Latvia's new flag carrier, Riga-based Air Baltic, has entered into a lease agreement for one used Saab 340A. In the interim prior to delivery, the carrier is wet-leasing a 340 from Swedish regional Skyways, which also is providing technical support for the new carrier. Air Baltic replaces Latvia, Latvian Airlines and Baltic International as the designated Latvian carrier. Major shareholders include the Latvian state, Baltic International USA, SAS, the Scandinavian financial institution Swedfund, and the Investment Fund for Central and Eastern Europe.
Macau International Airport (VMMC), a possible Hong Kong alternate, is now open. Corporate arrivals are handled at temporary gates in the main terminal. Visas are not required for U.S. passengers and crew. High-speed ferry service (a five-minute drive from the airport) can carry passengers on a one-hour trip to Hong Kong. Or, helicopter flights can ferry passengers to Hong Kong in about 20 minutes. Train service to Hong Kong also is available.
We've all heard that accidents usually befall us not because of a single catastrophic event, but rather as the culmination of the unidirectional alignment of a long series of relatively benign events. There is no better example of this phenomenon than the loss of USAir Flight 1016 in a wind-shear encounter on July 2, 1994 at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport in Charlotte, North Carolina.
New top managers are in place at Textron subsidiaries Bell Helicopter and Cessna Aircraft. Lloyd Shoppa has been appointed president of Bell, succeeding Webb Joiner. Joiner, who became president in 1991, is now chairman. At Cessna, David G. Assard, who had been executive vice president, was named to the newly created post of president. Gary W. Hay was promoted to vice chairman from executive vice president, and Charles B. Johnson was moved up from senior vice president to executive vice president. Russell Meyer remains Cessna chairman and CEO.
This twofer from Jeppesen includes a kneeboard to keep vital information readily accessible and a metal clipboard that contains key information for VFR and IFR flight needs. The kneeboard holds charts, computers, plotters, flashlight, pen, pilot notes and more. A Velcro closure straps it in place. An additional strap is included to enable the pilot to use the clipboard separately from the kneeboard. Price: $34.95. Jeppesen Sanderson, 55 Inverness Dr. E, Englewood, CO 80112. (303) 784-4274.
It wasn't so long ago that mention of Jet Support Services, Incorporated would most likely have met with a resounding, ``Who?'' Not so these days. Since its launch in 1989, JSSI of Chicago has steadily added customers and says its portfolio of powerplants in the Engine Maintenance Systems (EMS) program-the only independent engine-maintenance program in the corporate marketplace-will top 500 in the first quarter of this year.
On October 9, 1969, United Airlines Flight 74 operated as a DC-8 from Las Vegas to New York. Fred Edwards was the captain, Tom Greene was second officer (Flight Engineer) and I was in the copilot seat. It was a typical ``Vegas'' trip, being nearly full with a crowd of New Yorkers on their way home from the tables. In the front lounge, four passengers were playing poker. These were four rough-looking guys. Tough, mean, angry. Definitely not the types you would expect to see at an arts festival or the garden club.
Later this month, Flight Center at Boeing Field will complete all major exterior renovations, including a raised door on the main hangar. By early spring, the FBO is scheduled to complete interior improvements, including a remodeled terminal, new flight-planning area, new crew lounge (with an indoor putting green) and a new catering kitchen. A new executive conference room was completed last summer. (206) 768-0800.
Copies of the FAA's New Aviation Weather Formats booklet for pilots are available from B/CA. While most other nations started using ICAO Meteorological Aviation Weather Report (METAR) and Forecast (TAF) codes on January 1, the United States and Canada will delay implementation until midyear. The booklets are available for $1 each (to cover postage and handling) from B/CA, 4 International Dr., Rye Brook, NY 10573.
A ``Land and Hold-Short Lighting System'' now in use on Runway 4L at Boston-Logan International Airport permits aircraft to land and hold short of intersecting Runway 15L/33R while aircraft and vehicles simultaneously taxi across Runway 4L beyond the hold-short point. The hold-short point is marked by five in-pavement white lights arranged in a line across Runway 4L, approximately 5,250 feet from the approach end of 4L. For more information, consult the biweekly NOTAMS.
Gulfstream Aerospace and Executive Jet International have teamed to form Gulfstream NetJets, a sales venture that will promote shared ownership of Gulfstream G-IVSPs and G-Vs. EJI Senior Vice President Kevin Russell said roughly four to eight salespersons will be dedicated to the joint venture, but the link to Gulfstream will have no effect on sales of shares in Citations and Hawker Jets through the NetJets program (B/CA, January 1995, page 60).
