After reading Richard Aboulafia's Viewpoint, “Boeing Made The Right Call” (AW&ST Aug. 22, p. 58), I came away feeling that technologists, economists and “market reactions” were represented, but the most important party—the passenger—was not even mentioned!
As an aerospace engineer by training and a retired, conservative manufacturing executive, I was appalled by Sen. Jon Kyl's (R.-Ariz.) comment in “Lines in the Sand” (AW&ST Sept. 12, p. 23): “I'm off of the committee if we're going to talk about further defense spending [cuts].” Having just endured the legislative intransigence that delayed agreement to raise the debt ceiling in August, we now have an experienced senator—not a hot-headed “tea partisan”—saying there's a place he won't go for deficit reduction.
In a recent Letter From The Editor: “Workforce: Mixed Messages” (AW&ST Aug. 22, p. 3), the fact that women are underrepresented in the engineering and maintenance technician fields is bemoaned. This so-called problem is referred to as “systemic and persistent” and as a “glaring gender gap.”
In response to an AviationWeek.com story Senate Appropriators Slice $700M Off JSF: MikeSar wonders: If you were in charge of an attack on a well-defended ground site with rifles and machine guns and could choose between two F-35s or two squadrons of 20 Boeing OV-10 Broncos with Gatling guns, what would you chose? The price of one JSF is equal to that of 25 Broncos. weasel 1962 says:
In response to an AviationWeek.com story: Northrop, BAE To Team for USAF T-X Work exgrum writes: Wait. A U.S. derivative of the British Hawk trainer. Isn't that what the McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) T-45 is? Why not just buy the T-45 and save a couple of million dollars? sandygreenlyn asks: Why couldn't Boeing offer a version of the Hawk too?:
Tim Peters has become VP and general manager of surveillance and engagement for Boeing Military Aircraft. Peters, who was VP-global security systems in the company's Network and Space Systems Division, succeeds Bob Feldman, who will move to Boeing Commercial Airplanes to lead development of the 737 MAX.
Charles S. Phalen, Jr. (see photo) has been appointed VP-corporate and enterprise shared services industrial security at Northrop Grumman, Falls Church, Va., succeeding Ed Halibozek, who has retired. Phalen was director of security for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. Valerie Caproni (see photo) has been named VP and deputy general counsel for litigation and investigations, succeeding Joseph O. Costello, who plans to retire at year-end. Caproni was general counsel for the FBI. Douglas P. Larsen is the new general counsel for government contracts and relations.
Nelson J. Chai has been promoted to president of CIT Group of New York from executive VP, chief administrative officer and head of strategy. Neil Burgess has been appointed director of the Financial Institutions Group. He rejoins the company from Amentum Capital.
Alfonso J. Ramonet will become president of Falls Church, Va.-based General Dynamics European Land System and a VP of the corporation on Dec. 1, succeeding John C. Ulrich, who will become chief operating officer of General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems.
Bill Minkoff (see photo) has been named regional sales director for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and sections of New York City at Hawker Beechcraft Corp., Wichita. He was VP-business development at Corporate Flight Management, Smyrna, Tenn.
Joe Kolo has been promoted to VP and general manager from VP-sales and marketing at Prime Turbines, Carrollton, Texas. He has held senior positions with Atlantic Turbines and Dallas Airmotive.
Christian Duhain has been named a non-executive director for London-based A.J. Walter. He was corporate VP-international development for EADS for Asia-Pacific and Latin America and led major sales campaigns for Airbus.
Joe Cupaiolo and Adam Delhotal have been named maintenance managers at Long Beach, Calif.-based JetFlite International's Farmingdale, N.Y., facility. Cupaiolo was crew chief at Excel Airways and Delhotal worked for JetBlue as an aircraft technician.
John Schwartz (see photo) has joined Method Machine Tools and Matsuura Machinery Corp., Sudbury, Mass., as product manager-USA. He was VP-sales and marketing at IEMCA.
Richard Garcia, executive chef at Boston's 606 Congress restaurant, has been named head of the Dine Boston Visiting Chef program at the Airmall at Boston Logan International Airport for a three-month tenure.
Richard Nordstrom has become Geneva-based OnAir's managing director for North America in Seattle. He was sales and marketing director at Connexion by Boeing.
Beth A. Raynor is the new human resources manager of Aspen Avionics, Albuquerque, N.M. She owned and managed a technical recruiting firm that specialized in the engineering and information technology industries.
Douglas Stanley has been named interim VP-research and program development at the National Institute of Aerospace (NIA), Hampton, Va. He was principal research engineer on the aerospace engineering faculty of the Georgia Institute of Technology and visiting professor at NIA.
Robert E. Curry and Michael P. Thomson (see photos), veteran engineers at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, Calif., have been appointed to oversee the center's airborne science missions and aeronautical research. Curry, who was director of the Science Mission Directorate, has become chief scientist; and Thomson, who was director for flight operations, is succeeding Curry.
Mike Brand has been named to the board of UCA Holdings, Asheville, N.C. He comes from a career at Goodrich Corp., where he was VP of Boeing 787 entry into service and earlier president of the landing gear division.
Richard “Flip” Bodine, Jr. (see photo) has become VP-sales and marketing for Fastems, West Chester, Ohio. He was CEO of Bodine Assembly & Test Systems and director of market development for Automation Tooling Systems.
Sean O'Connor has been appointed general manager for SR Technics America. He was the Zurich-based company's global head of sales, following a stint as head of sales-Europe.
James Kelley (see photos), Jeff Kilgore and Darrell Frey have been promoted to directors of Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.'s Savannah, Ga., Service Center Operations, each for a specific series of models. Kelley was senior manager-MRO, Kilgore was senior operations manager and Frey general manager. Jamie Fields, senior manager-MRO, has been named director of repair and overhaul services.
David Mindell, professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, will be a scholar in residence at Aurora Flight Sciences, also in Cambridge, Mass., for the next year.
