Pilots flying into the Salt Lake City area over the next two weeks will be operating in some of the most secure, albeit crowded, airspace ever designated, with airmen warned that they must pay strict attention to designated routings and controllers' directives. That was the word last week from Thomas R. Davidson, the FAA's Air Traffic Customer Advocate.
SAE INTERNATIONAL will host the FAA General Aviation Aircraft Forecast Meeting during the SAE International Aviation Technology Conference&Exhibition April 16-18 at the Century II Conference&Exhibition Center in Wichita, Kan. In addition to the conference and the forecast meeting, FAA will hold its Designated Representative Symposium for the Central Region April 16.
Gulfstream Aerospace officials, who have been seeking ways to increase the company's profitability, announced plans last week to shut down production facilities in Oklahoma that have been part of the Gulfstream family for more than two decades.
GLOBAL AEROSPACE and Universal Weather&Aviation, Inc. are presenting a series of Business Aviation Security Briefings. Global, the parent company of Associated Aviation Underwriters, and Universal, the Houston, Texas-based flight planning firm, said the briefings will include a review of industry "best practices" to assist in making corporate aviation security possible. The briefings are free, but registration is required. The next sessions are tentatively planned for Dallas, Texas on Feb. 28; Van Nuys, Calif., on or about March 6; Ft.
Bombardier will proceed with development of its new Global 5000 business jet, the company said Wednesday, despite a relatively small number of purchase commitments for the new plane.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-11150 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 25.857(b)(3) Description of Relief Sought: To allow FSAS to configure the CASA C-212 CC and CD series airplane in a passenger/cargo configuration and be exempt from the requirements of 14 CFR 25.857(b)(3) for a "separate approved smoke detector or fire detector system to give warning at the pilot or flight engineer station.''
Advanced Aerodynamics&Structures, Inc., the Long Beach, Calif. company that's spent millions of dollars developing the Jetcruzer 500 aircraft, is abruptly changing course under the direction of new Chairman Roy H. Norris, who plans to focus on taking over Mooney Aircraft in Kerrville, Texas and resuming production of Mooney's single-engine product line.
BOMBARDIER, which last fall shelved production of its amphibious CL415 water bomber aircraft until orders picked up, launched a 90-day tour for the water bomber covering 10 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. "We're confident this tour will demonstrate the unique capabilities of the Bombardier 415 under the region's challenging conditions," said Tom Appleton, president of Bombardier Amphibious Aircraft.
MESA AIR GROUP partnered with Midland College in Midland, Texas for its Pilot Development Program. Under the partnership, pilots trained through Midland's "Pro-Focus" ab initio program will feed into Mesa's Pilot Preparation for turbine training. The Midland program uses Mooney aircraft and employs "military precision and performance standards in a commercial pilot training environment," Mesa said. Graduates of Mesa's Pilot Development Program are guaranteed a job interview. Historically those interviews have resulted in a 97 percent placement rate, Mesa said.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-8614 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 145.37(b) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit GE OWS to qualify for an airframe rating without having suitable permanent housing for at least one of the heaviest aircraft within the weight class of the rating it seeks. Denial, Dec. 3, 2001, Exemption No. 7670
DUNCAN AVIATION jumped up more than 30 places on FORTUNE magazine's annual list of "The 100 Best Companies To Work For," moving from 62 last year to 30 in the current listing, which appears in the Feb. 4 issue. The 100 Best were chosen from 279 companies that asked to be on the list, with two-thirds of the score based on extensive independent surveys of randomly selected employees. One of the reasons cited for Duncan's high rating is that "Full timers at this aircraft-maintenance company get twice-yearly profit-sharing bonuses."
Docket No.: FAA-2001-8940 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 65.104(a)(2) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Liefeld to be eligible to apply for a repairman certificate (experimental aircraft builder) for the Pietenpol Air Camper kit airplane (Registration No. N11MS, Serial No. MS1), without being the primary builder. Grant, Dec. 3, 2002, Exemption No. 7672.
ECLIPSE AVIATION completed the assembly of the lower cabin of the first Eclipse 500 jet using friction stir welding. Eclipse said it is the first company to use friction stir welding in production of thin gauge aircraft aluminum. "While we have been completing friction stir welds using production tooling and thin materials for some time now, assembling one of the components for the first Eclipse 500 jet is a very significant milestone," said Vern Raburn, president and CEO.
