URS CORPORATION won a contract to provide construction, operations and maintenance services for environmental projects at FAA’s William J. Hughes Technical Center in Atlantic City, N.J. The 10-year contract has a potential value of up to $88 million. The contract follows work URS has completed for the Technical Center since 1998.
– Sikorsky is rolling out a series of enhancements to its S-92 medium helicopter, including increased gross weight, improved gearbox durability and an automated approach capability for offshore platforms. Flight-testing is under way to finalize the gross weight increase, which is expected to be between 500 pounds and 1,000 pounds, taking the maximum to above 27,000 pounds from its current 26,500 pounds, says Marc Poland, vice president of Sikorsky Global Helicopters.
EUROPEAN AIR TAXI operator Blink has opened a second operating location and its first on the European continent by inaugurating its Geneva hub. The air taxi operator began service last year from London. In announcing the base, Peter Leiman, Blink’s managing director, says “Geneva is the perfect location to begin developing our destination network. Their lack of any similar products and the central European location of Geneva is an enormous opportunity for Blink.” The operator already has taken delivery of seven of 30 Cessna Citation Mustangs it has ordered.
Kennesaw, Ga.-based FlightWorks credits its acquisition of Broomfield, Colo.-based Mountain Aviation for driving its recent expansion in the Western U.S. in the face of continued business aviation woes. FlightWorks, hoping to strengthen its presence in the region, opened a new sales office in Boise, Idaho.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT has inked a deal with Russia’s Saint-Petersburg State University of Civil Aviation to sell 12 new Cessna 172S Skyhawks for flight training, for delivery by the end of 2009. The order marks the first time that Cessna has won a government fleet order from Russia and the first time that the nearly century-old school has opted to use a Western-built aircraft in its flight training program. All of the Cessna 172S aircraft are to be delivered to the Russian educational institution by the end of the year.
JOHN BURNUM was named regional sales manager for King Aerospace Commercial Corp. in Ardmore, Okla. Burnum, previously a completion sales executive for Gulfstream Aerospace, has more than 20 years of experience managing aircraft completions, refurbishments and maintenance projects. He also has held positions of increasing responsibility with K-C Aviation. In his new role, Burnum will be responsible for King Aerospace sales and marketing in the Eastern U.S.
ARINC has received Transportation Security Administration authorization for an operational rollout of its CrewPASS electronic identification service for airline crews. CrewPASS is in field testing at Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Pittsburgh International Airport and Columbia Metropolitan Airport in Columbia, S.C. CrewPASS uses index-finger biometrics for clearance.
BOMBARDIER last week held a formal groundbreaking ceremony for a new facility that will house part of the new CSeries aircraft program. The facility, to be built 45 minutes north of Montreal in Quebec, Canada, will serve as the “Complete Integrated Aircraft Systems Test Area” (CIASTA) for testing and systems proving. Bombardier plans to build a complex encompassing some 860,000 square feet at the Quebec site to produce the CSeries family.
THIELERT TAE 125-01 engines [Docket No. FAA-2009-0747; Directorate Identifier 2009-NE-28-AD] – This proposed AD would require operators to modify the engine oil system by installing a filter adaptor on the catch tank, per the instructions contained in Thielert Service Bulletin No. TM TAE 125-0016, Rev. 1 (dated June 15, 2007).
Cessna Sept. 17 flew the first production Model 162 Skycatcher light sport aircraft (LSA) built at the Shenyang Aircraft Company (SAC) factory in Shenyang, China. Cessna teamed with SAC to build and assemble the aircraft at the northeast China location. SAC also will integrate the engine and avionics before shipping the aircraft to the U.S. for reassembly at three Cessna regional locations. The initial Skycatchers were built and tested in the U.S.
WILLIAM R. DECOTA, the longtime aviation director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, died Sept. 11. He was 52. DeCota had joined PANYNJ in 1982 as a financial analyst and was named aviation director in December 1999. He was responsible for operations at John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia, Stewart and Teterboro airports. Airports Council International called DeCota “a national voice on major airport issues and initiatives throughout his career.”
CESSNA AIRCRAFT last week celebrated the 40th anniversary of the first flight of the original Citation. The first prototype took off Sept. 15, 1969, from Wichita Municipal Airport (now Mid-Continent Airport) for a one hour and 45 minute flight. The aircraft was certified in September 1971, and first delivery followed in January 1972. Cessna announced the aircraft, originally called the Fanjet 500, in October 1968, with a price of $695,000. The six-passenger aircraft flew at 349 knots true airspeed.
