The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has unveiled an “aggressive” program to demonstrate economical and environmentally friendly conversion of coal-to-liquid (CTL) fuels. DARPA has issued a broad agency announcement (BAA) soliciting research proposals and plans to award 12-month contracts totaling $4.56 million to demonstrate the feasibility of alternative CTL technologies. Already investigating biofuels, the agency says its CTL program is intended to demonstrate processes that could meet Defense Department demand for JP-8 jet fuel from U.S.
October 6-8 – National Business Aviation Association, 61st Annual Meeting & Convention (NBAA2008), Orlando, Fla. For more information, contact NBAA www.nbaa.org/2008 October 16-18 – Chevron Global Aviation Advanced Safety Training, Richmond, Calif. Contact Chevron Customer Service at (866) 557-3456 or e-mail to [email protected] October 22-24 – International Aviation Womens Association (IAWA) 20th Anniversary and the Accomplishments of Women in the Aviation and Aerospace Industries, Chicago. Contact: Karen Griggs at [email protected]
EADS SOCATA TBM 700 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0974; Directorate Identifier 2008-CE-048-AD; Amendment 39-15673; AD 2008-19-06] – This AD, which supersedes an existing directive (AD 2008-0067-E), mandates the removal, as a temporary measure, of the compressor drive belt and the torque limiter of the vapor-cycle cooling system; the conditional replacement of the pulley drive shear shaft; and repetitive inspections for cracks in the pulley drive assembly and the alternator/compressor support.
MOONEY AIRCRAFT, which has gone through several chief executives and an ownership change in the past four years, said Friday it hired a veteran of the recreational marine industry to serve as CEO of the Kerrville, Texas aircraft manufacturer. See article on Page 143.
TURBOMECA S.A. Arrius 2B1, 2B1A, 2B2 and 2K1 turboshaft engines [Docket No. FAA-2008-0461; Directorate Identifier 2008-NE-14-AD; Amendment 39-15678; AD 2008-19-11] – Requires modification or replacement of certain electronic control units according to the instructions of Turbomeca Mandatory Service Bulletin No. 319 73 2835, Update No. 1 (dated Dec. 21, 2006). This AD, which resulted from an MCAI provided by the European Aviation Safety Agency, was prompted by short circuits of some tantalum capacitors inside certain electronic control units.
A family of five in Kenosha, Wis. escaped injury last week when a Robinson R44 helicopter crashed through the roof of their home and the upper story, down into the lower level and out the front side of the structure before coming to rest on the lawn of a home across the street. The two occupants of the helicopter died in the crash and ensuing fire.
October 28-29, 2008 American Airlines Training & Conference Center Fort Worth, TX Learn strategies to modernize logistics, control costs and maximize resources. Become faster, cheaper and more efficient than the competition. For more information:
In a bid to attract Indian residents now going abroad for pilot training, Chimes Aviation Academy (CAA) has launched a training academy, which it claims is “India’s largest, fully integrated pilot training academy,” in the state of Madhya Pradesh in Central India. The facility will offer “quality training for Commercial Pilots License, Private Pilot License and license and type rating endorsements,” the company said.
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AIRCRAFT SECURITY & ALERT SYSTEMS won a contract to develop a new, advanced lock system for the Gulfstream G650. Aircraft Security & Alert Systems previously was selected to supply lock sets for the G150, G200, G450 and G550. Each set includes up to 20 locks to cover every door and access panel on an aircraft. The locks in each set are accessed by one key that only can be duplicated by Aircraft Security & Alert Systems.
POLISH MANUFACTURER ZKM FORGING shipped the first structural components this month to Goodrich Corp. for the landing gear to be used on the new Gulfstream G650 business jet. ZKM said the initial shipment “represents a major step toward making aerospace a significant percentage of ZKM’s business.” The Polish firm, headquartered in Stalowa Wola, was founded in 1978. It was purchased by Ladish Company, Inc. of Cudahy, Wis. in 2005 and currently serves more than a dozen heavy-industry markets with technically advanced forgings.
