics for 2012, when conversions were almost evenly split between the aircraft types. The 64 conversions included 28 widebody and 33 narrowbody aircraft, with the other three on turboprops, the Aviation Week Fleets database shows.
Australian regulators are playing a huge role in shaping the future of the country's airline industry. But with crucial rulings looming, the carriers' destinies will soon be back in their own hands.
Curt Brown, Eileen Collins and Bonnie Dunbar have been selected for induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Brown is a veteran of six space shuttle flights; Collins is the first woman to pilot and command a space shuttle; and Dunbar served as a shuttle mission specialist and payload commander.
North Korea said last week it would conduct its third nuclear test and continue long-range missile trials designed to reach the U.S. just as the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) was gearing up for a long-awaited return to flight of the system designed to protect the U.S. homeland from such an attack. The vow came a day after the U.N. Security Council agreed to a Washington-backed set of sanctions for Pyongyang in response to its December rocket launch.
Eric Trappier has been appointed chairman and CEO of Velizy-Villacoublay, France-based Dassault Aviation, succeeding Charles Edelstonne, who will retire but remain a director of the company. Trappier was VP for the Middle East and North Africa.
Plans for a 90-seat turboprop are rapidly taking shape on the drawing boards of European regional airliner manufacturer, ATR. On the back of a record year in terms of sales and deliveries, the company has also been quietly working on a business plan, which they hope will urge joint owners EADS and Finmeccanica to green-light the project this year.
David Cran (see photo) has been named airport manager of Cambridge Airport in England. He was airside operations manager at London Stansted Airport for BAA.
Orbital Sciences Corp. engineers are preparing for a static first-stage test of the company's Antares liquid-fuel rocket next month, with only one wet dress rehearsal to go before the on-pad test at Wallops Flight Facility, Va. A month to six weeks after that test, the company plans to launch an Antares with an instrumented test version of its Cygnus cargo carrier. And if that test flight goes well, first flight of an Antares/Cygnus stack to a grapple-and-berth linkup with the International Space Station would come in May or June, depending on ISS scheduling.