BERNARD LOO was appointed manager of Jet Aviation’s fixed-base operation at Selatar Airport in Singapore. Loo previously served with Swissport in Singapore, where he was general manager responsible for ramp operations and executive aviation. He also has worked for United Airlines and Yugoslav Airlines in flight operations.
THE 600TH EMBRAER E-JET built has been delivered to LOT Polish Airlines. The 82-passenger Embraer 175 was handed over about five and a half years after the first E-Jet was delivered in 2004. LOT, which is the largest E-Jet operator in Europe, flies 10 Embraer 170s, six Embraer 175s and six ERJ-145s.
BELITE AIRCRAFT has developed two variants of its ready-to-fly airplane. The company is offering the Model 254 in a Ready To Fly (RTF) configuration for $29,995, which includes more aluminum and less carbon fiber than its more advanced sibling and eliminates some nonessential options.
DASSAULT’S new Falcon 7X demonstrator recently completed a North American tour that included 89 flights over 21 days. Up to 12 legs a day were flown, with only three off days. The aircraft accumulated nearly 70 hours of flight time. The tour, which began on July 9, included 44 demonstrations throughout the U.S. and Canada. Immediately following the North American tour, the aircraft departed on a similar journey through the Caribbean, Mexico and South America.
Paul Rinaldi won a runoff election last week to become the new president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association. He won 53 percent of the vote to beat Ruth Marlin, an air traffic controller in the Miami center.
THE FLYING MUSICIANS ASSOCIATION, an association recently formed to promote both flying and music, plans to hold its first major event, the Fort Worth Spinks Fly-In Musicfest, on Nov. 7 at Spinks Airport in Fort Worth, Texas. The event will feature live music on two stages, as well as exhibits of warbirds and antique aircraft and aircraft rides through Experimental Aviation Association Young Eagles chapters. For more information, visit www.flyingmusicians.org.
General aviation and airports groups last week defended federal support of small airports after reports surfaced in USA Today and on NBC’s Today Show portraying general aviation airports as underused facilities that siphon federal dollars away from large airports at the expense of airline travelers. The USA Today article, which outlines a number of arguments made in recent years by the Air Transport Association, notes that commercial travelers “subsidize” many airports they never use.
Sept. 22-23 – AVIATION WEEK MRO Europe 2009 Conference & Exhibition, Hamburg Messe und Congress, Hamburg, Germany, www.aviationweek.com/conferences Sept. 23-24 – NATA Commercial Operator Tax Seminar, San Antonio, Texas, (800) 808-NATA or visit www.nata.aero Sept. 23-24 – Advanced Line Service Supervisor Training Seminar, San Diego, Calif., (800) 808-NATA or visit www.nata.aero Oct. 20–22 – National Business Aviation Association 62nd Annual Meeting & Convention, Orlando, Fla., (202) 783-9000 or visit www.nbaa.org
AUGUST business aircraft activity fell a slight 1.02 percent from July 2009, according to statistics from Aviation Research Group/U.S., Inc. Compared with August 2008, activity is off a modest 5.7 percent, with small-cabin aircraft showing the greatest decline, 13 percent. ARG/US estimates flight activity has dropped an average of 0.17 percent a month, rolling month over month, for the last 12 months, with total flight activity down 21.41 percent year to year from September 2007-August 2008 versus the same time frame in 2009.
FAA is planning shortly to formally withdraw a controversial 1995 notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) that would have revised the flight and duty time requirements for Parts 121 and 135. The withdrawal of the NPRM comes as the agency prepares for the release of a new proposal by year’s end. Senior FAA officials have pledged to put the rulemaking on a fast track, based on the recommendations submitted late last month by an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC).
PAUL PALMINTERI joined Gulfstream Aerospace as pre-owned aircraft sales director. Based in Los Angeles, Palminteri will oversee sales of used aircraft in the Western U.S., Western Canada, Central and South America, Asia and Australia. He has more than 20 years of aviation sales experience, most recently as vice president, aircraft sales, for Leading Edge Aviation Solutions in Parsippany, N.J. Before that, he was vice president, aircraft sales, for Wings Aviation International in Franklin Lakes, N.J.
CRAIG FULLER was elected to the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Board of Trustees. Fuller succeeded Phil Boyer in January as president of the association and also serves as president of the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilot Associations. Fuller previously has held senior executive positions at public affairs firms and served on the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and Executive Committee. He also has served as president and chief executive for a health care association and as assistant to former President Reagan for cabinet affairs.
Hawker Beechcraft is hoping to build on recent successes of its T-6 Texan II turboprop trainer program with a new teaming agreement with Lockheed Martin to compete for the U.S. Air Force’s Light Attack Armed Reconnaissance (LAAR) contract, if it becomes a formal program (BA, Sept. 14/117).
