Andrew Taylor (see photo) has been named executive VP-marketing for the Americas for Singapore-based BOC Aviation. He was senior VP-marketing at Boullioun Aviation and a founding shareholder of Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, the predecessor of BOC Aviation.
Frank Pray has been appointed president and CEO of Germantown, Tenn.-based Intrepid Aviation. He was president and CEO of the Ireland-based AWAS aircraft leasing group.
July 3-8—University of Graz/Austrian Aviation Psychology's Fifth Annual International Summer School on Aviation Psychology. Graz, Austria. Call +43 (316) 380-5129 or see www.uni-graz.at/isap11 July 5—Canadian Business Aviation Association's Aviation Human Factors' Seminar. Westin Calgary (Alberta) Hotel. Call +1 (613) 236-5611, fax +1 (613) 236-2361 or see www.cbaa-acaa.ca/convention/cbaa-2011-1/aviation-human-factors-course
Should the French government supervise and endorse Air France-KLM's fleet planning? Are members of France's parliament entitled to determine the aircraft orders of the Franco-Dutch airline group? Is it basically a state-controlled enterprise? Such questions may seem to come from a 20-year-old annual report or political analysis of the airline industry's future. But the sensitive topic is being debated now, when Air France-KLM is preparing to finalize a major aircraft order.
New astronomical discoveries are emerging from the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sofia) airborne telescope, which completed its first phase of science flights on June 8.
With nearly all the attention at Paris focused on the emerging PW1000G and Leap powerplants for the Airbus A320NEO (new engine option), International Aero Engines (IAE) is quietly starting studies of new upgrades as part of long-term plans to help sustain the V2500 family into the next decade and beyond.
Despite its status as a shining example of international cooperation, the International Space Station has a harsh lesson to teach the five-member global partnership that built it: Unilateral decision-making can lead to chaos.
Meredith Siegfried, president of Tulsa, Okla.-based Nordam, is expected to be elected CEO when CEO Bill Peacher steps down at the July board meeting. Peacher will remain on the board as a financial consultant.
The U.S. Treasury Department is sanctioning Iran Air after finding the carrier a proliferator of weapons of mass destruction for providing material support and services to Iran's military, particularly the hard-line Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The U.S. accuses the airline of shipping military-related electronic parts and mechanical equipment, as well as raw materials, including titanium sheets. Iran Air also allegedly transported rockets or missiles on passenger aircraft, including to Syria.
USAF Brig Gen. Roger Teague has been promoted to vice commander from Infrared Space Systems director of the Los Angeles AFB Space and Missile Systems Center. Brig. Gen. Frederick H. Martin has been nominated for promotion to major general. He is director of operations at Air Mobility Command Headquarters, Scott AFB, Ill.
CFM is gearing up for year-on-year record engine production increases to keep pace with planned order increases by Airbus and Boeing, and expects to be supplying up to 1,600 CFM56-5/7s per year by 2014. The rate increases, which in three years will equate to more than four engines per day from the combined U.S and French assembly lines, will see engine deliveries grow to 1,400 in 2012, 1,500 in 2013 and upward of 1,600 in 2014, from 1,260 this year.
According to Airbus's script, the decision to delay elements of the A350XWB twin-widebody and revamp its technical parameters should leave customers more at ease with the program and glad to be getting a better airplane. But some airlines just aren't buying it.
Sean Kennedy (see photo) has been named senior VP-global government affairs for the Washington-based Air Transport Association, effective July 15. He is special assistant to President Barack Obama for legislative affairs.
With the defense budget under intense political and financial pressures, the Navy and Air Force are looking to cut some capabilities and eliminate redundancies, but not through new efforts. Of particular interest are the Air Force's RC-135 Rivet Joint and the Navy's EP-3E signals intelligence aircraft, both of which are aging and have to be replaced anyway. For a common, manned, fixed-wing replacement, Adm.
The aerospace industry's move toward composites for aircraft structures and engines has created a market for titanium, with which composites easily conjoin. Machine tool company Makino has developed machining centers with advanced technology for cutting this hardy metal and producing aircraft parts with a new level of precision. Contributing Editor James Ott spoke to Makino North America CEO Don Lane in Mason, Ohio, about the company's direction. AW&ST: What are the general trends affecting Makino and the machine tool industry?
Even as Europrop International continues to examine the inflight failure of a TP400-D6 turboprop's gearbox on an Airbus Military A400M, the engine joint venture is preparing to build the first powerplants for the first production version of the airlifter. The pinion gear that failed controls whether it is a left- or right-handed engine. The gearbox is still in inspection and a root cause fault has not been identified, says EPI President Simon Henley. The team inspected other gearboxes and deemed it safe to continue flight testing.
As Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) moves into the assembly phase for the next-generation CVN-78 Ford-class aircraft carrier, CEO Michael Petters stays awake at night focused on CVN-79 and beyond. “The thing I'm a little concerned about with carriers is: What's going to happen to the follow-ons?” Petters tells Aviation Week.
Israel may already have been at the cyberwarfare forefront, but the government has determined that a surge in computer network attacks requires even greater effort to thwart potential new threats. To that end, Israel has established a national cyber-administration in the prime minister's office to improve the country's defensive capabilities. The new organization marks a modest change of course, since Israel was previously focused more on offensive cybertactics.
Airbus scored an unquestionably lopsided win in this year's Paris air show order race, but the week-long flurry may be more of a tactical success than a strategic breakthrough in the competitive airliner wars.
In a recent In Orbit column (AW&ST June 6, p. 18), Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Assistant Prof. Yuichi Tsuda is quoted as saying, “The sail met its intended acceleration of 100 meters/sec. . . .” Acceleration is measured in units of length divided by units of time squared. I am sure what was meant was a velocity of 100 meters/sec. due to solar forces acceleration. Binyamina, Israel (The reader is correct-Ed.)
From Washington to Paris to New Delhi, some government officials and executives last week were seemingly obsessed about the sudden prospect of India buying Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighters now that the company's F-16 and Boeing's F/A-18E/F have been ruled out of India's Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) competition.
Pratt & Whitney Canada plans to develop a new, higher-thrust demonstrator based on the geared turbofan core, to break into the recession-proof heavy business jet market. The new demonstrator will wrap a business jet low-pressure spool around one of the two PW800-based cores developed for the initial commercial geared turbofan engines. The smaller of these is the 12,000-15,000-lb.-thrust PW1200G for the Mitsubishi Regional Jet, while the larger is the 21,000-23,000-lb.-thrust PW1500G for Bombardier's CSeries.
The Honeywell/Pratt & Whitney Advanced Turbine Engine Co (ATEC) says it is on track to demonstrate up to 25% fuel savings for its HPW3000 engine contender for the U.S. Army, potentially saving up to $1 billion in fuel costs per year. Both ATEC and General Electric are preparing to test full-engine demonstrators in the run-up to an Army development contract for a 3,000-shp-class turboshaft.
Charles Hughes has become business development and strategy director of Marshall Aerospace, Cambridge, England. He spent 18 years with Rolls-Royce Military Aerospace and the past six at Cobham plc.
Cheryl Marcell has been appointed director of communications and events of Montreal-based Airports Council International, effective Aug. 1. She has been deputy director for marketing and public relations for the Sacramento (Calif.) Airport System since 2000.
