U.K. leasing company Centreline has established an aircraft charter division. Day trip and soccer sports groups are among the target markets for the new London Air Charter Centre, which is managed by John Ellis. Parent firm Centreline specializes in the lease of British Aerospace 146 regional jets, as well as in offering contract flying services.
Garrett Aviation's Jet Center in Van Nuys, Calif. is expected to be named a Boeing Business Jet completion facility. Garrett joins K-C Aviation of Dallas and Jet Aviation in Basel, Switzerland as authorized completion firms for the business jet--a hybrid of the new Boeing 737-700 and 800. The BBJ is scheduled to receive certification in late 1998.
Signature Flight Support (Orlando)--Wayne Turnquist, former president of International Aviation Services, was named regional vice president of the company's operations in Palm Beach, Miami, St. Petersburg/Clearwater and Orlando.
Table: Top 50 Regional Airlines - 1996 (This table is not available online. Please see June 1997 Issue) U.S. regional airlines registered 14.22-billion passenger miles in 1996, for an increase of 11.6 percent over 1995. That compared to only a six-percent increase in revenue-passenger miles the previous year. Available seat miles were up 5.1 percent to 26.85 billion. That represents an average load factor of 52.98 percent--the highest in the industry's history. The carriers had hit a previous high of 50.54 percent in 1994. The U.S.
Clients of Jet City Entertainment are offered two basic packages of inflight movies for rent in VHS format. Package A provides 10 movies ($150 per month), and Package B delivers 20 movies ($200 per month). Both feature a variety of action/adventure, drama/ suspense, comedy, romance and classic titles. Custom-designed packages also are available. At the end of each month, clients send current movies back in their shipping box with pre-paid postage. Jet City Entertainment, 2601 Elliott Ave., Ste. 4205, Seattle, Wash. 98121. (206) 448-4954; fax: (206) 448-4981.
The FAA's Office of Aviation Medicine has released a study regarding the formulation of a general model of an ``expert pilot'' that could be used for training pilots in aeronautical decision making (ADM) skills. The study, which is targeted at general aviation, was undertaken by Richard Jensen, et al. of Ohio State University.
Cessna Aircraft says it is working with the FAA and the NTSB on a concern the Cessna Pilots Association has raised about the exhaust system on turbocharged Cessna twins. This spring, the CPA sent a letter urging owners to pressure-check their aircraft's exhaust system immediately. The group said that in the last two and one-half years, at least 29 people have died in 12 crashes of these aircraft due to either known or suspected exhaust-system failure.
The refueling incident described in Intelligence in the May issue (page 10) occurred on a Beechjet 400. The item incorrectly stated the aircraft as a Beechjet 400A.
HBACorp of Olympia, Wash. is getting set to embark this month into the rapidly growing area of ``telemedicine'' (providing emergency medical assistance to a flightcrew via telephone, satellite or radio). The new 24-hour subscription service, to be called FACTS AirCare International, will allow customers to link up at any time and from virtually anywhere with a physician on HBAcorp's staff, who will diagnose and recommend care for a passenger or crewmember with an immediate medical problem.
Toledo-based charter operator and full-service FBO Crow Executive Air, Inc. has acquired Flight Operations, Inc., formerly a Cleveland-based charter and aircraft management and maintenance company. The acquisition brings Crow's charter fleet up to 11 turbine- and piston-engine airplanes.
Photograph: GA's AWARD WINNERS. Guy Gardner, FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification (center), presented the National Certificated Flight Instructor of the Year award to James Trust (left) of Old Hickory, Tenn. and the National Maintenance Technician of the Year award to Leonard Beauchemin of Eastman Kodak (right). The awards are presented annually by GA and state aviation associations. It's mostly cheers and few jeers for the agency's redo of Part 61.
Indianapolis-based Allison Engines is studying a new 350- to 800-shp turbine that could ultimately replace its Model 250 line. The primary goal of the effort is to reduce the cost of small gas turbines to $100,000 or below. According to Allison president Mike Hudson, ceramics ``will play a role'' in reducing costs in the engine. A decision on whether to build the engine is expected to be made ``within the next six months'' said Hudson.
Rockwell Avionics&Communications (Cedar Rapids, Iowa)--N.J. Keating was appointed as vice president and general manager of Rockwell's Collins Air Transport Division. His predecessor was C.M. (Clay) Jones, who was promoted to executive vice president of Rockwell's avionics and communications businesses.
Table: Code - Sharing Groups - 1996 Passenger Boardings (This table is not available electronically. Please see June 1997 issue). Continental and Continental Express pilots are seeking a 38-percent pay hike to ``keep the golden goose flying,'' as one union official put it. The Independent Association of Continental Pilots (IACP), which represents 4,000 Continental and 1,000 Continental Express pilots, placed its contract demands on the table in April in preparation for the existing contract's ``amendable date'' of June 30.
The latest attempt to squeeze more money from business and general aviation got under way a month ago. The National Civil Aviation Review Commission (NCARC) is a 21-member task force that is supposed to ``determine independently what the financial needs of the FAA will be in the short-and longer-term.'' More importantly, the commission also will be addressing the question of who should pay how much for the privilege of operating in the national airspace system.
Photograph: While certification airframes will be built in San Antonio, Sino Swearingen ultimately will handle final assembly only at its manufacturing plant in Martinsburg, W.Va., which is under construction and will be occupied by the end of this year. Walking the hangar floor at Sino Swearingen, President and CEO Jack Braly could see one of the company's technicians was having trouble rigging the ailerons on the prototype SJ30-2. ``Why don't I get you some help,'' Braly offered.
Sino Swearingen President and CEO Jack Braly doesn't have any pictures on the walls of his office, but he does have a picture window. It looks out over Sino Swearingen's 33,000-square-foot hangar in San Antonio. The SJ30-2 prototype is the focus of most activity in the hangar, but the massive steel frames that will surround the static test and fatigue test articles also are taking shape. In various corners, preliminary work on the next prototypes is progressing.
More than a timekeeper, Flightcom Corp.'s DVR300i panel-mount digital voice recording clock provides pilots with two other types of information. The clock's checklist mode allows pilots to record up to 32 checklist items, and a replay function records headset radio and cockpit audio for quick playback. To fulfill IFR requirements, the unit includes a count-up approach timer that displays running seconds for instrument approaches. Price: $585. Flightcom Corp., 7340 S.W. Durham Rd., Portland, Ore. 97224. (503) 684-8229; fax: (503) 620-2943.
Hartzell Propeller has consolidated its engineering, marketing and support functions into a new and expanded headquarters facility in Piqua, Ohio . . .
Aviation Resource Group (Aurora, Colo.)--Greg Ross has joined this FBO services firm as chief operating officer. W. Steve Dennis continues as president and CEO.
This year's 40-percent increase over the first quarter of 1996 in shipments of new U.S.-built corporate jets--63 versus 45 units--largely was responsible for helping increase the total number of shipments of all GAMA-member companies between the two quarters. The overall tally went from 225 to 237 airframes. Shipments of piston-engine airplanes increased 10.7 percent (122 to 135 airframes), but turboprop deliveries were off nearly 33 percent--39 units in the first quarter of this year compared to 63 in 1996. Meanwhile, deliveries of 20 non-U.S.
TSO and STC approvals of Universal Avionics Systems' UNS-1K, the Tucson firm's newest two-box, full-feature Flight Management System, is slated for this month. Priced at $37,000 (base), the -1K is aimed squarely at AlliedSignal's GNS-Xls product line. The UNS-1K CDU features a four-inch, full-color display but no graphics. The 2MCU remote box contains a 12-channel GPS sensor.
