GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE scheduled an Aug. 8 rollout of its new GV-SP test article with flight testing expected to begin in the fourth quarter. The company installed the new PlaneView cockpit, which incorporates the Honeywell Visual Guidance System and Gulfstream's Enhanced Vision System. The program is on track for certification late next year and deliveries in 2003, Gulfstream says. Gulfstream has 42 orders for the GV-SP.
AAR COMPOSITES is teaming with Bombardier to design, engineer and manufacture car bodies for the new monorail system in Las Vegas, Nev. The monorail is scheduled to enter service in 2004, providing transportation for 19 million passengers annually. The Las Vegas monorail will encompass seven stations, including two existing stations at the MGM-Grand Bally resort hotel, and will extend four miles on an elevated guideway.
BOEING BUSINESS JETS delivered the first BBJ to a Latin American customer at the end of May. Grupo Omnilife S.A. of Mexico took delivery of the "green" 737 variant, which will be completed at Associated Air Center in Dallas, Texas. Omnilife, founded in Guadalajara, Mexico by Jorge Vergara and his wife, Maricruz Zatarian, is a diverse group of companies, with the largest being Omnitrition de Mexico, which is dedicated to the development, production and distribution of food and nutritional products.
Model Mystere-Falcon 900 and Falcon 900EX series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-291-AD; Amendment 39-12264; AD 2001-12-09) - requires replacement of the protective screens of the underfloor structure boxes at Frame 25. This amendment is necessary to prevent water from collecting and freezing in the structure boxes at Frame 25, which could jam the flight controls and consequently reduce airplane controllability. FAA estimates that this AD will affect 127 Dassault Model Mystere-Falcon 900 and Falcon 900EX series airplanes on the U.S.
JET AVIATION ZURICH was named an authorized service center to maintain and repair Honeywell auxiliary power units. While Jet Aviation Zurich has been maintaining and repairing Honeywell turbofan and turboprop engines since 1981, the new contract for APU maintenance expands the agreement.
STELLEX TECHNOLOGIES named Doug Whitlock president of Stellex Precision Machining in Wellington, Kan. Whitlock also will continue to serve as president of Stellex Monitor Aerospace.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT Friday delivered the first Premier I entry-level business jet to a customer, less than a month after it won FAA approval for flight into known icing and for operation of the aircraft by a single pilot (BA, May 28/251). Raytheon hopes to deliver 36 of the $5.3 million, composite-construction aircraft by the end of the year. The Wichita, Kan., plane-maker won basic FAA type certification for the aircraft this spring, five and one-half years after the program was announced at the 1995 NBAA convention.
DESPITE CONCERNS about an economic slowdown, the pace of pilot hiring continues to be brisk, according to AIR, Inc., the Atlanta, Ga.-based firm that tracks industry hiring and organizes job fairs for pilots and carriers. Operators hired 1,478 pilots in May, and AIR says "Strong pilot hiring is anticipated to continue for the balance of 2001, holding just below" the record level of 19,030 new pilot jobs in 2000. For the year to date, 7,765 pilots have been hired, including 419 by fractional aircraft operators.
GARY WYPERD joined the Parts Sales Division of Woodland Aviation, Inc. Wyperd has 20 years of sales experience, most recently with Stevens Aviation in Broomfield, Colo.
THE HOUSE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE blasted FAA's personnel policies in a report last week, criticized pay level disparities between controllers and supervisory ATC personnel and cut funding for new hires.See article below.
GARRETT AVIATION SERVICES is in the process of acquiring flight test data for a Falcon 10/100 reduced vertical separation minimum program. The RVSM group supplemental type certification for those Falcon models is expected later this year.
Dassault Aviation unveiled the Falcon FNX last week, an aircraft designed to be priced below its longer-range competitors from Gulfstream and Bombardier while maintaining the classic three-engine design that has long marked the company's upper-end models.
Safire Aircraft Company Chairman Dimitri Margaritoff named Robert M. Kuhn, a veteran United Technologies executive, as president and chief executive of the West Palm Beach, Fla. firm that is developing the low-cost S-26 twin-turbofan aircraft. Kuhn, who most recently was chairman, CEO and president of Rockwell International's Goss Graphic Systems, previously served as president of Hamilton Standard and senior vice president of business development for UTC.
