Brown’s wingman Hudner dies

One was the son of a Mississippi sharecropper, the other a privileged New England prep school graduate. One died young, a casualty of war. The other lived a long life celebrated for service to country and championing of racial equality. Navy Ensign Jesse L. Brown of Hattiesburg and Lt. Thomas J. Hudner Jr. of Massachusetts, who died Nov. 13 at age 93, will forever be linked in history. On Dec. 4, 1950, the two pilots were flying above North Korea’s Chosin Reservoir when Brown’s plane was shot down, crash-landing on a snow-packed mountain. Hudner ditched his plane and attempted to free his wingman from the smoking wreckage. He could not. In 2013, Hudner returned to NK in hopes of retrieving the remains of Brown. Although he failed, his war-time heroics had become the stuff of legends … and earning him the Medal of Honor. As a lesson in brotherhood, coming just two years after the U.S. military had desegregated, it resonated much deeper. “Not a day goes by that I don’t think of that day, and Jesse,” Hudner reflected decades later, flanked by Brown’s widow, the now-late Daisy Brown Thorne, during a ship-christening ceremony in 1973. (Boston Globe 11/13/17) Central Mississippi Note: Ensign Brown was the Navy’s first African-American pilot. USS Jesse L. Brown, before decommissioning, was homeported at both Naval Station Mobile, Ala., and Pascagoula, Miss. Daisy Brown Thorne, who retired after 30 years of teaching in the Hattiesburg Public School District, passed away in July 2014.

‘Soldier On’ Mississippi

Alvin Buckley rose from the conference table to shake hands. The soft spoken employment specialist with the Jackson, Miss.-based office of ‘Soldier On,’ a non-profit in five states which helps homeless, unemployed, incarcerated or PTSD-suffering veterans. “… (W)e care deeply about veterans’ well being,” Buckley says. “They sacrificed … (and) (t)heir mental well-being is the biggest thing.” Soldier On, founded in 1994 and funded primarily by the Department of Veterans Affairs, is focused on “changing the end of the story,” says Yazoo City resident Hayes Dent, the group’s senior VP. Dent is a vet and a recipient of the Bronze Star. Veterans’ statistics are sobering: 22 a day commit suicide, 65 percent are age 50-plus; more than half of those 22 are usually not under the VA professional care. Some 220,000 vets reside in Mississippi. Soldier On is in the process of building 60 permanent housing units in Jackson for homeless veterans. Another facility is in the works on the Gulf Coast. (Source: Clarion-Ledger 11/12/17)

Uber, NASA develop ATM plan

NASA and Uber will be working together to ensure the company’s plans to deploy a fleet of flying taxis by 2020 gets off the ground through the advancements of NASA’s Urban Air Mobility program. Uber announced a new cooperation with NASA to develop the necessary Air Traffic Management (ATM) infrastructure at a Nov. 7 web summit in Portugal. The program isn’t expressly designed for Uber, but an evolution of a more ambitious plan by NASA to work with the FAA, and research institutions, to develop a method to manage the lower airspace in the near future; and keep those low-flying vehicles on course and at safe distances with little human intervention. NASA is confident it can be done. Uber is working with Aurora Flight Sciences (AFS) to develop software to manage its future flying taxi fleet and is working with Embraer, Mooney, Bell Helicopter and Pipistrel Aircraft to develop new electric-powered VTOL aircraft to be used for the service. (Source: Tnooz.com 11/10/17) Central Mississippi Note: AFS was recently bought by Boeing; and operates a plant in Columbus, Miss.

