Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd. (TAAL), an India-based aircraft maker, signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal National Aerospace Laboratories to develop a 15-seat utility turboprop. A prototype is scheduled to fly by late 1999. Meanwhile, TAAL plans to introduce a time-share concept called Net-Air. The program will offer clients up to 200 hours of flight time annually for five years in three TAAL-built Piaggio P68C recip twins for an up-front payment of $178,000 and a DOC of $105 per hour.
National general aviation trade groups bird-dogged Congress through its relatively uncontroversial approval of a one-year reauthorization of FAA programs, and now are sharpening their arguments and mobilizing to shape a multi-year aviation bill in 1999. Congress was distracted from aviation issues earlier this year due to its focus on the passage of a six-year highway bill. As a result, lawmakers tabled electric subjects like user fees and a performance-based ATC system.
Notified earlier this year that its net assets had fallen below the $4 million minimum required for listing on the Nasdaq stock exchange, Great Lakes is fighting back. A hearing was scheduled for late June on the carrier's argument that the value of its Chicago O'Hare slots should be taken into account in applying Nasdaq's net-tangible-asset test for continued listing.
The first-or at least the first widely known-guaranteed maintenance cost program in business aviation was created more than 30 years ago. Rolls-Royce introduced "Power by the Hour" (PBH) to support the 3,000-pound-thrust Viper 520 (and later, higher thrust versions) turbojet installed on early models of the de Havilland/Hawker 125.
The city of Austin is planning a May 1, 1999 opening for Austin-Bergstrom International Airport, the former Bergstrom Air Force Base (October 1997, page 14). Construction is now about 70 percent complete at the facility, which has the distinction of being the FAA's largest transformation to date of a military base into a civilian airfield. The airport was opened in June 1997 for air cargo, and those flights have shown "remarkable growth," a spokesperson from the airport projects office told B/CA.
The BBJ is expected to be on static display at the NBAA convention in Las Vegas in October, the aircraft's first scheduled public appearance. First flight of the BBJ is set for this quarter.
For most domestic flight department managers, August arrives with its own list of hazards-sizzling ramps, precarious powerplant temperature limits, high density altitudes, thunderstorms and, most feared, the beginning of the annual budget process.
Edited by Gordon A. GilbertJames Baumgarner and Dave Collogan in Washington
The FAA, the U.S. Coast Guard and DOT officials have decided not to kill the Loran-C program as scheduled in 2000, but instead to upgrade Loran facilities during the transition to satellite-based navigation. Steve Zaidman, FAA associate administrator for research and acquisition, signaled the policy change at a joint meeting during the RTCA's Spring Forum. "It makes sense to fly it a couple of more years," he said at the time. "We should not have a drop-dead date" to decommission Loran.
Factory installation of the TKS deice system and certification for flight into known icing are now available for Commander 114Bs and 114TCs, and Mooney M20Ks. The system, previously certificated on M20Es and M20Ms, consists of a slinger mechanism on the propeller and a glycol-based fluid sprayed over wing and empennage leading edges and the pilot's windshield.
Steven M. Sliwa, Ph.D. announced his plans to resign as president at the end of the year to return to the public sector and "pursue other business interests."
In the growing market of flight attendant training, Blue Diamond Services of Forest Hills, N.Y. bills itself as a specialist in skilled cabin service education for corporate aviation. The founder, Antonio Gooding, a former corporate flight attendant, schedules one- to five-day training sessions on site for a $1,200 fee or at various Blue Diamond locations throughout the country at a cost of $600.
Canadian Business Aircraft Association will stage its August 10-13, 1999 annual meeting with Aerospace North America, formerly Airshow Canada, now that the event is moving to Vancouver, British Columbia from Abbotsford. "We haven't locked ourselves in to all future events until we analyze the impact of the change," commented J.D. Lyon, CBAA president. The need for full conference and hotel capacity, as well as plans to strengthen Airshow's ties with the aerospace industry, sparked the move to Vancouver and a new name for the show, said John S.
A new corporate flight attendant training option lands August 10 on the East Coast. Atlantic Aviation has teamed with Jeff Hare Safety and Survival Sytems to offer a Flight Attendant Training Program at Atlantic's Teterboro Airport location.
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).
