Table: FOKKER F28RE Characteristics (This table is not available online. Please see the June 1997 issue). A 65- to 75-passenger jet for a mere $9 million? That is what the new F28RE Partnership is saying, and it is currently completing a market survey to verify the demand. The partnership consists of Fokker Services of the Netherlands, a Fokker bankruptcy survivor and holder of the F28 type certificate, and The Perry Group, a Salt Lake City aviation consultancy.
Continental Express, with just seven EMB-145 regional jets delivered, has already jumped ahead of Comair and SkyWest--the only other U.S. 50-seat regional jet operators--in average stage length. From its Cleveland hub, COEx has announced, and is now serving, Minneapolis/St. Paul; St. Louis; Hartford, Conn.; Springfield, Mass.; White Plains, N.Y.; and Greensboro, N.C. with its trademarked ExpressJet service. From Newark it is serving Milwaukee and Savannah, the latter starting June 12.
By the end of August, Unison Industries' acquisition of the BFGoodrich Aerospace Engine Electrical Systems Division is expected to be final. The division, headquartered in Norwich, N.Y., manufactures electrical equipment and wiring harnesses for aircraft. Unison, of Jacksonville, Fla., makes ignition systems and other electrical accessories for aviation and industrial engines.
New from BUCHair is the Biz-Jet&Turboprops 1997 reference book. This new, 30th-edition lists over 10,000 business jets and 9,300 turboprops from 140 countries. For the first time, the publication lists the year of manufacture for each aircraft, along with registration, make and model, construction number, owner/operator, operating base and any previous registration. Price: $24.17. BUCHair (USA), Inc., P.O. Box 75015, Forest Hills, N.Y. 11375. (718) 263-8748; fax: (718) 275-6190.
Pratt&Whitney's aftermarket support offerings will expand significantly when its purchase of three engine repair and maintenance facilities from Howmet Corp. is completed later this summer. The three facilities--in Wichita Falls, Texas; Claremore, Okla.; and North Haven, Conn.-service components for General Electric and Rolls-Royce as well as P&WC engines. The P&W deal continues a consolidation trend in the engine service business which was markedly accelerated earlier this year by GE's plans to acquire two major engine overhaulers (April, page 25).
Pilots seeking additional aircraft ratings and/or proficiency training of any kind should be aware of a new training option in the FARs called ``Training Centers.'' FlightSafety International, based in Flushing, N.Y., and SimuFlite Training International, of Dallas, used to be regulated by Part 61 and Part 135 under an exemption. Then in April--under the FAA's new regulation which was effective August 1996--the agency issued Part 142 training center certificates to both companies after they completed a certification process.
AlliedSignal and Rockwell Collins are designing lower-cost satellite communications systems for business and regional aircraft. AlliedSignal, which pulled out of an earlier plan to offer the Aero-I system currently under development by Inmarsat (August 1996, page 30), will offer a system using Iridium LLC's low-earth orbiting series of satellites. The planned Collins system, however, will use the Aero-I service (January 1996, page 20). A full report on satcom is scheduled for July's B/CA.
Pilatus Aircraft Limited, of Stans, Switzerland, is the new owner of TSA Transairco, a business aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul facility located at Geneva's International Airport. TSA Transairco had been a subsidiary of Aeroleasing, also of Geneva, a provider of worldwide air taxi and air ambulance services.
Five airports eventually will be selected by the FAA to participate in a program to convert their ownership from government to private industry. As a first step, the agency is developing procedures to be used by interested public airport sponsors and private parties to apply for inclusion in the program. Congress has authorized the DOT to exempt the selected airports from meeting certain requirements in connection with receiving federal funding and in using airport revenues for airport-related purposes.
Canada's ATC system has been funded for the most part by an airline ticket tax. But--general aviation operators take note--that is about to change. A formal notice of proposed user fees when operating in Canadian airspace is scheduled to be issued this month by Nav Canada. Publication of the proposal will be followed by a 60-day comment period with the aim of introducing a fee structure for large aircraft late this year.
Wayfarer Aviation (White Plains, N.Y.)--The aviation charter company has named the following members to its customer service team: Paul Class, Amy Fischer and Jennifer Pandolfo.
Critics who said that the initial version of the Wide Area Augmentation System will fall short of its intended capability have been proven right (May, page 9). The FAA concedes that the first phase of WAAS will not give sole-means Category I landing capability. But the agency says not to worry: The current plan allows for almost 10 years of dual operations between initial- WAAS capability and ILS decommissioning.
Airport sponsors and authorities have until June 30 to file applications with the FAA for Airport Improvement Program grants if the moneys are being requested for Fiscal 1997. Applications received by the FAA after June 30 will be deferred until the next fiscal year.
Brian Barents, president of Galaxy Aerospace Corp. (GAC), immediately addressed the top concern of IAI Westwind and Astra Jet operators at GAC's first Maintenance&Operations meeting, held in San Diego from May 5 to 7. Product support in the past, Barents conceded, suffered from ``some limited resources.'' His goal, first stated at the 1996 NBAA convention, is nothing less than to provide the best customer support in the business aircraft industry.
At press time, there were still no reports of aircraft engine problems stemming from ``out of specification'' fuel that was unwittingly pumped between April 3 and April 22 by Kansas City Aviation Center. The supplier, Avfuel Corp., and KCAC began fuel testing immediately to determine exactly ``how off from spec'' the fuel was. Contamination was discovered only in the underground storage tank, not in the above-ground tank, although both were filled from the same Avfuel shipment.
If there proves to be another gap between recorded transactions and physical deliveries, as seemed to occur dramatically in the past month, April won't look so lackluster. As it stands from available records, however, April was a pit. Only 49 transactions were recorded, a whopping drop of 77.4 percent and 168 planes from 217 transactions ultimately recorded in April 1996. No April category broke into triple digits; several made only single digits; and one struggled into the growth column. Here's the preliminary breakdown for the month:
Bombardier's Global Express has more partners sharing engineering, manufacturing and (in some cases) risk than has any other business aviation aircraft project in history. As the program moves deep into the flight test phase, representatives of these participating companies are on hand for continuing engineering evaluation at the Wichita flight test center and engineering labs at Montreal and Toronto.
Gulfstream received FAA certification of the Honeywell/GEC Marconi HUD 2020 for G-IVs and G-IVSPs and expects to deliver 40 units this year. Approval came nearly a year later than originally scheduled (November 1995, page 20). HUD certification in the G-V will follow shortly. The HUD includes the software and redundancy required for Category III approaches as well as for an enhanced vision system planned for 1998. Gulfstream intends to pursue Category III approvals at Category I airports. The HUD option costs about $460,000.
Dassault Aviation says the first flight training device for the Falcon 50B should be operational by year-end, and the Falcon 50EX simulator should be ready by mid 1998 . . .
Airborne Investments, a Cincinnati-based aircraft sales, brokerage and valuation services firm, recently introduced ``Fractional Value$. The company said this service ``provides an evaluation of the residual value of fractional aircraft shares'' by aircraft model, serial number, features and times, ``based on the annual usage trends unique to the fractional program being considered.'' The cost of the Fractional Value$ service is $395. For more information, contact Airborne Investments. Phone: (606) 578-9100; fax: (606) 578-9166; e-mail: [email protected].
House aviation leaders and general aviation trade groups say the FAA should not apply new U.S. overflight fees to GA. The fees became effective on May 19 (May, page 24). In a letter to FAA acting administrator Barry Valentine, the leaders of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said the target of the fees is ``foreign commercial air carriers'' and there was never an intent to charge GA. The FAA expressed concern over the safety implications of charging GA, but included that segment of aviation regardless.
