Moya Lear -- winner of the Amelia Earhart Pioneering Achievement Award -- donated the $10,000 she received with the honor to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. The money will be used to fund scholarships for women majoring in aeronautical science.
Flight Path Learning Center of Southern California honored several Women in Aviation at its annual gala. Those honored include Katherine Cheung, the first Chinese women aviator; Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female aviator; and Dr. Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
The FAA Aircraft Registry in Oklahoma City registers aircraft and records aircraft security interests. It is understaffed by a dedicated group of people who are in the process of trying to run an operation transitioning from Stonehenge-era technology. The long overdue ``Electronic Document Management System'' promises to bring the 20th century's great achievement -- electricity -- to the Registry. The Registry struggles with archaic legal constraints as well. It can register aircraft owned by: (1) Citizens of the United States;
Sales of new corporate aircraft will rise 3.3 percent in 2000 despite higher prices, according to The CIT Group, a New Jersey-based aircraft financier. In its fourth annual Corporate Aviation Outlook, The CIT Group says continued economic expansion, the need for business travel and the growth of fractional ownership are driving this trend.
Aviation entrepreneur Steven Udvar-Hazy, founder of International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC), will donate $60 million over the next four years to the National Air and Space Museum's new facility at Dulles Airport.
Gulfstream 4SP, turn right heading 160. Intercept the Runway 19 Right localizer. Slow to 180 knots. You're five in trail of a Boeing 757. Report it in sight. You're Number Two. You're cleared for the visual to Runway 19 Right.'' We searched for our traffic. We didn't spot it.
SimuFlite Training International has ordered four new simulators for its Dallas/Fort Worth International training center, including a Gulfstream IVSP, Gulfstream V and Cessna Citation Ultra/Bravo and Citation Excel. The G-IVSP will be on line in 2000, with the remainder expected in 2001. The simulators will be housed in SimuFlite's 164,000-square-foot training expansion, scheduled for completion in April 2000.
Tulsa's Bizjet International and JetCorp of Chesterfield, Mo., have signed on to market and install the Lear Aft Fuselage Locker developed by Raisbeck Engineering. The locker adds baggage space for Learjet 30-series aircraft.
Cessna is looking to fill the gaps between its piston single, Caravan turboprop and Citation business jet product lines, and is studying the market potential of piston twins, single-turboprops and ``everything in between,'' according to company spokesperson Jennifer Whitlow. Advances in powerplant and materials technology have widened Cessna's options, and more than one new aircraft is likely to be developed, she says.
China's Hainan Airlines has taken delivery of the first of 19 Fairchild Aerospace 328JETs it ordered to expand its regional network. According to Fairchild, Hainan will be the first Chinese operator to employ regional jets. Hainan's 328JET order is valued at $464 million if all 20 options included in the deal are exercised.
AVCARD's contract to provide aviation credit cards to U.S. military and federal agency aircraft has been extended for another five years through the end of 2004. The company also announced that AVCARD will now be accepted at Chevron Point-of-Sale machines. Chevron dealers previously processed AVCARD sales manually.
Fastblock 100 is a new firewall sealant designed to enhance while reducing the cost of firewall installation and maintenance. Designed for its strength in the changing environments found in corporate aircraft, Fastblock 100 protects against heat and fire damage -- even in high vibration conditions. The manufacturer claims that the product's versatility allows Fastblock 100 to be used in conjunction with fiberglass or ceramic fabric to repair larger areas, or alone for smaller surfaces. Price: $38.15/six once cartridge; other quantities available
Few of us will ever fly at Mach 3, but a select few can own a watch that pays tribute to those who have. The Swiss-made North Eagles Mach 3 Limited Edition Chronograph has a stainless steel bracelet, steel case and sapphire crystal and is water resistant to 660 feet. Only 2,145 watches have been manufactured -- one, the company says, for every mile per hour in the SR-71 Blackbird's record-breaking 64-minute flight from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.
Flight departments having a fuel sales agreement with Mercury Air Group can order fuel on-line through Mercury's new Web site. The site is password-protected and allows customers to order fuel, know the price they're paying and have it awaiting their arrival at airports throughout the United States and Europe.
Flight instructors at the Daytona Beach, Fla., campus of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (ERAU) have agreed to a new labor contract. The three-year deal affects 80 full-time, part-time and hourly paid CFIs, who will see their average hourly wage increase from its present level of $10.63 per hour to $16.51 per hour at the end of the contract period. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers represents ERAU's Daytona instructors, while CFIs at the school's Prescott, Ariz., campus are non-union.
In what may be the largest e-commerce transaction in the history of the Internet, Gulfstream Aerospace sold a used G-IV via its Web site to Elite Aviation of Van Nuys, Calif. Value of the transaction: $22.9 million. Gulfstream began marketing preowned aircraft on the Internet in June.
Innotech-Execaire has installed Flight Dynamics' Head-up Guidance System (HGS) on a Bombardier Challenger 604. The aircraft will be used for FAA certification of the system, which is expected this month.
Edited by Paul RichfieldDavid Esler, in Santa Barbara, Calif.
What may be the only completion center dedicated solely to the outfitting of Boeing Business Jets was officially opened November 5 by Garrett Aviation Services (GAS) at Santa Barbara Airport (SBA) in Goleta, Calif. More than 150 business aviation principals and a handful of BBJ owners joined executives and employees of GAS for the opening in one of the Santa Barbara facility's two cavernous hangar bays.
Nav Canada will install two new radar systems in Northern Canada at a cost of C$14.5 million, saying the project will enhance safety and reduce customer costs. The first system, at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, will eliminate some lengthy procedural approaches, and improve service for high-altitude overflights. Kuujjuaq in Canada's Eastern Arctic will receive the second system; Nav Canada says its coverage will allow more efficient altitudes and routings for air traffic in the ``transition zone'' between the North Atlantic and North American Air Route Systems.
The National Air Transportation Association has published a manual providing aviation businesses with step-by-step instructions for dealing with aircraft accidents and incidents. Its Emergency Response Manual also provides information about aircraft security and suggested responses to bomb threats and hijackings. NATA has included a section devoted to working with the press and an appendix with copies of NTSB forms used in the event of an accident. Price: $25 for NATA members; $40 for non-members NATA 4226 King St.
Boston's Logan International Airport could be the main operational hub for ACJet, the new Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) subsidiary that will fly under Delta Air Lines' code. Supporting this theory is American Airlines' recent assimilation of former Boston-hubbed Delta Connection carrier Business Express, and Delta's recent decision to spend $335 million on refurbishing Logan's Terminal A, which was last renovated in the 1970s.
In an effort to increase new pilot training starts, Cessna is offering a new financing program in conjunction with SallieMae to make flying lessons more affordable. Available through Cessna Pilot Centers around the country, the loans allow students to pay as little as $50 per month for private pilot lessons. Cessna also has introduced a new leaseback program for buyers of single-engine aircraft. The manufacturer says the leasebacks are based on tax strategies offering individual owners tax advantages currently enjoyed by corporate aircraft holding companies.
