Kevin Sargent has been appointed chief operating officer of Derby, England-based Pattonair. Richard Gayle has become group commercial director and acting U.S. general manager in Fort Worth, and Richard Mogg has joined the company as commercial finance director. He comes from Capita's IT Service and consulting division. Steve Williams will head the human resources department, and Sue Williams, who has been with BAE Systems, will become group supply chain director.
Lillian Zarrelli Ryals has been promoted to director, senior VP and general manager of the FAA-sponsored Center for Advanced Aviation System Development at the McLean, Va.-based Mitre Corp. She has more than 30 years' experience in the National Airspace System research, modernization and operations. Sarah MacConduibh has been appointed VP of Air Force programs at Mitre. She was Air Force portfolio director of the organization's command and control center.
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.
When safety issues arise with products used by millions of Americans, Congress is often quick to exercise its oversight role. But for the most part, lawmakers are willing to let the FAA and Boeing take time to discover just what caused the 787 battery fires that have grounded the fledgling fleet (see page 30). Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), chairman of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee who plans to retire in 2014, is one exception. He had a brief outburst last week pressing for congressional inquiry into the matter.
Mark Arimoto (see photos) has been promoted to associate general counsel from assistant general counsel at Hawaiian Airlines. Robin Kobayashi and Scott Miyasato have been appointed assistant general counsels. Kobayashi was an attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, and Miyasato was general counsel for a medical device company.
Russian Helicopters plans to showcase its light multi-purpose Ka-226T, which is a contender to fulfill the Indian defense ministry's requirement for surveillance and reconnaissance helicopters, at the ninth Aero India conference, which begins Feb. 6 in Bengaluru. India wants 197 light helicopters: 133 for the Army and 64 for the air force. The competition has been fraught with controversy since India issued its first request for proposals (RFP) in 2003. The Bell 407 and Eurocopter AS550C3 were short-listed and underwent extensive trials.
The launch of Europe's Swarm Earth explorer mission atop a Russian Rokot is on hold as Moscow investigates the cause of a launch mishap this month involving the vehicle's Briz KM upper stage. The three-stage liquid-fueled Rokot delivered three Russian military telecom satellites to their intended orbit 1,500 km (935 mi.) above Earth following a Jan. 15 launch from Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. Afterward, however, the vehicle's Briz-KM upper stage failed to perform a depletion burn needed to lower its perigee and accelerate orbital decay.
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The “when” may be in question, but the “what” is becoming clearer as NASA pushes ahead with research into future generations of civil transport aircraft. Not only do significant fuel-burn, emissions and noise reductions look increasingly feasible, but advanced computational tools are taking shape that will enable fast, efficient design and analysis of new aircraft.
As the development of Stratolaunch's Air Launch and Scaled Composites' WhiteKnightTwo carrier aircraft shows, the use of wing-borne platforms for delivering rockets to orbit is set to grow as the industry strives for lower launch costs. However, unlike the latest purpose-built air launchers, which build on the experience gained over the years of proven mothership vehicles such as the Boeing B-52 and Orbital Sciences' Lockheed L-1011, a newly unveiled NASA air launch concept differs in one major aspect in that it has no engines.
Maria Sastre (see photos) has been promoted to president, in addition to her role as chief operating officer, of Orlando, Fla.-based Signature Flight Support Corp., a BBA Aviation company. Geoff Heck has been promoted to senior VP-sales and marketing from VP-Midwest.
In a recent editorial you invited reader comments (AW&ST Dec. 31, 2012/Jan. 7, p. 154). I am a 40-year subscriber, one of the “legacy readers” you wrote about. I remember when the magazine was more technical and contained detailed explanations—by legendary writers such as Philip J. Klass—of how things worked. Now it seems the focus has shifted to marketing, covering production rates, purchases by international airlines and maintenance.
NASA's loss is Boeing's gain, as former space shuttle program manager John Shannon retires to head up the company's International Space Station program. “It is really great to be back in an operational program again,” Shannon says. Not so great for his space-agency bosses, who continue to see rising stars bail out while Congress and the White House squabble over NASA's future.
Seasons greetings from Iceland came early in 2012, carried aloft by seven jolly men in a newly upgraded Bombardier Dash 8 Q300. The aircraft, a maritime surveillance platform belonging to the Icelandic Coast Guard, flew for 8 hr. and 1,835 nm from Reykjavik to Moncton on Dec. 18 via a fuel stop in Goose Bay, Labrador. The goodwill mission aimed to help Toronto-based Field Aviation, the aircraft modification company that installed a new flight deck on TF-SIF, the Q300's Icelandic registration, in 2011.
USAF Maj. Gen. Kenneth D. Merchant has been named director of global reach programs, in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition at the Pentagon. He has been program executive officer for weapons at the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center of Air Force Materiel Command, Eglin AFB, Fla. Merchant will be succeeded at Eglin by Brig. Gen. Scott W. Jansson, who was commander of aviation for the Defense Logistics Agency, Richmond, Va. Brig. Gen. Michael J.
Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) has been named chairman of the aviation subcommittee of the U.S. House of Representatives Transportation & Infrastructure Committee. He has been a member of the subcommittee since 1997. Honors And Elections
The vote on Boeing Commercial Airplanes' proposed contract for 22,900 engineers and technical workers at factories in California, Oregon, Utah and Washington state will be pushed back about two weeks but union negotiators are still expected to recommend a “no” vote and ask for a strike. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (Speea) now expects to count ballots about Feb. 18. If union members reject Boeing's offer of a contract through 2016 and authorize a strike, picket lines could go up immediately.
Regarding Michael J. Dyment's Viewpoint, “NextGen Is Threatened, Too” (AW&ST Jan. 14, p. 54), all this “NextGen” stuff will undoubtedly be truly cool, but we are going to have the same problem when its fully implemented that we have now—airport capacity! You can bring all the airplanes you want as straight as an arrow to the airport, but they must have someplace to land.
