TONY QUEENAN was hired as vice president of sales for Satcom Direct Communications, Inc. of Satellite Beach, Fla., a provider of aeronautical voice, fax and Internet data service to the U.S. government. In his new role, Queenan will be responsible for government and military sales into the aviation and land-mobile markets. Queenan has nearly 25 years of professional sales experience. He was most recently senior director of sales for ARINC.
September 15-18 – Arinc’s Flight Simulator Engineering and Maintenance Conference, Hilton Salt Lake (Utah) Center. For more information call (410) 266-2008 or see www.arinc.com October 6-8 – National Business Aviation Association, 61st Annual Meeting & Convention (NBAA2008), Orlando, Fla. For more information, contact NBAA www.nbaa.org/2008 October 27-30 – Flight Safety Foundation 61st International Air Safety Seminar, Sheraton Waikiki, Honolulu, Hawaii. For more information call (703) 739-6700, www.flightsafety.org
WILLIAM BROWN III was named manager of security services for the Savannah, Ga. facilities of Gulfstream Aerospace. Brown spent 14 years in the U.S. Air Force specializing in operational security and related fields. Most recently, Brown worked for the Pentagon Force Protection Agency as assistant director of its Pentagon Access Control Division. Brown holds a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and a master’s degree in business administration, both from American InterContinental University.
TOM NEUFELDER was named vice president of engineering for Avidyne Corporation. Neufelder previously served as vice president and general manager for independent practice engineering for General Electric’s Healthcare organization in Plano, Texas. He also led the engineering organization for GE Medical System’s Invasive Cardiology business and worked in the development of defense avionics systems and ground-based air traffic control radar equipment while serving as a senior engineer at Westinghouse Electric Corporation in Baltimore, Md.
SCOTT SHIELLS was named airframe program director for StandardAero. Shiells will be responsible for developing plans to grow the airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul business. He joins StandardAero from Duncan Aviation, where he was project manager on maintenance and modification projects. He also has served as director of maintenance for Steen Aviation, worked in field service for Lockheed Support Systems, and was an engine technician and flight engineer in the U.S. Navy.
RTI INTERNATIONAL METALS, INC. amended and restated its credit agreement to provide for a $225 million term loan and a $200 million revolving credit facility, increasing total domestic credit availability from $240 million to $425 million. Principal payments on the term loan will begin in 2010. The agreement has a four-year term expiring in 2012. The expanded credit line will be used to “finance our already committed capital projects and to enhance the company’s liquidity position,” said Dawne Hickton, vice chairman and chief executive officer of RTI.
AVIATION RESEARCH GROUP U.S. last week was successful in convincing the Lehigh County Court in Pennsylvania that it acted properly in changing its rating of East Coast Jets. ARG/US had previously given East Coast Jets a “Platinum” rating, but changed the operator’s classification to “Unrated/Not Rated” after a Hawker 800 operated by East Coast Jets crashed July 31 while attempting to land at the Owatonna, Minn. Airport (BA, Aug. 4/51).
STEWART TOYE was named director of business development for the Eastern Hemisphere, including Europe, the Middle East and Asian markets, by DeCrane Aerospace. Toye, who is based in DeCrane’s facility in England, has most recently been European business development and technical manager for DeCrane Aerospace Audio International and DeCrane Aircraft Seating.
Sabre Holdings – the Southlake, Texas-based parent company of Travelocity, the Sabre Travel Network and Sabre Airline Solutions – has acquired Flight Explorer, the McLean, Va.-headquartered provider of real-time tracking, reporting and display of en route aircraft.
CAE, the Montreal-based provider of simulators and training, named Bill Dolny as vice president and general manager of CAE SimuFlite in Dallas. CAE also appointed Michael Fedele as vice president and general manager of its training center in Morristown, N.J. Both men will report to Tom Stelter, who was named vice president of CAE Training and Services & Innovation, North America.
BOMBARDIER DHC-8-400 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0356; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-042-AD; Amendment 39-15661; AD 2008-18-04] – Requires replacement of all barrel nuts on the four primary front-spar wing-to-fuselage attachment joints and application of a compound to those nuts and bolts. This AD supersedes an existing directive (AD 2008-04-02) which required inspections of those barrel nuts for cracks and replacement of hardware if the nuts were cracked or the preload was incorrect.
