You can never have enough of a good thing. That's the philosophy of Earl Robinson, president of just launched Alliance Aircraft Holding Corp., which plans to enter the highly competitive regional jet market with a new family of 55- to 110-seat aircraft. Alliance claims two letters of intent for 28 aircraft.
Jet Support Services, Inc.'s (JSSI) Tip-to-Tail hourly cost maintenance program is now available for Learjet 35 and 36 series aircraft as well as Dassault Falcon 20-731s. Chicago-based JSSI covers virtually all aircraft maintenance requirements, with the exception of exterior paint and cosmetic interior items. Texaco recently signed with JSSI, enrolling two Gulfstream IVSPs in the program, the company says.
NASA is working with Rockwell Collins, Jeppesen and American Airlines to develop satellite-based, real-time weather capability for airliners and corporate aircraft. The tests will be conducted aboard two American Boeing 777s, equipped with satellite receivers and laptop computers displaying graphical weather information supplied by Jeppesen. Crews will test the setup from April through November on flights between the United States and Asia.
Fifty years ago, a chapter in the long and storied history of Beech Aircraft ended when Walter Herschel Beech succumbed to heart failure at the age of 59. The Tennessee farm boy who had risen to become the president and chairman of one of the big three general aviation airplane manufacturers died quickly and unexpectedly at his Wichita home in 1950. However, his three decades of accomplishment as a 10,000-hour pilot, flight instructor, engineer and manufacturer qualified him as a true aviation pioneer.
Hansel E. Tookes has been named president and chief executive officer of Raytheon Aircraft. He succeeds Art Wegner, who is now chairman. Tookes' planned ascension to CEO was announced in September 1999 when he joined the company as president and chief operating officer. Wegner and Tookes both worked at United Technologies (UTC) prior to joining Raytheon. Wegner was president of UTC's aerospace and defense sector in 1993 when he left to become president and CEO of Raytheon subsidiary Beech Aircraft.
Clay Lacy is the owner and legal permittee of Clay Lacy Aviation at Van Nuys Airport in downtown California. He retired as senior captain of United a few years ago after countless pops across the Pacific, to Hawaii and Australia. He has flown all types of flying machines possibly including the box they came in. He has flown his personal denture pink P-51 in the Reno Air Race, Unlimited Class with a full-scale ``Snoopy'' riding shotgun. His beauteous wife, Lois, also flew as a UAL attendant and also is retired (I don't believe she made 60) and is active in the C.L.A.
Creating what it calls the nation's ``largest aviation technology training establishment,'' Colorado Aero Tech, Northrop Rice-Houston and Northop Rice-Los Angeles have merged to create the Westwood College of Aviation Technology (WCAT). Westwood is owned by Denver-based Alta Colleges and offers A&P and avionics technician training. The school says it has approximately 1,400 students enrolled at its three locations and expects that 20 percent of the country's new aviation maintenance professionals will graduate from one of its campuses this year.
Danish regional SAS Commuter welcomes the first of 19 ordered Bombardier Dash 8 Q400s with a traditional ``christening'' by water cannon at the airline's Copenhagen facilities. The 76-seat aircraft averaged 360 knots on its flight from Bombardier's Toronto plant to Denmark, via Goose Bay, Labrador and Keflavik, Iceland. The Q400 received FAA certification in February, JAA certification in December 1999, and Transport Canada certification in June 1999.
MidAmerica Jet is leasing a second Jetstream 32P for on-demand charter. The company also operates Mitsubishi Diamonds, Beech King Airs and manages a Lockheed JetStar II.
Pilots working for US Airways' wholly owned regional carriers could receive preferential hiring at the mainline carrier if ongoing talks are successful. According to sources within the US Airways chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the union has proposed a ``bi-directional flow-through agreement'' involving Allegheny, PSA and Piedmont Airlines, and ``percentage caps and ratios are being discussed.''
One-hundred employees in the FAA's financial services division and controllers at private ATC towers in Melbourne, Fla., and Capital City, Pa., voted for representation by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA). NATCA now represents approximately 15,000 FAA air traffic controllers, 600 other FAA staffers and employees of 22 contract towers.
Be-A-Pilot, the general aviation organization that promotes learning to fly, says the number of new pilot starts rose again in 1999, the third consecutive increase since the group was founded in 1996. With Russ Meyer as chairman, a full-time executive director and $1.8 million in funding, Be-A-Pilot operates a Web site (www.beapilot.com), provides marketing materials and marketing ideas to flight schools, and has created a national advertising campaign to encourage new pilot starts.
Air Canada is planning to consolidate its regional airline subsidiaries -- Air Nova, Air Ontario and AirBC -- into a single carrier. Joseph Randell, Air Nova's president, will head the new entity. Canadian Regional Airlines will join the consolidated carrier if its sale does not go through, Air Canada says.
Indigo Air, the Chicago-based firm planning public charters between Teterboro and Chicago Midway aboard Dassault Falcon 20s, has received its FAR Part 135 certificate and has begun operating corporate charters with a single Falcon 20. The company plans to add three additional aircraft by the end of April and begin offering public charters by late spring. Indigo founder Matt Anderssen says the company is close to an ``amicable'' settlement of a $10 million lawsuit filed by Swedish aircraft leasing company Indigo Aviation AB for trademark infringement.
Former airline executive Mark Coleman joins Mercury subsidiary RPA Airline Automation Services as president. Dan McDyre is now western regional director for Mercury Air Centers. Wes Daniels replaces McDyre as general manager of the company's Reno FBO and Fred Allega returns to the company as general manager at LAX.
Photograph: Honeywell's AS900 flight-test team Backslapping and handshaking were prevalent at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport on January 28, as Honeywell's Boeing 720 flying test bed touched down after the successful first flight of the firm's new AS900 turbofan engine. Pre-launch delays caused by a brand-new digital test suite aboard the Boeing cut the ambitious four-plus hour test card by one half, however, since FAA rules require the test flight to be completed by sunset (1756 local time).
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University named its Daytona Beach Instructional Center in honor of the late Willie Miller, a longtime supporter of the university and former member of the NBAA, Wings Club, Aviation/Space Writers Association and other aviation organizations.
A new computer database will help FAA inspectors ensure that aircraft flight manuals are complete, correct and have the latest revisions incorporated and logged. Only FAR Part 25 (transport category) airplanes will be listed on the database at first, though Part 23, 27 and 29 aircraft will be included as the system is refined. Using the system, inspectors will be able to document ``implementation by the operator and surveillance by the inspector,'' the FAA says.
Flight Time, a Waltham, Mass.-based air charter broker, acquired aviation software company MACH-1 and safety auditor Wyvern, Ltd., publisher of the Wyvern Report. No staff changes are planned at either company. Although Wyvern will continue to operate independently, Flight Time's charter suppliers likely will be required to undergo Wyvern auditing in the future, if they already haven't, according to Flight Time President Robert McBride. MACH-1 develops trip management software for air charter operators and corporate flight departments.
New initiatives could remedy Europe's growing air traffic delay problems, according to officials who attended recent talks in Brussels, Belgium. Transport Ministers from 38 European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC) agreed on the need to unify the continent's air traffic management (ATM) system under central control, creating what they call a `Single European Sky.' The group also endorsed plans to reduce delays down to ``Summer 1997 levels,'' despite an anticipated 5.3 percent increase in traffic this year.
