Docket No.: FAA-2002-11655 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 133.45(e)(1) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit IHC to conduct Class D rotorcraft-load combination rescue operations with an Agusta A 109K-2 helicopter certificated in the normal category under 14 CFR Part 27. Grant, Feb. 25, 2002, Exemption No. 7118A (Previously Docket No. 29732)
REGAL AVIATION added an interactive charter quote capability to its web site that provides available aircraft information according to travel plan information, including airports, dates, times and number of passengers. Regal Aviation uses Air Charter Guide's CharterX online reservation software for its online charter quote service.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-10532 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 135.157(b)(2) Description of Relief Sought: To permit Seattle Jet Services to operate its Piper Meridian PA-46-500TP aircraft with the oxygen system installed by the manufacturer, which has a 25-minute supply of oxygen for the pilot's system, rather than the required two-hour supply.
NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM is expected to formally announce next month that construction of its new facility at Dulles International Airport is well ahead of schedule. Contractors have benefited from a mild, dry winter in the Washington, D.C. area that permitted work to proceed faster than anticipated. A number of the main structural trusses for the aviation hangar are in place and workers are beginning to install exterior panels.
A GULFSTREAM IV, N404LM, sustained damage to the No. 2 engine cowling March 20 when the business jet struck a flock of birds while taking off from Baltimore, Md. The aircraft returned to the airport and landed without further incident.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-10876 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 91.315, 119.5(g), and 119.21(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit EAA to operate its Boeing B-17 for the purpose of carrying passengers for compensation or hire on local flights for educational and historical purposes. Grant, Jan. 25, 2002, Exemption No. 6541D
Docket No.: FAA-2002-11499 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR Sec. 91.109 (a) and (b)(3) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Bailey to conduct certain flight instruction and simulated instrument flights to meet the recent experience requirements in Beechcraft Bonanza, Baron, and Travel Air airplanes equipped with a functioning throwover control wheel in place of functioning dual controls. Grant, Feb. 25, 2002, Exemption No. 7734
CASTLE AVIATION launched a new charter operation, Northstar Business Aviation, which provides services through a network of charter providers based in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The network can provide a range of charter flights from a small aircraft up to a DC-10, the company said. Based at Akron Canton Regional Airport in Ohio, Castle Aviation provides executive/passenger charter as well as priority airfreight.
After standing largely empty for several years, Sino Swearingen is adding production workers for the SJ-30 business jet at its Martinsburg, W. Va. plant. The San Antonio, Texas-based manufacturer had planned to use the West Virginia plant primarily for final assembly. Last year, however, the company was forced to cancel a contract with a Spanish subcontractor, which was going to build the SJ30's wings and fuselage.
PIEDMONT HAWTHORNE AVIATION closed its European office as a part of an overall reorganization of its Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Division. Fred Allen, based at Piedmont headquarters in Winston-Salem, N.C., will handle European region marketing, the company said.
Docket No.: FAA-2002-11056 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 121.356(b) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Era to operate two Douglas DC-3 airplanes under Part 121 passenger-carrying operations without those airplanes being equipped with a Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System. Grant, Jan. 25, 2002, Exemption No. 6765A
For the second time in six months, Bombardier has installed a new head of its business aircraft support operations. The Canadian company named Jim Ziegler, vice president and general manager of Bombardier Business Aviation Services (BBAS). Ziegler, who has worked for Learjet/Bombardier for more than two decades, most recently had been vice president and general manager of Bombardier's Learjet operations and completions, a post he had held since last March.
AIR TRACTOR Model AT-802 and AT-802A airplanes (Docket No. 2000-CE-76-AD) - proposes to require replacing the rudder control cables and fairleads with parts of improved design. This proposed AD is the results of a report that a rudder control cable broke because of wear at the aft fairlead. The actions specified by this proposed AD are intended to prevent wear of the rudder control cables at the fairlead, which could cause the rudder control cable to break and result in loss of rudder control. The proposed AD affects an estimated 81 airplanes on the U.S.
CAE, the Canadian simulator training provider, won contracts valued at $22 million (Canadian) to provide training for the U.S. Coast Guard and the German armed forces. CAE will provide C-130 Hercules initial simulation and training for Coast Guard pilots and flight engineers at the company's Tampa, Fla. training center and at the USCG station in Clearwater, Fla. CAE will provide on-site maintenance for 18 flight simulators for the German armed forces.
