Explorer Aircraft selected Hartzell, S-TEC/Meggitt and Garmin International to provide components for its proposed single-engine 500T utility aircraft. The PT6A-135B-powered aircraft will be equipped with a four-blade, 94-inch Hartzell propeller. Explorer also has outfitted its first test aircraft with a Garmin avionics suite, including dual GNS 430s, a GMA 340 audio panel, GTX 327 digital transponder and a GI 106A course deviation indicator. An S-TEC/Meggitt System 55 autopilot also is installed on the 500T.
Mercury Air Group plans to cut around 20 administrative jobs and delegate their functions down to the FBO level, as part of a bid to save up to $3 million per year. The action is part of a major restructuring of the Los Angeles-based FBO chain, which includes the retirement of Chairman Seymour Kahn, and the acquisition of Kahn's $11.4 million equity stake by three Mercury board members.
NASA unveiled three new technologies to make aircraft safer and airport operations more efficient. The agency recently demonstrated a wake vortex prediction tool that may increase runway capacity by as much as 15 percent. The Aircraft Vortex Spacing System (AVOSS) uses winds and atmospheric conditions and aircraft performance information to space traffic more efficiently. Developed by the Langley Research Center, NASA has been testing the system at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for the past three years.
Marshall Aerospace and the University of Cambridge are creating a new ``virtual'' research institute dedicated to aeronautical studies. Known as the Sir Arthur Marshall Institute for Aeronautics, the program will fund student research into aerodynamics, engines, structures and other facets of aeronautical engineering. The program has been called a ``virtual institute'' because it will not occupy a dedicated facility at Cambridge. U.K.-based Marshall Aerospace, founded in 1909, helped train pilots and repair aircraft during World War II.
Atlantic Aviation expanded its flight services division with the addition of a Gulfstream III at the Morristown, N.J., facility and a Falcon 50 based in La Jolla, Calif.
Bombardier's Learjet 45 has received Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) approval from the FAA. The approval means that appropriately equipped aircraft may now operate with reduced vertical separation in the North Atlantic regions from FL 290 to FL 410 and in European airspace when RVSM takes effect in January 2002. The manufacturer is preparing a guidebook for Learjet 45 operators wishing RVSM approval that should be available at Business Aviation Services facilities this fall.
The Association of Air Medical Services (AAMS) will conduct a workshop entitled ``Living with the Medicare Fee Schedule'' on October 15 in Salt Lake City. The seminar is designed to help air ambulance services understand and conform with new Medicare reimbursement rules. Participants will receive a free copy of the organization's publication, AAMS' Medicare Reimbursement Survival Guide, which otherwise sells for $300. The workshop precedes the AAMS' Annual Air Medical Transportation Conference, which is scheduled to take place in Salt Lake City from October 16-18.
Elliot Aviation, of Moline, Ill., has received multiple STC approvals to install the new Honeywell Mark VI Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) in King Air 200 and 300 series aircraft.
Bombardier says that Copenhagen-based SAS Commuter's six Q400s already have accumulated more than 3,543 flights in their first six months of service. Palestinian Airlines has taken delivery of the first of two 50-seat Q300s. The airline also is awaiting delivery of two CRJ200s, with one set for delivery in November and the second in September 2001.
Dallas Airmotive (Dallas) promoted Mike Cumnock to vice president for customer service, Dennis DiMarco to vice president of fixed-wing sales North America, Chuck Farthing as its director of Pratt&Whitney turboprop sales, Jim Heath as director of turbofan sales and Ian Cheyne as its president of engineering quality.
Fairchild Dornier says changing market conditions have led it to cancel the 428JET -- one of four new regional jet designs the company has in development or production. The 428JET was to have been a stretched variant of the 32-seat 328JET, itself a turbofan conversion of the Dornier 328 turboprop. Designed primarily for U.S. air carriers with a contractual cap on the number of 50-seat RJs they may operate, the 40/44-seat 428JET's future was, apparently, overcome by events.
Atlantic Coast Jet -- the new Atlantic Coast Airlines unit that will operate in Delta Connection colors -- has received its FAA operating certificate. This was the final step in the airline's certification process, and cleared the way for ACJet to begin revenue service on August 1. ACJet now has five Fairchild 328JETs, and firm orders for 20 additional 328JETs and 20 Bombardier Canadair Regional Jets.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA) and the NBAA published Guidelines for Obtaining an FAA Part 135 Air Carrier Certificate for would-be air charter operators. The publication provides step-by-step instructions to guide operators through preapplication, formal application, document compliance, demonstration and inspection, and, finally, certification. Priced at $75 for NATA members and $150 for non-members, the guidebook also includes FAA, Internal Revenue Service and NTSB forms required for Part 135 operation.
Cutter Aviation has begun limited FBO operations at California's Santa Monica Airport (SMO) and expects to complete new construction at its Phoenix, Deer Valley FBO by December 1. Joe Moss, general manager of Cutter SMO, said it is in the process of obtaining a repair station certificate and wants to acquire fuel services. Even though it is early in Cutter's ``build up'' process, Moss said it was approved for turboprop charter operations through the company's Phoenix headquarters certificate, and is venturing into fractional ownership.
Cessna Aircraft has broken ground on an 80,000-square-foot parts distribution center in Wichita set to open in fall 2001. The manufacturer says the new structure will allow it to consolidate all Citation parts in one location, providing improvements in customer service. ``Pulling parts will be more efficient and timely, which results in same-day shipping and a reduction in the backlog of parts orders,'' said Marilyn Richwine, a Cessna spokesperson. ``As fleet and parts distribution grows, we will add personnel as needed.''
Britten-Norman and Orenda Recip are flight-testing a BN2T-4S Defender 4000, retrofitted with Orenda OE600 Series V-8 engines. Orenda says the re-engined aircraft will use at least 20-percent less fuel than the Defender's original Allison 250-B17F-1 engines. The Orenda engine currently is available for the Beech King Air C90, Rockwell Twin Commander, de Havilland DHC-3 Otter and Air Tractors, and also is being developed for the de Havilland Beaver, Cessna 421 and Piper PA-31P pressurized Navajo.
Lynton Aviation is now a Raytheon Beech Baron, Bonanza and King Air dealer in the United Kingdom. The company was named a Beechjet 400A and Premier I sales representative.
When business jets first were offered in the late 1950s, many chief pilots initially were excited by the prospect of being able to fly at speeds never before possible. But some flight department managers wondered whether the new, sophisticated corporate turbojets would be as easy to maintain as their piston-powered Beech 18s, Douglas DC-3s and Lockheed Lodestars.
The FAA has selected El Segundo, Calif.-based Computer Sciences Corp. (CSC) to provide software support and integration for various agency systems. The five-year contract, valued at up to $329 million, includes CSC support of the FAA Free Flight Program, en route automation, Departure-Spacing Program, Center-TRACON Automation System and the Aeronautical Data Link.
