Million Air Teterboro won two Diamond Awards for Excellence from FAA last month. The awards, presented to the FBO's repair station and charter department, are presented to companies that train at least 25 percent of their mechanics. Million Air sent 75 percent of its mechanics for training in 2000.
Jet Aviation's Biggin Hill facility near London won approval from the United Kingdom Civil Aviation Authority to operate as a JAR-145 approved maintenance facility. The new status permits the Biggin Hill operation to perform maintenance, repairs, defect rectifications, inspections and avionics modification on Citation, Challenger, Falcon, Gulfstream and Hawker business jets. The Biggin Hill operation includes two hangars totaling more than 55,000 square feet.
Hartzell Propeller will provide China's Hafei Aviation Industry with a four-bladed lightweight series turbine propeller system. The 96-inch propellers will be installed on the Y12E aircraft, the newest in Hafei's line. The aircraft, a high-wing twin turboprop designed for commuter and utility operations, is an update of the Y12. Hafei received a Chinese type certificate for the aircraft last December and is seeking FAA certification.
Although the order intake for new business jets "has fallen sharply since the tragic events" of Sept. 11, Honeywell forecasters say the outlook remains strong for business jet manufacturers. Jim Wojciehowski, who heads the Honeywell forecast unit, told FAA's General Aviation Forecast Conference this month in Wichita that OEMs still have a backlog of approximately 2,000 aircraft, up to 50 percent of which represent orders from fractional aircraft providers.
FlightSafety International's Houston training center received FAA's Level D certification for two Embraer Regional Jet ERJ 145/135 full flight simulators located at the Houston/Hobby Airport Center. The company also received Level D certification for the VITAL-9 visual system, which is installed on an ERJ 145 simulator at the St. Louis training center at Lambert International Airport. The VITAL visual system "provides sharper, more textured and detailed scenes" in the simulator, FlightSafety said.
Rockwell Collins appointed two industry veterans to new communications jobs last week. Pat Zerbe, who joined Collins four years ago, was named director, corporate communications. She will be responsible for business and financial media activities, as well as advertising, internet and international trade shows. Zerbe, who spent 13 years at Raytheon Aircraft, was most recently director of strategic communications at Collins. She is a licensed pilot.
SCOTT TIDWELL was named assistant center manager at FlightSafety's Dallas/Fort Worth Center. He joined FlightSafety in 1997 as a senior instructor and was most recently the center's Gulfstream 200 program manager. Type-rated in the Boeing 707, 720 and Gulfstream 200, Tidwell has experience as an Air Force command pilot, instructor and airline flightcrew member.
Mercury Air Group's Maytag Aircraft Corp., Colorado Springs, Colo., won a Defense Energy Support Center contract to provide fuel services for the U.S. Marine Corps at seven sites on the island of Okinawa. The one-year contract is valued at $1.3 million.
After ironing out the concerns of some key legislators, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week approved by voice vote a bill designed to streamline the environmental review process to help reduce the time it takes to complete an airport expansion project. The bill, the Airport Streamlining Approval Process Act of 2002, was one of three that the Committee passed Wednesday and the House aviation subcommittee cleared April 17.
Rockwell Collins received FAA certification for its Pro Line 21 Continuum avionics system to be installed on the Falcon 20 family of aircraft. Garrett Aviation completed the system installation and supplemental type certification. The Pro Line consolidates flightdeck features such as autopilot, a flight management system, a heading reference system and a traffic alert avoidance system. The system is now FAA certified on a total of eight types of aircraft including the Challenger 601 and the Falcon 50.
CMC Electronics will provide its Global Positioning System-based CMA-900 Flight Management System and its CMA-2102 High Gain Satellite Communications Antenna to Japan Airlines. CMC's products will support the airline's flight deck avionics upgrade program for up to 34 B747-200/-200F/-300 aircraft, 18 firm orders and 16 options. Deliveries will start in early 2003 and continue through 2004.
Raytheon Aircraft Company introduced a new web site that offers customers immediate, one-source access to the company's entire parts inventory, as well as supplier parts. The company said www.raytheonaircraftparts.com contains an inventory of more than 12 million parts from the manufacturer, plus suppliers such as Dunlop, Goodrich and Champion Aerospace. The new site is part of RAC's attempt to upgrade its product support network.
