Signature Flight Support, Orlando, has named Nicole Adas as customer relations manager for the company's West Palm Beach International Airport facility. Adas comes to Signature from Raytheon Aircraft Services in Tampa, Fla., where she served as the customer service supervisor.
Atlantic Coast Airlines has taken delivery of its 36th Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet. The carrier holds firm orders for 60 CRJs and options for an additional 80. Bombardier says it recently made its first sale to Senegal. Air Senegal International has ordered a Q300 turboprop for domestic and regional international flights. Service is slated to begin this month.
A Samaritan's Purse Sabreliner 65, piloted by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Dr. Billy Graham, became the first authorized business jet to visit North Korea. Graham flew two doctors to Pyongyang, Sunan Airport, North Korea to meet with North Korean officials regarding diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. Samaritan's Purse is based in Boone, N.C.
Tag Aviation opened an aircraft acquisition and sales office at the company's Palm Beach, Fla., location. Pat Hatch, who had been TAG's Palm Beach base manager, has moved to the company's Acquisitions and Sales Division as regional vice president. He will assist TAG's aircraft management clients in acquiring and selling aircraft, providing similar services for outside clients and assisting with the inventory and resale of aircraft. A former U.S.
Aircraft monitoring devices go all the way back to the Wright Brothers. The 1903 Flyer, the world's first true airplane, had a counter to measure the propeller revolutions, an anemometer to measure absolute airspeed and a stopwatch.
In our society, alcoholic libations are a key ingredient in bringing people together socially and putting them at ease. They also are a significant source of harm to some imbibers, their loved ones and too often some innocents who just happened to be in the way. Alcohol. We love it; we hate it. As professionals we constantly hone our thinking and reading skills to evaluate information relating to the safety of flight. A review of the FAA's stance on alcohol, its role in flight safety and physiology, opposing viewpoints, and alcoholism is in order.
The FAA also has delayed until July 16 the effective date for a final rule modifying service difficulty reporting requirements for air carriers and repair stations. It delayed the rule to give the agency more time to review concerns provided by various commenters as well as to disseminate guidance to help with compliance. The requirements originally were to take effect on January 16.
The Lobster cordless riveter is completely portable and still powerful enough to pull up to 3/16-inch rivets. The ``Ultra Jaws'' of the lobster riveter are designed for Cherrymax, Huck Monobolts and standard blind rivets without the need for special adapters. Equipped with a 9.6-volt battery pack, the riveter can pull up to 1,000 rivets on a single charge with a built-in overload protector to guard against motor burnout. The riveter includes 3/32-inch, 1/8-inch, 5/32-inch and 3/16-inch sets and a one-hour battery charger available in 100/ 115/220 or 240 volts.
Atlantic Coast Airlines has placed firm orders for 32 Fairchild Dornier 328JETs, in addition to the 30 328JETs it previously ordered for its subsidiary, ACJet. ACA also increased its 328JET options from 30 to 83, orders that may be assigned to either carrier. ACJet, which operates as a Delta Connection carrier, has taken delivery of 14 328JETs since August 2000; the 16 remaining in that order are expected this year.
Mesa Air Group has sold its approximately $2 million stake in Mesaba Airlines, and acquired around one million shares of America West Holdings at $10.50 per share. Mesa also plans to repurchase up to one million additional shares of its own stock, and opened a $35 million line of credit with Fleet Capital.
Perhaps one of the oldest myths in tire lore is that retreaded tires are second-rate products. At least in the aviation world, quite the opposite is true. Surprisingly, about 85 percent of all aviation tires in service are retreads, and they have a track record of high performance and safety. For the skeptics, here are some insights into the pedigree of aviation retreads.
A Piper Aerostar piston twin was destroyed and all four people aboard were killed when the aircraft crashed on December 31, 2000 in British Columbia. The 602P, N88AT, was registered to Skyline Ranch Investment Co. and was en route from Salt Lake City. The aircraft had been cleared for an instrument approach to the Penticton, B.C. Airport, but struck terrain at an elevation of about 5,100 feet msl in the Okanagan Mountain Provincial Park north of Penticton. The terrain in the park has a maximum elevation of 5,164 feet.