ROCKWELL COLLINS ADC-85, ADC-85A, ADC-850D, and ADC-850F air data computers (Docket No. 2000-CE-14-AD) - proposes to revise an earlier proposed AD that would apply to certain Rockwell ADC-85, ADC-85A, ADC-850C, and ADC-850F air data computers that are installed on airplanes. The earlier NPRM would have required replacement of any affected air data computer (ADC) with one that has a reprogrammed and tested central processing unit (CPU) circuit card and circuit card assemblies.
Delta's business jet subsidiary, Delta AirElite, continues to make money for its parent company and will continue to grow slowly, according to Delta CEO Leo Mullin. He told BA affiliate Aviation Daily last week that the operation "is going really well," but noted that AirElite "will never be a blockbuster kind of profit contributor" to Delta's bottom line. Mullin reiterated that he has no plans to follow UAL and develop a fractional ownership operation or launch a huge business aviation subsidiary.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-11190 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 135.251, 135.255, and 135.353, and Appendixes I and J to Part 121. Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Roger Thompson to conduct local sightseeing flights at Capital Airport in Springfield, Ill., for the Charlie Wells Memorial Aviation Scholarship on April 27 and 28, 2002, for compensation or hire, without complying with certain anti-drug and alcohol misuse prevention requirements of Part 135. Grant, Jan. 18, 2002, Exemption No. 7702
MIKE KING was named manager for FlightSafety International's two learning centers at St. Louis Lambert International Airport. King has worked at FlightSafety for 13 years and most recently managed the company's Sabreliner center at Lambert.
Docket No.: FAA-2002-11300 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 121.383(c) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Lt. Colonel Smith to act as a pilot in operations conducted under Part 121 after turning age 60. Denial, Jan. 25, 2002, Exemption No. 7700
Advanced Aerodynamics&Structures, Inc. completed its acquisition of Mooney Aircraft Corp. last week, a transaction that puts AASI "in a position to restore full Mooney production in a few months," according to Roy Norris, chairman and CEO of AASI. "This is the key step in the process of rebuilding the Mooney product line and in building a major new general aviation company."
AVTECH INC. is planning a 90,000-square-foot expansion of its aircraft maintenance facilities at Montreal's St.-Hubert Airport. Construction of the new facilities is slated to begin this spring and be completed by September. The expansion will comprise aircraft hangars, workshops, office space, a new fixed-base operation executive terminal and a hangar to accommodate large aircraft.
R. GEORGE MALL, 65, who spent much of his aviation career buying, selling and working on Mitsubishi MU-2 aircraft, died March 8 in Tulsa, Okla. after a long battle with cancer. Mall, a Marine Corps veteran and pilot, moved to Tulsa to attend the Spartan School of Aeronautics, where he earned an airframe and powerplant mechanic license. He later founded International Business Aircraft, a fixed-base operation, repair station and air cargo carrier. Mall was known as a colorful deal maker who owned and sold more than 300 MU-2-B aircraft during his career.
Docket No.: FAA-2002-10357 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 135.152 Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit EAL to operate its 1975 Gulfstream G-1159 (G-1159; previously referred to as the Gulfstream American Gulfstream II) airplane (Serial No. 173) under Part 135 without the airplane being equipped with an approved digital flight data recorder. Grant, Jan. 25, 2002, Exemption No. 7643A
FAA will maintain an on-line public forum from 9 a.m. April 1 until 4:30 p.m. April 19 for discussion on its sport aircraft notice of proposed rulemaking. FAA issued the proposal in February to regulate the manufacture, operation and maintenance of a new "light-sport" aircraft category. The proposal has been lauded by the Experimental Aircraft Association as one of the most important rulemakings FAA has initiated for light general aviation aircraft.
FAA issued special conditions for a Garrett Aviation Services modification of Dassault Aviation Fan Jet Falcon and Mystere-Falcon 20 airplanes. The modification involves the installation of dual electronic primary flight display systems and dual electronic primary attitude source systems. FAA said the special conditions are designed to address the protection of those systems from the effect of high intensity (electromagnetic) radiated fields. For more information on the conditions, contact Meghan Gordon at (425) 227-2138.
