ENSTROM F-28C, F-28C-2, F-28F, 280C, 280F, 280FX, TH-28, 480 and 480B helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0562; Directorate Identifier 2012-SW-038-AD; Amendment 39-17068; AD 2012-11-05] – adopts a new AD that supersedes an existing directive (AD 2011-26-10) and requires operators to modify the lateral and longitudinal trim actuator assemblies by replacing the actuator and limit switch bracket to provide a positive stop for the trim actuator.
Duncan Aviation, which recently opened a new 45,000-sq.-ft. paint shop at its Lincoln, Neb. facility, is planning to further expand the location with a new maintenance hangar. Duncan will begin construction of the hangar this fall, but has not yet finalized details on the project’s scope. “We are still evaluating our current and future needs as well as the continued economic climate,” says Duncan Aviation Chairman Todd Duncan.
CHRISTIAN OLIVIER was appointed vice president of operations for Esterline CMC Electronics. He will oversee operations, supply chain management, master planning, facilities management and IT across all three of the company’s facilities. He most recently spent 10 years with the Direction Générale pour l’Armement de France, where he held executive positions at Nortel Networks, STMicroelectronics and e2v Technologies.
Bombardier Aerospace has temporarily reassigned responsibility for key components and work packages of its CSeries contracted to Chinese partner Shenyang Aircraft Corp. (SAC). When Bombardier established the manufacturing system for its new 110- to 149-seat jet family, it allocated development and production of three fuselage sections — forward, center and rear — plus the empennage to SAC. It also charged the Chinese supplier with building the tail cone and wing-body fairing and center wing box. But that work allocation has changed.
FAA is mandating an offshore noise-abating route for helicopter traffic near Long Island, N.Y.—with exceptions for safety and weather—in an action that opponents contend will unjustifiably expand the agency’s authority to intervene in aircraft noise disputes.
A “drop-in” replacement for unleaded aviation gasoline is unavailable and alternative fuels would require a “significant” safety assessment, leaving a solution possibly years away, a committee has found. There is no market-driven reason for a replacement fuel due to the limited demand for avgas and its special characteristics, the panel also said. Safety, liability and expense are additional factors in what would be a complex approval and deployment process.
FERNANDO LACERDA DA SILVA was named sales director of new aircraft for Bombardier. Da Silva will be responsible for sales in Brazil. He has a 25-year sales career, including 12 years of Latin American business aircraft sales experience.
Sen. James Inhofe’s (R-Okla.) quest to provide pilots with a stronger ability to defend themselves against enforcement actions took a step forward with the June 29 U.S. Senate passage of the “Pilots Bill of Rights.” The bill, S.1335, requires the FAA to present a pilot all relevant evidence in an enforcement action within 30 days and removes the “special statutory deference” as it relates to the National Transportation Safety Board appeals of FAA actions against airmen.
The U.S. business aircraft fleet marked a “big improvement” in the number of accidents, but not fatalities through the first half of the year, according to safety expert Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. The growing international fleet, meanwhile, improved both in terms of accidents and fatalities, Breiling says.
FAA has extended the comment period until Aug. 17 for a proposed policy clarification on the use of non-citizen trusts to register aircraft in the U.S. FAA on Feb. 9 released the proposed clarification, which would tighten the reporting and information gathering requirements for non-U.S. citizen trusts. The clarification was released following a nearly two-year dialogue with the industry on how to improve the accuracy, transparency and timeliness of aircraft registrations involving non-U.S. trusts.
BOMBARDIER CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100 & 440) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2012-0639; Directorate Identifier 2012-NM-005-AD] – proposes requiring operators to inspect the horizontal stabilizer trim actuator trunnions and upper and lower pins for gouges, scratches and corrosion, replacing those components, if necessary. This action is designed to prevent failure of the pins and trunnions, consequent disconnection of the horizontal stabilizer and subsequent loss of control of the airplane.
Industry advocates reiterated their opposition to recent Internal Revenue Service guidance expanding the applicability of the passenger ticket tax and are urging the agency’s chief counsel to ensure the tax is not retroactively imposed.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE AS350B, AS350BA, AS350B1, AS350B2, AS350B3, AS350C, AS350D, AS350D1, AS355E, AS355F, AS355F1, AS355F2, AS355N and AS355NP helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0631; Directorate Identifier 2011-SW-021-AD] – proposes requiring recurring inspections for cracks of the Aerazur emergency-flotation-gear attachment brackets. If any cracks were found, operators would need to replace a cracked bracket with an airworthy one so as to prevent failure of the emergency flotation system and loss of float stability in the event of a water landing.
