Deborah Hersman was sworn in this afternoon as chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board. President Barack Obama nominated her for a two-year term June 18. The Senate confirmed the nomination on Friday.
She also will serve a five-year term as a Board member.
Hersman replaces the outgoing chairman Mark Rosenker. Rosenker has been head of the agency, either as chairman or acting chairman, since March 2005. The affable Rosenker was in Wichita in April and spoke at the Wichita Aero Club luncheon.
Hersman has been a member of the Safety Board since 2004.
She’s been on the scene at 16 major transportation accidents.
Something to watch for on Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner program is whether Boeing will have to post forward losses on the program.
If Boeing were to declare a forward loss, it would mean that its costs for the 787 for a set number of aircraft would exceed the revenue for those aircraft. Boeing then would record a charge for the difference and record zero profits for those planes, said Barclays Capital analyst Joe Campbell in a new report.
Boeing’s $100 billion 787 Dreamliner orders make up 40 percent of the company’s order backlog. It’s also about 25 percent of the Boeing’s revenue forecasts, the report said.
Once the company overcomes the new jetliner’s troubles and 120 of them are produced a year, “we believe the 787 has the potential to be the most profitable aircraft Boeing has ever had,” Campbell wrote.
But mounting costs from five program delays increase the risk that Boeing will conclude its necessary to declare a forward loss on the 787, the report said.
The Federal Aviation Administration has placed an order with Hawker Beechcraft for four King Air C90GTi turboprops to support its Flight Standards Flight Program.
The contract includes an option for two addition planes. Deliveries will take place over the next two years, the company said.
WICHITA — AirVenture in Oshkosh is underway, and three students at Kansas State University’s Salina campus have made the trip.
The three are in K-State’s professional pilot program. Bryan Valliere is from Wichita and a sophomore who hopes to be a Navy pilot.
Carol Cooper, from Hutchinson, is a wife and mother. Her goal is to be a corporate pilot. And Kate Fraser, from McPherson, is a senior and a flight instructor.
