Hong Kong's new Chek Lap Kok Airport may be giving airline passengers and cargo operators fits in its early days of operation, but on the corporate side, operations appear to be smooth, according to Bris Gannett, director of flight operations for Air Routing International in Houston. On the commercial side, however, thousands of passengers missed flights or sat on aircraft for hours. An estimated 6,000 to 10,000 pieces of luggage were lost, escalators were inoperable, toilets were blocked and telephones did not work. Air cargo operations were halted for several days.
A new FAA notice of proposed rulemaking, the culmination of a 10-year effort to rewrite the regulations governing mechanic training and certification (September 1989, page 21), was quickly criticized by trade groups representing the aircraft repair industry. The National Air Transportation Association complained that the rule would drive up costs and reduce flexibility and efficiency.
Frederick M. Poses, 55, an AlliedSignal employee since 1969, has been promoted from vice chairman to president and COO. Poses' promotion follows the departure of Daniel P. Burnham, who left his post as an AlliedSignal vice chairman to become president of Raytheon Corp., where he is expected to succeed Dennis J. Picard as Chairman and CEO in December.
Chaps and lasses, ever heard of V-Tel? No? Well, let me V-Tel you about it. This is a new company springing up to eliminate corporation head-to-head boards of directors meetings by having the meetings on closed circuit TV, hence V-Tel. The company's commercial would be hilarious if it were not so threatening.
Honeywell has purchased a Daimler-Benz Aerospace division whose wares include airport lighting products and a GPS-based landing system. The Phoenix-based company launched its Airport Systems unit two years ago with the aim of developing, manufacturing and servicing equipment for landing aircraft, tracking ground vehicles and lighting airports. The firm is in the final stages of FAA certification of its Satellite Landing System.
This aircraft parts distributor and provider of overhaul services announces two appointments: Garry Print as CEO and Peter Stauffer as vice president of sales and marketing.
Well-known aviation consultant R. Dixon Speas, 82, died May 14 at home in Tucson. In 1951, Speas started the first of several aviation consulting firms with business aviation, airline and airport clients. As a young pilot, he served with the Air Transport Command during World War II, then spent a few years at American Airlines. Later, he played a role in the development of one of the first passenger jets, the Avro Jetliner. Speas sustained active involvement in his businesses until April 1997 when Arthur D.
Effective crew coordination in an emergency cannot happen if some crewmembers are left out of the training loop. That's why the NBAA Flight Attendant Subcommittee is recommending a standard training curriculum for corporate flight attendants. Knowledge of emergency procedures and evacuation training for flight attendants are high on the list of necessary skills.
Executives of both Garrett Aviation Services and parent company General Electric vow their proposal to reengine Spey-powered Gulfstreams with GE's CF34-8C is still in contention-although on indefinite hold pending an answer from Gulfstream Aerospace as to whether it will support the retrofit. Bill Boisture, president of Gulfstream Aircraft, told B/CA that "We have decided at this point not to participate" in the GE/Garrett engine retrofit program. In response to a follow-up question, Boisture added that "we have no comment" on the merits of the program.
European Civil Aviation Conference officials moved in mid June to delay implementation of 8.33 kHz frequency spacing beyond the previously scheduled start date of January 1, 1999. At press time, no new compliance date had been set, but the slip is expected to be at least six months. Avionics manufacturers are just now making available upgrade kits and ECAC officials realized few users would be able to meet the early 1999 deadline. When implemented, the 8.33 kHz requirement will apply to all operations above FL 245 in ECAC airspace (above FL 190 in France).
Langa Air, Inc., a satellite facility of the Langa Air FBO at St. Louis Regional Airport, is the most likely winner of the FBO proposals race at the new MidAmerica Airport near St. Louis. Langa has been providing general aviation services since April 1 when the new 10,000-foot runway became active. (The ATC tower became operational in May.) According to Scott Langa, the facility's manager, Langa Air can provide catering as well as maintenance on site, and can draw upon its main facility at St. Louis Regional for parts and additional mechanics as needed.