MAC comes to rescue

WHITING FIELD, Fla. - As he turned down a small road nearing the entrance to the Naval Air Station Whiting Field, Fla., a red pickup truck had smashed into the side of a small SUV. Broken glass littered the road. Steam and smoke filled the air. Cars slowed to gawk. Some even stopped. "Honestly, I was thinking about just going around," said Chief Master-at-Arms (MAC) Joseph Pellicano. As he got closer, a woman ran from behind one of the vehicles, crying for someone to "please save my baby," a 17-month-old boy. At that point, my heart kind of sank," said MAC Pellicano. "I knew I had to do something." Throughout his career, the Navy had provided him with constant first aid and CPR training. He didn’t need to be a bystander because he was prepared. He gave the boy CPR with no results. A second time, and the boy, Kaysin Willis, gasped for air. Pellicano continued, and the child gasped again. His legs moved. "It was amazing," the chief said. "I looked over at the mother and it looked like she had hope again." Pellicano will remember Jan. 16 for the rest of his life; and so will Kaysin and his mother. (Source: All Hands 11/08/17)

Army aviation spouses get feet wet

FORT RUCKER, Ala. – Thirty-four military spouses got an opportunity to step into the boots of their soldiers, get their feet wet, and earn their own wings at an event that gave them a taste of Army Aviation training. The spouses got the chance to get down and dirty during Spouses' Aviation Day here Oct. 26 when they were able to try their hand at shooting, flying, water survival and teamwork. The teams of spouses took on four events that aviation soldiers experience in training, including flight simulation, firing range simulation, team-building, and helicopter overwater safety training. "It's just really cool to be able to see what our (soldiers) do, so when they come home we can relate to what they're saying a little bit because sometimes it's can be so foreign," said spouse, Hannah Rufli. One of the more popular events was the UH-72 Lakota and UH-60 Black Hawk flight simulators. At the end of the day, spouses graduated training and presented with certificates and their own set of wings by Maj. Gen. William K. Gayler, U.S. Army Aviation Center of Excellence and Fort Rucker commanding general, and his wife, Michele. (Source: Fort Rucker 11/02/17) Central Mississippi Note: Fort Rucker is home to Army Aviation training. The UH-72 Lakota helicopter used in Army Aviation training is built by Airbus Helicopter Inc. in Columbus, Miss.

MS academia at aerospace forefront

From the Wright Brothers’ first flight in 1903 to putting man on the moon in 1969, the 20th Century was a remarkable time for the aerospace field. In the 21st Century, there have been greater opportunities for progress in the area of flight and space. Through education, research and service, Mississippi Public Universities are at the leading edge of that progress. Seizing these opportunities takes teamwork, including government, military, business and academia. (Source: University of Southern Mississippi 11/08/17)

DOD knew of crime report lapses

WASHINGTON - The Defense Department has about failures to give military criminal history information to the FBI since at least 1997, including the type the Air Force didn’t report about the accused Texas church killer Devin P. Kelley who assaulted his then-wife and stepson while serving as an airman. The AF’s lapse in the Kelley case, which is under review by DOD’s inspector general, made it possible for Kelley to buy guns before the Nov. 5 attack that killed 26 in Sutherland Springs, Texas. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, was appalled at the mistake and unsatisfied by the AF’s plans to investigate, and fears the failure to report domestic violence convictions may be more widespread. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis has directed the Pentagon IG to review circumstances of the Kelley case. At its core, the problem is that military criminal investigative organizations have frequently, and for a long time, failed to comply with rules for reporting service members’ criminal history data to the FBI. A February 1997 report by the IG found widespread lapses. Fingerprint cards were not submitted to the FBI criminal history files in more than 80 percent of cases in the Army and Navy, and 38 percent in the AF. In February 2017, the IG’s office launched a new review to assess compliance, which remains ongoing. (Source: The Associated Press 11/07/17)

Congress requires T-45 updates

WASHINGTON - When Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) heard about T-45C flight-training instructors at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss., refusing to fly the training jets over oxygen system issues, she was skeptical. “I thought: ‘Well, shame on them’,” she told reporters. But the issue became very real for her over the weekend during a congressional delegation trip to the Navy’s bases in Hampton Roads, Va. The Navy put Ernst into an oxygen-breathing device and dialed back the oxygen to her mask. “It was a terrifying experience for me,” Ernst said. “They walked us through what symptoms we might have as the oxygen was reduced, and it was just like textbook." Her face flushed; fingers numbed; legs tingled; and became “very hard to concentrate,” she said. Ernst has taken on the issue by introducing an amendment to this FY’s National Defense Authorization Act that requires the Navy to give quarterly reports to Congress on its hunt for a solution. Pilots in the T-45, F/A-18 Super Hornet and even the F-35 have reported physiological episodes as a result of oxygen deprivation. The Navy has introduced several measures seeking to cut down on incidents, but is still searching for more permanent fixes to the hypoxia issue. (Source: Navy Times 11/07/17)

