TWC Aviation, Burbank, Calif., has named Ken Futterman, charter sales manager and dispatch. He will oversee the scheduling and operational procedures of the company.
Stevens Aviation, Greenville, S.C., has promoted Rich Morgan to director, modifications and completions. He will oversee the interior, paint and avionics installation departments.
Raytheon Aircraft Co., Wichita, appointed Jim Smith as vice president of government business reporting directly to Chairman and CEO Jim Schuster. Mike Turner has joined the company as media relations manager.
Evektor-Aerotechnik in the Czech Republic has signed Pratt & Whitney Canada to supply PT6A-21 engines for the new Evektor EV-55, a nine- to 14-passenger (or 1,824-kilogram [4,021-pound] cargo) STOL utility twin. The $1.7 million (in 2004 dollars) all metal EV-55 is designed as a replacement for aging cabin-class piston twin aircraft in air-taxi operations. The EV-55's first flight is planned for mid-2007, with FAR Part 23 certification by the end of 2008, and first customer deliveries in 2009. A cruise speed of 220 knots at 10,000 feet is forecast for the aircraft.
National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne sent a letter to all 535 members of Congress urging them to block enforcement of Environmental Protection Agency spill protection rules that call for secondary containment for fuel trucks -- treating refuelers as permanent storage tanks when parked. Coyne told Congress that the rules would deal aviation businesses ``a significant blow at a time when they can least afford it.'' Coyne added that the physical requirements of the rule would reduce safety and security.
Curious about how your maintenance skills compare with those of your peers? Can you do it faster? More accurately? More economically? How good are you at troubleshooting? Or getting the job done when twisted like a pretzel in the hell hole?
The FAA has launched a formal safety evaluation of the Mitsubishi MU-2B. The investigation is to examine all aspects of the airplane, including design, operation, training and maintenance.
The Eclipse 500 flight-test fleet has accrued 500 total flight hours as the company progresses toward certification in early 2006. The five test aircraft have completed a number of milestones including FOD and water ingestion testing. One aircraft also made 20 landings in one day to test tire wear.
Wells Fargo Equipment Finance, Inc. Minneapolis, announced that Dave Hamilton, Dave Prohira and Craig Richardson have joined WFEFI's business aircraft financing unit.
The FAA finally scrapped a rule it released five years ago to overhaul service difficulty report (SDR) requirements, proposing instead to make several minor changes to requirements while it continues to study how best to improve the process. The agency on Sept. 15, 2000, released the original rule increasing the requirements for FAR Part 121, 125 and 135 operators to report problems that crop up with aircraft, engines, systems and components. Industry groups, however, objected to portions of the rule, calling them too costly and burdensome to implement.
No aspect of the G150 is receiving more attention from Gulfstream engineers than the cabin environment. The G150 will arrive at Gulfstream's Dallas completion center as a green airplane, manufactured by IAI, weighing less than 13,000 pounds. In Dallas, Gulfstream will add the APU, the interior furnishings and exterior paint. The G150 then will emerge ready for customer delivery.
With the advances in PC-based technology and software, traditional non-motion-based FTDs are gaining increased acceptance from the regulatory agencies and training schools.
GAMA and the National Air Transportation Association both disputed comments the FAA included in a fact sheet accompanying its Draft Flight Plan 2006-2010 warning of future funding shortages. GAMA called the FAA's assertion of a growing gap between FAA revenues and costs misleading and said it disagrees that the balance in the Trust Fund will decline in the near term. NATA called the discussion troubling because there has been so much talk about a user fee system.
The NBAA is offering a new Web-based product that provides real-time flight operational information. The National Airspace Status Briefing, developed by the NBAA GA Desk at the FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center, provides information on ground delay programs, ground stops, arrival and departure delays, en route constraints, reroutes, departure restrictions and collaborative convection forecasts. The NBAA is offering the Web tool for a subscription fee.For more information, contact NBAA GA Desk Manager Jo Damato at [email protected].
Garrett/Piedmont Hawthorne/Associated, Tempe, Ariz., has appointed Gary Buchanan regional vice president of sales for the Western regions and international markets. Peter Muenzen has been promoted to regional vice president of sales for the Eastern region. Chris Haas is the new director, parts sales for the company. David Daniels has been appointed to the position of avionics manager for the Springfield, Ill., facility.
In earlier times, pilots talked about that magical, mystical ability to do the right thing at exactly the right time regardless of situation. Unfortunately, most pilots did not possess this ``right stuff'' and after the smoke cleared from the consequent wreckage, an assembly of experts arrived to sift through the bits and pieces before announcing the crash was caused by ``pilot error.'' Things truly were simpler then.
Bird-X's bird-blocking spike strips are not only good for bird management, they are manufactured from recycled scrap plastic. The spikes project up and out from their base at varying angles to prevent landing and roosting. Outer spikes have additional spiked branches to offer dense coverage. The transparent polycarbonate material is durable, and weather and UV resistant. The strips feature a flexible base and can be installed on straight, curved, corner or irregular surfaces.
Weighing in at 0.25 ounces, with a 0.25-inch diameter, and only 1.5 inches long, the Model 9732 OEM transducer probe senses the first 0.001 inches of airframe icing aloft. It attracts and detects airframe icing instantly upon entering any icing domain, where liquid water changes phase to solid ice. The Model 9732 provides a positive, unambiguous indication of airframe icing conditions before ice becomes a problem on tailplane, wings struts or engines. Its thin profile eliminates ram air heating. Price: Contact manufacturer New Avionics Corp.
CSSI, Inc., Washington, D.C., has hired Dr. Mark D. Rogers as chief scientist for human system integration and Robbie Leftwich as senior separation and safety manager.
Daniel Andrew Wolcott is in jail in Gwinnett County, Ga., after stealing a Citation VII in St. Augustine, Fla. He is charged with ``theft-by-taking'' with $175,000 bail. Evidently Wolcott stole the aircraft the night of Oct. 8, flew to Briscoe Field in Lawerenceville, Ga., where he picked up five friends and flew them to Winder, Ga., and back to Lawerenceville, according to police accounts. The 1995 Citation was discover parked at Lawerenceville the morning of Oct. 9.
In this age of five-star super center FBOs, the GAT, for ``general aviation terminal,'' at New York's Kennedy International is quite something else. It is grey, stark, unwelcoming and remote. While the people who work there are nice enough, there aren't many of them. There's no need. At the GAT, traffic is modest on a busy day, and non-existent on others.
When the HondaJet made its public debut on July 28 at the annual gathering of the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) in Oshkosh, Wis., Michimasa Fujino, the HondaJet project leader and vice president of Honda R&D Americas, declared, ``Aviation has long been a dream for Honda, and the HondaJet is the embodiment of that dream.''
On the subject of death by icing, the pilots of a Citation 560 that crashed during an approach to the Pueblo, Colo., Memorial Airport on Feb. 16 knew the aircraft was picking up ice during the last 20 minutes of the flight, but the cockpit voice recorder tape from the airplane indicates a lack of serious concerns about their situation. NTSB Factual Reports on the accident said the crew had apparently activated the aircraft's anti-icing and de-icing systems.
