International Lease Finance Corp.'s cancellation of 10 A380 orders and the loss of an additional A330-200 have pushed Airbus's 79 year-to-date cancellations beyond last year's 12-month total of 70. ILFC's cancellation of the A380s came as the lessor firmed up its order for 100 single-aisle aircraft: 75 A320 NEOs (new engine option) and 25 A321 NEOs. ILFC also swapped six A350-800 delivery positions for six more A350-900s.
Razmig Arzoumanian has been named managing director of Chicago-based Lincoln International's Aerospace and Defense Group in North America. He was co-head of Global Aerospace and Defense at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Amanda K. Cecil is the new dean of education and Heather Trusty the new director of certification of the Global Business Association, Alexandria, Va. Cecil was an assistant professor in the joint Department of Tourism, Conventions and Event Management at Indiana and Purdue universities. Trusty was director of certification at security firm ASIS International.
Roderic Hoover and David Nolletti have been named to the board of UCA Holdings, Asheville, N.C. Hoover was a consultant to Precision Castparts Corp. and Nolletti is vice president-marketing, strategy and business development for UCA and its affiliates.
USCG Adm. (ret.) Thad Allen has joined the board of Selex Galileo, Arlington, Va. Allen was national incident commander in charge of responding to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
The Omani Airports Management Co. is taking no chances to avoid a flooding catastrophe at Muscat International Airport. Construction is underway to raise ground level by about 10 ft., shifting 10-12 million cu. ft. of sand to where runways and roadways will be built. The company is also working with architects and consulting engineers Cowi & Larsen to build three culverts that will drain surface water into the Gulf of Oman as a further protection.
Peter P. Papadakos (Reno, Nev. ), Gyrodyne Foundation (Reno, Nev. )
The use of remotely piloted helicopters to help cool Japan's nuclear reactors with water buckets is a great idea, but it won't work (AW&ST April 11, p. 10). I was involved with nuclear monitoring in the 1970s when the Nevada Test Site was setting off underground nuclear missiles. When that work came to an end, the birds were so hot they were buried along with the test-trailers.
Southwest Airlines closed its deal to acquire AirTran Airways on May 2, freeing Southwest to take an unfettered look at AirTran's books and operations, but there will not be any big changes anytime soon other than in the leadership of AirTran. Bob Jordan, Southwest's executive vice president of strategy and planning, became president. The previous AirTran chairman, president and CEO, Bob Fornaro, is now a full-time consultant for the integration. For now, AirTran will operate as a subsidiary of Southwest without any changes to its operations or product offerings.
Perhaps it should come as no surprise, given India's notoriety when it comes to defense procurement, that the downselect in its high-profile fighter competition has raised an unusual number of questions.
“Carrier Cat” (AW&ST April 4, p. 58) touches on the difficulties naval aviators face when landing on a pitching deck. Modern luxury liners are equipped with stabilizers that virtually eliminate pitching. Viewing the “improvements” on the new Ford-class aircraft carriers, I see nothing about adding stabilizers. Is there a reason for this omission? Denton, Texas
In Guy Norris's “Building Blocks,” about NASA and industry technology studies being pursued to improve efficiency of the next generation of airliners (AW&ST April 18, p. 36), the description of efforts to improve low-speed rudder effectiveness to reduce rudder and/or vertical fin size was of particular interest. Perhaps designers should consider a split aileron to augment low-speed directional control as is done in B-2 or A-6 aircraft. This approach could also reduce vulnerability to overstressing the vertical fin.
Mo Meidar (see photo), MAG chairman and chief executive officer, has been named to receive the Leader of Innovation Medal from Philadelphia University. Meidar is being honored for his company's work in developing automation technologies for producing composite structures for the aerospace, automotive and wind energy industries.
Norman R. Augustine, retired chairman and chief executive officer of Lockheed Martin Corp., has been selected by The Wings Club of New York, to receive its 2011 Distinguished Achievement Award on Oct. 21. Augustine is being recognized for his expertise in science and technology, particularly as it pertains to aerospace and defense.
It appears that the FAA has a double standard when it comes to violations of its own employees. In the March 23 late-night Reagan Washington National Airport tower incident, the supervisor who was asleep at this position received a suspension, but the two Northwest Airlines pilots who overflew their destination in October 2009 had their airman certificates revoked. It would seem that the agency actually in charge of such violations would be even-handed across the board. This action, or lack of it, sets a bad example.
As lawmakers consider how to shore up the nation's defenses while balancing the books, the nation's massive investments in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities may get a boost by their success. Like the use of Predators to help uncover explosive-making networks in Iraq, the raid on the compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, notched another big win for ISR equipment, which Defense Secretary Robert Gates has championed.
Nigel Underwood has been named group chief information officer for International Airlines Group. His previous roles include global CIO at DHL Logistics, Exel and Hilton Group.
Victoria Moores has been appointed general manager of communications for the Brussels-based Association of European Airlines. She was features editor of Airline Business magazine.
Just as Washington exults over the bin Laden raid, a Congressional Research Service report pegs spending on the “war on terror” through fiscal 2011 at $1.283 trillion. The CRS report—dated March 29 but not widely seen until this month—estimates the costs of military operations, base security, foreign aid, reconstruction, embassy enhancements and health care for affected veterans. The CRS says $803 billion has been spent on Iraq and $444 billion on Afghanistan. U.S.
Russian military controllers are setting up the fourth Meridian communications satellite following its launch May 4 on a Soyuz 2 rocket from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. A communications link was established following the launch, and an initial checkout turned up no anomalies, according to Russian press reports.
A high-powered team of physicists and engineers has concluded that NASA's $700 million Gravity Probe B (GP-B) experiment demonstrated two key aspects of Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, but not to the hoped-for degree of confidence.
Now that the dust has settled after the sudden resignation of FAA Chief Operating Officer Henry Krakowski, it is time to consider the long-term implications. It seems clear that the U.S. Transportation Department's main goal in forcing the issue was to send a signal that it is taking recent controller controversies seriously. But Krakowski's departure will have broader ramifications for the agency's operational arm.
For airport operators, getting in bed with one of Europe's most fractious airlines at a facility the government does not want to see expand may not seem like an attractive proposition, but the anticipated forced sale of Stansted Airport may yet defy skeptics.
After decades of enjoying a virtually uncontested lead in the medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aerial systems (UAS) market, General Atomics Aeronautical Systems may finally be facing some competition.
With the long-delayed first deliveries of its 787 and 747-8 development programs in sight, Boeing's drive to ramp up commercial airplane production is becoming sharply focused, pushing the company beyond its traditional comfort zone of retaining a large back-order list.
Bob Frisch has been promoted to vice president from managing director of flight operations at Air Wisconsin. He was a line pilot for Great Lakes Aviation.