Boeing completes buy of AFS

Boeing completed the acquisition of Aurora Flight Sciences, a global developer and manufacturer of advanced aerospace platforms and autonomous systems. Aurora will operate under Boeing Engineering, Test and Technology - a subsidiary called Aurora Flight Sciences. It will retain an independent operating model while benefiting from Boeing’s resources and position in the aerospace products and services markets. Headquartered in Manassas, Va., Aurora has more than 550 employees and operates in six locations, including a manufacturing facility in Columbus, Miss. (Source: Vertical 11/08/17)

OATK milestone for launch system

DULLES, Va. - Orbital ATK, an international aerospace and defense technologies company, successfully completed a milestone on Oct. 27 in developing advanced solid rocket propulsion, and other technologies, to be used in its Next Generation Launch (NGL) system. The milestone was a structural acceptance test on the first motor high-strength composite case for NGL. “This milestone clearly shows the progress being made by the hundreds of engineers and technicians in Utah and Arizona who are developing the NGL system.” The applied structural loads during the test demonstrated more than 110 percent of maximum expected motor operating pressure; and 110 percent of operational/flight and pre-launch compressive/tensile line loads. This full-scale motor case segment will be cast with inert solid rocket propellant in early 2018 and shipped to the launch site for check-out of ground operations. “NGL is one of Orbital ATK’s top growth initiatives,” said Scott Lehr, president of Orbital ATK’s Flight Systems Group. The next phase of the program is expected to begin when the Air Force awards the Launch Services Agreement in mid-2018, which would entail full vehicle and launch site development, with work taking place at company facilities in Iuka, Miss.; Promontory and Magna, Utah; Chandler, Ariz.; Kennedy Space Center, Fla.; and Vandenberg AFB, Calif. (Source: Orbital ATK 11/07/17)

AFS’ cert for unmanned AEH-1

Aurora Flight Sciences has been granted the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Special Airworthiness Certificate to the firm’s optionally piloted aircraft, a UH-1H helicopter. The Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) development, the Autonomous Aerial Cargo/Utility System (AACUS) program, has added a complete digital flight control system to create the “Autonomy-enabled UH-1” (or AEH-1). The UH-1 was chosen for its latest conversion to a robotic vehicle. The certification permits Optionally Piloted Aircraft (OPA) operation with only a safety pilot required to monitor controls. The aircraft is currently flying as the test bed for Aurora´s Tactical Autonomous Aerial Logistics System (TALOS) technology. The UH-1H is the third manned aircraft Aurora has converted to robotic-controlled operation. (Source: Financial News 11/06/17) Central Mississippi Note: Aurora’s aerostructures plant in Columbus, Miss., produces the Orion Medium Altitude-Long Endurance Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Free UM law school tuition for vets

Veterans who served at least three years of active duty since 9/11 can go to law school for free at the University of Mississippi using a combination of funds from the VA department, VA's Yellow Ribbon Program, and the university. Vets eligible for the Post-9/11 GI Bill Yellow Ribbon Program, who enroll in UM’s law school, will have tuition paid in full. The opportunity to utilize the Yellow Ribbon Program is available for any student-veteran who has been accepted to law school and meets 100 percent criteria of the Post-9/11 GI Bill, said Andrew Newby, UM’s assistant director of veteran and military services. "There is no limit to the number of students that can use the Yellow Ribbon Program, and no limit for students using the non-resident tuition scholarship," Newby said. For more information, contact Newby at (662) 915-5021 or via e-mail at andrew@olemiss.edu. (Source: Clarion Ledger 11/04/17)

