Dan Komnenovich has been promoted to president and chief operating officer of the major parts supplier Aviall Services. Komnenovich assumes his new responsibilities effective Jan. 1. He will continue to report to Paul E. Fulchino, chairman, president and CEO of Aviall, Inc.
Bombardier Aerospace Regional Aircraft has received an Excellence in E-Learning Award from brandon-hall.com for its computer-based training program for Bombardier CRJ700 maintenance technicians. Brandon-hall.com is an e-learning industry research and consulting firm. Now in its seventh year, the awards program showcases exceptional work in the e-learning industry by providing feedback and benchmarking to entrants in an overall effort to help advance the e-learning industry.
With the aviation industry focused on aircraft security, it might be easy to overlook ordinary detritus. But trash bins in passenger waiting rooms can easily conceal explosive devices without eliciting any notice whatsoever. To combat this opportunity, American Innovations has introduced its Bomb Resistant Waste Receptacles. Tested in accordance with the Energetic Materials Research and Testing Center, the units are designed to keep spraying shrapnel and fragmentation from traveling great distances. Price: TBD American Innovations, Inc. 383 W. Rte.
Kudos to Executive Fliteways of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., for coming up with a great way to support the Corporate Angel Network (CAN), the volunteer group that arranges free travel on business aircraft for young cancer patients and family members traveling to and from treatment. ``We're a charter and management company, so it's difficult for us to directly provide seats for the network,'' said Mary Shea, Executive Fliteways sales director.
Securaplane Technologies is now offering a new digital video recorder for Dassault Falcon 900 series aircraft. The DVR-01 is a stand-alone system that directly integrates with existing Securaplane aircraft security and video camera systems. The unit can digitally archive up to six hours of video, retrievable through an integrated ethernet port. It weighs 3 pounds and can be installed in remote locations. Images that are downloaded are time-stamped and text is labeled so users can jump to a specific event. Price: Varies with installation Securaplane Technologies Inc.
The FAA and Transport Canada have approved technical and pilot training courses for the Bombardier Challenger 300. With the certifications, both pilot and technical training have commenced at the Bombardier Aerospace Training Center at Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport, Texas.
The FAA, FlightSafety, Honeywell and Dassault Falcon Jet are collaborating on developing the most effective approach to pilot training for Dassault's revolutionary EASy cockpit, beginning with the Falcon 900EX EASy. The new program will incorporate full-function training devices, dubbed Phoenix, and a Level D simulator. The Phoenix trainers are to begin operation at FlightSafety's Teterboro Learning Center this spring; the full-motion simulator is already in operation.
Anthony Velocci has been named editor-in-chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine and editorial director of the Aviation Week Group, which includes B/CA. Velocci succeeds David North, who will retire after a 27-year career with the McGraw-Hill Companies. Velocci is currently senior business editor and northeast bureau chief of Aviation Week.
Tom Mahoney is FlightSafety International's new vice president of government relations. He has managed FSI's Falcon Jet Learning in Teterboro, N.J., for the past nine years. His promotion to the Washington post was prompted by the retirement of Al Gleske, who has spent 26 years with FlightSafety. J. Scott Hunter has been named to replace Mahoney at the Teterboro center.
The customer call was like any of the dozens received that busy day: Send the airplane to pick up Mr. Smith at Airport A and fly him to Airport B. Mr. Smith had been a regular, so there was nothing unusual about the request -- until the crew arrived at the FBO and discovered that Mr. Smith had not placed the call himself. Indeed, Mr. Smith hadn't done much of anything for himself that day, including breathe, which is why he was waiting within a coffin.
Bombardier Aerospace launched a new fuel card in Europe, enabling operators in the Flexjet Europe program as well as European purchasers of new Bombardier business jet aircraft to obtain preferred fuel rates, according to the company. Operators will receive a Bombardier Aerospace Card for every aircraft they own. The card can be used the same way as a standard payment card to purchase fuel Europe-wide and provide fuel cost savings up to 11 percent in some locations, the company asserts.
Securing aircraft financing is the most immediate challenge facing Canada's aerospace industry, according to Bombardier President and CEO Paul M. Tellier, speaking before the Vancouver Board of Trade.