Executive Jet Management has added 12 aircraft to its managed fleet, including three Gulfstream IVs, two Falcon 900s, two Cessna Citation Excels, a Citation II, Hawker 800XP, Falcon 50, Challenger 600 and a Learjet 35A. EJM now manages 56 aircraft based in 31 cities nationwide.
Safety Board investigators are examining taped Boston Center radar returns to establish the final path of a King Air B200 that crashed December 22, 2000 while maneuvering for a landing at Rangely (Maine) Municipal Airport. Deutche Bank senior executive Edwin Mitchell, 48, was killed along with pilot Stephen Bean, 58. Mitchell owned the airplane and Bean operated it under an FAR Part 135 certificate. Mitchell, the lone passenger, boarded the King Air at Portland for the final leg of Bean's Rangely-Boston-Portland-Rangely itinerary.
By now you've had a peek at the brave future world of CNS/ATM (that's communication, navigation, surveillance/air traffic management for those mired in the analog present.) What you've seen some 15 to 20 years distant is an automated ATC in which ground air traffic management software collaborates with airborne FMS software to maintain aircraft separation and to ensure the most efficient use of the airspace. Controllers and pilots remain in the loop, but primarily to deal with the exceptions, the unique situations that require human intervention.
The bond between Bell 407 helicopter operators and their equipment is best described as a love-hate relationship. Operators said they love the flight characteristics of the helicopter, but hate certain maintenance requirements. This sentiment was profoundly expressed by all of the corporate respondents to B/CA's Bell 407 operator survey. One operator summed up his experience with the 407 by saying, ``We expected some growing pains when we chose the 407, but we didn't expect it to be so painful.''
Have you ever joked about alcohol destroying brain cells? Dr. Barton Pakull, the FAA's chief psychologist, says medical research has ample evidence that alcohol does just that. By the time alcoholic pilots reach their 50s, as they lose brain cells naturally to aging, the additional loss due to alcoholism significantly affects their critical decision-making ability. You need that additional reserve for complex thinking and for the stresses of an emergency. The older you are the less helpful it is to drink.
Elliott Aviation won FAA STC approval to install the Collins TCAS-4000 traffic alert and collision avoidance system in all King Air 200, 300 and 350 series turboprops. The Moline, Ill.-based FBO and aircraft modification firm said the TCAS-4000 is fully upgradable to future ``free flight'' configuration and is more reliable than first-generation Collins TCAS-94 units. The new STC approval covers dual directional antennas, dual TDR-94D Mode S transponders, dual TVI-920 displays and an optional MFD-85C multifunction display.
The FAA officially delayed until April 1 new routes for air tour operators over Grand Canyon National Park ``pending resolution of some safety issues.'' The FAA originally delayed the implementation of the routes until December 28, 2000 pending a review of operator complaints that the new routes posed a safety risk. The FAA noted it still intends to implement the route system by spring, in time for the summer tour season.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) regulations would be applicable to aviation industry employees under the provisions of a recently completed report. The report results from a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed in August 2000 by the FAA, DOT, OSHA and the Labor Department after intense flight attendant union lobbying efforts. While it will mainly impact large, scheduled airlines, there also may be fallout for smaller operators.
Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. signed a contract with Millennium Aerospace to pursue certification for and market an aircraft emergency parachute system for the Cessna 172. BRS expects a 12- to 18-month certification program for the BRS-172 parachute system. Millennium Aerospace unit Aerospace Marketing Inc. will act as the factory authorized distributor for aftermarket sales of the BRS-172 unit while AirFlight Technologies, another Millennium unit, will acquire and refurbish Cessna 172s with the system and then offer them for sale.
Florida's Panama City-Bay County International Airport Authority has submitted plans to the FAA for a new regional airport. The St. Joe company donated the 4,000 acres selected for the site, which will be located in Bay County, Fla. In December 2000, the airport authority approved the location; results from the FAA are expected this month. ``We are confident of a prompt FAA approval of the site,'' said Randy Curtis, executive director of the airport authority.
ICOM America has introduced its latest handheld air-band communications transceiver called the IC-A23. Measuring 4.50 by 2.33 inches, the IC-A23 is 30-percent smaller than its predecessor and offers a larger keypad for easier operation. The transceiver features a voice recorder with playback function, ``TAG'' scanning and an nickel metal hydride battery with five watts of output power. Both the display and keypads are backlit and stay lit until you turn them off.
