Smaller aerospace suppliers looking to sell overseas can turn to the U.S. Department of Commerce for help, but many don't know the department has an office ready to assist them. The department's Commercial Service section provides small and mid-size aerospace exporters with a variety of services to market and sell their products overseas. "We had over 9,000 successful transactions last year," said Doug Barry, the director of communications and marketing for the Commercial Service office.
FOKKER Model F.28 Mark 0100 series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-21-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that currently requires replacement of the anti-skid control boxes with improved units. This action would require modification or replacement of the anti-skid control boxes with new improved units, which render the skid control boxes even less susceptible to electromagnetic interference during power-up and power-down transients. Continuing mandatory airworthiness information from a foreign airworthiness authority prompts this action.
HOUSE WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE Chairman Bill Thomas (R-Calif.) promised to work with the Internal Revenue Service to address the concerns of charter operators about a recent IRS ruling that charter operators should retroactively pay segment fees on a per-passenger basis.IRS earlier this year issued a technical advice memorandum (TAM) to a specific operator that the $2.75 segment fee should be assessed on a per-passenger basis, and not per aircraft chartered.
In a strategic move to increase revenue and its client base, B/E Aerospace has purchased M&M Aerospace, a leading distributor of aerospace fasteners, for $177 million. "B/E has considered a number of options for accelerating growth and achieving superior financial returns for shareholders," said B/E President and CEO Robert Khoury.
CHARLES S. (CHUCK) MCLERAN was promoted to executive vice president and chief operating officer of TAG Aviation USA, Inc. The move comes after Jim Christiansen, who currently holds the position, announced his decision to leave the company to pursue other management opportunities (BA, Aug. 13/73). With 32 years in the airline industry and 20,000 flying hours in military and civil jet aircraft, McLeran has been with TAG Aviation since 1992 and most recently served as vice president of flight operations and standards.
BOMBARDIER named Michael Kolman and Peter Vasconcelos sales directors for the eastern U.S. Kolman will direct sales for the Learjet 31A, Learjet 45, Learjet 60 and Continental business jets in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. He has more than eight years of sales experience, including five years as an area sales manager for Cessna. Vasconcelos will be responsible for the Challenger 604 and Global Express jets in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island and Vermont along with New York's Westchester County.
Cleveland-based Flight Options sold off its specialty avionics repair shop, Inertial Airline Services, Inc. (IAS), to HEICO Corp. as it continues to expand its fractional ownership program. Under the deal, HEICO paid Flight Options $20 million in cash and $5 million in Class A common stock and promised to pay $6 million more in cash if IAS meets certain earning targets during the next two years. IAS repairs and overhauls inertial navigation systems along with a host of other avionics and instruments.
BAE SYSTEMS (Operations) Limited Model BAe 146 and Avro 146-RJ series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-06-AD; Amendment 39-12358; AD 2001-15-23) - requires identifying the discharge valves and cabin pressure controllers, and replacing them with new parts if necessary. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent the installation of incorrect pressurization discharge valves and cabin pressure controllers, which could subject the airframe to excess stress and adversely affect the airframe fatigue life.
UPS last week completed its acquisition of First International Bancorp, Inc., bolstering its finance offerings for small- and mid-size businesses. First International specializes in the use of U.S. government-guaranteed loan programs through the Small Business Administration, the Department of Agriculture and U.S. Export-Import Bank. Under terms of the acquisition, each share of First International common stock has been converted into the right to receive 0.1320 shares of UPS Class B common stock. UPS will issue approximately 1,062,398 shares of Class B common stock.
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-2B16 (including CL-601-3A and CL-601-3R) series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-397-AD; Amendment 39-12359; AD 2001-15-24) - requires modification of the wiring for the internal fuel/defuel panel. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent the loss of engine and fuel indications essential for safe flight and landing. FAA estimates that this AD will affect 18 Model CL-600-2B16 series airplanes on the U.S. Registry. The manufacturer has committed previously to its customers that it will bear the cost of labor and replacement parts.
BAE SYSTEMS (Operations) Limited Model BAe 146 and Model Avro 146-RJ series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-179-AD; Amendment 39-12368; AD 2001-15-33) - supersedes an existing AD applicable to all BAe Systems Model BAe 146 and Model Avro 146-RJ series airplanes that currently requires a one-time inspection for "drill marks" and corrosion on the underside of the wing top skin, and corrective actions, if necessary until all corrective actions and protective treatment actions are done.
BRS, Inc., the South St. Paul, Minn.-based producer of the emergency parachute system for general aviation and personal aircraft, reported a 56.8 percent leap in sales to $2.7 million for the first nine months of its fiscal 2001 with net income or $247,628. Nearly half of that amount, $113,881, came in the third quarter with more than $1 million in sales, the company reported last week. "After last fiscal year's record performance of sales and net income, we're pleased to again log substantial increases,'' said BRS President and CEO Mark Thomas.
