Lynne Osmus Takes Over as Acting FAA Administrator

She was the aviation agency's assistant administrator for security and hazardous materials. She has held numerous positions within the FAA including chief of staff for former Administrators David Hinson and Jane Garvey. Osmus is not expected to be nominated to keep the top FAA job. President Obama has yet to announce his choice to head the federal aviation agency.

As the transition of power begins in Washington, D.C., changes are taking place in key positions at the FAA and Department of Transportation, along with a few retirements.

Ray LaHood has taken over as DOT secretary. D. Kirk Shaffer, FAA's associate administrator for airports, left his office on Jan. 20. Kate Lang, currently Kirk's deputy, serves as the acting chief of the airports office.

Nick Sabatini, FAA associate administrator for aviation safety, retired after nearly 30 years with the agency. Peggy Gilligan, previously deputy associate administrator for aviation safety, has been named as his replacement. John Hickey, previously director of aircraft certification, will serve as Gilligan's deputy.

Meanwhile, Janet Napolitano is the first woman to serve as Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

FAA Names "Excellence in Aviation Research Award" Winners

The FAA has presented its 2008 Excellence in Aviation Research Awards to Professor Edwin Herricks, Ph.D., University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, and the MITRE Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) Technology Design Team.

Dr. Herricks has led the university's Center of Excellence in Airport Technology Safety program, supporting the FAA airport technology research and development team's many high-profile programs, for more than a decade. His research and development of foreign object debris detection (FOD) systems, wildlife hazard mitigation systems and other critical new technologies are enhancing airport safety. Herricks has also devised effective protocols that introduce experimental radar systems into the broad operational landscapes of the complex airport environment.

The UAT technology enables advanced aviation applications for Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) and related broadcast services: Flight Information Service- Broadcast and Traffic Information Service-Broadcast. MITRE's UAT Technology Design Team invented and prototyped the UAT, then accomplished initial implementation, standardization and user community acceptance of the technology.

SkyTrac Systems for STAT MedEvac

SkyTrac Systems has been chosen by STAT MedEvac to provide flight following and satellite communication (SatCom) services. SkyTrac will provide STAT MedEvac with the hardware to equip its fleet of EC 135 and EC 145 helicopters, as well as provide ground station software and web based flight following and fleet management tools.

By using SkyTrac's system, STAT MedEvac will improve the efficiency and reliability of communication with ground emergency medical services (EMS) and fire departments.

STAT MedEvac believes that flight following is a critical component to aviation safety and quick emergency response. When a STAT MedEvac aircraft equipped with SkyTrac's flight following and SatCom system has a patient on board, medical flight personnel are able to reliably communicate with a medical command physician to provide critical details of the patient's condition. By using SkyTrac's mapping tools to follow the flight, STAT MedEvac can provide hospitals and ground emergency medical services with an accurate ETA of the helicopter.

Era Systems Installs Multilat in Oslo

Era Systems has completed installation of a surface ADS-B and multilateration solution (MSS) at the Oslo Airport, Norway's gateway airport. The system is now fully operational and feeding into the advanced-surface movement guidance and control system (A-SMGCS) developed by HITT, the prime on the contract, to provide air traffic controllers with complete situational awareness. Airport officials selected Era's MSS ADS-B and multilateration surveillance solution and Era's Squid vehicle tracking devices. These systems add to Oslo's already extensive surface tracking and aircraft routing system, which includes primary X-band radar and a taxiway guidance lighting system. Era's MSS provides higher accuracy, greater update rates, better coverage and improved reliability when compared to traditional radar - at a much lower initial cost and with lower annual maintenance costs. "Era successfully deployed this system a mere 16 months after contract award," said Russell Hulstrom, vice president of Era's Air Traffic Management Business. "Era systems are the most widely selected and operationally proven ADS-B and multilateration systems in the world, and we have the unique experience and capabilities that can deliver systems in a timely and efficient manner."

NAV CANADA Flight Data Technology at Additional UK Towers

Three more air traffic control towers in the UK will soon be making use of NAV CANADA technology to manage critical flight data for their day-to-day operations, bringing to seven the total number of U.K. towers benefiting from this advanced system.

NATS, the UK's air navigation services provider, says three of Scotland's busiest control towers, Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh, will be the next to implement the technology designed and built by NAV CANADA to manage critical flight data in air traffic control towers and other air traffic facilities. The technology, known as IIDS/EXCDS (Integrated Information Display System/Extended Computer Display System) allows air traffic controllers to manage flight data online, eliminating the need for traditional paper flight strips and providing immediate access to key information. IIDS/EXCDS automates flight data transactions and can be configured to generate flow management statistics and other information.

Majority Pay Attention to Safety Brief

A survey conducted by the TripAdvisor organization shows that airline passengers do indeed listen to the in-flight safety briefings offered by cabin attendants just prior to takeoff. The survey involved more than 2,100 U.S. respondents. It was conducted from January 16 - January 20 in the aftermath of the US Airways Airbus 320 crash into the Hudson River.

Sixty-eight percent of the respondents said they frequently pay attention to the in-flight safety presentation--30 percent said they always do, 38 percent said they often do. Of the 32 percent who said they rarely or never pay attention to the in-flight safety presentation, 81 percent said it is because they already know it by heart.

Fifty percent of travelers surveyed said they have read the seat-back instruction card in the past, but following last week's "Miracle on the Hudson," 62 percent are more likely to read it in the future.

Seventy-three percent of respondents said they always check the locations of the exits on the plane, while 20 percent often do. Twelve percent of travelers avoid booking in the emergency exit row because they don't want the responsibility of opening the doors and assisting the crew in an emergency. Sixty-seven percent of respondents said that during a flight, they feel prepared in the event of an emergency. Seventy-five percent of travelers believe they would know what to do in the event of a water landing. Fifteen percent of travelers said they have experienced an emergency landing. Five percent of travelers said they have been on a flight where the oxygen masks were deployed, and two percent have had to pull the life jacket out from under their seat. Ninety-one percent said they always keep their seat belt fastened for the journey.

Thirty-one percent of travelers said they had concerns about "bird strikes," even before the so-called "Miracle on the Hudson."