Texas-based Aviation Safety Training said company owner Don Wylie and his student, William Eisenhauer, had completed their maneuvering phase and missions and rejoined with another school T-34 when the wing of Wylie's 1965 Beech T-344 failed. Both Wylie and Eisenhauer, an Airborne Express pilot, were killed in the Nov. 20, 2003 accident. A company official said there was no contact between the two aircraft and they were not engaging in accelerated maneuvers.
Sterling Helicopters Ltd. is changing its name to Sterling Aviation. The change has been brought about by the Norwich, U.K., company's expansion into other areas of the aviation industry, such as aircraft charter, overseas tasking, brokerage and aircraft management, according to Operations Manager Christopher Mace.
Turbine Aircraft Services is now a distributor for a cockpit sun visor and a window shade system for the MU-2 turboprop family. The sun visor, designed by Rosen Products, features a monorail for maximum positioning along the cockpit's windscreen or side windows, and its optically pure lens allows the pilot to see through it without visual degradation. The window shade, designed by Lou Martin & Assoc., features a louver system that provides sun protection and serves as an improved sound barrier.
The Regional Airline Association (RAA) board of directors has elected Phil Trenary, president and CEO of Pinnacle Airlines (Northwest Airlink), as chairman of the association. Trenary replaces Skip Barnette, president of Atlantic Southeast Airlines (Delta Connection), who served as RAA chairman for 2003.
For Richard T. Santulli, it's always been about numbers. A Brooklyn kid with ambition and a keen mind, he put potential to practice not far from the family apartment at Brooklyn Polytech, first earning a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics, followed by a master's in the same, and then a second master's in operations research. After a stint as a math professor, he was welcomed into that pantheon of calculation, Goldman Sachs & Co., where he soared. In just over 10 years with the investment banking house, he rose from new guy to president of its leasing company.
Over the years, the aerospace industry has seen numerous mergers and acquisitions involving manufacturers of APUs. And while the primary APU lines have survived, the name changes can be confusing. For example, the Hamilton-Sundstrand APU 500 line traces it roots to the Sundstrand T62 and the Solar T62T-40. Likewise, the Honeywell APU 36 line incorporates essentially the same basic turbine as the former Garrett/AiResearch and Allied Signal APUs. Despite the commonality within a line of APUs, there are distinct differences.
Million Air New Orleans is constructing a new flight crew center with 10 work stations at its facility at New Orleans Lakefront Airport (NEW). The new area will provide pilots with privacy, desktops and laptop hookups with high-speed Internet connections. Wireless access will enable customers to access the Internet throughout the entire facility. A state-of-the-art crew entertainment area will include a billiards table, satellite TV, live weather and a beverage station.
The term of office for John Goglia, the NTSB's most candid and aviation savvy member, is about to expire and it appears he will be replaced by another presidential appointee. After spending 30 years fixing airplanes for his own repair operation and serving US Airways in numerous maintenance positions, in 1995 the Massachusetts native won appointment to the Board, becoming the first licensed mechanic to hold that office.
Not long after acquiring Atlantic Aviation's facilities at New Castle County Airport (ILM) in Wilmington, Del., in October 2000, Dassault Falcon Jet quickly set about transforming one of the hangars into a structural repair center. There, much of the work focuses on manufacturing leading edges for the entire Falcon family. Struck by the sight of numerous shipsets of leading edges under construction, one visitor asked a Dassault executive why there was such an apparently steady aftermarket for so special and expensive a piece of airframe.
THE NTSB'S INVESTIGATION into the Oct. 25, 2002, King Air 100 approach crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) and seven others resulted in four recommendations to the FAA seeking tighter oversight of FAR Part 135 training. The Safety Board also suggested development of low-speed warning systems for airplanes engaged in commercial carriage. Wellstone, several members of his family and campaign staff and the two Aviation Charter, Inc. pilots died when the St. Paul to Eveleth, Minn., flight crashed on approach to the Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport (EVM).
Dallas Airmotive Inc., Dallas, has appointed Brian Sill to the newly created position of vice president, business operations. Sill joined the company after working for Pratt & Whitney as program director of the PW6000 Entry-Into-Service engine plan.