GOODYEAR has tripled production of radial aircraft tires at its Danville, Va. plant, citing increased worldwide customer demand. Goodyear invested more than $10 million in expanding the Danville plant to accommodate the increased production levels.
Model CN-235 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-273-AD; Amendment 39-12267; AD 2001-12-12) - requires installation of fuselage skin reinforcements in the right and left zones of the fuselage between Stations 11232 and 11740 and Stringers P7 and P9. This action is intended to address the identified unsafe condition. FAA estimates that this AD will affect one Model CN-235 series airplane on the U.S. Registry at a cost of $2,830. The AD is effective July 23.
Boeing announced a cooperative effort Thursday with Sukhoi Civil Aviation and the Ilyushin Design Bureau to explore the possibility of jointly developing a new regional jet for global operations. The companies will conduct a feasibility study including market research, development of a joint market forecast, analysis of product development, and export certification issues for a Russian-built airplane. The study also will prepare preliminary business plans for the potential joint venture.
DUNCAN AVIATION'S facility in Lincoln, Neb., opened a hangar dedicated to maintaining Beech, Cessna and other turboprop aircraft. Duncan also repairs turboprop aircraft at its Kalamazoo, Mich., facility, and both sites are Cessna Service Centers.
DESPITE THE CROWD of product offerings in the regional jet market, and its own 100-seat Boeing 717, Boeing is teaming with a couple of Russian partners to assess the feasibility of developing a new regional jet. See article below.
UAL Corp. made both French and U.S. aircraft manufacturers happy last week, signing agreements to purchase up to 135 new Falcon and Gulfstream business jets valued at approximately $3.75 billion for use in UAL's planned fractional aircraft ownership program (BA, May 28/251).
THE TREND toward a higher proportion of jet deliveries continues to accelerate as more regional airlines switch from turboprops to RJs and the largest fractional aircraft programs are exclusively purchasing pure jet equipment. For the past five years, new jet deliveries outpaced new turboprop deliveries by a rate of nearly three-to-one. Manufacturers delivered 2,529 new jets to end-users from 1996 through 2000, according to AvData, Inc., while shipping only 860 turboprops during the same period.
BOMBARDIER is establishing a factory service center in the Middle East to provide support and maintenance for its business jet aircraft. A joint venture between Bombardier Aerospace, ExecuJet Aviation Group, and Alpha 55 of Dubai, Bombardier's ninth service facility, will open in Dubai, United Arab Emirates in the second quarter of 2002 with 50 staff members.
The House Appropriations Committee last week called the Federal Aviation Administration's personnel reform "experiment" a failure and slashed nearly $60 million from the Bush Administration's fiscal 2002 budget request for hiring new employees in all lines of business at the agency. The committee Wednesday approved the fiscal 2002 transportation appropriations bill, which provides some $13.3 billion for FAA (BA, June 18/286).
EADS will acquire Australian Aerospace Pty Ltd., the defense activities of Hawker Pacific, a Saab Group Company, as a result of the reorganization at HP. Australian Aerospace employs 150 people and its core competencies include airframe modifications and maintenance capabilities.
END-USER DELIVERIES of new, fixed-wing, turbine-powered aircraft were off about nine percent during the 1990s compared with the 1980s, but the more significant difference between the decades is the change in product mix. According to Peter Simmonds, research director of AvData, Inc. of Wichita, Kan., end-users took delivery of 5,881 new turbine-powered airplanes from 1981 through 1990, split almost equally between turboprops (2,896) and jets (2,985).
RTS REWORK INC., Fort Worth, Texas, won parts manufacturer approval (PMA) to produce the replacement/modification for air inlet screen assemblies for Pratt&Whitney Canada's PT6A series turboprop engines. The RTS PMA is applicable for most PT6 models, ranging from the PT6A-11 through the PT6A-135A. RTS is a designated FAA repair station. "We are expanding our services based on this PMA authorization foundation," said RTS Rework President Roger T. Sickler.
