Honeywell is forming a new business unit to help airlines combat delays and inefficiency in their operations. The new unit, called Avient, will be based in Phoenix, and will report to Mike Smith, president and CEO of Honeywell Aerospace Electronic Systems. Barry Siadat will be the president of Avient.
The Pentagon has stopped intentionally degrading GPS signals, citing technological improvements that will allow it to decrease system accuracy on a regional level if needed. Since midnight on May 1, GPS users have been able to pinpoint their positions down to tens of feet; nearly a tenfold improvement in the accuracy available while the government's ``selective availability'' (SA) function was turned on. ``In plain English, we are unscrambling the GPS signal,'' said Dr. Neal Lane, President Clinton's science advisor.
Saying the new service will reduce the high cost of ferrying aircraft, Averitt Aviation has created a Mobile Maintenance Team that will perform helicopter maintenance and repair services at customers' own facilities.
The Kollsman infrared enhanced vision system (EVS) for the Gulfstream V is now expected to receive FAA certification in the third quarter of this year, according to Gulfstream President Bill Boisture. With an estimated $500,000 price tag, the EVS option only can be installed on aircraft equipped with the Honeywell Head-up Guidance System (HGS) offered on the G-V and the G-IV. The HGS is fitted on about 80 percent of G-Vs and about one-third of new G-IVSPs. The EVS will be certified on the G-IV once the G-V program is fielded.
If Francis A. Pratt and Amos Whitney (a relative of cotton gin inventor Eli Whitney) were alive today, they would be amazed at what has become of the machine tool company they founded in Hartford, Conn., in 1860. The two 19th century craftsmen, who helped perfect the commercial methods of precision measurement that facilitated mass production of industrial products, earned a reputation for quality workmanship.
Alamo Jet, a Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based (FXE) air charter operator, has added a second nine-passenger Challenger 601. The firm also operates three Learjet 55s.
The U.S. DOT plans to lift slot restrictions at three of the four slot-controlled U.S. airports, as stipulated by the AIR-21 FAA reauthorization bill recently signed into law. Plans are to eliminate all slot restrictions at Chicago O'Hare by July 1, 2002, and at New York's Kennedy and La Guardia airports by January 1, 2007. Slots will remain in force at Washington Reagan National, but the DOT created 24 new ones including 12 for ``regional'' flights within 1,250 nm of the airport.
BP Amoco is expanding its aviation business with the acquisitions of Atlantic Richfield (ARCO) and Exxon's Turbine Oil division. The ARCO purchase will give Air BP Americas a strong presence throughout the West Coast, and includes ARCO's California and Washington-based refineries. Acquisition of the turbine oil business is a new venture for BP Amoco, which the company says is a step toward the company's ``creating a world-class lubricants business.'' U.S. and European regulators required Exxon to divest the Turbine Oil unit as a condition of its merger with Mobil.
Avstar has broken ground on a $20 million, 101,000-square-foot hangar, warehouse and office facility in Orlando. The new completion center is designed to accommodate up to five Boeing 737-type aircraft or one 747 and two narrow-body aircraft. According to Avstar and the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority, the facility should bring an additional 200 to 400 skilled jobs to central Florida.
The Professional Aviation Maintenance Association (PAMA) is teaming up with Aviation Learning, Inc. to provide education programs online. Aviation Learning, which bills itself as ``the Aviation Industry's Online Learning Community,'' launched in April and intends to provide online courses, group discussions and other services to aviation maintenance professionals. PAMA President Brian Finnegan says the alliance will help further the organization's goal of ``enhancing the professionalism and recognition'' of AMTs.
Bell Helicopter Textron and Air Methods Corp. have entered into a ``strategic alliance'' to develop new products. The first project planned for the two companies is development of an EMS interior and single-pilot IFR package for the Bell 427 light-twin helicopter. Air Methods, which operates aeromedical transportation services and develops technology for other companies in the EMS field, will be the preferred provider of the EMS-equipped 427. Bell claims more than 80 orders for the 427.
Midcoast Aviation says it now has two Hawker 700 and two Hawker 800 landing gear available for customer use while their own gear is undergoing overhaul and inspection.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) has developed a draft of a proposed fatigue countermeasures program that would better assessment of fitness for duty for FAR Part 135 pilots in an attempt to get around the issue of ``reserve time'' stipulations for scheduled air carrier crews. The challenge for the Part 135 community is to find a means of assessing a pilot's fitness for work when they have less than 10 hours notice for a trip.
Near collisions with military aircraft are reported to the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS) at the rate of about three per month, and involve all types of aircraft from general aviation trainers to commercial airliners. The actual number of near-midair collisions (NMACs) is estimated to be much higher.
Aeronautical Communication International (ACI) -- an international joint venture comprising Honeywell, Sextant, Airsys ATM and Sofreavia -- has delivered the first version of Aeronautical Telecommunications Network router software to the FAA. The program is designed to help implement ATC data-link service in U.S. airspace.
The FAA has awarded an STC to Airwolf Filter Corp. for its Apollo DTM-4 high-capacity spray system. The DTM-4 is designed for installation on the Robinson R44 helicopter.
New Piper Aircraft has chosen Hartzell Propeller's four-blade propeller system for the Malibu Meridian. According to Hartzell, the system adds three knots to the Meridian's cruise speed, reduces takeoff distance and increases rate of climb, while also reducing interior noise and vibration levels. New Piper says the Meridian certification and first customer deliveries are on schedule for this summer.