Construction of a renovated Duncan Aviation FBO at Lincoln Memorial Airport is scheduled to be completed in the spring. The rebuilt terminal will have direct ramp access and views, a coffee bar, private phone accommodations, data jacks for computer and modem hook-up and added baggage storage space. The remodeling also will include a new crew lounge with private rest area, and an improved weather/flight planning area. (402) 475-2611.
FAA's New Year's caveat to FAR Part 135 operators is a reminder of two important regulatory compliance deadlines: On January 1, companies with 10 or fewer employees have to implement their FAA-approved alcohol testing, screening and counseling program. On February 1, revised flight-attendant rest requirements and duty-time limitations take effect. The agency said it will take ``appropriate action'' against any operator that is not in full compliance with the duty-time limitations by February 1.
The Asia/Pacific market is proving slower to develop than one might think, but a good place to gauge its aspirations and take its pulse is Asian Aerospace, the region's premier, biennial aviation trade show. This year's event is being held at Singapore's Changi Airport on February 6-11. While other shows in the region focus on their local niches, Asian Aerospace `96 is the big umbrella for the Asia/Pacific region as a whole. And it's where the CEOs turn up en masse.
An interagency review of security implications of very precise GPS signals, and testing of techniques to prevent hostile use of more accurate signals, should be completed ``within a fairly short period of time,'' a senior Defense Department official told the House Aviation Subcommittee. The industry has been concerned about the continued lack of closure on the issue of accuracy enhancement. This issue and other GPS matters will be taken up at two FAA/DOD-sponsored user meetings set for February 6 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and February 15 in Boulder, Colorado.
Air Security International has set up a full schedule of Corporate Aviation Security seminars for this year, to be hosted by FlightSafety International training centers throughout the United States. The first seminar is slated for January 19 in Long Beach, California. (Remaining dates will be announced in Calendar.)
A 216-page radio guide from Peregrine Press is both for pilots who want navigational assistance on their ADFs and for the passenger in the back doing recreational listening. Called Essential Radio, The Travelers Guide to AM&FM Radio Stations, the pocket-size guide has about 5,000 FM and 1,000 AM radio stations listed by state, city, format, frequency and signal strength. Programming formats covered include adult contemporary, pop, big band, National Public Radio, news, talk shows, etc.
The Dee Howard Company, known for its business-aircraft maintenance, retrofit and refurbishment services, added aircraft painting to its offerings late in 1995. On November 28, the company officially opened a mammoth, state-of-the-art aircraft paint center in Hangar 5 at San Antonio International Airport. The three-million-cubic-foot, computer-operated facility will accommodate wide-body aircraft up to the size of Boeing 747-400s and Lockheed L-1011s.
U.S. Air and Trade Show president Henry Ogrodzinski and executive director Jim Wood resigned from their positions, effective December 31, 1995, after the Dayton, Ohio trade show's board of directors elected to outsource the trade show and scale back its support of the event. According to the trade-show staff we were able to reach, this year's show-set for July 17-21-is still on, and it's likely that a management company will be chosen to oversee the details.
Steve Hanvey, vice president of engineering and flight operations for Raytheon Aircraft Company, is the 1995 recipient of the J.H. Doolittle Award of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots.
Major improvements are under way at Regent Aviation. In March, the FBO expects to open a new hangar at Downtown Airport to accommodate larger business aircraft. The company also announced that tenants can now own their own build-to-suit hangars on Regent property, which can accommodate up to 125,000-plus square feet of hangar space. One of Regent's corporate tenants was scheduled to break ground in December 1995 for a combined hangar, office and shop facility. (612) 224-1100.
Jet Aviation (West Palm Beach, FL)-Werner Aerne was named vice president and general manager for this diversified company's Jet Aviation Zurich in Switzerland.
In mid March, customers of Houston-based Universal Weather and Aviation will be able to get full trip services via personal computers, now that the company has purchased the FlightPak scheduling and dispatching software from Software Engineering Associates. Through ``The Electronic Trip Folder,'' customers with FlightPak for Windows software will be able to obtain automated transmissions of all of Universal's products, such as crew accommodations services, the UVTravel Agency, UVair contract fueling, and worldwide weather data and charter services.
(January 1995 - November 1995) Retail deliveries of turbine aircraft showed another uptick in November-a lift that resulted from an 11.8 percent jump in worldwide sales of new jets and turboprops in contrast to a 10.0 percent decline in resales. And although the total number of sales of new and previously owned turbines dropped 7.6 percent from 1994's 11-month total, the picture continued to steadily improve.