ROD HOLTER was named vice president, quality at Cessna Aircraft. He will be responsible for FAA compliance and product quality improvement on Citation, Caravan and single-engine piston aircraft. Holter has more than 25 years of aviation experience and was most recently director, assembly at Cessna in Wichita, Kan.
FAA ADMINISTRATOR JANE GARVEY told BA the government has now used the services of two professional search firms to find a chief operating officer to head FAA's air traffic operations, but problems arise when candidates get down to the final stages of the interview process, she said, and "begin to understand the complexities" of the job (BA, Feb. 4/59). She added that DOT and FAA officials are talking to someone who she "feels very good about, someone who could be an outstanding candidate."
Docket No.: FAA-2001-11054 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 135.143(c)(2) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit SCA to operate certain aircraft under Part 135 without TSO-C112 (Mode S) transponder installed in the aircraft. Grant, Dec. 5, 2001, Exemption No. 7673
ROLLS-ROYCE is cosponsoring an Eastern Region National Aviation Heritage Invitational for vintage aircraft July 20-21, 2002 at the Dayton Air Show in Ohio. The new event follows the first Invitational that was held in 1999 in conjunction with the National Champion Air Races at Stead Airport in Reno, Nev. The Reno event has nearly doubled in size, prompting sponsors to add an Eastern Region Invitational to enable a larger number of participants.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-9792 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 91.319(d)(3) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Boeing to operate an aircraft holding an experimental certificate into or out of airports with an operating control tower without notifying the control tower of the experimental nature of the aircraft. Denial, Jan. 10, 2002, Exemption No. 7692
Docket No.: FAA-2000-8091 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 61.3(j)(1) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Munro to act as a pilot in certain international operations after reaching his 60th birthday. Denial, Nov. 27, 2001, Exemption No. 7669
Docket No.: FAA-2001-10481 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 145.45(f) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Boeing to give copies of its inspection procedures manual (IPM) to key individuals and make the manual available electronically to all other employees, rather than give a copy of the IPM to each of its supervisory and inspection personnel. Grant, Nov. 29, 2001, Exemption No. 7065A
EUROCOPTER Model EC 155B helicopters (Docket No. 2001-SW-71-AD; Amendment 39-12627; AD 2001-26-54) - publishes an amendment adopting AD 2001-26-54, which was sent previously to all known U.S. owners and operators of ECF Model EC 155B helicopters by individual letters. This AD requires, before further Instrument Flight Rule (IFR) flight, inserting a copy of the AD into the Limitations Section of the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) and replacing each affected Smart Multifunction Display (SMD45H) as specified.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-11089 (previously Docket No. 28660) Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 91.315, 91.319(a), 119.5(g), and 119.21(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Collings to operate its Boeing B-17 aircraft, which is certificated in the limited category, for the purpose of carrying passengers on local flights for compensation or hire. Grant, Dec. 13, 2001, Exemption No. 6540D
HONEYWELL Models LTS101-600A-2 and LTS101-600A-3 turboshaft engines; and LTP101-600A-1A and LTP101-700A-1A turboprop engines (Docket No. 99-NE-17-AD; Amendment 39-12557; AD 2001-25-04) - issues a correction to rule document C1-30951 beginning on page 65426 in the issue of Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2001: on page 65427, in Sec. 39.13, in the third column, under the heading Applicability, in the fourth line "LTS101-6000A-2" should read "LTS101-600A-2."
PRESTON AVIATION SOLUTIONS sold a fourth Total Airspace&Airport Modeler (TAAM) license to the Mitre Corporation's Center for Advanced Aviation System Development. TAAM, a gate-to-gate simulation tool, helps aviation authorities, researchers, airlines and airports analyze operations, redesign airspace and optimize use of facilities. Mitre, a federally funded research and development center frequently used by FAA, has used the tool in several FAA initiatives since October 1998.
VERN RABURN, president and CEO of Eclipse Aviation Corp., which is developing the Eclipse 500 personal business jet, is scheduled to testify this week before the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry, which will meet Feb. 12 at the U.S. Department of Commerce.