THE WEAK ECONOMY may have slowed aircraft sales, but it hasn't done anything to dampen demand for exhibit space at next month's National Business Aviation Association convention in New Orleans. As of last week, officials said 1,035 companies had signed up to show their wares in New Orleans, the first time the number of exhibitors has exceeded 1,000 for an NBAA show - and an increase of more than seven percent over last year's 965. The list includes 124 companies that have never before exhibited at the convention.
NEW ZEALAND appointed Captain John Jones as the new director of Civil Aviation. Jones will replace Kevin Ward, who served for nine years, in October. With experience in general aviation, helicopter operations, engineering, and corporate jet services, Jones is now the flight operations manager for Mount Cook Airlines. Jones's appointment "concludes an international search for a director with technical and political know-how and who commands industry respect," said Rodger Fisher, chairman of the CAA.
PROFESSIONAL AVIATION ASSOCIATES in Atlanta, Ga. signed a distributor agreement with FFC Manufacturing of Memphis, Tenn. to sell FFC's floats and fuel cells.
If something isn't done to help U.S. commercial aerospace exporters penetrate overseas markets, the commercial aerospace industry in the U.S. might go the way of the U.S. commercial shipbuilding industry: out of business, says John Douglass, president and chief executive of the Aerospace Industries Association.
ROBERT GARRYMORE was promoted to senior vice president, aircraft management sales, for Executive Jet Management. Based in Woodbridge, N.J., Garrymore is responsible for expanding EJM's fleet. Garrymore began his aviation career in 1993 when he joined Jet Aviation in Teterboro, N.J. as regional sales manager, Jet Aviation Business Jets. He later joined the Galloway Group of Teterboro, an aircraft brokerage firm, before moving to EJM in 1998.
Healthy backlogs in the business aviation and regional markets coupled with the stability of its government business will help propel Rockwell Collins in the near future as it moves forward as an independent company, said Rockwell Collins President and Chief Executive Clay Jones. Speaking to reporters last week in Washington, D.C., Jones outlined his vision of the recently spun-off Rockwell Collins with plans to grow through strengthened and integrated product lines, acquisitions, and alliances.
Jim Christiansen, the executive vice president and chief operating officer of TAG Aviation USA, plans to leave the company in about 30 days to seek other management opportunities in the aviation business. Christiansen, 54, insisted that his pending departure is "a very amicable arrangement," adding that it was "one of the most agonizing decisions I've ever made."
THE AVIATION COMMUNITY, meanwhile, continues to wait for FAA to make a final decision on another airspace issue - reduced separation minimums in domestic airspace. FAA promised to decide on how it plans to move ahead with new domestic reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) standards by mid-July, but the agency still appears uncertain about its approach.
CAE won a contract valued at $40 million (Canadian) from Eurofighter Simulation Systems GmbH for the Eurofighter Aircrew Synthetic Training Aids (ASTA) program. CAE will develop simulation technology for 27 training devices, including full mission simulators, cockpit trainer/ interactive pilot stations (CT/IPS) and other ancillary devices. CAE also will assist with the installation and integration of the training devices at the German Air Force's Eurofighter Main Operating Bases. The first base is expected to be ready for training in 2004 at Laage, Germany.
LAWRENCE SMITH, an Arizona attorney, has created a web site critical of the Federal Aviation Adminstration. The purpose of www.faajustice.com is "to educate airmen to the undeniable fact that FAA's administratively ordered license penalties for air safety violations have no legal basis," Smith said. Smith has challenged FAA's enforcement authority numerous times over the last twenty years.
AVIATION GENERAL, INC. adopted a Shareholder Rights Agreement that the company said is designed to "deter a hostile acquisition of the company not in the best interest of its stockholders Aviation General, Incorporated." Under the agreement, rights to purchase shares of newly issued Series A Junior Participating Preferred Stock will be distributed to stockholders as a non-cash dividend at the rate of one right for each share of the company's common stock.
CIRRUS DESIGN CORP. is incorporating a series of improvements to its SR20, including an increase in the gross weight to 3,000 pounds with a useful load of 950 pounds. The aircraft also has the option of a high-intensity discharge landing light in the lower cowl. The design changes stem from its SR22 program. "Our intent is to keep improving the SR 20," said Cirrus's Ian Bentley, who added that the improvements will not change the price. Cirrus will offer the changes as a retrofit option for the 140 SR20s already delivered.
BAE SYSTEMS (Operations) Limited Model Avro 146-RJ series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-211-AD; Amendment 39-12363; AD 2001-15-28) - requires modification of the passenger service units. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent failure of the passenger service units to deliver oxygen to the passengers in the event of decompression of the airplane, which could result in injury to the passengers. The FAA estimates that this AD will affect 40 Model BAe Systems Model Avro 146-RJ series airplanes on the U.S. Registry at a cost of $12,000, or $300 per airplane.
