Recent appointments include Helen Tirone as group vice president of sales and Keith Wright to the position of senior account executive for the Windsor division.
Rural Alaska is now the proving ground for new avionics and flight procedures that could reduce the state's staggering accident rate and one day affect the way we use the airspace over the lower 48. Called Capstone, this joint industry-FAA initiative is equipping 150 commercial aircraft -- mostly piston singles operated in the remote Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta under FAR Part 135 -- with multi-function displays (MFDs) not unlike those found on the newest airliners and business aircraft.
Emhart Fastening Teknologies, a Black&Decker company, is now offering the ergonomically designed PowerLink 30 Rivet Tool Kit. The tool kit comes complete with the PowerLink 30 rivet tool, 200 of Emhart's POP brand blind rivets and rivet washers. The tool has the ability to set rivets of 3/16, 1/8 and 5/32 inches. Emhart said the PowerLink is 50 percent easier than any other hand-rivet tool on the market and the design has received the gold medal from the Industrial Design Excellence Award program. Price: $36.00 Emhart Fastening Teknologies
BBA Group CEO Roberto Quarta is leaving the company in March 2001 to join a private investment firm. Current group finance director Roy McGlone will succeed Quarta and has already been named deputy chief executive. After his departure for Clayton Dubilier and Rice, Quarta will become BBA's non-executive chairman. BBA Group's Aviation Services Division has expanded over the past several years to include ownership of such aviation service providers as Signature Flight Support, Dallas Airmotive and Precision Instruments and Avionics.
PRIMEDIA's Intertec Publishing has released the 2000-2001 AC-U-KWIK World Edition, featuring more than 1,200 pages of airport, FBO, hotel and support services information. The reference provides domestic and international flight planning, and worldwide information on FBO, handler and fuel only providers with selected airport diagrams for identifying locations. In addition, the all-new 2000-2001 Avitat CD-ROM global database is included at no extra charge. Price: $74.95 retail Intertec Publishing P.O. Box 12901
London, England-based Aviation Leasing Group has ordered two Raytheon Premier I's and a Beechjet 400A. The aircraft are destined for the Civil Aviation Training Centre in Thailand, which will use them to train student pilots for Thai International Airways and other Pacific Rim air carriers.
Start-up carrier Indigo has received U.S. DOT air carrier certification (under CFR Part 380) through its sister company AirServ, a NewWorldAir Holdings company headquartered in Chicago. Using three Dassault Falcon 20s, Indigo is selling individual seats on flights between Chicago's Midway Airport (MDW), Teterboro Airport (TEB) in New Jersey, and Westchester County Airport (HPN) in New York.
The organizers of the fledgling Florida International Aero Expo (FIA) have created a new organization for repair station operators. The Maintenance Overhaul and Repair Station Organization of the World (MORSO) will offer free membership, and its first annual meeting will be at the FIA in Miami in February 2001. FIA and MORSO President Ian Howard says the group is looking for participants in an executive committee that will help formulate MORSO policies and objectives. Further information is available at www.aeroexpo.com.
Precious little is more important to a pilot than accurate weather information. Whether you're planning a flight or setting up for an approach, knowing what lies ahead is often critical to your decision making. While dealing with surprises lies at the heart of your skills and training, most pilots agree, the fewer surprises, the better.
The Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has asked turbine engine suppliers to submit proposals for the next generation of supersonic-capable powerplants. DARPA says its goal is to create the ``multiple breakthrough technologies'' needed to power future long-range supersonic aircraft, while also addressing concerns over sonic booms and emissions.
After a two-year search for a suitable test platform, Canada has turned to a vintage aircraft to flight-test advanced avionics. Using a nearly 50-year-old Harvard Mark IV outfitted with flat-panel displays, the National Research Council Canada's Institute for Aerospace Research (IAR) will initially study the role instrument design plays in pilot orientation. Researchers are hoping to reduce instances of spatial disorientation that lead to controlled flight into terrain (CFIT).
Executive Aircraft Corp. (EAC) has launched a new Super King Air 350 fractional program at its FBO facility at Mid-Continent Airport (ICT) in Wichita. Called Executive AirShare, the program has purchased a total of seven King Air 350s at a cost of $38 million. EAC Chairman Ben Ames said the Executive AirShare program will be offered in Kansas City and Columbia, Mo.
Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures, manufacturer of the proposed Jetcruzer 500, says it has received $20 million in additional financing and 50 new orders for the single-engine turboprop. Private investors have committed to buy the company's stock in $200,000 to $1.5 million increments over the next two years. China's China Eastern Educational Training Co. signed a letter of intent to purchase 30 Jetcruzers, with options for an additional 20 aircraft. China Eastern, the country's only commercial pilot training school, plans to add air taxi service later this year.
The Advanced Products Co., a maker of high-performance seals; Park Engineering, a parts manufacturer; and Manzi Metals have become the first women-led companies to join the Aerospace Industries Association's (AIA) Supplier Management Council in the group's 81-year history. Advanced Products CEO Nancy Nicolson is a 20-year veteran of the company, Nancy Manzi founded her Brooksville, Fla.-based company in 1995, and Park Engineering President Rose-Marie Swank has been with the family business for more than two decades.
Agilent Technologies has introduced the Agilent XLT and Agilent Heartstream FR2 Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Both devices utilize SMART Biphasic technology and provide defibrillation therapy to victims of sudden cardiac arrest. The XLT and FR2 are designed as ``user-friendly'' defibrillators for use in public settings such as airplanes, airports, stadiums, golf courses and offices. Price: Approximately $3,000 Agilent Technologies, Inc. 2401 Fourth Ave., Ste. 500 Seattle, Wash. 98121-1436
The Galaxy's five-tube Pro Line 4 avionics package is adapted from the Astra SPX, with the addition of a fifth EICAS display in the center panel. The standard package includes a dual-channel, fail passive autopilot, dual AHS-3000 AHRS, dual digital air data computers, dual UNS-1C FMS with integral GPS receivers, Collins Pro Line 4 comm/nav/DME/transponder boxers, dual radio tuning units and a Collins TWR-850 Doppler turbulence detection radio.
The spread of regional jets in the U.S. market has triggered tumultuous changes and controversy. Business travelers, airline chiefs and bedraggled turboprop pilots love the little jets, while major airline crews and air traffic controllers view them as nothing less than swept-wing harbingers of doom. On a purely operational level, the raw numbers would appear to depict RJs as cholesterol in the already clogged veins of the U.S. National Airspace System (NAS).
Over the next two years, the FAA will seek to alleviate air traffic delays across the nation by breaking open some of the ``operational bottlenecks'' that affect flights in and around the New York metropolitan area. Crafted with input from the NBAA and other industry and labor groups, the plan pushes aircraft away from the most crowded fixes, routes and altitudes, in a bid to break the ``conga lines'' of air traffic generated by the five major airports within 20 miles of midtown Manhattan.
Livingston Aviation, located at Waterloo Airport (ALO) in Iowa, has completed its facility renovations and has been designated a Phillips 66 Aviation Performance Center. ``Taking over the former National Weather Service office has allowed us to double the size of our main building,'' said Erik Hertzer, Livingston Aviation general manager. Services offered at the FBO include Cessna sales, aircraft maintenance, fueling, hangar rental, aircraft leasing and charter.
Premier Air Center has broken ground on a new 38,000-square-foot FBO at St. Louis Regional Airport in East Alton, Ill. The facility includes a hangar, office space and a warehouse to support its FAA-certified repair station and charter operation. Dave Benoff
