-- FlightSafety International (Flushing, N.Y.)-This training organization has announced two staff changes: Marsha Bell was promoted to the newly created position of product marketing director. Rick Bedard joined the company as assistant manager of the West Palm Beach, Fla. Learning Center.
Miami-based seat and cabinetry manufacturer Aircraft Modular Products will form the core of a new general aviation business unit of B/E Aerospace, which announced plans to buy AMP in mid April. Previously, B/E was focused on airliner cabins, with four main product lines: galleys, seats, inflight entertainment, and a service unit that is headquartered in Orange, Calif. Building around the AMP core, Wellington, Fla.-based B/E Aerospace hopes to extend its existing business lines into general aviation aircraft.
A group of investors agreed to purchase 12 Gulfstream IVSPs to begin a Gulfstream Shares fractional ownership program in the Middle East. The Middle East investors, in conjunction with Executive Jet Aviation, will manage the program. The first G-IVSP is scheduled to enter service in early 1999. In addition, Gulfstream will provide two core fleet aircraft. Now in its third year, Gulfstream Shares operates 15 aircraft. Gulfstream announced its Middle East Shares program at the Dubai Air Show in November 1997.
-- Alpha Flying/PlaneSense (Norwood, Mass.)-This company, which offers a fractional ownership program for small to midsize businesses, hired Richard L. Rice as aircraft manager.
Increased cargo traffic and more domestic as well as international passenger traffic are key goals for the new lessor of New York's Stewart International Airport when it begins managing a major portion of the facility in the fall. National Express Group, based in Winchester, England, was selected in April to be the lessor of the airport, the first facility to participate in the FAA's pilot privatization program (January, page 28). National Express said it also aims to reduce fees associated with using the airport.
A new curfew has been imposed at Le Bourget Airport in Paris that has caught a number of U.S. corporate operators by surprise. The curfew runs from 2215 local until 0600 and prohibits all but FAR Part 36, Stage 3 aircraft operations. Stage 3 aircraft may land during the period but may not take off again until after 0600. In addition, the use of thrust reversers is prohibited. Aircraft may use Charles de Gaulle or Orly for fuel stops only, during which passengers must remain with the aircraft.
A high-level U.S. Coast Guard report concludes that GPS interference poses a "serious threat" to aviation safety and underscores the need for "long-term continuation of Loran." According to the report, 16 aircraft experienced a "total loss of GPS signals during a 10-day period earlier this year. The cause was eventually determined to be a "spurious signal unintentionally transmitted" from Griffiss AFB in Rome, N.Y.
-- FAA (Washington, D.C.)-Monte Belger has been appointed acting deputy administrator for the agency, and Ron Morgan moved into the slot of acting associate administrator for air traffic services.
While the FAA believes a strong economy and new, more efficient aircraft will enable business aviation to lead the growth of general aviation for the next decade, industry groups warn there are significant governmental barriers that could stymie that expansion.
Formerly known as the AS 365 N4, the new EC-155 is a derivative of the Dauphin medium twin and boasts 40 percent more cabin volume than its predecessor. The aircraft program was launched on the strength of an order for six firm and six options from Norway's Helicopter Services Group, and flight testing is under way with certification expected at the end of this year. The German border patrol has 13 155s on order. The name change reflects the new image of Eurocopter, which has reorganized itself by fully integrating its French and German units.
FAA type certification of the 600-hp Orenda V-8 piston engine is scheduled ``shortly,'' according to officials with the Canadian firm. The avgas-powered piston engine received Transport Canada certification in March, nearly three years later than originally planned. Type certifications will permit Orenda to proceed with obtaining an STC for installing the engines on King Air C90Bs. Those installations will be performed by Stevens Aviation of Greenville, S.C. (September 1996, page 26). Meanwhile, Dakota Aero Manufacturing in Bismarck, N.D.
Future business jet engines will have to be tougher against rain and hail, as a result of recent amendments to FAR Part 33 airworthiness standards. The amendments aim to beef up the requirements to prevent engine failures and power losses from extreme quantities of rain or hail. The amendments, which also "generally harmonize" these standards with the rain and hail ingestion standards of the JAA, apply to engine Type Certificates and amended Type Certificates applied for after April 30.
