Midcoast Aviation broke ground for a new 46,000-square-foot paint hangar at St. Louis Downtown Airport. Construction is slated for completion in October. The facility will use the latest downdraft air system technology, improving paint efficiency levels and quality, Midcoast officials said. ``Environmental conditions are critical to paint quality, as airborne contaminants interfere with good paint application and adhesion, which are essential to appearance and corrosion resistance,'' said Danny Farnham, senior director of modifications for Midcoast.
Bell Helicopter has relocated the company's commercial sales and marketing offices to the former Gulfstream Aerospace facility at Fort Worth Alliance Airport. The move is part of the transfer of more than 300 company employees into the 161,000-square-foot facility, which includes office, hangar and warehouse space. The facility, which is being leased for 15 years, also will serve as the delivery center and training school for the BA609 when deliveries of the tilt-rotor begin.
There's much more to sorting out the weather picture than just the presence of radar echoes. Many times, it's the additional information we get from visual sightings and weather reports that help us analyze what shows up on the scope or MFD. Even more importantly, we need to know not only what an echo represents right now, but how the situation will change by the time we get there. Remember that in the right conditions, a cell can grow from innocuous to severe in just a few minutes.
The NTSB faulted Bombardier's flight test procedures and the pilot's actions in the crash of a Canadair Challenger 604 on Oct. 10, 2000. The pilot and flight test engineer were killed in the crash and ensuing fire, and the copilot died 36 days later as a result of his injuries. The NTSB said the probable cause of the accident ``was the pilot's excessive takeoff rotation, during an aft center of gravity takeoff, a rearward migration of fuel during acceleration and takeoff and consequent shift in the airplane's aft c.g. to aft of the aft c.g.
WELL, IT WASN'T MY mother, but somebody's mother may make it wunna these days. My own mother was scared of two things -- mice and airplanes. She always made me promise to fly low and slow, as she associated these two modes with safety.
NATA elects three to board. Dean Harton, president and CEO of Piedmont Hawthorne Holdings; Jim Spinder, president and COO of Atlantic Aero; and Bill Koch, chief operating officer and president of SevenBar Enterprises, were elected to the board of directors of the National Air Transportation Association at the NATA convention in Las Vegas, April 18 through 20. Harton joined Hawthorne Aviation in 1968 as a pilot.
While Kathy Perfetti, the FAA's project manager for the FAR Part 135/125 Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC), was preparing for arguably the most comprehensive revision of Part 135 in the agency's history, air charter operators were equally hard at work drafting their own recommendations for consideration.
PEOPLE EQUATE PROGRESS with all kinds of things: DNA research, housing starts, declining death rates, and, of course, EZSquirt. I remember my first encounter with the latter. The family was gathered at the table, the kids bright-eyed and giggly as I carried burgers in from the grill. One child grabbed the container and, with his siblings glancing from burger to parents and back again, squeezed. Out came goo of a green hue unfound in nature. ``What is that?'' I asked, with what must have been a satisfying note of adult alarm.
Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM), Edgewater, Fla., has elected Don Canova to its board of directors. Canova is currently a heavy maintenance manager at Delta in Atlanta.
Dassault hopes to cut interior completions of the new Falcon 7X to under three months by using the latest CATIA 3D. The virtual design tool, created by Dassault Systemes, gives owners the opportunity to conduct a virtual reality interior walk-around of their virtual aircraft. They will be able to change furniture positions, view different color schemes and textures in 3D and resolve interior layout issues.
In the pre-9/11 world, as fractional ownership began to accelerate beyond most people's reckoning, the February 1998 B/CA pondered the potential impact the eventual divestiture of hundreds of used fractional aircraft would have on the overall values of pre-owned business jets.
Adam Aircraft announced that the FAA has accepted the A500 Transition Training Syllabus as meeting the requirements of the FAA Industry Training Standard (FITS) program. FITS is a new approach to training pilots for mission scenarios specific to the way an aircraft is utilized -- as opposed to maneuver-based training methods. FITS is intended to enhance the critical thinking, flight management and decision-making skills necessary to safely operate technically advanced complex aircraft like the A500.