Orenda Recip Inc. expects the first of several types of aircraft to arrive at its Nova Scotia facility to begin OE-600 engine retrofit STC work in earnest, now that the 600-hp, aluminum-block V-8 has received FAA certification. Stevens Aviation of Greenville, S.C. has ordered 140 Orenda engines for King Air C90B conversions. Dakota Aero Manufacturing in Bismarck, N.D. is working on an STC for Twin Commanders. Orenda is studying the feasibility of retrofitting Piper Navajos and Cessna 421s with its engine.
City of Philadelphia says it is looking for bidders interested in a package deal-the development of "first-class FBO facilities" at both Philadelphia International Airport (PHL) and Northeast Philadelphia Airport (PNE). John Butterworth, manager of two of the FBOs on the airports-Delaware Aviation at PNE and Atlantic Aviation at PHL, said those facilities will be submitting bids. He anticipates other competing bids, but noted that some companies may be put off by the dual job.
The following corrections should be made in B/CA's May 1998 Purchase Planning Handbook: -- B&D Instruments (page 208) should read Penny&Giles. -- The telephone area code for S-Tec Corp. (page 200) should be (940). -- The caption for the picture on page 225 should read Computing Technologies for Aviation.
To celebrate the work of its favorite charity, charter operator International Jet Aviation of Englewood, Colo. dedicated a Learjet 25D for one month to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, an organization that makes wishes come true for children with terminal or life-threatening illnesses.
The ceiling of San Diego's Class B Airspace would be lowered from 12,500 feet msl to 10,000 feet msl, and the western and eastern boundaries of the airspace would be expanded, under FAA proposed rulemaking. The proposal also would move the southern boundary north to align with Poggi VORTAC. Separately, operators have until July 10 to comment on the FAA's proposal to upgrade from Class C to Class B the airspace within a 25-nm radius of Cincinnati/ Northern Kentucky International Airport (April, page 26). For more information, phone: (202) 267-8783.
Shell Aviation's more than 800 branded dealers worldwide are scheduled to start this month to accept IATA Global Charge Programme credit cards for fuel, lubricants and other fluids
Fairchild Dornier has chosen "Envoy 3" as the name for the corporate version of its 328JET. Envoy 3 was selected because it alludes to "specially trained executives" on urgent missions, said Craig Fahning, vice president of corporate aircraft sales. The Envoy 3 has been slightly modified from the airline version. For instance, it has a flat floor instead of the drop aisle on the airliner, and the baggage compartment was reconfigured to yield more room for the aft lavatory.
Computing Technologies for Aviation has released FOS/NT, the company's 32-bit Windows NT-based scheduling/dispatching, crew scheduling, charter quote and flight log management system for business aviation. Phone: (804) 971-7624; e-mail: [email protected].
Flight Dynamics' HGS-2850 Head-Up Guidance system has been FAA certificated on Falcon 2000s, giving the aircraft the potential to land in visibility as low as 700 feet RVR with a 50-foot DH. The JAA issued a similar approval in February. Before U.S. operators can take advantage of Cat III(a) capability using the HGS, they will have plenty of work to do. Operators must devise training, operational and maintenance procedures that can pass FAA standards, and local FSDOs will have to learn how to process the paperwork.
Confused about how best to provision your aircraft to take advantage of the coming Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) enhancements to GPS? You're in good company. So is the rest of the aviation community. That's because GPS, even with WAAS and LAAS enhancements, isn't going to become a sole-means air navigation system soon. And without the ability to pull the plug on ground-based air navigation systems, they're going to be around for several years to come.
Revised copies of three popular source booklets are now available from the NBAA. The Business Aviation Fact Book 1998 contains statistics on business aircraft operations worldwide. The 41-page publication also includes a complete directory of the members of Congress. The 1998-1999 State Aviation Tax Report is a 52-page document that gives a state-by-state listing of aviation tax rates and whether the moneys collected are dedicated to funding aviation projects. The guide also gives data on exemptions and refunds.
Trimble is now a distributor for the AI-CD, Avionics Innovations' panel-mount, inflight entertainment system. The STCed AI-CD is a full-featured CD/FM/AM system designed to match Trimble's TrimLine radio stack. The system operates on 12-33 VDC. Price: $1,695. Trimble Navigation Ltd., P.O. Box 3642, Sunnyvale, Calif. 94088. (408) 827-8000; fax: (408) 481-7781