CAFB squad earns T-1 honors

JOINT BASE SAN ANTONIO-RANDOLPH, TEXAS – The 48th Flying Training Squadron, part of the 14th Flight Training Wing at Columbus AFB, Miss., was recipient of the Air Education Training Command’s Flying Training Award in the T-1 category here at AETC’s first ceremony. Maj. Gen. Patrick Doherty, 19th Air Force commander, conceptualized the idea of the awards this year to prioritize, recognize, and show aircrew and instructors’ value while honoring teamwork. In an effort to provide scope for the magnitude of AETC units’ efforts, Doherty noted that AETC’s flying enterprise under 19th AF is a staggering 50 percent of the entire AF’s flying-hour program. Fifty-seven individual ‘High Flyers’ were honored. (Source: 19th Air Force 11/01/17) Central Mississippi Note: The T-1A Jayhawk is a medium-range, twin-engine jet trainer used in the advanced phase of specialized undergraduate pilot training at CAFB; and for combat systems officer training at NAS Pensacola, Fla.

Best date to buy Thanksgiving airfare

Nov. 2 may be the best date to buy airline tickets for Thanksgiving, according to a data analysis by the website Priceline.com. A recent survey found five percent of people consider themselves a "last-minute booker" when it comes to airfare. After looking at airline pricing data, Priceline concluded booking tickets roughly three weeks from Thanksgiving is "ideal," according to a news release, and a date to "score the best deals." The days leading up to Thanksgiving are considered the busiest time of the year for air travel. New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport is bracing for one of its busiest travel seasons to date; and is on pace to break a new passenger record. Last year, 11.1 million passengers passed through the airport. (Source: NOLA.com 11/02/17)

Ex-LINK exec lands Madison post

Former Golden Triangle Development LINK chief operating officer Joseph P. Deason plans to take some of the best tactics he’s learned from LINK, General Motors, and the Mississippi Development Authority to his new post as executive director of the Madison County (Miss.) Economic Development Authority (MCEDA). Deason worked at MDA from 2006-10 that saw major economic development projects such as Toyota Blue Springs, Severstal Columbus, PACCAR and GE Aviation. Deason also worked at LINK for four and a half years. “It was invaluable.” Madison County has assets most of Mississippi struggles to attain, he stated. Economic development prospects are all different, he said, but one common factor is the need to be able to hire a trained and educated work force. Deason wants Madison County to strive to become a Work Ready Community. (Source: Mississippi Business Journal 11/02/17)

Defense chief charged in Cole case

GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - The case judge in the USS Cole case found Marine Brig. Gen. John Baker, who is in charge of the military court’s defense teams, guilty of contempt for refusing to follow orders. The general was sentenced Nov. 1 to 21 days confinement and fined $1,000. Air Force judge Col. Vance Spath declared "null and void" Baker’s decision to release three Pentagon-paid civilian defense attorneys, in the case against defendant Abd al Rahim al Nashiri, and order the trio to appear before him or via video feed next week. At issue was Baker's authority to excuse the civilian lawyers because of a secret ethics conflict involving attorney-client privilege. Baker had refused a day earlier to testify in front of Spath or return the three lawyers to the case. Baker attempted to protest that the war court had no jurisdiction over U.S. citizens (lawyers or himself). The judge refused to allow Baker to speak. Spath ruled that the chief defense counsel was out of order to invoke a privilege in refusing to testify about both the decision to release and the absence of the three attorneys, who all refused to return to ‘Gitmo’ this week. Spath declared, it was a judge's domain to weigh and review privilege. Without it, he said, there would be "havoc in any system of justice." (Source: Miami Herald 11/01/17) Central Mississippi Note: One of the 17 sailors killed in the attack on USS Cole was Ensign Andrew Triplett, 31, of Macon, Miss. Two senior enlisted personnel with ties to Naval Hospital Pensacola, Fla., were also aboard the ship: Now-retired master chiefs James Parlier and Eric Kafka.

