THE BOEING COMPANY will relocate its headquarters to Chicago, officials said last week, ending a three-way contest between Denver, Dallas/Fort Worth and the Windy City to land the top officials of the aerospace manufacturer (BA, March 26/147).
ADMINISTRATOR GARVEY is meeting with Raytheon executives today (May 14) to make sure the company is on target with its contracts to help modernize the national airspace system. One of those contracts, to develop the Wide Area Augmentation System, must remain on schedule to restore Capitol Hill's faith in the beleaguered program, Garvey told the Senate aviation subcommittee Thursday.
TERRY BOYER was appointed director of Professional Aviation Associates' Falcon aircraft parts division. Boyer also will continue as director of PAA's Learjet division.
WESTERN AIRCRAFT INC., Boise, Idaho, was named an authorized service center for all Dassault Falcon Jet models. Western Aircraft is a full-service, 24-hour operation with 71,000 square feet of hangar space. The company holds an FAA repair station certificate and offers heavy maintenance, modifications, avionics, parts sales and line service. A complete cabin interior and finishing department were added recently.
Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption (14 CFR Part 11), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR Chapter I), dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities.
National Air Transportation Association President Jim Coyne urged the Internal Revenue Service to reconsider its determination that air charter companies should retroactively assess segment fees on each passenger in a chartered aircraft (BA, April 30/203). That determination was included in a Technical Advice Memorandum that the IRS issued to an on-demand operator on the application of the segment fee. Like scheduled airlines, on-demand operators must assess a 7.5 percent tax on the price of a charter, along with a $2.75 segment fee.
THE EUROPEAN JOINT AVIATION AUTHORITIES agreed to proceed with drafting new regulations targeted at business aviation (BA, Dec. 20, 1999/277).A working group met in late April to begin deliberations on a JAR Ops-2 rule that observers said would probably be somewhat more restrictive than Part 91 of the U.S. Federal Aviation Regulations, but not quite as restrictive as JAR Ops-1, which governs operations of commercial carriers in Europe.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT CHARTER&MANAGEMENT added eight aircraft to its charter certificate since the beginning of the year. The new aircraft include a Hawker 800 based in Naples, Fla., a Hawker 800 in Phoenix, a Hawker 800XP in Houston, a Beechjet 400A in Atlanta, and three King Air C90Bs and a King Air 350 in Van Nuys, Calif. The additions continue the growth the charter and management unit experienced in 2000, when the company added 32 aircraft.
HONEYWELL assigned its patented ceramic ring seal technology for TFE-731 engines to Ceramic Engineering Consulting in Durango, Colo. Honeywell retained the right to continue using the technology in its gas turbine engines. The ceramic ring seals are designed to keep oil in the lubricated bearing compartment of the engine.
GENERAL AVIATION leaders seem to be making inroads with their message that small aircraft are not the reason the nation's airways are so crowded. At a recent House transportation appropriations hearing, Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) asked his fellow committee members to recognize that general aviation is not the problem in the system and represents only a small percentage of air traffic. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta echoed those sentiments when meeting recently with the General Aviation Manufacturers Association board of directors.
SIMUFLITE TRAINING INTERNATIONAL is adding several new business aircraft simulators that are scheduled to be operational in the second half of the year. SimuFlite, based at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport, just received FAA Level D approval and International Level 2 qualification for a Citation Bravo simulator. The unit, built by CAE of Montreal, Quebec, has a Primus 1 integrated avionics system and a CAE Maxvue Plus visual system with a 180-degree field of view.
Operators of some 1,400 Garrett/Honeywell TFE731-2, -3 and -4 turbofan engines would be required to replace suspect fan rotor discs by the end of next year under a proposed airworthiness directive issued by FAA this month.
SAABTECH ELECTRONICS AB signed a letter of intent to sell its Optronics Division to FLIR Systems, Inc., which designs and manufactures thermal imaging and broadcast camera systems.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-9032 (formerly Docket No. 28787) Section of the 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR Secs. 61.3(a) and (c), 91.203(a) and (b), 121.153(a)(1) and 121.383(a)(2)
WESTWOOD COLLEGE OF AVIATION TECHNOLOGY earned a continuation of accreditation for its Houston and Los Angeles Campuses from the Council on Occupational Education through 2006. The college trains aviation technicians.
PIEDMONT HAWTHORNE AVIATION'S Airliner Sales Division placed a 1995 Model Saab 2000 with the Penske Corporation. Formerly operated by General Motors, the Saab 2000 will support Penske Racing's NASCAR operations. Piedmont Hawthorne, the exclusive agent for General Motors' Saab 2000s, is working to sell or lease the company's other two, which are based at GM's facility at Detroit Metro Airport.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-8762 (formerly Docket No. 26599) Section of the 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 91.203 Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit RAA-member airlines to temporarily operate certain U.S.-registered aircraft in domestic airline operations without the certificates of airworthiness or registration on board the aircraft. Grant, April 6, 2001, Exemption No. 5515E
RICK BABICZ was named senior product manager for Benthos, Inc. in North Falmouth, Mass. Babicz, formerly vice president of international sales and marketing for Hydro Engineering International, will focus on direct marketing of the company's emergency pingers and locator products.
BRS, INC. reported sales of $1.7 million for the first six months of its fiscal 2001, a 75.2 percent increase over the six-month period a year earlier. BRS President and CEO Mark Thomas said the company is on track to exceed $3 million in sales for fiscal 2001, a substantial increase over fiscal 2000's record of $2.35 million in revenues. The company said the increase reflects the heightened interest in its emergency parachute system on general aviation aircraft.
Model Hawker 800XP series airplanes and Model Hawker 800 (U-125A military) airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-274-AD) - proposes to require a one-time inspection of an attachment bolt in the main landing gear (MLG) door system to determine whether the bolt's protruding threads have been peened; and corrective action, if necessary. This action is necessary to prevent the disconnection of the retaining hook (which holds the MLG door up and locked) from its means of actuation, which could result in a gear-up landing and possible injury to passengers and crew.
A de Havilland Twin Otter turboprop operated by the Interior Department's Office of Aircraft Services was heavily damaged May 1 when the aircraft veered off the runway at Star Parachute Airport in Star, Idaho while attempting to land. The flight had departed from Boise, Idaho with 12 parachutists for smoke jumper training. After the jumpers had parachuted, the pilot was on landing roll when "the nose wheel steering tiller control failed and the aircraft veered off the runway and collided with the terrain" and then struck a cow.
Model Avro 146-RJ series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-211-AD) - proposes to require modification of the passenger service units. This action is necessary 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. FAA estimates that this AD would cover 40 airplanes on the U.S. Registry at a cost of $12,000, or $300 per airplane. Send comments in triplicate by May 31 to FAA, Transport Airplane Directorate, ANM-114, Attention: Rules Docket No.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-8740 Section of the 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 133.45(e)(1) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit HATI to conduct Class D rotorcraft-load combination operations with an A109E helicopter certificated in the normal category under 14 CFR Part 27. Grant, April 6, 2001, Exemption No. 7486
Model EMB-120 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-120-AD) - proposes to require replacing certain existing potentiometers with recently manufactured potentiometers, modifying the flexible couplers that attach the shafts of the potentiometers to the shafts of the primary flight controls, performing repetitive calibration tests of the potentiometers and obtaining repetitive readouts of the flight data recorder, and reporting the results to FAA.
