A CHARTERED Swearingen SA227 twin-turboprop, N318DH, crashed at Beaver Island, Mich., Thursday evening one mile west of the airport on the Lake Michigan island, killing two of the six people aboard, including the pilot. The aircraft was en route from Chicago and had been cleared to land at Beaver Island. Poor weather conditions, fog, freezing rain and snow, slowed the search. The aircraft wreckage was discovered the next morning on a bluff by a pilot flying over the site, according to wire reports.
ED GREEN was named vice president and general manager of Garrett Aviation Services in Long Island, N.Y. Green previously was plant manager for Emerson Electric Company in Syracuse, N.Y. and also was a plant manager for Chicago Pneumatic Tool Company and director of manufacturing for Rome Cable Corp.
Carole Helms, a key player in the transformation of Wayfarer Aviation from a corporate flight department into part of TAG Aviation, announced plans to retire later this year. Helms, who got into the aviation business in the late 1980s as president of her family's small air charter company, joined Wayfarer Aviation in White Plains, N.Y. in 1991 as marketing director. Her arrival at Wayfarer, which served as the Rockefeller family's flight department, came as officials embarked on a major commercial expansion of the company.
The Naples, Fla. Airport Authority, under pressure from the Federal Aviation Administration, last week suspended enforcement of its ban on Stage 2 aircraft at Naples Municipal Airport and agreed to reopen its Part 161 airport noise study to justify a permanent Stage 2 ban. The Naples Airport Authority board Wednesday adopted a resolution stating it "is in NAA's best interest to cooperate with the FAA and attempt to reach a settlement" and directing the NAA staff to defer enforcement of the ban "pending agreement with the FAA or further board action."
AVIATION leaders face an April deadline to develop recommendations on the future of aviation communications, but those leaders are still sharply divided on whether to transition to an all-digital datalink, called Nexcom.General aviation groups are concerned that a rapid transition to Nexcom would necessitate the installation of new digital-compatible communications equipment in aircraft before the datalink is proved viable.
BRIAN ROWE, the former executive of General Electric Aircraft Engines who has been a member of the Atlas Air board of directors for nearly six years, was named chairman of the carrier's board last month. Rowe succeeds company founder and chairman Michael Chowdry, who was killed in the crash of his experimental L39CT jet trainer last month (BA, Jan. 29/51). Rowe, along with Chowdry's widow, Linda, and two executives of the company, Richard H. Shuyler and James T.
WHILE AIRPORT CAPACITY CONSTRAINTS have reached a new level of public awareness, Chicago Mayor Richard Daley reportedly is holding fast to plans to close Meigs Field next year. Daley reached a compromise with former Illinois Gov. Jim Edgar in 1997 under which the mayor could close the lakefront airport on Feb. 10, 2002 and turn the site into a park.
BRITISH MIDLAND INTERNATIONAL exercised two options for the 37-seat ERJ-135 regional jet and two options for the 50-seat ERJ-145 for delivery between January and April 2002, bringing its total firm commitment to 10 ERJ-145s and four ERJ-135s. The carrier also has options for six more -145s.
Analysts at Septentrio Satellite Navigation of Belgium reported discovering anomalies in the WAAS signal that had gone undetected by contractor Raytheon and FAA. Septentrio said that "due to the critical nature of this problem, especially for safety-of-life applications, we think this information should be published urgently." Septentrio said it has been in contact with Raytheon engineers, "who told us they found the problem and will have a fix in the 'next couple of weeks.'"
Model S-76A helicopters (Docket No. 2000-SW-40-AD) - proposes to revise an existing AD that currently requires a one-time inspection of the tail rotor blade spar elliptical centering plug (centering plug) for disbonding and the addition of a retaining pad on the pitch change shaft between the output tail rotor gearbox flange and the inboard tail rotor spar. This action would contain the same requirements as the existing AD but would clarify that the 500-hour time-in-service (TIS) repetitive inspections, which could cause inadvertent damage, are not required.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL won certification for its newest Bombardier Dash 8 regional airliner simulator installed at the Atlanta, Ga. training center. The initial certification covers Dash 8-100 aircraft training, but FSI expects certification by mid-year for use in the Dash 8-200 and -300 modes. In addition to Atlanta, FlightSafety provides Dash 8 training at its facilities in Toronto, Paris and Seattle.
TIMKEN LATROBE STEEL will increase prices four to eight percent on selected aerospace specialty alloys and tooled steel products, effective with orders placed after Feb. 12. "This increase is being driven by escalating production costs in the form of labor, supplies, healthcare and other benefit costs, and the need to provide for continued capital investments for technology and overall growth," said Richard H. Brown, vice president-sales and marketing.