VT-7 pilots complete carrier quals

ATLANTIC OCEAN - The USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) hosted 24 student pilots from Mississippi-based Training Squadron Seven (VT-7) for their first landings on an aircraft carrier. The qualification required pilots to successfully complete 10 arrested landings and four touch-and-goes aboard Lincoln’s flight deck. “The first landing wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be," said Marine Corps Capt. Nick Deluca, a VT-7 student-pilot. "The ship looked really small, but I was running so well that (deck sailors) made it easy on me." Before landing aboard the carrier, student-pilots practiced 13 different events at a designated airfield. (Source: USS Abraham Lincoln 10/31/17) Central Mississippi Note: VT-7 is part of Training Air Wing One out of Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.

Harvard biz profs arrive in GT

Twenty faculty members of the Harvard Business School, led by senior associate dean for research Jan Rivkin, will meet with East Mississippi government leaders and officials with the Golden Triangle Development LINK beginning Oct. 30 to learn about the region’s economic success. The HBU faculty started a project in 2011, which Rivkin co-chairs, on U.S. competitiveness. He learned about the Golden Triangle from a CBS "60 Minutes" segment on LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins. The HBS project had been focusing “a lot of time” looking at the world” instead of “perhaps” not enough time on America, Rivkin said. While in the Golden Triangle, the group will meet with LINK representatives and government leaders from Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties; and tour East Mississippi Community College's Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Mississippi State University's National Strategic Planning and Research Center, Steel Dynamics and PACCAR - a Fortune 500 firm that established a commercial vehicle diesel engine facility in Columbus, Miss. The HBS faculty may draw up a case study for students or delve into other regions issues. "It's always hard to know before you go to a place what you'll learn," Rivkin said. "The thing that most fascinates me is the coordination that appears to be taking place, between government, businesses, nonprofits and educational institutions. (Source: Columbus Dispatch 10/28/17)

New members for CLCC board

The Columbus Lowndes (Miss.) Chamber of Commerce announced the results of its 2017 board election. New board members are Matt Bogue of The Dutch Oil Group, Greg Stewart of Aurora Flight Sciences, and Jill Savely of East Mississippi Community College’s Golden Triangle Early College High School. Bogue, Stewart, and Savely will serve a three-year term through September 2020. Melinda Lowe, director for the Office of Outreach and Innovation at Mississippi University for Women, will serve as board chair for 2017-18. The CLCC board is charged with guiding the organization in working to achieve its mission and vision to promote a favorable business climate and increase membership value through cooperative efforts while continually increasing business development. (Source: Columbus Dispatch 10/26/17)

MS prof makes cut for Nicholls prez

Six candidates have been named semifinalists for the next president of Nicholls State University in Thibodaux, La., according to the search committee: Jay Clune, Eugene Dial, John Doucet, Shawn Mauldin, Wade Rousse and Marcheta Evans. All six are to be interviewed in public on campus Nov 6-7. Mauldin is a Nicholls alumnus and has served as director of Mississippi State University’s accounting school since 2015. Clune is a Nicholls alumnus who currently serves as the interim dean for the University of West Florida’s graduate school in Pensacola, Fla. Dial is NSU’s vice president for student affairs and associate professor of education. Doucet serves as dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. Evans has served as vice president for academic affairs and provost at Our Lady of the Lake University in San Antonio, Texas. She is the only woman who was named as a qualified applicant, and the only African American. Mauldin joined the Nicholls staff in 1987 as an instructor in accounting, and served as department head from 2000-05 and as dean for the following decade. Rousse has served in top leadership roles in oil and gas related companies in Louisiana since he graduated in 1993, as well as taught economics as a visiting professor at Northern Arizona State since 2015. After the interviews, the search committee will recommend at least two candidates. Those chosen will be interviewed Nov. 14 by the full University of Louisiana System board, which will choose the new president on that same day. (Source: Houma [La.] Today 10/25/17)