Air France plans to combine its three regional airlines -- Flandre Air, Proteus Airlines and Regional Airlines -- under the ``Regional'' brand. The three airlines operate around 80 aircraft, including Embraer Brasilias, Beech 1900s, Fairchild Dornier 328s, Saab 2000s and Embraer ERJ-135/145 aircraft. Regional Airlines also has 11 ERJ-170s on order, the first scheduled for delivery in June 2002.
The FAA has granted type certification to Bombardier's 70-seat CRJ700 regional jet. The move clears the way for deliveries to U.S. customers, including American Eagle, Atlantic Southeast, Comair, Delta Connection, GECAS and Horizon. In all, Bombardier claims 175 firm orders and 313 options for the regional jet, which began service with Air France affiliate Brit Air in February.
England's Manchester Airport formally opened its second 3,048-meter (10,000-foot) runway in February. The new Runway 24/06L is officially known as Runway Two and runs parallel to the existing Runway One. The new runway, which cost $258 million and took 10 years from planning to completion, is the U.K.'s first full-length runway be built at a civil airport since London City's, 20 years ago.
Two veteran aviation executives have resigned their posts for senior positions with the AOPA. Gulfstream Aerospace Director of Corporate Communications Keith Mordoff joined the AOPA in March as senior vice-president-corporate communications. Mordoff succeeds Drew Steketee in the high profile position. Steketee departed the AOPA in fall 2000 to become president of the BE A PILOT program. Mordoff, a former Aviation Week&Space Technology reporter and bureau chief, spent seven years at Lockheed prior to going to Gulfstream.
NetJets Chairman and founder Richard Santulli is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar (CASS) late this month in Orlando. Topics planned for discussion during the April 24-26 gathering include criminalization of aircraft accidents, situational awareness, controlled flight into terrain and advice for hiring flight department staff. B/CA Editor-at-Large Richard N. Aarons will present the corporate aviation Year in Review shortly after Santulli's address on April 25. The event is sponsored by the Flight Safety Foundation and the NBAA.
Mercury Air Centers is offering its customers the option of electronic reservations through its Easy Turn service. By visiting the company Web site operators can use Easy Turn to electronically notify a particular Mercury FBO of arrival and departure times, and whether or not they need to turn the aircraft quickly, as well as other requirements. In addition, Mercury promotional material will feature the new :Cue bar coding, which when scanned with a free :Cue:Cat device will access Mercury's Web site.
General and business aviation groups have voiced strong opposition to a think-tank proposal that recommends privatizing the nation's ATC system and funding the new non-profit entity with user fees. The Reason Public Policy Institute's (RPPI) report, ``How to Commercialize Air Traffic Control,'' unveiled in late February, is seen by many as a blueprint of user fees that could almost double the tax burden of some business jet operators.
FlightSafety International founder and CEO Al Ueltschi is one of four people slated to be inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame this summer in Dayton, Ohio. Ueltschi is being honored for his lifelong contributions to aviation, including his early days as a barnstormer and as Juan Trippe's personal pilot, the founding of FlightSafety, and development of Project Orbis -- the flying hospital and teaching facility for eye care.
Departing from its previous practice of factory-direct sales, Socata has begun appointing U.S. distributors for its TBM 700 and single-engine piston TB lines of general aviation aircraft. The first three TBM 700 distributors are Groton, Conn.-based Columbia Aircraft Sales; Aurora Aviation of Waco, Texas; and Camarillo, Calif.'s New Avex, Inc. Aurora and New Avex also have been tapped as distributors for Socata's TB series, as has Airlink of Farmingdale, N.Y.
The way turbine flight crews train is about to change to meet challenges presented by modern avionics and cockpit automation. All of the major training organizations and avionics manufacturers tell B/CA they now are immersed in efforts to develop new courseware, presentation methods and information distribution channels to meet customer desires to better understand the avionics and automation features of the airplanes they fly.
ExecuJet Australia has been named an approved foreign repair station by the FAA. The Sydney-based company received its certification after international field officers from the FAA completed inspection of the facility and procedures manual. ExecuJet Australia's managing director, Ian Vanderbeek, said the approval was crucial to the company's strategy of tapping into the maintenance and repair service for the large number of corporate aircraft that visit the region. In addition Bombardier Aerospace has named ExecuJet Australia as an authorized service and sales facility.
A proposed airworthiness directive would require repetitive inspections of more than 1,650 General Electric CF34 engines installed on Bombardier Challengers and regional jets. The problem was discovered in September 1999 when the failure of a number five bearing rotating air seal led to a fire in the cavity of the low-pressure turbine, resulting in over-temperature condition and the inflight shutdown of the engine.
