Paul A. Schweizer, who along with brothers Ernie and Bill founded Schweizer Aircraft, died Aug. 18 at age 91 in Elmira, N. Y. The son of Swiss immigrants, Schweizer became enamored of aviation as a teenager, and in 1930 he and his brothers designed and built a glider and taught themselves to fly it. Since then their company has produced over 6,000 aircraft, a third of them sailplanes and gliders, but today builds helicopters, UAVs, and covert surveillance aircraft.
New Piper Aircraft will offer Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra Integrated Flight Deck as optional equipment on all of its entry-level aircraft: the PA-28 family -- the Warrior III, Archer III and Arrow. The FlightMax systems have been available for about a year on the Saratoga II HP, the Saratoga II TC, the Piper 6X and the Piper 6XT.
Rene Co.'s 8400K Optical Micrometer measure the width of scratches and the vertical depth of surface features. The kit includes a Microm-eter with digital display, three bases for different surfaces, four lenses (two eyepiece, two objective), a flashlight with batteries and spare bulb, and an allen wrench. The digital display features a readout in inches or millimeters. In inches, the readout displays four places to the right of the decimal. Accuracy is 0.001 inches, resolution is 0.0005 inches. In millimeters, the readout displays two places to the right of the decimal.
Proposed Rules Honeywell TFE731-2 and -3 engines -- Replace certain low-pressure first- and second-stage turbine rotor discs. Lockheed 1329 airplanes -- Conduct repetitive inspections to detect crack damage in the front spar cap assembly of the lower vertical stabilizer and repair any damage. If no damage is found, rework the spar cap doublers.
Stage III Technologies has designated Aero-Propulsion Management Services of the United Kingdom as its sales agent for Europe and the Middle East. APMS provides engine repair and overhaul management and technical support for airline, regional airline and business aircraft. APMS has specific expertise with Rolls-Royce Spey and Tay engines installed on Gulfstream aircraft.
Jamie McIntyre has been appointed to the national board of directors of Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame. President of Romeo Oscar Inc., a Montreal-based aerospace marketing, advertising and public relations firm, McIntyre, a Steen Skybolt pilot, has been involved in aviation since 1975. Canada's Aviation Hall of Fame documents, preserves and publicizes the names and deeds of men and women whose contributions to Canadian aviation have benefited the country.
Stevens Aviation has received Transport Canada approval for the installation of several new systems into a Piaggio Avanti flown by a Canadian operator. The new equipment includes a Bendix/King KGP 560 GA enhanced ground proximity warning system, a BF Goodrich SkyWatch HP899 traffic advisory system and a Bendix/King 980 multi-hazard awareness system, which is designed to prevent controlled flight into terrain accidents.
Remember all that hype about the ``Office in the Sky'' concept over the last two decades? It's been waiting for cost-effective voice and broadband connections between airplanes and the ground. Now, it's finally becoming a reality because of a revolution in three satcom technologies. These three technologies, supplemented by a couple of others, are quickly making most conventional air-to-ground telecommunications links as obsolete in the cabin as LORAN and VLF/Omega receivers are in the cockpit.
The tolerance for RVSM OPS is plus or minus 65 feet for aircraft built after April 9, 1997, and plus or minus 130 feet for aircraft built prior. This equates to less than one quarter of a percent at FL 40. The basic components of an RVSM-compliant system involve the pitot/static system, which includes the pitot tube/static port, standby altimeter, VSI, airspeed/Mach and associated plumbing. The air data computer is the brain of the system. For domestic RVSM, U.S. operations can have a single ADC, but for international RVSM operations, you need two.
In the contacts B/CA made with Sentient and Blue Star, we summarized charter operators' complaints into a series of discussion points to which we asked management to respond. Sentient was represented by an unidentified marketing executive; Sitomer answered on behalf of Blue Star.
Rolls-Royce has created an outstanding animated ``Journey Through a Jet Engine'' that has earned ``Way Cool'' and ``Must See'' ratings at the usually hard-to-impress highest editorial level at B/CA. It's specific to the Rolls-Royce Trent, but clearly shows just how a jet engine works and relates airflow, temps, pressures and rpm to every stage from inlet to exhaust. Plus, it's spiced with foot-stompers like the fact that each high-pressure turbine blade in the Trent generates as much horsepower (800) as a Formula One race car engine.
In response to an FAA request, the NBAA has developed a simplified letter of authorization (LOA) process for FAR Part 91 operators seeking RVSM approval of their aircraft. The agency is currently reviewing the first draft of this document, although it is unclear how soon operators will realize the benefits of this streamlined process.
