Avstar has broken ground on a $20 million, 101,000-square-foot hangar, warehouse and office facility in Orlando. The new completion center is designed to accommodate up to five Boeing 737-type aircraft or one 747 and two narrow-body aircraft. According to Avstar and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, the facility should bring an additional 200 to 400 skilled jobs to central Florida.
Wisconsin Aviation, Inc. was selected as an installation center for LoPresti Speed Merchants of Vero Beach, Fla. LoPresti currently performs aircraft modifications on Piper aircraft and says it's working on modifications for Tigers, Mooney 201s and the Cessna line.
Federal Express pilots are fighting the company's effort to seek a common type rating for the MD-11 and MD-10 aircraft. Recently FAA certified, the MD-10 is a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 with an upgraded, two-pilot cockpit. According to the FedEx Pilots Association, the two aircraft have similar cockpits but different landing techniques, handling characteristics and levels of automation. The FAA is expected to approve the common type rating. FedEx plans to modify 70 DC-10s to MD-10 standards under its contract with Boeing.
ACES Systems has introduced the VIPER 4040 for vibration analysis, rotor track and balancing, and cabin noise analysis. The VIPER 4040 offers several built-in features for rotor track and balancing. With the ChartBuilder function, influence and adjustment criteria can be entered, allowing raw data acquired to be automatically translated into mechanical adjustments. For vibration analysis, the VIPER 4040 can acquire data from four sensors and analyze those data to frequency levels of up to 1.8 million rpm or 30 kHz. Price: $14,995 (base)
Airshow Inc. has introduced iSYS Intelligent Cabin Systems, an integrated information, entertainment and cabin control system for business jets. ``With iSYS, we can build systems that meet a wide variety of aircraft designs, specification and budgets,'' said Dennis Ferguson, president of Airshow. Products available on iSYS include news, stocks, sports and weather updates in text format; airborne satellite television; moving map display; e-mail; and onboard audio/visual systems utilizing CD changers and DVD players.
``Aviation fuel is a complex hydrocarbon mixture whose properties are absolutely specified to ensure satisfactory performance.'' The speaker is Chevron (formerly Standard Oil of California) Products Corp. aviation fuel guru Fred Barnes, explaining how we get aviation fuels from the crude oil whose volatility on world financial markets of late has been as flammable as crude's energy potential. Barnes is Chevron's manager of aviation product engineering, based at the producer/refiner's headquarters in San Francisco.
Cutter Aviation appointed Joe Moss as acting general manager for the Santa Monica, Calif., facility. Specializing in New Piper Aircraft sales, Cutter also offers airframe and engine maintenance, parts, and avionics installations and repair.
About the only time rules really are in black and white is on the printed page. Hand those pages over to people, and individual perspectives begin to shape perception and meaning. In the case of the FARs -- how the rules are interpreted and how they are enforced -- those shifts can be frustrating and costly.
Honeywell has introduced the first Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) for helicopters. The Mark XXII EGPWS is being tested on a Sikorsky S-76 and features higher resolution terrain database, tail-strike warning and auto-rotation altitude awareness call-outs. The company hopes to have the new system certified and begin deliveries in the fourth quarter this year.
Three new operators have joined the Regional Airline Association, which now claims 60 airline members. The new members are Chesapeake, Va.-based Horizon Aviation, Atlanta's North-South Airways and SkyMark of Spokane, Wash. Both SkyMark and Horizon are start-ups, while North-South is an established cargo carrier. Association President Deborah McElroy says that, while consolidation has reduced the number of regional carriers, the group's future is secure.
AirLifeLine and Lifeline Pilots, both of which offer free air transportation to critically ill people and their families, have agreed to affiliate. AirLifeLine President Jon Wurtzburger says the agreement will make the services ``more accessible for Americans in their time of need.'' Lifeline, which will become the Midwest affiliate of AirLifeLine, provides service in 15 Midwestern states, while AirLifeLine operates throughout the United States. The groups expect to fly more than 4,000 missions in the next year.
The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) is teaming up with Aviation Learning, Inc. to provide education programs online. Aviation Learning, which bills itself as ``the Aviation Industry's Online Learning Community,'' launched in April and intends to provide online courses, group discussions and other services to aviation maintenance professionals. PAMA President Brian Finnegan says the alliance will help further the organization's goal of ``enhancing the professionalism and recognition'' of AMTs.
Signature Flight Support has opened a new facility at Denver's Centennial Airport (APA). The location includes a 15,000-square-foot terminal and 12 acres of ramp space. A 20,000-square-foot, heated hangar is under construction and should be completed by the fourth quarter of this year. The company recently completed extensive renovations at Chicago's Midway Airport and in Paris at Le Bourget Airport.
Edited By Paul RichfieldBy Paul Richfield in San Antonio
Photograph: BAE Systems announced at the RAA convention that Corporate Airlines of Smyrna, Tenn., has leased five additional Jetstream 32EPs to support its new code-share with TWA from the mainline carrier's St. Louis hub. In May, the company launched service on five turboprop routes vacated by Trans States Airlines, which has chosen to focus on developing its regional jet service. A sprinkling of new and used aircraft orders and development updates highlighted a restrained 2000 Regional Airline Association (RAA) convention, held May 1-4 in San Antonio.
Westchester Air, Inc. signed a lease agreement for a corporate headquarters facility at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. The new general aviation facility is shared with Westair, a flight school and maintenance shop. Construction on the ``T'' hangars has commenced, and the main hangar will follow in the summer.
HCC Insurance Holdings, Inc. (Houston) -- Richard P. Boeschen was named president and CEO. Paul H. Leonard has joined as executive vice president and COO.
New Piper Aircraft has chosen Hartzell Propeller's four-blade propeller system for the Malibu Meridian. According to Hartzell, the system adds three knots to the Meridian's cruise speed, reduces takeoff distance and increases rate of climb, while also reducing interior noise and vibration levels. New Piper says the Meridian certification and first customer deliveries are on schedule for this summer.
The pilot of the CitationJet never saw it coming. Flying single pilot, he departed Atlanta's Dekalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK) at about 10:30 a.m. on an IFR flight plan to Harrisburg, Pa. The weather in the area that April morning included scattered to broken clouds at 3,500 to 4,000 feet msl, broken to overcast at 4,000 to 4,500 feet msl, and visibilities in the seven-to 10-mile range. Atlanta TRACON initially assigned the CitationJet a 280-degree heading and 3,000 feet, then turned it to 360 degrees with a climb clearance to 14,000 feet.
