Interjet has thrown the switch on its Aviation Sales Pavilion, an advertising-supported Internet site listing more than 65,000 aviation service providers in the United States and Canada. The 110 categories of listings all are contained in a geographical database, enabling searches within a specified distance of a given location. European and Asian suppliers should be online by early summer, according to Interjet President Sam Trowe. Access is free.
Ramp construction delays moved back the opening of Executive JetPort at New Jersey's Trenton Airport to late this month. The FBO was originally to open in April (May, page 18). Also originally planned to open in April was Mercury Air Group at South Carolina's Charleston International Airport. A decision to build more hangar space pushes Mercury's opening to August (September 1997, page 26).
FAA adopted a proposal that clarifies the new rules pertaining to passenger-carrying commercial flights in single-engine airplanes. The most important clarification of the new rule, which went into effect May 4, is that although gyro instruments must have redundant sources of energy, each source need not power "all" the gyros. Also clarified: In one-pilot/autopilot operations only gyros on the pilot's panel need be working, but on flights using two pilots, gyros on both panels must be working.
Airtug's latest product is the Model 900 for moving all single nosewheel aircraft, including all Cessna aircraft, Raytheon pistons and turboprops, all Piper- aircraft, Learjet Models 25 through 36, Commanders, nosewheel helicopters and more. A Tecumseh 9-hp, electric-start engine powers the walk-behind unit, delivering a variable speed range from slow to a fast walk. A hand-operated control bar regulates speed, brak- ing and steering. The Airtug is shipped completely assembled, except for the handle. Price: $2,695. Airtug, 1023 Mullan Rd. E., Superior, Mont. 59872.
Bombardier appointed two more authorized service centers, broadened its Smart Parts Plus coverage for Challenger 604s and boosted its spares inventory, all part of a host of customer support announcements made at the company's annual maintenance and operations seminar. The new repair facilities are Servicios Aereos Estrella at Mexico's Toluca Airport and Epps Aviation in Atlanta. Under Smart Parts Plus, Challenger 604 operators can now include their aircraft in a supplemental power-by-the-hour engine service agreement.
Ten-year-old Avtec at St. Louis Downtown Parks Airport is returning to its roots: maintenance and modifications of business jets, including cargo conversions of Falcon 20s. In August 1997, Avtec stopped providing these services and put its facilities up for sale in order to concentrate on developing and marketing fiber-optic lighting for aircraft cabins (October 1996, page 24). The company will continue offering the light systems, but has sold off its Sabreliner life-extension program. And it still will consider bids for its maintenance and modification services.
Another company vying to provide inflight medical assistance for corporate aircraft passengers is Personal Physicians Worldwide of Washington, D.C. The firm has no corporate flight department clients as yet, but it is hoping to work out arrangements through some of the international handlers. Personal Physicians reviews a passenger's itinerary, medical history and health risks and sets up 24-hour physician/hospital protection for that person during a trip. Costs are based on destination and travel frequency, said Myra Altschuler, the company's director.
The FAA and the DOT have launched an effort, once again, to establish a new ATC organization that will be primarily funded by a series of user fees and excise taxes. Administered by a COO who will be selected by the secretary of transportation, the new FAA "Air Traffic Services" organization will be responsible for ATC as well as research and acquisitions related to the day-to-day operation of the nation's aviation infrastructure.
The opening of Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport in July will also mark the opening of the Business Aviation Centre, the airport's corporate aircraft FBO to be managed by AMR Combs and partners. Stephen Lassetter, general manager of the centre, said the new facility will include a 21,000-square-foot aircraft storage hangar.
In addition to receiving information and seeing photos of this Memphis-based FBO, the site also includes links to other aviation sites and data on local attractions, restaurants and lodging.
Virtually all production aircraft sooner or later are the subject of ADs, and new Gulfstream Vs have received their first hit. AD 98-09-01, effective May 5, requires inspections as well as functional tests of the elevator hardover protection system to detect any miswiring that could prevent correct operation of the HOPS, said the FAA.
On July 1, Continental Express will increase Embraer RJ145 ExpressJet service between Newark and Montreal from three to four times daily. In addition, it will begin nonstop service between Houston and Cincinnati with three flights daily effective August 1. With that new route, the carrier will serve Cincinnati from each of Continental's hubs-Houston, Newark and Cleveland. Cincinnati, of course, is the fortress hub of Delta and Delta Connection Comair.
