Failing to understand maintenance rules and regulations could place a technician on the wrong side of the law. Imagine going to the mailbox and while sorting through the bills, catalogs and junk mail you come across an unexpected envelope with an FAA return address. Inside is a terse and unfriendly letter stating that you have violated an FAR and that your Airframe and Powerplant license (A&P) is going to be suspended. After the initial shock and anger quickly comes the worry -- your livelihood is in jeopardy, after all.
CHC Helicopter Corp. announced that its operating subsidiary, CHC Scotia Ltd., based in Aberdeen, Scotland, has finalized a multi-year agreement with ExxonMobil to provide sole-use services of two Eurocopter Super Pumas out of Aberdeen. The service will provide support to ExxonMobil's production and drilling operations in the Northern Sector of the North Sea.
Ask folks in the aviation insurance industry if FAR Part 142 simulator-based training is a must and you hear ``It depends.'' There's an abundance of fuzzy logic behind initial and recurrent training requirements to qualify for insurance or earn favorable rates. ``It's all but mandatory for turbofan aircraft operators,'' explained Jim McJoynt, president of Falcon Insurance Co. of California and a 30-plus year insurance industry veteran.
The Association for Women in Aviation Maintenance (AWAM), Edgewater, Fla., added Janese Thatcher-Buzzell to its board of directors in January. Thatcher-Buzzell is manager of aviation education for the Minnesota Department of Transportation, Office of Aeronautics, in St. Paul.
Eleven Italian aviation officials will face criminal charges for manslaughter in the crash of SAS Flight SK686 which killed 118 people at Linate Airport in October 2001, Milan judge Silvana Petromer ruled. The collision between SAS' MD-87 aircraft and a Cessna Citation CJ2 business jet occurred while the airport's ground radar was temporarily out of use. The accused include the former head of Italy's ENAV air traffic control agency, Sandro Gualano, Airport Manager Vincenzo Fusco, and civil aviation and air traffic control officials.
GAMA, Washington, D.C., has hired Jens C. Hennig as manager of operations. Hennig assumes responsibility for various GAMA programs, including safety and statistical research and analysis.
The new Subpart K within FAR Part 91 governing fractional ownership providers appears to have gotten stuck at the DOT, notes the Weekly of Business Aviation. Former FAA acting Administrator Monte Belger signed the rules shortly before retiring in September 2002 and shipped them to the DOT for review. The new rules were a high priority for both Belger and former Administrator Jane Garvey. However, neither is around to continue shepherding the rule through the bureaucratic process.
FAA-sponsored physiological training programs are available to pilots at numerous locations across the United States. The program consists of approximately four to five hours of ground instruction covering a variety of topics including high-altitude physiology, situational awareness, vision and visual illusions, spatial disorientation, and other factors affecting human performance (noise and vibration, fatigue, thermal stress, acceleration).
Turbomeca has designated the following North American TurboSupport Centers: Acro Aerospace in Vancouver, Canada; -- Heli Support in Fort Collins, Colo.; -- Keystone Engine Services in West Chester, Pa.; -- Turbomeca TurboSupport Center in Las Vegas. Each TurboSupport Center is certified and audited by Turbomeca as able to perform line and heavy maintenance, including engine removal and installation, borescope inspections and designated parts replacement. The centers also will maintain a stock of rental engines and commonly ordered parts.
A nationwide all-hazards warning system could be up and running within two years and cost $15 million per year, according to a draft strategy recommendation by the Partnership for Public Warning (PPW). The PPW, a McLean, Va.-based nonprofit group of public warning specialists from government, business and academia, is seeking public comment on its draft report by April 18. The final strategy is planned for release in May. The draft of ``A National Strategy for Integrated Public Warning Policy and Capability'' is available at: www.partnershipforpublicwarning.org.
SevenBar Enterprises, Dallas, has appointed business aviation industry veteran Bill Koch as president and chief operating officer. He has previously been president of aviation-affiliated firms Sutherland Cos. and AMR Combs.
Marion Blakey promised to attack FAA Regional inconsistencies in a Feb. 20 speech before the Aero Club of Washington (see Washington, page 104). The new FAA administrator announced a new customer service initiative ``that provides written guidance and training to all managers and supervisors in our regulation and certification offices throughout the country on applying FAA rules and policies in a standard and consistent manner.'' The full text of Blakey's speech, which also covered several other issues, is posted at www.nbaa.org/presentations/blakey20030220.htm.