EMS Technologies is marketing a new emergency locator transmitter that operates on both 406 MHz and 121.5 MHz and is COSPAS-SARSAT certified. The new EMS 406-1 ELT weighs just over two pounds and has a six-year battery life cycle.
Harrods Aviation of London Stansted was awarded Global Express Authorized Service Facility status by Bombardier. Harrods' London Luton base secured the same status one year ago.
Grob's single turboprop G 160 Ranger made its maiden flight on March 29 from its home airfield of Tussenhausen-Mattsies in Germany. The seven-seat pressurized single was flown by test pilot Ulrich Schell and copilot Toni Uhl. They said that they experienced rapid acceleration, an impressive climb rate and good short takeoff and landing performance. The G 160 is due to make its public debut at Berlin's ILA 2004 aerospace show this month. The $2.4 million carbon-fiber composite fuselage aircraft is aimed at owner pilots and corporate operators.
``If we could close Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport altogether, we would,'' are the words that apparently led off a recent internal Department of Homeland Security report discussing whether general aviation should be allowed access to the airport. David Stone, acting administrator for the TSA, met with an intra-agency planning group to discuss a congressionally mandated plan to allow access to DCA, but reports from the agency are that the plan was not well received.
UVavemex, based at Toluca International Airport (MMTO) outside Mexico City, is the first Latin American FBO to become certified by the National Air Transportation Association's Safety First program. ``It is our goal to provide first-class service with safety and security to each of our clients,'' stated Jorge Alva, operations manager.
FlightSafety International's Web-based customer records service (www.myflightsafety.com) has been upgraded with the capability to e-mail customers' training records so they can be locally printed, complete with electronic signatures, if required. Another new feature permits authorized users to access multiple crewmember records with a single login. MyFlightSafety allows customers entry into their past and present training records and to receive confirmations -- including start and end times and dates. FlightSafety International Marine Air Terminal
Mercury Air Group is out of the FBO business following the sale of its Mercury Air Center chain to Allied Capital Corp. Upon the closing, Allied, which is based in Washington, D.C., said its investment in Mercury Air Centers ``totaled approximately $81 million, including closing costs, subject to adjustment.
NAC Aviation, the U.K. distributor of Beech and Hawker aircraft, has relocated from Farnborough to Oxford Airport, north of London. The company says the move will give it the ability to offer turnkey management packages to buyers of new and used Raytheon products. Meanwhile, Raytheon Aircraft Services will operate a service center at the airport.
During recent years, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has conducted investigations into the practice of certain industries in fixing and advertising list prices. It is the position of the FTC that it is deceptive to the public and against the law for list prices of any product to be specified or advertised in a trade area if the majority of sales are made at less than those prices.
Associated Air Center has a contract with Airbus to complete a head-of-state A-319 ACJ for the Brazilian Air Force. The aircraft will arrive at Associated's Dallas facility on Aug. 10 and is scheduled to be finished by Dec. 15. The aircraft is the third Airbus head-of-state completion in the last 12 months for Associated. Other head-of-state aircraft completed by the company include two Boeing 737-200s for Brazil, a Boeing 757-200 ER for Argentina, a Boeing 757-200 ER and a 737-300 for Mexico, and a Boeing 737-500 for Peru.
Lufthansa Technik Logistik (LTL) signed a long-term cooperative agreement with The Memphis Group under which LTL will provide warehouse management and transport management logistics services for the rotables and repair parts provider. LTL will store and manage the spare parts for the Memphis Group. The parts will be housed in a distribution center near the Airbus Materiel Support Center at Hamburg Airport in Germany.
Triumph Group, Wayne, Pa., has realigned its operating structure into two business groups. The company now comprises Triumph Aerospace Systems Group and Triumph Aftermarket Services Group, headed by Jeff Frisby and John Brasch, respectively. The companies that were formerly in the Triumph Components Group have been consolidated into those two groups.
