Flight Explorer named James Kelly president and chief executive. Kelly joined Flight Explorer in 2001 after founding and serving as president and CEO of SynXis, a hotel reservation management software provider and its telecom spin-off, Innovectra. He also has been vice president, international of BDM, a technical services firm that is now part of Lockheed Martin, and international programs vice president at SAIC.
ROLLS-ROYCE (formerly Allison) Models 250-C28, -C28B, and -C28C turboshaft engines [Docket No. FAA-2005-22534; Directorate Identifier 2005-NE-27-AD; Amendment 39-14305; AD 2005-20-11] - requires a one-time visual inspection of the seal joint in each passage between airfoils at the hub and shroud of third-stage turbine wheels, Part Number (P/N) 6899383. This AD results from reports of three failed third-stage turbine wheels and from the manufacturer's analysis of those failures.
National Air Transportation Association last week released an "Action Call" appealing to members to write their members of Congress seeking a hold on a new law calling for taxing certain jet fuel at 24.4 cents per gallon - the highway diesel fuel rate - rather than at 21.9 cents, the aviation jet fuel rate. The new law went into effect Oct. 1, but the IRS has yet to issue rules about who is eligible to obtain a rebate for the difference between the highway and aviation tax rates.
DAVIS IN, GALDI, AMOS OUT AT ATLANTIC FLIGHT SERVICES - Tom Davis, a 35-year veteran of the business and commercial aviation industry, was named president and chief executive of Atlantic Aviation Flight Services (AAFS), the operating subsidiary of Sentient Jet. Davis will replace Scott Galdi, who is stepping down as president to pursue other business interests. Also leaving is Christine Amos, who had been executive vice president.
Aerospace Products International (API) increased its portfolio of parts supplies with the purchase of an inventory of spare parts for Beechcraft aircraft. API has spare parts to support King Air, Baron and Bonanza aircraft and said it will support Beechcraft customers 24 hours a day, seven days per week.
BUSINESS JET ACCIDENTS CONTINUE TRENDING UPWARD - The number and severity of accidents involving turbine-powered business aircraft continues to be higher this year than last, according to information compiled by Robert E. Breiling Associates, Inc. of Boca Raton, Fla.
National Association Of State Aviation officials has written to key members of Congress urging them to resist "all attempts to raid the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, including airline industry calls for new tax breaks." Airline lobbyists are trying to get the 4.3-cent federal tax on fuel rolled back, NASAO said, adding that news reports suggest airline interests also want to get Congress "to suspend the 7.5 percent excise tax on passenger tickets." NASAO said the proposed tax cuts or suspensions would seriously erode the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and jeopardize the
FAA last week was flooded with comments - mostly in opposition - to its proposal to make permanent the temporary flight restrictions on operations in Washington, D.C.-area airspace. FAA in August released the proposal, which calls for a permanent National Defense Airspace Region that would encompass the inner Flight Restricted Zone and the more sweeping Air Defense Identification Zone (BA, Aug. 8/59).
DAVID DANIELS was appointed avionics manager for Garrett/Piedmont Hawthorne/Associated in Springfield, Ill. Daniels, who was an avionics technician in the U.S. Navy, most recently was a senior project manager at Duncan Aviation. He also has served with KAL-Aero in Battle Creek, Mich.
TELEDYNE CONTINENTAL MOTORS GTSIO-520 series reciprocating engines [Docket No. FAA-2005-20850; Directorate Identifier 2005-NE-05-AD; Amendment 39-14297; AD 2005-20-04] - requires initial and repetitive visual inspections of the starter adapter assembly and crankshaft gear. This AD also requires unscheduled visual inspections of the starter adapter assembly and crankshaft gear due to a rough-running engine. This AD also requires replacement of the starter adapter shaft gear needle bearing with a certain bushing.
October 30-November 2 - Air Traffic Control Association 50th Annual Conference and Exposition, Gaylord Texan Resort and Conference Center, Dallas/Ft. Worth, www.atca.org, e-mail [email protected] November 2-3 - Regional Airline Association Fall Meeting, Washington, D.C., (202) 367-1170 November 3-5 - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, AOPA Expo 2005, Tampa Convention Center, Tampa, Fla., www.aopa.org/expo November 9-11 - National Business Aviation Association Annual Meeting and Convention, Orlando, Fla., (202) 783-9000
TIMKEN BUYS BEARING INSPECTION FIRM - The Timken Company, one of the world's largest manufacturers of bearings for a wide range of products, has acquired Bearing Inspection, Inc. (Bii), a leading independent provider of aerospace bearing inspection and reconditioning services. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. "This acquisition transforms Timken's position in the aerospace services market," said J. Ron Menning, vice president-aerospace, consumer and super precision for Timken.
AVIATION GROUPS URGE EPA TO DELAY SPILL PREVENTION RULES - Four aviation groups last week urged the Environmental Protection Agency to postpone implementation of new Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) requirements, saying the rules are still unworkable and lack adequate guidance. "Although the [aviation] coalition and EPA have worked hard to resolve critical issues regarding the scope and implementation of the SPCC rule, many of these issues, including those involving on-airport mobile refuelers...
FORMER HAI CHAIRMAN TO REPLACE RESAVAGE AS PRESIDENT - Helicopter Association International last week named long-time member and former Chairman Matthew Zuccaro to succeed Roy Resavage as president, effective Nov. 1. Resavage announced in June his intention to step down for health reasons. Zuccaro is president of Zuccaro Industries, LLC, an aviation consultancy specializing in helicopter issues.
BAE SYSTEMS Jetstream Model 4101 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-21087; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-019-AD; Amendment 39-14280; AD 2005-19-15] - supersedes an existing AD that currently requires operators to determine the number of flight cycles accumulated on each component of the main landing gear (MLG) and the nose landing gear (NLG), and to replace each component that reaches its life limit with a serviceable component.
V-22 OSPREY APPROVED FOR FULL-RATE PRODUCTION - The U.S. Defense Department has approved starting full-rate production of the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey, boosting the once-troubled tiltrotor aircraft program, according to a government source. A Defense Acquisition Board (DAB), which the Pentagon convened for about two hours Sept. 28 to weigh the program's fate, decided that the V-22 production rate, now 11 aircraft a year, should begin to rise in fiscal 2007 and eventually reach a top rate of more than 40 aircraft a year.
NORDAM'S SIEGFRIED DIES; LACKEY NAMED VICE CHAIR, UCZEKAJ PRESIDENT - Ray Siegfried II, 62, who steered Nordam from a small, bankrupt research firm into a $500 million global aerospace manufacturing and repair company, died Oct. 6 after battling Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's Disease. Siegfried's death came just days after the Nordam Group board of directors approved a leadership succession plan, naming Ken Lackey vice chairman of the board and promoting John Uczekaj to president.
FAA's William J. Hughes Technical Center took delivery of a new Bombardier Global 5000 business jet to serve as an airborne research and development laboratory. The $24.8 million, 10-passenger aircraft will be used for a variety of safety, navigation and efficiency-enhancing programs, including monitoring the global positioning system, wide area augmentation and local area augmentation systems, automatic dependent surveillance/broadcast, reduced vertical separation minima, X-band airport surface detection equipment and next generation air-to-ground communications.
All three occupants were killed and a Robinson R44 helicopter, N9158U, was destroyed when it struck a power line Sept. 24 during a daylight sightseeing flight near Drummond, Wis. The aircraft was operated by Midstate Aviation.