Bombardier Aerospace will lay off a total of 3,000 employees over the next 12 months at its facilities in Montreal, Toronto and Belfast. ``In view of challenging market conditions, we have a responsibility to take aggressive actions to continuously improve our competitive edge and align our production rate with market demand,'' explained Pierre Beaudoin, president and chief operating officer, Bombardier Aerospace.
Bombardier's all-new Global 5000 business jet also made its first flight on March 7. The aircraft -- serial number 9127 -- took off from Bombardier's Downsview, Ontario, facility under clear afternoon skies, and during its three-hour, 44-minute flight northwest of Toronto, reached a maximum altitude of 45,000 feet, and a maximum indicated airspeed of 340 knots. The first flight was dedicated to testing basic system functionality and assessing the aircraft's handling and flying qualities.
AirNet Systems Inc., Columbus, Ohio, has appointed Larry Glasscock to the position of senior vice president, express services. Glasscock has more than 20 years of experience leading integrated air and ground transportation companies. AirNet Systems Inc. operates AirNet Express, which provides expedited air transportation and passenger charter services.
Controlled Flight Into Terrain (CFIT) may be the type of accident most feared by pilots. No wonder. According to NTSB accident statistics, you're 20 times more likely to have a CFIT accident than to collide with another aircraft in flight. Dozens of perfectly good business, commercial and military aircraft have been unintentionally flown into the ground by pilots who just didn't know where they were in proximity to terrain hazards. Few midair collisions have occurred in recent years, especially after TCAS was mandated for passenger-carrying airliners.
Jeppesen has discovered an irregularity affecting certain airspace boundary records contained in Jeppesen NavData, which causes a small number of Special Use Airspace and Controlled Airspace boundaries to be misrepresented. Affected by the irregularity are Jeppesen data and databases delivered by other vendors but derived from Jeppesen data that contain such airspace boundaries. Primary navigation records, such as navaids, intersections and waypoints, are not affected. Jeppesen charts are not impacted.
Nav Canada has completed installation of a new ILS at British Columbia's Kelowna International Airport (YLW). The ILS has been successfully tested and is now fully operational. This installation is in addition to the $5 million already invested in the new Air Operations Center officially opened in June 2002. Kelowna International supports more than 1,800 full-time jobs and is Canada's 11th busiest airport in terms of passenger traffic.
The 2003 NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference (see ``It's Still About Recognition,'' page 82) drew nearly 1,300 attendees and almost 200 exhibitors Feb. 2 through 5 in Anaheim, Calif. Conference highlights included inspirational presentations by Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles Lindbergh, and NASA astronaut Curt Brown. Several hundred people attended two first-time sessions on aviation security and the use of online tools to monitor air traffic and avoid congested airspace and airports.
The issue is still recognition,'' lamented Patty Hagen, a scheduler/dispatcher for charter/management company TXI Aviation of Dallas. Hagen was referring to the number one problem that still dogs her profession, i.e., trying to convince corporate human relations departments (and management in general) that scheduling and dispatching really is a dedicated profession with a clear, though evolving, career path.
Lufthansa Technik (LHT), Hamburg, has captured an order for the completion of a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) for an unnamed Asian customer. By the time the aircraft is delivered at the end of this year, some 70,000 labor hours will have been devoted to installing in it, among other things, a complete conference room and state-of-the-art communications equipment.
Gen. John R. Dailey, USMC (Ret.) Director, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. He was an RF-4 pilot in Vietnam and logged command time in everything from helicopters to Harriers to F-18s before retiring as a 36-year Marine Corps veteran in 1992. After serving as a NASA executive, in 2000 he took the top job at NASM, where his primary focus is to get the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport built, funded and functioning. 1 How about a sense of scale for the new aviation hangar?
The NTSB said it is ``concerned'' that Rockwell Collins' testing requirements for AHC-85 EADIs ``are inadequate and create a possible safety hazard by allowing faulty units with benign latent failures to enter service.
Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp. said its second conforming SJ30-2 entry-level jet (serial number 0003) made a successful first flight from the company's facilities in San Antonio. Serial number 0002, which was already flying, will be used to validate aerodynamics and handling qualities. The new flight article will be used primarily for hot and cold weather testing, flight into known icing, pressurization, systems and avionics.
