President Barack Obama, expected to soon begin announcing new members of his Cabinet, will be selecting the leader of the world's largest bureaucracy and filling one of the toughest jobs in the U.S. At least four names are being floated as replacements for Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, and each is being greeted by defense industry officials with degrees of dismay.
Stratolaunch will decide early next spring whether Orbital Sciences Corp. can modify one of its rockets for air-launch from the giant airplane that the launch-services startup, bankrolled by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, is building with parts from two surplus Boeing 747s. The Huntsville, Ala.-based company turned to Orbital after SpaceX concluded that making the necessary modifications to its Falcon launcher—the original choice for the concept—would not make business sense. Following that decision, Stratolaunch “engaged Orbital Sciences Corp.
Aviation Week & Space Technology pilot Fred George flew Boeing's 787 last month, sitting in the left seat of ZA005, one of the initial test fleet and the first to be powered by General Electric's GEnx-1B. His report and a program review by Los Angeles Bureau Chief Guy Norris appear on pages 46-54. Also visit AviationWeek.com to see a video of the flight. Boeing photo shows the evaluation aircraft flying past Mount Rainier in Washington state.
Robert Cox (see photo) has become senior manager-communications and media relations for Grand Prairie, Texas-based American Eurocopter. He has been senior business writer for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
Jan. 7-10—AIAA's 51st Aerospace Sciences Meeting including the New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition. Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention, Grapevine, Texas. See www.aiaa.org/asm2013 Jan. 9-10—Fourth Annual China Aerospace Manufacturing Summit. Post Hotel, Harbin City. See www.galleonevents.com/2013CAMS Jan. 9-11—Army Aviation Symposium and Exposition. Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center. National Harbor, Md. See www.ausaaviation.org
A distinctive feature of the Chinese economy is that most of its dominant companies, such as the main airlines, are effectively arms of the government but also compete with each other. That is part of the Communist Party's idea of “socialism with Chinese characteristics.”
Richard Carter (see photo) has been appointed system chief pilot for New York-based JetBlue Airways. He was chief pilot of the carrier's Boston operation. Honors And Elections
Gregg Saretsky, president and CEO of WestJet, has been named Business Person of the year for 2012 by Edmonton, Alberta-based Alberta Venture magazine. The honor recognizes individuals “who embrace principled leadership, strategic thinking, balanced workplace values and an unrelenting pursuit of excellence.”
In a move aimed at avoiding mistakes of the past—but which also reflects confidence in the maturity of its commercial airplane programs—Boeing has created an organization called Airplane Development that will work across the enterprise to shepherd new aircraft through development, testing and certification.
They could not have timed it better: One day after France launched its second high-resolution Pleiades satellite, shareholders of U.S. commercial imagery provider GeoEye approved a buyout by the company's chief U.S. competitor that will leave Longmont, Colo.-based DigitalGlobe operating the largest fleet of high-resolution optical Earth-imaging satellites.
Calin Rovinescu, president and CEO of Air Canada, has been elected chairman of the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board, succeeding Rob Fyfe, CEO of Air New Zealand.
Composite materials account for 50% of the 787 structure by weight, versus 12% on the 777. For aluminum the numbers are almost reversed, with the material making up 50% of the 777 by weight, against only 12% for the 787. The use of a carbon-composite laminate for the primary fuselage, wing and empennage structure has enabled designers to take advantage of the material properties in several ways.
As Hurricane Sandy wound its way north along the Atlantic Coast in late October, the storm appeared to be on a track to head harmlessly out to sea. But data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA) polar orbiting weather satellites indicated that the deadly storm would take a sharp left turn and hit some of the most densely populated regions of the U.S., providing days of warning.
Teresa Vanhooser has been appointed deputy director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala. She was manager of the center's Flight Programs and Partnerships Office.
U.K. air accident investigators have officially linked the inquiries into two controlled ditchings involving Eurocopter EC225 helicopters in the North Sea.
L. David Cazes (see photo) has been appointed CEO of Houston-based MEI Technologies, succeeding founder Ed Muniz, who plans to retire but continue as executive chairman. Cazes was senior VP and deputy manager for the Space, Aviation and Science Operation of Science Applications International Corp.
USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) George K. Muellner (see photo) has become chairman of the Arlington, Va.-based Air Force Association. He was senior VP-general manager of Air Force Systems at Boeing and had been president of Boeing's Phantom Works.
EADS shareholders and the governments of France, Germany and Spain have agreed on a new ownership structure. The agreement sees France and Germany each holding stakes of 12% in EADS, while Spain will control 4%. France currently owns 15% and Spain 5.6%. Germany is not a shareholder. It is represented by automotive group Daimler (with 15%), which has long expressed its wish to sell its stake, much like Lagardere (with 7.5%) on the French side.
Readers Robert H. Schmucker and Marcus Schiller take far too much comfort from the described difficulty of building a “credible nuclear force” by Iran or North Korea. They are thinking in Cold War strategic terms and that is a grave mistake. As a terrorist nation specializing in exporting weapons for guerilla warfare that would hardly be the prime short-term objective of Iran (perhaps less so for North Korea). We have had small tactical man-portable nuclear weapons for 50 years.