THE HOUSE Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees took the Transportation Security Administration to task for failing to meet an Aug. 3 deadline for developing a standardized threat and vulnerability assessment program for general aviation airports. The missed deadline was one of several highlighted in a report prepared by the majority staffs of the two committees: “Wasted Lessons of 9/11: How the Bush Administration Has Ignored the Law and Squandered Its Opportunities to Make our Country Safer.” See article on Page 124.
EMBRAER ERJ 170 and ERJ 190 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0562; Directorate Identifier 2008-NM-010-AD; Amendment 39-15658; AD 2008-18-01] – Requires operators to conduct a visual inspection of the left-hand bulkhead blowout panel of both the forward and aft cargo compartments to determine whether the pressure equalization valves are installed. If any valve is not present, install one in accordance with the instructions of Embraer Service Bulletin 170-21-0032 or 190-21-0019 (both dated Aug. 10, 2007).
CHRISTOPHER CRUM joined ServiceElements as new business developer and strategist. Crum has more than 25 years of management responsibility in the business aviation industry, having held executive posts with AlliedSignal Engines, Garrett Aviation and Stevens Aviation. Most recently, he was president and CEO of Royal Jet Group, LLC, an international charter and aviation services company based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. During his time in the Middle East he also was a founding board member of the Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBA).
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION proposed changing the applications for Airport Improvement Program grants to require nonprimary airport sponsors to include a list of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft based at the airport. FAA said discretionary grants are made on a number of factors, and airport sponsors that do not provide verifiable data on the number of aircraft hinder the agency’s ability to determine the necessity of the grant. The agency added it would consider the failure to provide a list of based aircraft as a factor when making discretionary funding decisions.
The Transportation Security Administration is planning to release a survey later this year that will be used to develop a standardized threat and vulnerability assessment program for general aviation airports, according to the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committees. The program, however, will come months after the congressionally mandated Aug. 3 deadline. The Implementing Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007 directed TSA to develop the threat and vulnerability assessment program for GA airports by Aug.
A brand new Robinson R44 II helicopter was destroyed on its delivery flight from the factory last month when it crashed under unknown circumstances. The accident occurred Aug. 29 at about 1615 CST and involved N41411, which was in cruise flight near Ridgedale, Mo.
All three crewmembers aboard a 1962 model Lockheed SP-2H Neptune firefighting airplane were killed this month when a fire started in one of the aircraft’s four engines shortly after takeoff and the plane crashed and burned.
BRAD TOLBARD was appointed director of business development for the Bombardier Service Center Network. Tolbard will oversee the service center network’s strategy for the business aircraft cabin interior market. He has nearly 15 years of industry experience, holding similar positions with Bombardier Flexjet, JetCorp and Atlantic Aero.
AVCORP INDUSTRIES, INC. signed an agreement with Cessna Aircraft to supply the tail assembly for Cessna’s new Citation C4 business jet. The agreement includes detail tooling fabrication, along with manufacture, assembly, product support and spares for the Citation CJ4.
After a month-long review, a highly experienced group of aircraft certification experts concluded that certification of the Eclipse Aviation EA-500 Very Light Jet in September 2006 “was appropriate” and that the aircraft met the requirements of Part 23 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. But the panel also identified some concerns in the way the certification process was carried out, particularly in regard to communications problems between members of the FAA team that was validating the manufacturer’s certification efforts.
THE INDEPENDENT REVIEW TEAM tasked with reviewing FAA’s safety organization found that most inspection teams within FAA are “harmonious, professional and mutually supportive.” But in cases where sharp differences exist among the inspection teams, the IRT found two trends – a high proportion of the enforcement actions and penalties assessed come from a small proportion of the inspection teams, and the enforcement-oriented inspectors are often referred to as “rogue inspectors.” The IRT conceded the possibility that rogue inspectors exist, but said it was disturbed by “the fr
House lawmakers last week strongly criticized FAA for bringing the multi-agency Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) further under the agency’s wing – without notifying Congress first.
October 28-29, 2008 American Airlines Training & Conference Center Fort Worth, TX Learn strategies to modernize logistics, control costs and maximize resources. Become faster, cheaper and more efficient than the competition. For more information:
HARCO LABS, INC. pitot/angle of attack (AOA) probes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0955; Directorate Identifier 2008-CE-040-AD; Amendment 39-15668; AD 2008-19-01] – Operators must incorporate into the “Limitations” section of the Eclipse EA500 Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) instructions that only allow operation of the pitot/AOA probes under day VFR conditions. The AD also requires testing of the pitot/AOA probes for heater performance, per the instructions of Eclipse Service Bulletin SB 500-34-019, Rev C (dated Aug. 20, 2008).
