Julie Showers (see photo) has joined the Airline Group of national labor and employment firm Ford & Harrison as a partner, based in the Minneapolis office.
Martin Barila has been appointed vice president of operations based at the Garden Grove, Calif., headquarters of AC Tech, provider of aircraft sealants. He was director of operations at Air Industries Co.
Steve Reid (see photo) has been appointed senior director of site operations at Crane Aerospace & Electronics' Elyria, Ohio, site. He worked as a business unit leader, operations manager and marketing manager during a 16-year career at Parker Hannifin.
USAF Col. Timothy J. Leahy has been nominated by President Barack Obama for appointment to brigadier general. Leahy is currently serving as director, knowledge and futures, J-7/J-9 Headquarters U.S. Special Operations Command, MacDill AFB, Fla.
With the Legacy 650, Embraer introduces an able entry to the long-range business jet market. This latest variant of the EMB-135BJ can carry eight passengers more than 3,800 nm, enabling it to fly nonstop from London to New York, Dubai to London, Sao Paulo to Miami or Singapore to Sydney.
Efforts to restructure France's defense and aerospace sector come and go, but the newest round of talks between Safran and Thales may have more staying power than previous initiatives. There's nothing particularly novel in the asset swap now under discussion between the two French enterprises. The topic has popped up several times, most recently last year, although the two sides were not able to agree on terms.
Mike Turner has become the new senior product marketing manager for Wichita-based Hawker Beechcraft Corp. He joins the company from StandardAero, where he was director of marketing and corporate communications.
Controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory will be using 12-in. ion thrusters to ease NASA's Dawn spacecraft into orbit around Vesta, a protoplanet in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter that may have one of the oldest planetary surfaces in the Solar System.
Wendel Lambert (see photo) has joined Dallas Airmotive, Dallas, as regional service representative for the company's AgRight agricultural aviation services program.
Mark S. Wulber has been named director of training and FAA compliance at Executive AirShare, based in Kansas City, Mo., and Wichita. He comes from Executive Jet Management, where he was manager of audit and flight safety programs.
A surveillance and situational awareness system which combines a traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS) with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), is set for introduction on a range of Airbus A320, A330 and A340 aircraft. The Honeywell SmartTraffic system will allow aircraft to fly in-trail procedures on transoceanic flights, saving up to $100,000 per aircraft per year, according to the company.
Robert Callahan has been appointed director for state government affairs at TechAmerica, Sacramento, Calif. He is a six-year veteran of the California Chamber of Commerce.
Peter Rutherford (see photo) has been named regional manager of technical sales for Europe, CIS and Africa at Montreal-based Innotech Aviation Group, a division of I.M.P Group International. He comes from Bombardier Aerospace, where he was aerospace manager of the International Customer Response Team.
Prof. Robert C. Owen Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Aeronautical Science Department (Daytona Beach, Fla. )
I was bemused by reader Jonathan Penn's vent about the International Space Station (AW&ST April 25/May 2, p. 8). In his comments about “pedestrian research” and the “great shame” of the ISS's impact on the NASA budget, he misses the main point: There is a space program because people are in space. All that valuable science performed by little buggies on Mars and robotic flybys and orbits around planets and moons is extremely valuable, probably.
One year ago, asked by Aviation Week whether unionized pilots in the U.S. would let their major airline employers outsource even more flying to regional carriers, scope clause expert Bill Kessler described the prospects as slim. Now, a year later, he describes the prospects this way: slimmer.
Rolls-Royce has received extended operations approval from the FAA for the Boeing 787-powering Trent 1000 turbofan. The authorization covers 330 min. of single-engine operations. Rival General Electric, offering the GEnx, is still working on achieving ETOPS approval. Rolls is ahead, owing to the fact it is providing the engine for lead customer All Nippon Airways.
Meantime, Blakey's predecessor at AIA, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. John Douglass, says he will run against powerful NASA appropriator and 16-term congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.) in November 2012. The A&D sector is sure to be in the middle of the campaign, as the Washington suburbs in Wolf's district are saturated with federal workers and contractors. But as an aspiring Democratic candidate, Douglass, once also an assistant secretary of the Navy, brings a wealth of A&D networking to the fight.
John L. Garrison has a unique resume for an aerospace CEO—active duty airborne ranger, social studies teacher, general manager at an agricultural systems company, chairman of a company that builds wastewater systems and president of a leading manufacturer of golf carts. That list may one day include another achievement—architect of the turnaround of Bell Helicopter.
Bolstered by new forecasts of dramatic economic payoffs from ATM modernization, support is growing in Congress and within the aviation industry for a private-sector answer to airline concerns about the cost of required equipment.
Aircraft manufacturing is not welcoming to newcomers. The barriers to entry are high, particularly to the rotorcraft niche that has been dominated for decades by a handful of players. So it was a surprise, at the industry's Heli-Expo showcase in March, to see a new helicopter from an unexpected source—Switzerland, a respected niche player in fixed-wing aviation, but a country with no notable history in rotary-wing design.
University of Maryland's Gamera human-powered helicopter hovered for 4 sec. on May 12, marking the first such flight by a female pilot, competitive cyclist Judy Wexler. The student team is waiting to hear if the flight in the university's gym qualifies as a time record. The aim is to win the American Helicopter Society's $250,000 Sikorsky Prize for the first human-powered helicopter to reach a height of 3 meters during a flight lasting at least 60 sec. while remaining within a 10-meter square. The 210-lb. (including pilot)Gamera has four 42-ft.-dia.
Now that a second crucial and first-of-a-kind next-generation U.S. Air Force spacecraft has overcome its developmental turbulence and is finally in orbit, the tone in Washington on costly but critical military space programs is changing, as is the focus. Military officials are aiming to significantly reduce satellite prices while crafting strategies to improve service from contractors.
Realizing the promise of the NextGen air traffic modernization program is growing exponentially more difficult—at least in Congress—House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) is cutting 36% out of transportation accounts from the White House's 2012 budget request. While Rep. Tom Latham (R-Iowa), chairman of Appropriations' transportation subcommittee, wants to protect NextGen, the FAA's facilities and equipment accounts will be squeezed at the same time some of NextGen's component programs are being rebaselined (see p. 22).
It is the oldest airport in Britain, the only one to serve business aviation exclusively, and the site of a biennial aeronautical extravaganza. It features award-winning avant-garde architecture alluring to the likes of James Bond, and, remarkably, is private property. There's nothing quite like Farnborough Airport—a fact that delights TAG Aviation, its owner.
The impending privatization of TAP Portugal is the next action in the global consolidation trend and could well lead to one of the first intercontinental takeovers. The outcome will also have broader implications on the alliance landscape.