ACI Jet Centers this month began assessing a nickel fuel surcharge to offset costs of ongoing Proposition 65 litigation by the Center For Environmental Health (CEH) over the sale and distribution of leaded aviation gasoline in California. ACI joins other fuel providers, including Signature Flight Support facilities, which have assessed the fuel surcharge. In addition, the National Air Transportation Association also has appealed to members to fight the lawsuit filed against avgas providers last fall.
Airbus recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of the opening of its first U.S. engineering center in Wichita. The company’s first engineering and design facility outside of Europe, the Airbus Engineering Center in the Old Town section of the city formally opened on June 10, 2002, staffed by approximately 30 engineers dedicated to wing design for the Airbus A380. Today, the company has expanded into a second facility in Wichita, and more than 350 engineers are performing design and stress work for wings and fuselages on all new and existing models of Airbus aircraft.
BELL 205A, 205A-1, and 205B helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0601; Directorate Identifier 2008-SW-033-AD] – proposes to require replacing the starter/generator power cable assemblies and their associated parts and performing continuity readings on certain helicopters. This proposal was prompted by the determination that the power cable assembly connector can deteriorate, causing a short in the connector that could lead to a fire in the starter/generator, smoke in the cockpit and subsequent loss of helicopter control.
June 15, 1992 — Page Avjet Airport Services plans July closing of its acquisition of Butler Aviation’s chain of fixed-base operations with Page Avjet CEO Paul Meunier to lead the combined entity and Butler CEO Bill Boisture to leave the company after the deal concludes.
Fractional aircraft flying trended down, but charter activity and private flights increased last month, according to the latest data released by business aviation analyst Argus. According to Argus TRAQPak data, which track U.S. and Canada IFR flights by serial number, Part 135 flights in May were up 5.3% from the previous month and Part 91 flights increased 3.9%. Likewise, Part 135 flights increased 0.9% and Part 91 by 4.3% over the activity in May 2011. But fractional flying was down from April (by 1%) and from May 2011 (by 6.9%).
Kenn Ricci, the principal of Directional Aviation, which recently acquired Sentient Jet, is taking over as chairman of the jet card and charter brokerage firm. Sentient also promoted Andrew Collins to president of jet cards. Collins formerly served as vice president of sales and revenue management. Damon Lusk, who is vice president of finance, joins Ricci and Collins in forming a new management team at Sentient with the departures of CEO Marty Guinoo and CFO Matt Sevick.
Bombardier has firmed up a deal to build facilities near Casablanca, Morocco, expanding the Canadian company’s global manufacturing reach with a foothold in North Africa. Bombardier signed an agreement with Moroccan property holding and management company Midparc Investment S.A. to purchase land for a new plant in the Midparc Casablanca Free Zone, in Nouaceur. The deal follows a memorandum of understanding that Bombardier reached with the government of Morocco last fall to build manufacturing facilities there.
BELL 205A, 205A-1, and 205B helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0601; Directorate Identifier 2008-SW-033-AD] – proposes to require replacing the starter/generator power cable assemblies and their associated parts and performing continuity readings on certain helicopters. This proposal was prompted by the determination that the power cable assembly connector can deteriorate, causing a short in the connector that could lead to a fire in the starter/generator, smoke in the cockpit and subsequent loss of helicopter control.
Aircraft Bluebook Price Digest reports that used airplanes continue to change hands at “a slow to steady pace, while values for the most part show continued depreciation. The exceptions are late-model, long-range business jets.” The summer 2012 edition of Aircraft Bluebook’s Marketline newsletter says aircraft values have not rallied because of the continuing large supply of used airplanes.
Zodiac Aerospace will manufacture interior parts for the Embraer 170 and 190 as part of a joint venture with the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer. The manufacturing facility, which will be located in Mexico, reinforces a longstanding partnership between the two companies and is another step in Embraer’s effort to expand its international manufacturing operations. Embraer already has industrial facilities in China, Portugal and the U.S., where it assembles the Phenom 100.