WILLIAM (GENE) HOWARD, 56, founder and president of Aero Insurance, died of pancreatic cancer Jan. 29 at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Howard founded Aero Insurance in 1992 after a long career with insurance firms including Export Insurance Company, Corroon&Black and the Mills Company. Aero Insurance provides a range of general aviation insurance products, including Aero One, designed for small aircraft operators. Howard was a licensed pilot and belonged to more than 17 aviation-related organizations.
Model EMB-120 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-125-AD; Amendment 39-12090; AD 2001-02-06) - supersedes an existing AD that requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to include requirements for activation of the ice protection systems and to add information regarding operation in icing conditions; installing an ice detector system; and revising the AFM to include procedures for testing system integrity. This amendment requires installing the ice detector system in accordance with revised procedures.
DAN BELCHER was named director, BBJ and special projects, for BIZJET International in Tulsa, Okla. Belcher has 30 years of aviation maintenance and management experience, most recently as senior manager for the Sabre/AMR Airline Consulting Group. He is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who spent 10 years with the Oklahoma national guard.
U.S. aircraft manufacturers delivered $8.6 billion in new aircraft in 2000, the fifth consecutive year of record billings and more than four times higher than the value of the industry's shipments just eight years ago. The turnaround has been even more dramatic in the past four years, as billings jumped from slightly more than $3 billion in 1996 to $4.6 billion in 1997, $5.7 billion in 1998 and $7.8 billion in 1999, driven by soaring demand for new business jets for both fractional aircraft programs and traditional corporate flight departments.
FAA is completing a review of New Orleans Lakefront Airport's preliminary privatization application, which will "probably be completed within a couple of weeks," FAA airport compliance officer Kevin Willis said. Two others, however, are basically on hold.
Industry and government leaders last week stepped up pressure on the White House to fully fund the Federal Aviation Administration next year amid reports that an early Office of Management and Budget draft budget would leave aviation programs $568 million short. While the fiscal 2002 budget proposal is not expected to be formally released for another month, reports of early estimates started to trickle out late last month.
A Dallas-based air charter and air medical services provider, Seven Bar, plans to launch a regional fractional aircraft program this week. The operation, which will focus on customers in the Southwest U.S., will begin selling shares in Beech King Air 200s, but plans to add Sino-Swearingen SJ30-2 business jets when they become available.
KAMAN said one of its K-MAX helicopters owned by Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. is operating in Taiwan to support construction of a major hydroelectric power station. The K-MAX, designed to perform continuous external lift missions, will be used in the construction of the Ho-Ping power station and its related roads, dam and tunnel system on the northeast coast of Taiwan.
BOEING BUSINESS JETS signed service contracts with Associated Air Center Inc. and Jet Aviation Management AG. The two companies will be authorized to perform warranty work on BBJs and will be designated as BBJ Authorized Warranty Repair Facilities and BBJ Factory Authorized Service Centers. "This decision was based on feedback from our customers who wanted better global access to more facilities authorized by Boeing Business Jets," said Tom Lindberg, vice president and chief operating officer for BBJ.
ANOTHER BELEAGUERED aviation technology, the Wide Area Augmentation System for GPS signals, however, continues to receive GA's backing. General Aviation Manufacturers Association President Ed Bolen said his association fully supports WAAS, and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Phil Boyer said that AOPA would continue to support the concept of GPS augmentation until it becomes cheaper to install instrument landing systems at every airport.
The IBM corporate flight department won FAA approval this month to conduct CAT III approaches in Falcon 2000 business jets equipped with the Flight Dynamics Head-up Guidance System (HGS). The approval, believed to be one of the first such authorizations for a Part 91 operator, permits properly trained company pilots to make approaches to airports in conditions as low as 700 feet runway visual range and a 50-foot decision height. IBM has been operating a Falcon 2000 since 1995 and had it retrofitted with the HGS system in 1998.
JET-CARE INTERNATIONAL developed an online aircraft engine monitoring software package, Engine Condition Health Online, which can identify and quickly notify customers of early signs of engine problems. Jet-Care customers will receive their ECHO file as an email, with a complete update and history of an engine's records. Jet-Care will continue to contact customers by phone or fax in urgent situations. Jet-Care monitors engines in more than 50 countries. It conducts oil, filter and chip, hydraulic fluid and fuel analyses.
Italian airports have launched top-level lobbying efforts to torpedo a new law that would ban all night flights in the country. The law, being discussed by the national parliament's environment committee, would ground all flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for emergency and official government flights.
