NATIONAL AERONAUTIC ASSOCIATION last week named Norman R. Augustine as the 2008 Wright Memorial Trophy recipient. NAA said it was honoring Augustine, the former Lockheed Martin chairman, for his “legendary and inspirational” leadership. The Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy is considered one of the highest awards in aviation, granted annually for “significant public service of enduring value to aviation in the United States.” The Wright Memorial Trophy will be presented at the Aero Club of Washington’s annual Wright Trophy Dinner Dec. 12.
DELTA AIRELITE BUSINESS JETS says it is the first charter operator of a 2008 Dassault Falcon 7X aircraft in the U.S. The airplane, with a nonstop range of nearly 6,000 nautical miles, was added to the company’s charter fleet this month and is based in the Rocky Mountain region. In addition to the 7X, Delta AirElite (which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines) said it has added several other aircraft to its fleet since the beginning of the year, including its second Gulfstream G550, its fourth Bombardier Learjet 45 and a Cessna Citation CJ2+.
The Federal Aviation Administration’s aviation safety field office staff has a “remarkable degree of variation in regulatory ideologies,” an Independent Review Team (IRT) told the Department of Transportation in a new report, adding that such differences could lead to mistakes in regulatory decision-making. The IRT, appointed by Transportation Secretary Mary Peters to conduct a thorough review of FAA’s safety organization, presented a list of 13 recommendations to strengthen the agency’s oversight and smooth out the discord within the various field offices.
FORMER DASSAULT FALCON EXECUTIVE Gerald Goguen was named executive vice president of Greenwich AeroGroup, Inc., of Greenwich, Conn. Goguen joined Dassault Falcon in 1996 and held a number of senior posts, most recently as senior vice president of global customer relations and business strategy. Greenwich AeroGroup is a holding company that owns and operates full service providers of general aviation services including maintenance and avionics, fixed-base operations, aircraft sales, charter and management and interior refurbishment.
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THE ECLIPSE EA-500 Very Light Jet met the applicable requirements of Part 23 of the Federal Aviation Regulations when it won FAA certification two years ago, according to a panel of certification experts assembled by FAA. But panel members also found a number of problems with the agency’s processes, particularly in regard to communications among FAA employees on the certification team. See article on Page 121.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION selected Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Phil Boyer as the 2008 recipient of the NBAA Award for Meritorious Service to Aviation. George Saling, former vice president of Aviation & Travel Services for Altria Corporate Services, will be the recipient of the 2008 NBAA John P. “Jack” Doswell Award.
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A TWO-DAY AERIAL FIREFIGHTING conference and demonstration will be held in Athens, Greece next month. The event, sponsored by Tangent Link, in partnership with BDaerospace, will discuss ways for operators of both civil and military fixed- and rotary-wing firefighting aircraft to work effectively with their counterparts on the ground in combating fires in a diverse range of terrain and urban/rural environments. Participants also will have the opportunity to witness live demonstrations of aerial firefighting aircraft.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION is talking with other air traffic control organizations about conducting more joint trials of air traffic management operations improvements – including tailored arrivals – and news of these initiatives will be revealed in coming months, according to Bobby Sturgell, FAA’s acting administrator. The new joint efforts will be similar to major cooperative trials being undertaken on trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific routes.
VIKING AIR LTD. won a heavy maintenance contract to perform a complete overhaul and engine upgrade on one of eight DHC-6-200 Twin Otters operated by the Argentine Aeronautic Administration (AAA). The contract, which was awarded by the International Civil Aviation Organization acting on behalf of the Government of Argentina and AAA, will be carried out at Viking’s repair and overhaul facility at the Victoria, British Columbia International Airport.
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT continued to expand its European base with the acquisition of Southern Aero Services Ltd., the parent of Interflight Executive Aircraft Services at London Gatwick Airport in the United Kingdom. Interflight is the sole fixed-base operation at Gatwick and increases the Signature network in Europe. Signature said the Gatwick FBO will complement its services at London Heathrow and Luton. The Interflight transaction was valued at 4.5 million British pounds.
