The National Transportation Safety Board last week called for inspections and testing of tension-torsion straps on MD Helicopters 500N, 600N and MD900 helicopters. The recommendations stem from investigations of two accidents involving fractures of the tension-torsion (T-T) straps, which are part of the anti-torque fan assembly.
A WORKING GROUP looking for ways to improve safety and lower noise at the Teterboro, N.J. Airport (TEB) will meet Friday to formally hand over a package of recommendations to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (BA, Feb. 27/89). Those recommendations will be so significant that "we would be doing things at TEB that aren't being done at any airport around the world," according to Jim Coyne, president of the National Air Transportation Association and co-chairman of the TEB working group.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION has scheduled most of the remaining briefings on its operational-control and wet-leasing policies (BA, April 3/151). The next two will be held this week: April 18 in Newark, N.J. and April 20 in Washington, D.C. The Newark event will be held at the Sheraton Newark Airport Hotel. The site of the Washington event, still being firmed up late last week, likely will be a hotel near Washington Dulles International Airport. Other briefing dates include May 23 in the Fort Lauderdale/Miami, Fla.
Promoted to manager of FlightSafety International's learning center in Toledo, Ohio. Little joined FSI in 1995 and most recently was regional marketing director, based in Chesterfield, Mo. He also has managed the company's customer satisfaction survey program and a number of other initiatives.
Model GV-SP series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-23249; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-219-AD] - withdraws a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would have required an inspection to determine the serial number of the anti-skid control unit (ACU) in the right electronics equipment rack, and replacement of the ACU with a new or serviceable ACU if necessary.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT'S two Mustang business jet prototypes have logged more than 850 flight hours, part of a schedule designed to achieve FAA certification and initial deliveries in the fourth quarter. The company said all assembly tooling has been moved from Wichita, where the prototypes were produced, to Cessna's Independence, Kan. facility, where production models will be built. S/Ns 0003 through 0009 are now in various stages of construction on the assembly line in Independence.
GENERAL AVIATION operators and regional airlines are likely to see increased fees in Canada under a series of "revenue neutral changes" Nav Canada announced last week. The privatized ATC services provider is changing its service charge methodology, and the results will mean "a reduction in the charge for larger aircraft and an increase for smaller aircraft. The results will be a more equitable balance in the charges between large and small aircraft," Nav Canada said.
Joines AIG Aviation as chief claims officer. Barrett has 25 years of aviation industry experience and most recently was senior vice president, director of claims and corporate counsel, with Phoenix Aviation Managers. He holds a juris doctorate from Georgia State University and is a member of the Florida and Georgia bars.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL said a new Level D Cessna Sovereign business jet simulator installed in the company's Orlando, Fla. learning center is the first commercial simulator to be equipped with electric motion and control loading instead of hydraulic systems. FSI has produced 35 electric motion and control loading simulators for military aircraft, including the TH-67, UH-60 and CH-47 helicopters and the C-17 transport, but has relied on hydraulic controls for its commercial units until now.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE is asking the National Aeronautic Association to confirm a speed record set last month by a G550 business jet. The aircraft flew 4,082 nautical miles from Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport to Dubai, United Arab Emirates in eight hours, 29 minutes, with three crewmembers and four passengers on board. The aircraft had an average airspeed of Mach 0.86 in headwinds that averaged more than 80 knots, Gulfstream said.
The Boeing Company is donating $15 million to the National Air and Space Museum, the single largest corporate donation ever received by the Smithsonian Institution. The donation will help with remaining construction at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. as well as to help fund museum programming and artifact care.
Mooney Aircraft officials are busy converting commitments into orders for the company's first new aircraft model in some seven years. The Kerrville, Texas plane-maker unveiled the new single-engine M20 TN Acclaim earlier this month during Sun 'n' Fun in Lakeland, Fla. The Acclaim is the first aircraft that Mooney has introduced to the market since it developed the M20S Eagle as a successor to the M20-J. The Acclaim will succeed the Bravo in the product line.
Model DHC-8-102, -103, -106, -201, -202, -301, -311, -314, and -315 airplanes; equipped with certain cockpit door installations [Docket No. FAA-2006-24411; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-033-AD] - proposes to require modifying the hinge attachment for the cockpit door from a single-point attachment to a two-point attachment. This proposed AD results from a report that, during structural testing of the cockpit door, the lower hinge block rotated and caused the mating hinge pin to disengage, and caused excessive door deflection.
Appointed regional manager for Multi Service Aviation. Owen will be responsible for a territory that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. She has more than a decade of aviation industry experience in both commercial and general aviation. She has worked with the Race Team Aviators Association and NASCAR.
Executives from the National Business Aviation Association and the Federal Aviation Administration are scheduled to meet this week to iron out questions surrounding FAA's policies on large aircraft operating with special deviation authority under Parts 91 or 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. FAA appears to have changed its policies regarding deviation authority, and officials have begun to either deny or revoke letters of deviation authority (LODA) that exempt certain operators of large aircraft from the requirements of Part 125.
Named regional manager for Multi Service Aviation. Vann's territory includes Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming and all territories in Canada. She formerly held customer relations and sales and marketing positions with Denver jetCenter.
May 3-5 - European Business Aviation Association Convention and Exposition EBACE2006, Geneva, Switzerland, (202) 783-9000 May 9-11 - Flight Safety Foundation/National Business Aviation Association Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar, Phoenix, Ariz., (202) 783-9000 May 17-19 - National Aircraft Finance Association 35th Annual Conference, St. Regis Resort, Laguna Niguel, Calif., (410) 571-1740 May 22-25 - Regional Airline Association Annual Convention, Wyndham Anatole Hotel, Dallas, Texas, (202) 367-1170
DASSAULT FALCON JET is hosting its 26th Maintenance and Operations Seminar for Falcon business jet operators May 30-June 1 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Fla. For more information, call Debbie Lockwood at (201) 541-4587.
EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION has created a new display at the EAA AirVenture Museum on civilian spacecraft and space tourism. The display will be dedicated during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2006 July 24-30 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis. The new exhibit includes a full-size replica of SpaceShipOne, the first successful civilian spacecraft. The replica is made from the same molds as the original with a complete set of components fabricated at Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif.
Honeywell signed an agreement with Airservices Australia under which the avionics manufacturer will develop, certify and commercialize a Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) and Ground-based Regional Augmentation System (GRAS) to provide navigation and landing guidance for aircraft flying over the continent.
Named manager of FlightSafety International's London Farnborough learning center. Hewett joined FSI as assistant manager of the London Farnborough facility in 2004. He has 25 years of aviation experience, previously serving as the flight department manager and chief pilot for a division of the Motorola Company in Europe. He also has held management, pilot and instructor positions and spent 13 years with Electronic Data Systems. He has multi-engine FAA and CAA ratings and Bermuda certification.
A CESSNA CARAVAN registered to Atesa Aero Taxis Ecuatorianos S.A. of Quito, Ecuador "crashed following a loss of engine power" while departing from the Cuenca, Ecuador Airport (CUE) March 24, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed during the 11 a.m. local time takeoff.