Tracor Flight Systems and Ottendorf Aviation delivered the first shipset of hush kits for 20-series Learjets in early April. Tracor installed the first kit on a Learjet 25B at its Mojave, Calif. facility. The partners received an STC for the double cookie-cutter shaped, modified exhaust nozzle fabricated from Inconel in October 1997, but only recently started shipping approved kits. The kit, which reduces noise levels below FAR Part 36, Stage 3, is priced at $110,000.
Aircraft owners and operators now can apply the annual cost of maintenance performed at all 14 Raytheon Aircraft Services FBOs to obtain fuel price discounts. These new discounts are offered through the company's MaxPower program, introduced in late 1995 to provide discounts based solely on the amount of fuel purchased annually (December 1995, page 22). MaxPower provides discounts of up to 40 cents per gallon to avgas customers and up to 55 cents per gallon for jet-fuel customers, based on the quantity of fuel and, now, maintenance, they purchase annually.
Innotech's stymied plans to build FBOs at Moscow's Sheremetievo and Vnukovo airports are on again. Stephen Plummer, president of Innotech's parent company I.M.P. Group, told B/CA that the political climate has improved greatly since 1994 when Innotech's attempts to establish FBOs in Moscow hit bureaucratic snags (December 1994, page 26). Plummer scheduled a trip to Moscow in April to meet with airport officials.
Illustration: Diagram: Cabin Length The performance numbers, specifications and calculations shown in the 1998 Purchase Planning Handbook have changed substantially. The Basic Operating Weights are more repre-sentative of actual production turboprop and turbofan aircraft because we've insisted upon manufacturers supplying us with the actual weights of aircraft delivered to commercial customers.
A partnership agreement that Valley Oil of Salem, Ore. has forged with Griffith Oil of Huntingdon, Pa. enables Valley to supply fuel to FBOs in the northeastern United States. In exchange, Griffith gets to offer Valley's dealer-support programs to those facilities. These programs include tank upgrade assistance, credit-card programs and line-service training. As a result of Valley expanding its marketing territory, pilots probably will see "a growing number of branded dealers," said Michael Delk, president of Valley Oil.
Irkutsk Aviation Industrial Enterprises in Irkutsk, Russia is looking for a U.S. partner to jointly manufacture a utility amphibious jet. In an item in the U.S. Commerce Department's Business Information Service newsletter, the Russian company describes its BE-200 as a ``multipurpose aircraft'' powered by two D-436T turbofans rated at 16,500 pounds of thrust each.
-- "Plane Talk in Montreal," is the theme for the Canadian Business Aircraft Association's annual convention slated for Montreal, Quebec on June 8-10. The aircraft static display will be set up at the Skyservice FBO at Dorval International Airport. Skyservice also will showcase the exhibits from manufacturers of aircraft, engines and avionics, along with service businesses. Technical and operations forums are planned at Skyservice and Innotech Aviation, also located on Dorval. The locus for social events will be the Bonaventure Hilton in downtown Montreal.
Fairchild Dornier was very close to a launch of the 44-passenger 428JET at B/CA press time. Fairchild Aerospace President Jim Robinson suggested it could come within a few weeks. "There is one-percent wiggle room, but I cannot see any way today that we would not do it. It is a no-brainer. It is something our customers want and it is an airplane we want. There is no reason to wait," he said.
In a new publication, the Helicopter Association International answers the 25 most-frequently asked questions by operators on how to begin planning for a heliport. The document is excerpted from the HAI's soon to be released Heliport/Vertiport Development Guide. Copies of the publication are available at $3 each for HAI members and $5 for nonmembers. Contact Bill Sanderson at the HAI at (703) 683-4646.
Two new civilian frequencies will be added to future global positioning system satellites, giving civil users system accuracy and capability similar to that which military users now enjoy. Dual signals allow receivers to automatically correct for ionospheric error, which can degrade accuracy by tens of meters. But the new capability won't be available until at least 2005, when new GPS satellites begin to be launched. One signal will be located in the current L2 frequency (now reserved for military use only), but the other will be a new, undetermined frequency.