Rep. John Mica's (R-Fla.) $5.5 billion general aviation relief bill has cleared some crucial behind-the-scenes hurdles and supporters are hoping that it will reach the House floor in coming weeks. The bill, which passed out of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in late February (BA, March 4/106), has received a nod of approval from the leadership of both the Banking and Budget Committees. Budget Committee blessing was particularly important since the bill's direct compensation had not already been set aside in the overall federal budget.
Models SA226 and SA227 series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-CE-47-AD; Amendment 39-12709; AD 2002-08-02) - supersedes AD 2001-20-14, which currently requires replacement of the brake shuttle valves with parts of improved design and installation of a shield over the hydraulic lines on certain Fairchild Aircraft SA226 and SA227 series airplanes. AD 2001-20-14 also requires replacement of the rubber fuel hose with a metal device for certain SA226 series airplanes.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-8-400, -401, and -402 series airplanes (Docket No. 2002-NM-35-AD; Amendment 39-12713; AD 2002-08-05) - requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual to advise the flight crew of appropriate procedures to follow in the event that a main landing gear fails to extend following a gear-down selection. This action also requires replacement of the left and right MLG uplock assemblies with new assemblies; and an inspection of the left and right MLG uplock rollers for the presence of an inner low friction liner, and corrective actions if necessary.
RESEARCH GROUP CRITICIZES NASA'S SATS PROGRAM - The Transportation Research Board recommended that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration shelve its plans for the $69 million Small Aircraft Transportation System and "recommit the program to other, more achievable goals."
RAYTHEON WINS NAVY T-6A ORDER; SCHUSTER SAYS PROGRAM PROFITABLE - Raytheon Aircraft Company won a contract for seven additional T-6A Texan II primary trainers for the U.S. Navy, the latest installment in a program that is expected to stretch over more than two decades.
The Transportation Security Administration's attempt at regulating the charter industry was rushed to meet a deadline and the net result is a rule that is vague, unsubstantiated and full of pitfalls, industry officials told the newly formed agency in comments last week. TSA issued the "Twelve-Five" rule - one of the first to come out of the agency - in February to comply with a mandate from the Aviation Transportation and Security Act. The measure called for security programs for charter air carriers that operate aircraft weighing 12,500 pounds or more.
CONDOLENCES Mr. David Pickering, a long-time aviation professional, most recently with Executive Beechcraft, Inc. of Kansas City, MO, passed away on 4/18/02 in Kansas City, MO. Mr. Pickering was 61 years old. Memorials to your favorite charity.
Model DHC-8-400, -401, and -402 series airplanes (Docket No. 2002-NM-35-AD; Amendment 39-12713; AD 2002-08-05) - requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual to advise the flight crew of appropriate procedures to follow in the event that a main landing gear fails to extend following a gear-down selection. This action also requires replacement of the left and right MLG uplock assemblies with new assemblies; and an inspection of the left and right MLG uplock rollers for the presence of an inner low friction liner, and corrective actions if necessary.
Million Air Teterboro won two Diamond Awards for Excellence from FAA last month. The awards, presented to the FBO's repair station and charter department, are presented to companies that train at least 25 percent of their mechanics. Million Air sent 75 percent of its mechanics for training in 2000.
Raytheon Aircraft Company introduced a new web site that offers customers immediate, one-source access to the company's entire parts inventory, as well as supplier parts. The company said www.raytheonaircraftparts.com contains an inventory of more than 12 million parts from the manufacturer, plus suppliers such as Dunlop, Goodrich and Champion Aerospace. The new site is part of RAC's attempt to upgrade its product support network.
COMMERCIAL AVIATION FULLY RESTORED AT DCA BUT GA RESTRICTIONS CONTINUE - The last of the restrictions on commercial flights at Ronald Reagan National Airport (DCA) was set to be lifted last Saturday under an agreement worked out among the federal security agencies, Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said last week, but there was still no official word on restoring general and business aviation access to the airport.
Pentar Avionics of Seattle, Wash. sold its test equipment division to Minnesota-based Ideal Aerosmith, Inc., a company that specializes in motion control systems and custom engineering for the aerospace, automotive and petroleum industries. The deal transfers all of PENTAR's test equipment, technologies and customer base to Ideal's existing automated test equipment business. Ideal will keep PENTAR's key test equipment division employees and their facilities in Seattle and Shawnee, Kan. PENTAR will maintain a sales and support office in Kansas.
