The FAA says a ground-based inerting system needs development, which would require pumping of nitrogen into aircraft fuel tanks, reducing oxygen from the vapor space. That recommendation, and 40 new Airworthiness Directives targeting ignition sources, arose from the crash of TWA Flight 800 in July 1996. The FAA said the system will cost $1.6 billion over 13 years to implement. The recommendations were based on a flammability model created by the FAA, with ground-based inerting showing the best results.
Mercury Air Group is expanding again with the planned acquisition of the Raytheon Aircraft Services' (RAS) FBO in Birmingham, Ala. Mercury COO John Enticknap says the facility will continue as a Raytheon Authorized Service Center for Beech Bonanzas through King Airs and no management or staff changes are planned. The Birmingham facility is the sixth RAS FBO Mercury has acquired in the past four years. According to Enticknap, Mercury plans to continue acquiring FBOs that fit into the company's geographical and operational requirements.
Bombardier Aerospace has acquired online reservations service Skyjet.com for an undisclosed sum. Formed in 1997, Skyjet.com offers real-time availabilty, online booking and recently introduced an auction service to fill empty legs. Bombardier Business Aircraft President Rob Gillespie says the move helps the manufacturer assume ``a leadership role in the growth of the charter industry.'' No changes in Skyjet.com staff are planned and the operation is expected to remain in Washington, D.C. (See page 54 for additional information.)
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's annual Industry/Career Expo is scheduled for November 1 and 2 at the institution's Daytona Beach, Fla., campus. The event, which is free and open to the public, helps companies recruit for a variety of aerospace jobs, including flight crews, maintenance, management, engineering and computers. Planned exhibitors this year include Gulfstream, Boeing and Signature Flight Support, as well as numerous airlines and other airframe and component manufacturers.
Aerostar Jet, which is planning a turbofan-powered version of the Piper Aerostar piston twin, is re-forming itself as a limited liability corporation to make itself ``more attractive to investors.'' The restructuring will result in a six-month delay in the planned certification of the proposed FJ-100. First flight of the Williams FJ-33-1-powered aircraft is now planned for March 2002, with certification and first deliveries now expected in mid-2003.
Getting a handle on costs, and what drives them, is increasingly important in today's business environment, where managers face seemingly constant pressure to provide safe, efficient and cost-effective transportation. The Operations Planning Guide is designed as a complement to the May Purchase Planning Handbook, and is intended as a tool for developing and analyzing flight department activity and budgets. The operating cost data presented in the following tables are optimized for use as a benchmarking tool for analysis of your own costs.
Seconds count in an explosive decompression -- leaving little time to locate and don life-saving oxygen masks. West Star Aviation recently received an STC for the new Puritan-Bennett Sweep-On 2000 crew oxygen masks for Cessna Citation 500, 525, S550, 560 and 560XL aircraft. The masks mount on the forward dividers in the cockpit and can be equipped with optional smoke goggles. Designed as a replacement for the Citation's original oxygen masks, the Sweep-On 2000 saves space and, more importantly, time in an emergency.
Swissair plans to spin off its pilot and flight attendant training operation, and offer its simulators for rental to other airlines and operators. Swissair CEO-designate Manfred Brennwald said he expects the new venture -- called the Swissair Training Center AG -- to employ 80 full-time staff and generate annual operating revenues of CHF 60 million. In July, Jeffrey Katz resigned after three years as Swissair's CEO, to take an e-commerce CEO job in the United States.
Rolls-Royce Corp. (RR) and the United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Workers of America (UAW), Local 933, have opened a $6.5 million joint training facility at RR's Indianapolis facility.
James Raisbeck has donated $2 million to Purdue University, his alma mater, to advance aeronautical engineering education at the school. The money will be used to create a professorship devoted to the development of coursework in the Schools of Technology and Aeronautics and Astronautics. Raisbeck hopes the new interdisciplinary courses will enable students to apply engineering theory to real-world aeronautics applications. A 1961 Purdue aeronautical engineering graduate, Raisbeck is owner and CEO of Seattle-based Raisbeck Engineering and Raisbeck Commercial Air Group.
John Williams has resigned from his post at Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, N.Y., but will remain in charge of commercial development until September. John Edney is named acting managing director of Stewart while the search for a permanent director continues.
DeCrane Aircraft Holdings has completed its acquisition of aircraft seating manufacturer ERDA, Inc. The Peshtigo, Wis.-based company joins Dettmer Industries in the new seating division of DeCrane's Aircraft Cabin Management Group. According to DeCrane executive Jeff Nerland, the company plans ``significant future investments in ERDA,'' including an eventual doubling of the company's manufacturing capacity. As many as 100 new jobs may be created as a result of the acquisition.
Ernest Schweizer, cofounder of Schweizer Aircraft and one of the last surviving aircraft manufacturing pioneers, has died at 88. Ernie, his two brothers and some friends founded the Elmira, N.Y.-based company in 1939, which remains under family ownership and management. Schweizer Aircraft originally was known for manufacturing sailplanes and now also produces a line of piston- and turbine-powered light helicopters.
Greg Cope joined as director for airline sales in the Americas. Cope is a veteran of Rolls-Royce, British Aerospace and Britannia Airways. Kent Hollinger joined the manufacturer as vice president of technical support.
Ruth Leverenz, presently the agency's assistant administrator for region and center operations, assumes added responsibilities as administrator of the southwest region.
The U.S. government's National Technical Information Service has produced a CD-ROM containing a comprehensive database of FAA airworthiness directives, certification and other data. Purchasers can have instant access to ADs issued since 1940, type certificate data sheets, Parts Manufacturer Approvals (PMA) since 1992, Technical Standard Orders (TSO) and Supplemental Type Certificates (STC). The information, which covers all types of aircraft from airships to transports, is current through December 1999. Price: $125 plus $5 handling fee
The NBAA has launched Operation Heritage -- a fundraising drive to support a business aviation presence at the Smithsonian's proposed National Air and Space Museum facility at Dulles Airport in Virginia. NBAA members are being encouraged to make corporate and personal donations to the program, which it says will help preserve business aviation's history. The NBAA will match personal contributions up to $500,000. It sponsored and spearheaded Business Wings -- a business aviation exhibition at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. -- which closed in June.
Flying at 0.8 to 0.9 Mach will put business travelers in the slow lane in the 21st century, say supersonic business jet (SSBJ) proponents. As a result, Boeing, Dassault and Gulfstream, among other business aircraft manufacturers, have been studying the feasibility of launching an SSBJ for the past several years. An SSBJ, traveling at speeds approaching 2.0 Mach, potentially could shave flight times by almost 50 percent on the most frequently flown long-distance trips.
The DOT's investigative arm has strongly criticized the role of the RTCA -- a powerful, quasi-governmental non-profit group -- in formulating the FAA's plans to modernize the nation's ATC system. According to the DOT's Office of the Inspector General (OIG), the practice of having senior FAA and industry officials serve on RTCA committees creates potential conflicts of interest, since such groups may, through their recommendations, control the flow of billions of dollars in federal allocations.
Bell Helicopter's Model 407 light single helicopter is newly certified with an increase in takeoff and landing altitudes from 14,000 to 17,000 feet. The FAA also recently approved an increase in the helicopter's external gross weight to 6,000 pounds. Bell has delivered more than 400 Model 407s, including over 65 units in 1999.