Jet Aviation has purchased a facility at London's Biggin Hill Airport and will offer FBO services by September. The new facility includes two hangars totaling 55,830 square feet and is currently being used by Jet Aviation for maintenance and refurbishment services on Gulfstream, Falcon, Hawker and Citation aircraft. Starting out with a staff of 25 employees, the Biggin Hill FBO will be managed by Elie Zelouf, former general manager of Jet Aviation Basel.
Jack Olcott and New Jersey -- perfect together? In a variation on the state tourist bureau's former advertising slogan, it appears that Garden State aviation folks are high on the NBAA president. Olcott is scheduled to keynote the New Jersey State Aviation Conference on May 2 at McGuire Air Force Base. Theme of the gathering: New Jersey's Airports in the 21st Century: ``It's More Than Pavement.'' Later in the month he'll be inducted into the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum at Teterboro Airport.
Million Air, Cincinnati, has announced the following promotions: Bill Wildeboer to general manager at Cincinnati Municipal Airport (LUK), Glenn Sargent to general manager at Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) and Michelle Schlette to customer service manager at New Orleans Lakefront Airport (NEW). Bill Tylka has joined the company as general manager at Port Columbus International Airport (CMH).
The world's economy is global and corporate pilots now more than ever are finding themselves operating in and out of faraway airports. Since many of the facilities in Central and South America, Europe and Asia are deeply embedded in mountainous terrain, it's in your own self-interest to review procedures for operating in and around such areas, particularly those in unfamiliar locales.
Peggy Chabrian President, Women in Aviation International Founded by Chabrian in 1995, Women in Aviation, International has some 6,000 members of both genders and its annual convention, which took place in late March, was expected to draw 3,000 participants. 1 Can you measure the progress of women as aviation professionals?
GPWS generates warnings based on seven different modes that correspond to known situations that result in CFIT accidents or incidents. The Mark V GPWS and Mark V EGPWS are designed for a digital avionics interface and the Mark VII GPWS and Mark VII EGPWS are designed for an analog avionics interface. The following mode descriptions apply to the Mark V, VII, and Enhanced GPWS systems:
Washington insiders knew the DOT was in for big changes when Norman Mineta took over as secretary (B/CA, March, page 97), but it's still a bit surprising how quickly the agenda there is being transformed. When the Bush administration's budget proposal went to Capitol Hill in early March it marked the first time in eight years that the White House wasn't trying to slap new user fees on the aviation community. The Clinton-Gore budgets had advocated several such schemes -- some calling for billions of dollars in additional charges on aviation users.
Indigo, the Chicago Midway-based public charter operator, is planning a major fleet expansion even as the company responds to calls from a New Jersey congressman to shut down its Teterboro operation. Indigo Chairman, CEO and founder Matthew Andersson says Indigo is weighing bids from a handful of manufacturers for an initial order of 25 to 50 new jets with options for 50 additional aircraft. Indigo presently flies two daily roundtrips on weekdays between Midway and Teterboro with four Falcon 20s.
Flight Options is adding an eighth aircraft type to its fleet -- the Cessna Citation V. Priced at $1.25 million for a quarter share, the Citation Vs are pre-owned as are all other aircraft in the Flight Options program. The Cleveland-based fractional company now operates 85 aircraft, including the Citation II and III, Beechjet 400A, Hawker 800, Falcon 50, Challenger 601 and Gulfstream IV. Flight Options recently won the Best Cabin Interior Award from a group of New York-area design companies judging fractional aircraft interiors for cabin comfort and aesthetic appeal.
When David Bowling began to interview witnesses about the final moments of a King Air 200's takeoff roll, the story they told him sounded familiar. Bowling is an air safety investigator with the NTSB's North Central Regional office. He had been called to Meigs Field in Chicago shortly after 2020 CST on November 11, 1999 when the aircraft ran off the departure end of Runway 18 and sank into Lake Michigan with two pilots and a passenger aboard. The business flight was to have been a VFR leg from Meigs to South Bend, Ind.
Atlantic Coast Airlines (ACA) Holdings struck a deal initially valued at $200 million with United Airlines parent UAL Corp. to purchase three regional airlines that United would inherit with its acquisition of the US Airways Group.
BAE Systems' Aircraft Services Group has been contracted to modify a BAE 146-300 to flying laboratory status, to monitor global warming, pollution levels, atmospheric radiation and environmental risks and hazards.
