Each issue of B&CA seems to improve on the previous month's offerings, and the range of material covered is staggering. You always manage to have stories and important issues not covered in other journals.
Flight Display Systems, Alpharetta, Ga., announced that Ron Hainsworth has joined the company as regional sales manager. He will open a Wichita office for the company. Tom Adams will be the new quality manager and Scott Neighbors has joined the company as warehouse manager.
In order to help catalog and record repairs and alterations, the FAA has instituted an electronic system for collecting 337's. As more approved repairs and alterations are captured in the central database, this should help local inspectors provide a rapid processing of field approvals. For more information see FAA Notice 8300.121, which is available on the FAA Web site at: http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/ examiners_inspectors/8300/notices/
The Isle of Man Aircraft Register is a step closer to reality as ICAO has issued an amendment to the Aircraft Nationality and Registration Marks. "The Isle of Man registration 'M' will be followed by four characters," says Brian E. Johnson, Isle of Man 's director of Civil Aviation. Legislation for the new register, which targets business aircraft, is being submitted to the Tynwald (Isle of Man Parliament) this month and is expected to come into being in April or May.
During the first quarter, Executive Beechcraft, the Midwestern aircraft service company, expects to begin installations of the Garmin G1000 integrated avionics suite in Beech King Air C90s. The Raytheon authorized service center, which plans to perform the retrofits at its Kansas City Downtown (MKC) and Spirit of St. Louis (SUS) airport locations, is anticipating receipt of an STC for the modification shortly.
WHILE THE REST OF US were enjoying the long Thanksgiving weekend with family and friends, Joe Lepore and Jan Paladino were stranded some 4,500 miles from their families and homes on Long Island. Instead of eating turkey and watching football on TV, the two ExcelAire pilots were anxiously awaiting another court hearing, hoping for an end to their two-month ordeal in Brazil.
Baseops/World Fuel Service, Houston, named Lisa Peacock as the newest member of the sales team at World Fuel Service. She will be based in the Calgary, Alberta, office.
JetBird, Dublin, Ireland, announced that Patrick Raftery was appointed to operations director. He will be involved in developing the firm's European operating model in preparation for launch in early 2009.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) has been named ranking Republican on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee for the next session of Congress. Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) will chair the committee. Mica currently chairs the House Aviation Subcommittee. Oberstar and Mica are both considered to be well-informed and open- minded on aviation issues.
Raytheon Aircraft Co. is expanding its menu of aftermarket options and enhancements for Beechcraft and Hawker customers to include more than two dozen new-technology products, ranging from engine upgrades to integrated flight information systems (IFIS) installations, and interior and exterior LED lighting retrofits. Raytheon's newest engine mod involves replacing the King Air C90's Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-21 engines with PT6A-135A powerplants. This engine change will increase the aircraft's maximum speed to 272 knots and enable shorter takeoffs.
Call them niche marketing or specialty mods, but just don't forget to call them. Mark Murray of Murray Aviation, a producer of cargo door mods for Mitsubishis, Jetstreams and other candidate turboprop airframes, has developed an engine modification that replaces the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6As in King Air C90s and E90s with a pair of bull-moose Honeywell TPE331-10s and two five-blade McCauley propellers.
The BA609 tiltrotor program now has two prototypes flying, after the second model completed its inaugural mission Nov. 10 at the Cameri Italian air force base. The rotorcraft is being built by a joint venture of Bell Helicopter Textron and Finmeccanica's Agusta Aerospace. A third model is being readied at AgustaWestland's facility in Cameri, while a fourth is undergoing final assembly at Bell in Fort Worth.
Four prestigious safety advocacy, standards-setting and air traffic control organizations have issued a joint resolution calling on national governments to focus aviation accident investigations on finding the causes of mishaps and preventing similar ones -- rather than attempting to place blame and bring criminal charges against those involved.
The latest enhancement developed by Missouri-based Sabreliner Corp. for its line of first-generation business jets is a new overwing fairing that features close-cell construction, which company officials say, "is impervious to moisture and the long-term damage it can cause." Sabreliner believes that its fairing is the best solution on the market today. "Not only is it much stronger, but it also looks better and requires far less maintenance," stated Kenny Flieg, the company's director of corporate aviation program management.
Kansas City Aviation Department, Kansas City, Mo., appointed Ian A. Redhead as deputy director responsible for day-to-day maintenance and operations of the department.
Raytheon Aircraft delivered the 500th Beechcraft King Air 350 in October to Spartan Chemical, a producer of chemical specialty maintenance products and industrial degreasers. The milestone turboprop is the fourth King Air 350 in the Spartan Chemical fleet. The company also has owned a King Air C90 and a King Air 200. The newest Spartan King Air was upgraded with a new vapor cycle air conditioning system. Beech Aircraft Corp. first unveiled the King Air line in August 1963; to date more than 6,000 of the twin turboprops have been delivered.
It's 5:30 a.m., and you're taxiing to the assigned runway at a moderate-size regional airport you've navigated a dozen times before. There's been construction on the field since the last time you were here, through, and the taxiway layout has been temporarily altered.
Raytheon's Hawker series is the most successful midsize aircraft in history in large part because of the comfort its cabin provides those within. Excepting the very limited production Model 1000, all Hawkers manufactured since 1972 have had the same passenger cabin dimensions. And it was in that year that the U.S-spec Hawker 600A and U.K.-spec 600B aircraft made their debut.
FlightSafety International introduced Confident Flight, a full-flight simulator-based training course for business aircraft passengers designed to increase confidence and alleviate anxiety. The course will provide passengers with a basic understanding of the circumstances and related activities that can contribute to anxiety. The course touches on aircraft basic flying characteristics and aerodynamics, weather issues and challenges, ATC and the comprehensive training that flight crews receive.
*Jan. 21-24: NBAA Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference, Phoenix. www.nbaa.org *Jan. 25: NBAA Business Aviation Regional Forum, Scottsdale, Ariz. www.nbaa.org *Jan. 31-Feb. 1: Middle East Business Aviation (MEBA) Conference and Expo, Airport Expo Dubai, United Arab Emirates. www.dubaiairshow.org *Feb. 6-7: Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE2007), Hong Kong. NBAA, 1200 18th St. N.W., Ste. 400, Washington, DC 20036. (202) 783-9000. www.nbaa.org *Feb. 7: ABACE Japan Regional Forum, Nagoya. www.nbaa.org
FlightSafety International, Flushing, N.Y., announced that Kenneth E. Gazzola, former executive vice president of AVIATION WEEK, has joined the company. He will be based in Washington, D.C.