Are the charter card membership companies appearing to ``hold out to the public,'' or otherwise attempting to portray themselves as commercial operators? B/CA asked the DOT if it was ``observing'' the charter card movement and what its position was regarding the super brokerages.
Raytheon Aircraft and D&D Aviation Services of Marietta, Ga., have developed a package of services to simplify obtaining DRVSM operational approval for Beechcraft and Hawker aircraft. Using D&D Aviation Services' copyrighted Domestic RVSM Procedures Manual and International Operations Manual (IOM), the two companies can develop application data packages for aircraft operators and submit applications for approval on their behalf.
Jet Aviation has appointed Kadri Muhiddin executive president for strategic projects in Europe, the Middle East and Asia. Muhiddin will be responsible for completions and maintenance sales in these regions and will report directly to Heinz Kohli, CEO of the Jet Aviation Group. Muhiddin will remain chairman of his own consulting company, Gamit Ltd. (based at Stansted, England), which is currently managing the technical interface and cabin outfitting of two Dubai Air Wing, head-of-state Boeing 747-400s (B/CA, August, page 28).
Midcoast Aviation (St. Louis) -- Jay Roever has been appointed product manager of corporate aircraft for Midcoast Aviation's operations at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport and Spirit of St. Louis Airport. He will serve as the liaison between customers of the aviation service company and the various technical departments performing work on their aircraft. TWC Aviation (Burbank, Calif.) -- Greg Andrews has been named manager of aircraft acquisitions and sales for this aircraft charter, management, sales and maintenance company.
Italian charter airline Eurofly is planning to operate a scheduled 48-seat, premier-class only, Airbus A319LR New York service from either or both Rome and Milan in 2005. The company has inked a deal for one aircraft and plans to order another, says Airbus. Milan-based Eurofly already operates five A320s and two A330-200s on charters to destinations in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Caribbean. Eurofly will be the first airline to follow the PrivatAir/Lufthansa scheduled transatlantic all-premium-class model, which began with a BBJ in 2002.
Raynor Reavis, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. since July 2002, was elected a vice president of General Dynamics Corp., the business jet manufacturer's parent company. Reavis, 63, will continue to hold his position at Gulfstream.
U.K.-based BBA Group has agreed to buy the Execair chain of 10 FBOs from Menzies Aviation for its Signature Flight Support chain for $21.6 million. The Execair FBOs are based at Glasgow, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Cardiff, Inverness, Aberdeen, East Midlands and Bournemouth in the United Kingdom; Dublin, Ireland; and Charleroi, Belgium. Signature already had two FBOs in the United Kingdom as well as at Paris Le Bourget International and Hyeres Airport in Toulon, France.
Rolls-Royce signed its first Total Care engine agreement with Jetsgo, a Montreal, Quebec-based airline, to cover the Tay 650 engines that power Jetsgo's Fokker 100 aircraft. The deal is valued at $90 million over seven years.
The NBAA advises operators everywhere to review their security procedures and reinforce their security policies. NBAA members should review the TSA's Security Guidelines for General Aviation Airports (www.tsa.gov/public/interapp/editorial/editorial_1113.xml) and the NBAA's Best Practices for Business Aviation Security (www.nbaa.org/public/ops/security/bestpractices). Any suspicious activity should be reported immediately to the Airport Watch Hotline at (866) GA-SECURE.
Ed Bolen is shifting his flag from president and CEO of GAMA to the same position at the NBAA effective September 7. Ron Swanda, GAMA's senior vice president of operations, will manage the association's day-to-day affairs until the board of directors names a permanent successor. ``Ed Bolen has been a tremendously effective leader,'' said GAMA Chairman Clay Jones.
Few business jets will exceed MMO in level cruise flight at their maximum certified altitudes, especially at relatively heavy operating weights. But that's exactly what the second production CJ3 did during our recent demo flight from San Diego to Wichita. At a weight about 900 pounds below MTOW, the CJ3 was accelerating nicely through its 0.737 IMN redline while cruising at FL 450 over Phoenix in ISA-2C conditions. We had to reduce thrust from the max cruise detent to stabilize its speed on the barber pole.
The National Air Transportation Association promoted staffers Eric Byer, Amy Koranda and Jacqueline (Jacque) Rosser. Byer has been named vice president of government and industry affairs, from director of government and industry affairs. Koranda has been appointed director of safety management. She was previously manager of education and training. Both Byer and Koranda joined the association in 1998. Rosser was promoted to senior manager of regulatory affairs. She was formerly manager of flight operations.
