The Treasury Department recently opened a U.S. Customs Service office at the Million Air FBO at Missouri's Spirit of St. Louis Airport. Clearance services are available 24 hours a day, every day, although a minimum of two hours notice is required. To schedule a customs service agent to meet the aircraft on arrival, call (314) 428-8230.
Over the last few months, we logged responses to a salary questionnaire included with the November 1996 issue of B/CA. In all, almost 600 postage-paid cards were returned, predominantly from corporate pilots in the United States. Our response rate of a little over two percent of pilot readers was about par for a direct-mail survey.
It's hard to resist the temptation to gather a little data on operations. While we had pilots provide salary information, we slipped in some questions on their operations as well. Three-quarters of the pilots who responded say they fly for FAR Part 91 operations, with 20 percent flying for a combined Part 91/135 operation and just five percent operating solely under Part 135. Still, many Part 91 operators seem to be adopting at least some of the requirements of Part 135.
National Air Transportation Association (Alexandria, Va.)--Dan Shoemaker was appointed as specialist in government and industry affairs for this advocacy organization for general aviation service companies.
Duncan Aviation (Lincoln, Neb.)--This FBO, modifications and maintenance facility promoted Todd Duncan to vice president of components services and satellites.
Helicopter Association of Canada is now based in new offices at British Columbia's Vancouver International Airport. Jerry Lloyd, president of the British Columbia Aviation Council, and HAC's new executive secretary and general manager, will preside over the organization's annual meeting set for April 20 and 21 in Vancouver.
The FAA picked COMSAT Mobile Communications to provide the satellite communications services portion of WAAS (wide area augmentation system), a required element for precision GPS approaches.
Nineteen-passenger aircraft may be considered passe in regional-airline circles, but Raytheon aircraft is not thinking in that direction with its 19-passenger Beech 1900D. The Wichita company has awarded a contract to Xian Aircraft Company of the People's Republic of China for 800 metal-bonded assemblies for wings and nacelles. The parts make up 100 shipsets.
Sabreliner Corp. hired former airline executive Thomas F. Derieg to manage its troubled SabreTech maintenance subsidiary. Former SabreTech president Steve Townes shed his management duties and now is vice chairman, concentrating on ``identifying and developing strategic marketing opportunities for the company,'' said Sabreliner. In recent months, SabreTech's various locations have been under FAA scrutiny for alleged regulatory violations. Both Florida facilities were closed due to the agency's investigations (B/CA, March, page 40).
While the FAA's 16-g seat rule is fairly specific in how it addresses chairs, side-facing divans continue to exist in a gray area. As one designer pointed out to B/CA, ``The FAA really wishes divans, sofas and side-facing seats would just go away, but there is so much pressure from the industry to have them that the feds are grudgingly trying to find ways to accommodate them.'' Accordingly, the FAA is finally beginning to formulate injury criteria for divans and their side-facing kin.
No type of aircraft, or its occupants, are immune from the itchy fingers of the thief or the meanness of the vandal. To help flight departments safeguard passengers' lives, and to protect costly equipment, FlightSafety International is teaming again this year with Air Security International (ASI) of Houston to offer one-day corporate aviation security training seminars at various FSI Learning Centers.
David Reeve has been named president and chief executive officer of Astral Aviation, the Milwaukee-based subsidiary of Midwest Express that does business as Skyway Airlines. Reeve comes to Astral from DHL Airways of Cincinnati, where he was director of flight operations.
The FAA chose the Raytheon Co., Equipment Division, of Marlborough, Mass., to build a 21st-century-caliber Integrated Terminal Weather System (ITWS) to generate ``better'' predictions of weather hazards in airspace within 60 miles of an airport. Raytheon will develop, test, install and maintain ITWSes at 34 operational sites, covering 45 airports with significant weather hazards. Memphis is slated to get the first production ITWS in November 2001, with the last installation in Dayton, Ohio expected to become operational in February 2003.
As of December 1996, the FAA may certificate pilots with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus (ITDM). This is a major policy change which took years to achieve, and it is unique to U.S. aviation. This change means that pilots with ITDM now have the opportunity to fly as private pilots. Although it is not anticipated that many people will be able to meet the FAA's medical standards and requirements, those who can will see a dream come true.
AlliedSignal is developing a device that will consolidate the warning features of several different safety systems. The Integrated Hazard Avoidance System (IHAS) would incorporate the alerts now provided by weather radar, wind-shear systems, TCAS and GPWS. Claimed advantages of the IHAS are the prevention of garbled simultaneous warnings, lower costs of acquisition, and reduced system size and weight.
Embraer (Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil)--Peter Obeysekere joined the company's U.S. subsidiary as vice president of sales in Asia, the Far East and the South Pacific.
Continental Express took delivery of its fifth Embraer EMB-145 50-passenger regional jet in late February. Twenty hard orders remain, plus 175 options over the next 10 years. The carrier began scheduled operations with the aircraft in March from its Cleveland hub.
A stay of rules execution postpones certain FAA restrictions on commercial air-tour operators in the vicinity of Grand Canyon National Park to January 31, 1998. Responding to comments from the industry, the agency is delaying the effective date of the expansion of flight-free zones and minimum altitudes in the area. However, the May 1 deadline for curfews, restrictions on certain aircraft, reporting requirements and other parts of the original proposal remain intact. Because of the delay in full implementation of the final rule, Special FAR Part 50-2 has been reinstated.
The British Minister for Aviation, Lord Goschen, has called for expressions of interest in developing Farnborough further as a business airport after the Ministry of Defense relinquishes control in 2000.
Motorized cabin appointments are on the increase, Dettmers Industries president Andrew Perl told B/CA. Aircraft users who are accustomed to having power-everything in their luxury cars are now demanding the same amenities in their cabins. Motorized is the wave of the future, or so Dettmers believes.
FAA's upgraded safety information Web site now includes data on near mid-airs, airline operations, manufacturers, certificate revocations, enforcement actions, NTSB recommendations and accident reports, and Aviation Safety Reporting System incidents. The FAA's home page is at www.faa.gov.