CONSTANT AVIATION, LLC, based at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport (CLE), received an FAA Certified Repair Station Class 4 rating, which authorizes the company to work on all metal aircraft with gross weights of more than 12,500 pounds.
A turbulent capital market and ongoing problems with the Eclipse EA-500 Very Light Jet ultimately undid DayJet’s plans for establishing a vast network of per-seat, on-demand air taxi services, company executives said. DayJet notified FAA’s Washington Flight Standards District Office that it planned to stop flying 27 of 28 Eclipse EA-500 Very Light Jets in its fleet and laid off most of its work force on Sept. 19 (BA, Sept. 22/131). The decision to cease operations came just a year after the company launched as a “new regional transportation model.”
The U.S. Transportation Department is setting aside more than $3 million of the $10 million Small Community Air Service Development Program funds for current and future administrative needs, and the American Association of Airport Executives is crying foul.
The Cessna SkyCatcher Light Sport Aircraft that crashed earlier this month during a spin test in Kansas was equipped with a Ballistic Recovery System parachute pack, but the BRS parachute system did not deploy when the test pilot activated the system, a Cessna spokesman told BA last week.
THE AMERICA ASSOCIATION OF AIRPORT EXECUTIVES praised the Senate for including an additional $400 million in Airport Improvement Program grant money as part of the economic stimulus package unveiled last week. The association urged Congress to approve the additional funding before recessing for the November elections.
CHRISTOPHER J. OSWALD will join Airports Council International-North America next month as vice president of safety and technical operations. He currently serves as a director for Jacobs Consultancy in Washington, D.C., where he specializes in the evaluation of airfield and airspace capacity, airport planning and airspace obstruction analyses. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Harvey Mudd College in Claremont, Calif. and a master’s degree in civil engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.
Robert B. Gowens, who has spent much of his career in management posts with companies in the recreational boating industry, was named Friday as chief executive officer of Mooney Airplane Company in Kerrville, Texas.
FAA plans to install automated external defibrillators (AEDs) over the next year in all of the agency’s facilities staffed by 50 or more employees. The agency will evaluate implementation costs and determine whether a sufficient number of employees are volunteering to be responders. The agency hopes to install AEDs at all facilities with 10 or more employees – which covers about 97 percent of the work force – within three years.
INTERNATIONAL WATER-GUARD INDUSTRIES INC. (IWG) will begin supplying complete water system assemblies to Midcoast Aviation of Cahokia, Ill. next year. “The extension of our relationship with Midcoast to the supply of complete water system assemblies is a vote of confidence in the capability of IWG as an aircraft system supplier,” said David C. Fox, president and CEO of IWG.
FREDERICK J. KRUM is retiring Sept. 30 after more than three decades with the Akron-Canton, Ohio Airport (CAK), most of that time as director of the facility. Krum was hired as the airport accountant in 1975, and then quickly promoted to assistant director by then-director Jack Doyle. When Doyle retired in 1981, Krum succeeded him as director, and he has continued in that post ever since.
EADS SOCATA appointed Infinity Aviation of Moscow as its aircraft sales representative for Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Infinity Aviation provides a range of aviation services, including new and used aircraft sales consulting, business aircraft maintenance and support for ground equipment sales. Infinity Aviation also designs and produces flight simulators.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT COMPANY is still assessing why a test pilot could not regain control of the SkyCatcher Light Sport Aircraft prototype while conducting a spin test (BA, Sept. 22/131). But the National Transportation Safety Board has now taken charge of the crash investigation from FAA. The initial investigation revealed that the Ballistic Recovery System parachute system on the aircraft did not properly deploy when the test pilot attempted to activate it.
Viking Air Ltd. got a major step closer to reaching its goal of offering a new version of the DHC-6 Twin Otter when it achieved “power on” status for the first aircraft this month. With major structural components installed, electronics wired, control systems rigged and modernization upgrades installed, the first aircraft will serve as the technology demonstrator and prototype of the new Series 400 Twin Otter utility aircraft. Viking officials anticipate the technology demonstrator will roll out of the factory and make its first flight in late October.