Kentucky Governor Paul Patton was expected to sign legislation that establishes a dedicated aviation trust fund that state officials project will generate some $9 million a year for aviation projects. The state's six-percent jet fuel tax will finance the fund. Thirty states now have aviation trust funds, according to the AOPA.
An end-of-July rollout from the Renton, Wash. factory is planned for the BBJ, with the first flight planned for late August and certification in the fourth quarter. The Boeing Business Jet combines the fuselage of the new 737-700 with the center section, wing, landing gear and CFM56-7 engines of the larger -800 model. The -800's heftier structure enables the BBJ to be certificated at 171,000 pounds MTOW, an important factor because the BBJ will carry the Pat's, inc.
Pilots at Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. narrowly voted to reject a bid for unionization by the Office and Professional Employees International Union. Although PHI management is pleased that this was the second time a majority of pilots voted against joining this union (the first was in September 1997), the difference was just six votes out of 502: 254 against unionization, 248 for unionization. In the 1997 vote, 332 pilots voted against unionization versus 246 for it.
Continental reached a tentative agreement with its Continental Express pilots in early March on a new five-year labor contract. The carrier is represented by the Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP). According to union sources, the remaining issues involved labor protection, pay schedules covering a proposed 37-seat jet and first-officer pay.
Rulemaking has been proposed to require operators of older Airbus, BAC, Boeing, Douglas, Fokker and Lockheed aircraft to incorporate "repair assessment guidelines" for the fuselage pressure boundary (fuselage skins and pressure webs). If enacted, the rule will serve to establish a damage-tolerance-based supplemental inspection program for repairs that have already been made. Comments are due July 2. For more details, contact the FAA in Renton, Wash. Phone: (425) 227-2109. There are no plans to apply this requirement to mainstream business jets, said FAA officials.
Millville, N.J. engine maintenance company Airwork has taken a decidedly independent tack since being swept up in General Electric's acquisition of Greenwich Air Services and UNC (March, page 55). While a GE spokesperson declined to comment, sources indicate Airwork, which services Allison, Pratt&Whitney Canada and Rolls-Royce engines, as well as AlliedSignal APUs, is for sale. In addition to outside interest, Airwork's management team apparently is bidding to purchase the unit from GE.
FAA plans to form teams of specialists to examine issues of pilot decision making, loss of control, weather, controlled flight into terrain, crash survivability and runway incursions in an effort to reduce general aviation accidents. Under the new initiative, called "Safer Skies," the FAA said it will work to reduce the number of accidents by 80 percent over the next 10 years. The agency also reiterated its plan to require Enhanced GPWS in all turbine aircraft with more than six passenger seats. (February, page 17).
Russell Purchase, 85, instructor in the Air Transport Command in the 1940s and a pioneering corporate pilot after the end of World War II, died March 20 in Saginaw, Mich. Having earned his private pilot's license in 1936, he went on to start a flight-training program for the Civilian Pilot Training Service in his home community. Purchase was hired as a pilot for Dow Chemical in Houston in 1955, then was transferred back to Saginaw to manage the aviation division for Dow. In 1962, he formed his own charter business, Air-Flite, Inc.
-- November 9: Oxygen masks-Pressurized aircraft that operate above 25,000 feet msl and receive new TCs issued by the JAA after this date must have automatically deploying oxygen masks for each cockpit crewmember. -- December 22: Fuel storage tanks-Underground fuel storage tanks installed before December 31, 1988 must be modified or replaced to ensure corrosion, overfill and spill prevention.
Photograph: The Boeing MD 902 Explorer light twin was not included in the Bell deal and Boeing has said that it will shop for another buyer. The rebound in the helicopter market of the last few years firmly established itself as a trend this year, and the tea leaves promise good things at least through the end of the millennium. Driving the upbeat forecast are two primary factors: a robust global economy, and new helicopters that offer both improved performance and better operating economics.
-- Flight Services Group (Stratford, Conn.)-This aviation services provider made the following additions to its staff after purchasing six new aircraft for its charter/management fleet: in West Palm Beach, Fla., pilots Andrew T. Pratz and Ara Yanikian; in Cleveland, pilots Paul Fiorino, Michael Hoyle and Raymond Proud, and technician Robert Johnson; and in Norwich, N.Y., pilots Duane F. Boyd, Kevin O'Connor and Thomas R. Sovie.
