An increase in corporate aircraft international operations and a plethora of new procedures have prompted the NBAA to issue a revised edition of its Oceanic Flying Operations&Procedures manual. An NBAA survey found that only 18 percent of its membership does not fly internationally sometime during the year. New procedures include the need for an FAA letter of authority by October for flying in the North Atlantic (NAT), the implementation of reduced vertical separation minimums in March 1997 in the NAT and the planned shutdown of Omega stations in late 1997.
Just as the FAA proposed restrictions on sightseeing flights over Rocky Mountain National Park, the agency was allowing air-tour operators in Hawaii to again fly below a formerly imposed minimum altitude (B/CA, November 1994, page 28). While the Hawaii rule was established ostensibly for safety reasons, the FAA admits the Rocky Mountain proposal is aimed at reducing the alleged impact of aircraft noise. Critics of the proposal say the noise issue is outside the agency's authority and is unjustified besides.
Larry Mustico has been appointed manager of aircraft maintenance sales for this business aircraft engine overhaul and repair facility that also services airframes and avionics.
For many of the several hundred attendees at the Canadian Business Aircraft Association's annual convention held in Ottawa, Ontario in early June, one of the highlights was the chance to get chummy with the owners of Canada's new corporate-run air navigation system, Nav Canada (B/CA, November 1994, page 58).
Aviation authorities for Russia and the other Commonwealth of Independent States members awarded certification to G-III, G-IV and G-IVSP business jets. The certification is a first for a U.S.-designed and manufactured business jet. Gulfstream officials said the approvals for their aircraft were received under ``new joint CIS certification rules for transport-category aircraft'' that are in harmony with FAR Part 25 requirements. Non-U.S. aircraft, such as Hawker Jets and Falcon Jets, already were certificated in the CIS.
Five short months ago, the FAA was a place of quiet optimism. The agency, while plagued with political nibbling from the DOT, had been freed by Congress from Wagnerian procurement and personnel regulations and was about to show the rest of the government how a smart, trim agency could get things done.
Former U.S. Navy pilot and FAA Administrator Donald D. Engen is the new director of the National Air and Space Museum. The position had been empty since May 1995 when the former director, Martin Harwit, resigned after an imbroglio over the exhibit of the B-29 Enola Gay (B/CA, July 1995, page 20). Most industry interests view Engen's appointment as a plus for the future of the museum, celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. (See this issue's Washington column for details and comments on Engen's appointment.)
The more than 5,700 jets and turboprops now required to have flight data recorders will have to upgrade them to increase the amount of data they can collect, if the FAA adopts proposed rulemaking. Although the agency says its FDR proposal addresses the intent of several NTSB recommendations, the Safety Board is disappointed because the FAA ignored recommendations to retrofit Boeing 737s immediately.
This supplier of digital voice systems for aviation brought on David Sisson, former president of Superior Air Parts, as its vice president of aviation products.
This manufacturer made three appointments: Jeff Dunbar, formerly with Mooney Aircraft, as regional sales manager for domestic business jet sales; Michael Guillemot, previously with Mooney Aircraft and AlliedSignal Aviation, as regional sales manager for the Eastern division; and John Chandler, formerly with the Falcon Jet sales department, now is regional sales manager for the western division of Raytheon.
The French government hopes to work out the details for a merger of airliner-manufacturer Aerospatiale and Falcon Jet-builder Dassault into a single company by January 1997, about a year sooner than previously announced. The government wants to combine profitable Dassault with unprofitable Aerospatiale and own at least two-thirds of the new entity. The Dassault family is expected to hold from 25 to 33 percent of the new group. However, previous attempts to combine France's two largest airframe builders have failed and, in the past, Dassault has opposed the merger.
No question about it; the new Embraer EMB-145 regional jet is turning heads. The 50-passenger aircraft-billed as a jet at turboprop costs--received high marks following its month-long demonstration tour of the United States in May and early June. After flying the aircraft, some say the Brazilian manufacturer is too conservative about the airplane's performance and production potential. The company is rushing to correct that.
Commerce Secretary Ronald Brown and 34 others were killed on April 3 when their USAF CT-43A, a Boeing 737-200, struck a mountain while attempting an NDB approach to the airport at Dubrovnik, Croatia. The accident that befell what amounts to the USAF corporate flight department, astonished the civil aviation community not so much because of the VIP passenger list, but rather because of the lack of sophistication of the aircraft's avionics suite and a similar lack of sophistication in the USAF's operational procedures.
Boeing and General Electric have banded together to enter the ultra-long-range business aircraft sweepstakes with a version of the next-generation Boeing 737. The companies say it will be capable of flying New York to Tokyo nonstop with NBAA IFR reserves. A completed aircraft with auxiliary fuel tanks is expected to cost about $35 million. Certification is scheduled for late 1998.
St. Louis-based Sabreliner Corporation is taking major steps to improve safety, training and quality throughout the company, but particularly at its Miami-based SabreTech unit, which has been implicated in the May 11 crash of a ValuJet DC-9 in the Everglades. It's alleged that SabreTech, acquired by Sabreliner in June 1995, erroneously labeled filled oxygen canisters as empty.
Even in Washington, someone in authority eventually makes the right decision, as evidenced by the Smithsonian Institution's selection of former FAA Administrator Donald Engen to head the National Air and Space Museum, effective July 1. Engen's appointment is good news for the museum's legions of fans, its beleaguered staff and everyone who wants to see this monument to aviation regain its luster and become even better.
United States Aviation Underwriters and its former chairman, John Brennan, plan to appeal a federal court decision convicting them of mail fraud in connection with insurance settlements resulting from the 1987 crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines BAe 146. The aircraft crashed after a former airline employee smuggled a gun onboard and shot the pilots. All 43 persons aboard were killed. The government claims USAU put the entire allocation of settlements on the airline instead of on Ogden-Allied, the company that provided security services at the airport.
Sabreliner Corporation recently completed the purchase of Turbotech Repairs, a five-year-old engine service company based in San Diego. In addition to overhauling components for P&WC PT6 and PW100 turboprops and for AlliedSignal APUs, Turbotech is an authorized maintenance center for Allison 250 turboshafts. St. Louis-based Sabreliner will transfer the Allison 250 work from San Diego to the company's Neosho, Missouri facility. Turbotech's other engine work will remain in San Diego, Sabreliner officials said.
Bell chose Pratt&Whitney Canada's 600-shp PW206D turboshaft engine to power the Bell/Samsung Model 427 light-twin turbine helicopter (B/CA, April, page 30). The new twin will have a maximum gross weight of 6,000 pounds and will use the four-blade composite rotor that's on the Model 407. The 427 will seat seven people plus the pilot, and, in EMS configuration, will carry two litters in fore and aft orientation without encroaching on the cockpit. Base price is $1.875 million, and certification is planned for late 1998.
Russia's Rybinskie Motory and General Electric have signed a joint agreement to develop and manufacture aircraft engines in Russia . . . The FAA research and testing facility in Atlantic City was renamed the William J. Hughes Technical Center, after the New Jersey native, ambassador to Panama and long-time supporter of the facility.
This firm announced three appointments: Tom Brown as manager of Citation training, Robert H. Freeman as manager of Learjet training and J. Brent Poer as the senior manager of courseware.
At press time, the House was scheduled to start considering legislation that rejects President Clinton's proposal to fund the FAA through new user fees. Instead, the bill proposes to establish a National Civilian Aviation Review Commission to provide a ``comprehensive, independent review of overall aviation safety and the structure and future financial requirements'' of the FAA. Another aspect of the bill provides $5.65 million to maintain Loran-C as an interim navigation system until GPS is on fully line.
