NTSB Chairman Jim Hall has called for the creation of a ``task force'' to combat bird strikes. Two recent incidents prompted the action: the collision of a USA Jet Douglas DC-9 with a large flock of birds near Kansas City, Mo., on March 4, 1999; and a Delta Air Lines Boeing 757's ingestion of birds on takeoff from Cincinnati on February 22. Both aircraft were damaged, but no injuries were reported.
Westchester County Airport (HPN) near White Plains, N.Y., plans to review the location of its aircraft noise sensors. Westchester County Executive Andrew Spano ordered the initiative, with the goal of holding individual aircraft operators accountable for specific noise complaints.
Photograph: The Phoenix FanJet prototype may soon have company. A Belgian court has awarded Alberta Aerospace Corp. (AAC) the rights to the Phoenix FanJet trainer after a lengthy court battle with the trustees of Promavia, the aircraft's former owner. The move clears the way for FAA and Canadian certification of the aircraft formerly known as the Jet Squalus (Latin for ``shark''), which the company hopes to complete before the end of this year. ``We have a company in Belgium transferring the aircraft's drawings to CD-ROM.
Photograph: Don Ingham, Nav Canada vice president Paul Richfield Three years ago, Canada privatized its national airspace infrastructure and began charging for its use. Since then, many in the United States -- including the chiefs of several of the largest U.S. major airlines -- have said that the United States should follow Canada's example, replace the FAA with a private contractor and switch to a structure funded by user fees. This position is understandable for two reasons. The first, that the U.S.
Aviall is the new North American distributor for Kaiser Electro-precision -- a manufacturer of aircraft fluid handling products. The company also has been named a preferred distributor for Garrett Aviation Services.
NASA has opened a new ``virtual control tower'' at its Ames Research Center at Moffett Field in Northern California. Known as FutureFlight Central, the facility is intended to improve the safety and efficiency of aircraft operations both on the ground and in the air. A simulator training device, FutureFlight Central enables up to 12 air traffic controllers to direct traffic at virtually any commercial airport in the world. According to recent remarks by U.S.
In the weeks following the RTCA conference, the heads of several airlines -- Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Gordon Bethune, Don Carty of American and Rono Dutta of United -- made proposals to dismantle and/or privatize ATC, as Canada has done with Nav Canada. (See ``Frozen Assets,'' page 80.)
Scottsdale, Ariz.'s Southwest Jet Aviation is introducing a new fractional program utilizing a Raytheon King Air B200. Known as Ownership Options, the program is targeted at regional travelers and will provide access to the operator's jet aircraft for longer trips. Southwest expects to sell out two of the aircraft by the end of the year.
JetBrokers' West Palm Beach, Fla., office has relocated to Signature Flight Support's facility at Palm Beach International Airport. The new phone number is (561) 687-9191.
The United States Drug Enforcement Administration accepted delivery of a new Pilatus PC-12 as part of an ongoing plan to update the agency's fleet. With seating for 10 passengers, the aircraft will be used to transport agency personnel.
Photograph: The former GTE hangars at Beverly Airport, now operated by North Atlantic Air, Inc. North Atlantic Aero North Atlantic Air, a full-service FBO located at Beverly Airport (BVY) near Boston, has assumed the lease for the large hangar complex vacated when GTE relocated its flight department to Texas. Built to house three Gulfstream IVs, the two hangars offer 36,000 square feet of space, with ``complete amenities'' for passengers, crew and maintenance personnel. Ideally, North Atlantic would like to rent the space to turbine operators.
Cirrus Design now claims 420 non-refundable, $15,000 deposits for its new SR20 general aviation aircraft. Eight SR20s have rolled off the production line to date, with another nine now under construction. Cirrus' staff members in Duluth, Minn., are now responsible for training new owners, but this soon will shift to Seattle-based Wings Aloft. Training for foreign customers will be made available through ``international sales agents,'' Cirrus says.
AlliedSignal and Honeywell have received U.S. and European approval for the planned merger of the two companies. As a precondition, both suppliers agreed to divest portions of their respective aerospace businesses, but the EC demanded additional concessions, ostensibly to protect European aerospace suppliers from a Honeywell monopoly in some sectors. Honeywell agreed to withdraw from the TCAS market; AlliedSignal agreed to sell its helicopter weather radar unit; and both will allow other companies' devices to interface with their products.
St. Louis-based Trans States Airlines broadened its asset management deal with TRW Aeronautical Systems (Lucas Aerospace) to include the carrier's nine ordered Embraer 145 regional jets. Trans States retains options on 18 additional ERJ-145s.
The FAA recently presented its Diamond Award to TAG Aviation, BFGoodrich Aerospace and Raytheon Aircraft Services in Houston and Tampa. The award is part of an FAA program recognizing aviation maintenance technicians (AMT) for participation in recurrent training. In addition to the corporate awards, approximately 800 Everett, Wash.-based BFGoodrich AMTs as well as technicians at TAG and Raytheon received individual awards.
If you fly a light aircraft, John T. Lowry, Ph.D.'s new book may help you better understand how it performs, why it flies the way it does and how to use that information to improve your piloting. Performance of Light Aircraft takes readers through a series of flight maneuvers to determine how best to fly an individual aircraft by using what Dr. Lowry calls the ``Bootstrap Approach.'' He says his techniques generate results that are more accurate than the pilot's operating handbook. Price: $64.95 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
The association has elected New Piper President and CEO Chuck Suma as chairman of the board; Michael A. Smith, president of Commercial Aviation Systems at Honeywell is elected vice chairman. The GAMA board also elected the following committee chairmen for 2000: Rockwell Collins' Clay Jones, Flight Operations Policy; Ray Sigfried of the Nordam Group, International; Steve Loranger of Honeywell, Public Affairs; Aircraft Technical Publishers' Caroline Daniels, Safety Affairs; and Boeing Business Jets' Borge Boeskov, Technical Policy.
A reorganization has resulted in the promotion of seven employees. Newly promoted to vice president are: D.C. Iain Glendinning, Donald (Jim) Meier, Claire M. Stewart and Jack L. Vaughn. Lonnie Thibodeaux, John Jelovic and Roger Renaud were promoted to directors. Senior Vice President Gene L. Harbula has been named the company's new senior vice president for strategic planning and corporate communications.
Ongoing concern over the loss of cowling access doors from Eurocopter BK 117 helicopters in flight has prompted the NTSB to propose an airworthiness directive requiring operators to install hook-type latches on the doors. Five inflight door separations have been documented since the manufacturer's 1989 service bulletin first addressed the problem, most recently the 1998 non-fatal emergency landing and rollover of a St. Louis Helicopters BK 117 in Topeka, Kan.
The industry is responding to the ATC squeeze with a variety of high-tech -- and low tech -- strategies. For example, NASA and Honeywell recently demonstrated a new technology that could solve a significant problem at airports served by parallel runways. Called Airborne Information for Lateral Spacing (AILS) and Closely Spaced Parallel Approaches (CASPER), the systems expand on existing communication and navigation technology to allow airplanes to land safely in bad weather on parallel runways spaced as closely as 2,500 feet apart.
Springfield, Ohio's Spectra Jet received FAA Repair Station designation for Learjets . . . British Aerospace (BAe) and Marconi Electronic Systems merged to form BAe Systems.
Swiss regional Crossair is planning its first aircraft livery change in six years, to coincide with the first deliveries of new Embraer regional jets. Above is an artist's impression of Embraer's ERJ-190-200 in Crossair's new paint scheme.
