Photograph: International Jet Interiors of Ronkonkoma, New York is celebrating its 10th year in the aircraft interior completions business. This directory is a selective list of specialized products and services not included elsewhere in the 1996 Planning&Purchasing Handbook.
USAir Express Chautauqua Airlines, rescued from its bankrupt insurance-company owner in 1991, is again healthy and slated for sale or a public offering by the end of 1998.
Atlantic City International Airport soon will receive its first major maintenance facility when Midlantic Jet Aviation completes construction of an FAA-approved repair station there in late summer. When Midlantic, which currently provides fueling and tiedown at the airport, finishes construction, it will close its Millville, New Jersey facility and consolidate all its operations in Atlantic City. Midlantic specializes in maintaining Raytheon Hawkers, Beech King Airs and Learjets.
The relative buoyancy of the aircraft-modification business continues to defy frequent predictions that it will stagnate or decline. Responses to B/CA's annual, informal poll of companies offering modifications vary widely-from slow to stable to good/great and ``more than we can handle.'' However, most are in the stable-to-growing end of the spectrum. Export sales, which several companies mentioned in 1995 as a growing area, have continued to grow. As the marketing director of one modifier said, ``We are chasing the airframes that were exported.''
Jeppesen is teaming up with HKS&A, a San Francisco-based management consulting firm, to assist FAR Part 135 regional airlines in their transition to Part 121. Under the alliance, the firms collectively will provide a spectrum of services, products and programs, such as ``cost-effective'' transition plans, internal audit and safety awareness programs, crew scheduling, maintenance and training. Jeppesen says that the service allows carriers to capitalize on the use of ``common core'' documentation.
The increasingly integrated avionics suites found in modern business aircraft come in a variety of sizes-mostly industry-standard boxes. Deciding which to choose depends on the aircraft and the complexity of the avionics installed. The large-format display tubes found in the integrated cockpit systems of high-end aircraft are replacing many electromechanical instruments. Standard-size cutouts for Collins Pro Line 4 display tubes are 7.0 by 6.0 inches or 7.25 by 7.25 inches.
Garlick Helicopters of Hamilton, Montana expects to receive FAA approval in the summer (about a year later than originally scheduled) to upgrade surplus Bell Huey helicopters (B/CA, March 1995, page 22). The conversion will remove the aircraft from the restricted category that disallows them from carrying passengers or operating under FAR Part 135, and includes updated avionics and an Avionics Specialties trend monitor.
First quarter 1996 worldwide sales of new and previously owned turbine aircraft dropped 34.4 percent from the first quarter of 1995. The decline remains largely attributable to the continuing weakness in overseas markets, according to preliminary reports.
Brazilian Manufacturer Embraer flew its fourth 50-passenger EMB-145 regional jet on April 2. It is the first flight-test article dressed out with a standard passenger interior, and it will tour the United States for a month beginning May 10, including stops at 11 to 12 cities and a visit to the RAA spring meeting May 20-22.
Delta Connection Comair has agreed to acquire Spirit Airlines, a jet startup carrier based at Eastpointe, Michigan. The carrier operates DC-10 aircraft in scheduled passenger service to Detroit; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Philadelphia; Boston; Cleveland; and Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers, Orlando, Tampa and West Palm Beach, Florida.
The 1996 Planning&Purchasing Handbook, as is the case with earlier editions, is packed with unique, apples-to-apples comparisons of business aircraft and regional transports, as well as complete and authoritative listings of avionics systems and components, along with tables of the most popular aircraft modifications. But just as important this year is the Observer section, in which our editors attempt to give you a sense of the trends that will invigorate our industry and those that will create challenges for all business aircraft operators.
Photograph: Universal's UNS 1-D flight management system replaces the UNS 1-B. Global navigation satellite system-based avionics and initiatives continue to capture industry headlines as manufacturers, certification agencies and users strive to implement various aspects of a GNSS-based air traffic and navigation system. But the next step toward the establishment of a satellite-based navigation system ultimately may be determined by who gets to pay for the approach lights.
Fleet Aerospace Corporation of Toronto is buying Orenda Aerospace from Hawker Siddeley Canada. Officials from Orenda said the sale is not expected to alter the FAA certification target time of late this year for a 600-hp, 495-cubic-inch V-8 engine. Orenda plans to flight test the powerplant on a Beech King Air 90 owned by Stevens Aviation, the Greenville, South Carolina services company. Flight tests were scheduled to start this month or in May (B/CA, September 1995, page 26).
Cahokia, IL-Sabreliner's Midcoast Aviation plans to build a 45,000-square-foot maintenance hangar adjacent to the company's St. Louis Downtown-Parks Airport FBO. Construction is expected to start soon. (618) 337-6886.
Head-up displays (HUDs) have been STCed in at least a half-dozen turbine business-airplane models over the last two years, but the pace for helicopters has not been as rapid. Flight Visions, the first HUD manufacturer to obtain an STC for its FV-2000 in a business jet, also is leading the drive to install HUDs in helicopters. The Sugar Grove, Illinois firm already obtained an STC in Bell 230s, and has been working on approval for the FV-2000 in the Sikorsky S-76 since 1994 (B/CA, August 1994, page 22).
With the bankruptcy of Fokker Aircraft comes an end to 77 years of aircraft manufacturing in the Netherlands that started with the Red Baron's Fokker DR.1. Bombardier Aerospace and Aviation Industries of China withdrew in March as possible buyers of Fokker, although Samsung Group of South Korea still was expressing interest at press time. Meanwhile, Fokker Aviation has been set up to continue customer support and subcontract work, including the building of empennages for the new Gulfstream V.
On May 3-4, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is offering a seminar on ``Communications Skills for the Aviation Professional'' as part of its corporate aviation management series. The program, to be held at SimuFlite Training International in Dallas, is designed to help the student to communicate clearly, quickly and effectively-both verbally and non-verbally. The faculty will show the group how to analyze an audience, give winning responses, speak before large and small groups and write persuasively.