THE FIRST fatal U.S. Coast Guard aviation accident in Hawaii since 1982 resulted in the death of four servicemen and the loss of an HH-65A helicopter. The accident, which happened during a search-and-rescue drill late on Sept. 4, occurred while the four-person crew was performing small-boat hoists with a 47-foot motor lifeboat in waters off Honolulu. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
JIM WILLIAMS was promoted to vice president of avionics sales and Defense Avionics Group for Stevens Aviation, with responsibility for all aspects of national avionics sales and defense avionics modification activities. During his 35-year career with Stevens, Williams has served as director of operations, assistant general manager, director of its Beechcraft Division and avionics shop manager.
ATR delivered two ATR 72-500s destined for Malaysia Airlines regional subsidiaries MASwings and Firefly. The aircraft are the first ATRs to operate in Malaysia.
GUILFORD TECHNICAL COMMUNITY COLLEGE (GTCC) near the Piedmont Triangle International Airport in North Carolina created a new training program for avionics technicians. The program was established in part with a $243,958 Duke Energy grant. Guilford expects to enroll the first students in fall 2009 and believes the program will accommodate up to 50 students. The school expects to begin some of the avionics training for students enrolled in the HondaJet feeder program this spring, but the avionics program is designed to benefit all of the companies working with GTCC.
Macquarie Global Opportunities Partners (MGOP) early Aug. 30 completed the acquisition of the Sentient Jet Membership and fuel management businesses of JetDirect Aviation Holdings, LLC, the parent of the former Sentient Flight Group (BA, Aug. 18/75). JetDirect will continue to operate the aircraft management and charter groups under the new name of JetDirect Aviation, with a fleet of more than 300 business jets based at more than 60 locations. The company also re-established an Aircraft Acquisition and Sales Department.
The rising inventory of used business jets “portends a major deterioration in the new aircraft market quite soon,” a JPMorgan market analysis warned last week. “Let there be no doubt the used market is rapidly falling apart, which should lead to a deteriorating market for new aircraft in short order,” the Sept. 4 report said, adding that “used aircraft inventories were up 80 basis points (bps) to 9.4 percent, bringing inventories to the highest level since September 2003 and representing the seventh monthly increase in a row.”
Strong business jet sales and a buoyant railway sector helped offset a second-quarter dip in Bombardier’s regional aircraft division and pushed the Canadian manufacturer’s net financial performance from the red to the black.
Eclipse Aviation installed a new management structure as the company continues with a major reorganization designed to provide a stronger financial footing and improve its manufacturing processes. The announcement of a new divisional structure within Eclipse comes just a few weeks after the company began laying off 38 percent of its work force (BA, Aug. 25/86). Eclipse last week said it was advancing its “operational excellence strategy” with the creation of separate divisions focused on manufacturing, customer support and infrastructure.
Southwest told FAA it would not pay its $10.2 million fine by the agency’s Aug. 29 payment deadline, leaving the FAA to decide whether to follow through with its Aug. 12 threat to refer the case to the U.S. Attorney’s office if the airline refused to comply. For the time being, the FAA’s official response is, “We continue to talk to Southwest.”
September 10 – National Business Aviation Association, Regional Forum, Hanscom Field (BED), Bedford, Mass. For more information, contact NBAA at (202) 783-9000 September 10-11 – Technology Training Corporation’s Unmanned Aircraft Systems Conference, Holiday Inn, Arlington, Va., (310) 563-1223 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
The economic slowdown in the U.S. affected BBA Aviation’s Signature Flight Support fixed-base operations in the first half of 2008, resulting in “an organic reduction in sales of 4 percent for the first half of the year,” the U.K.-based parent company said in releasing its financial statement late last month.
The Supreme Court of Texas denied an appeal by engine manufacturer Lycoming, effectively ending a six-year legal battle in favor of Navasota, Texas-based Interstate Southwest, Ltd., a metal forging and fabricating company that had manufactured crankshafts for Lycoming.
