SOLOY AVIATION SOLUTIONS won European Aviation Safety Agency approval for its Honeywell engine conversion for the AS350B2 helicopter. The European validation culminates some 18 months of certification work between Soloy and European regulators to permit installation of Honeywell LTS101-700D-2 engine kits. The engine conversion also is approved for AS350B2 helicopters operated in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia. Soloy secured the original supplemental type certificate in 2006, and more than 70 AS350B2s have been converted.
Two Georgia-based aviation companies have secured FAA supplemental type certification for their Ellipse TV low-cost airborne satellite television system. Flight Display Systems, an Alpharetta, Ga. producer of cabin entertainment products, and The Maintenance Group, an Atlanta, Ga. provider of aircraft maintenance and modifications, received the STC for installation of the Ellipse on a Bombardier Challenger 600.
ATR 42 and 72 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-0334; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-206-AD; Amendment 39-15385; AD 2008-04-13] - Requires operators to modify the fuel system and conduct all applicable related investigative and corrective actions in accordance with either ATR Service Bulletin ATR42-28-0039 or ATR72-28-1019 (both dated June 12, 2007). Those tasks include installation of fuse adapters on wiring entering the fuel tanks and current limitation devices.
Was named avionics manager for Florida Jet Center in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He will be responsible for day-to-day operation and management of the avionics department, serving as the primary customer contact and overseeing growth and development of the department. The avionics department currently focuses primarily on Learjets, but Florida Jet plans to offer avionics services for all corporate jet models in the future.
Joined Texas Aviation Services (TAS) as vice president operations. TAS, based at Meacham Field in Fort Worth, Texas, is an independent helicopter technical services company that provides completion and maintenance, repair and overhaul work. Lark is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. with degrees in engineering and Spanish. He also received a master's degree in business administration from Duke University. He has flown a variety of helicopter types and served as an MRO leader.
Triumph Group, Inc. acquired the assets of B&R Machine and Tool Co., a manufacturer of aircraft structural components, parts and assemblies for commercial and military aerospace programs. The acquired business, which is located in Westbury, N.Y., will operate at Triumph Structures-Long Island, LLC and be part of the Triumph Aerospace Systems Group. Triumph expects the Westbury firm to add approximately $45 million in revenue in fiscal 2009 and be immediately accretive to earnings.
THE AIRBUS A330 was selected Friday by the Pentagon as the winner of the long-delayed Air Force aerial tanker replacement program, which is expected to be worth $40 billion or more. A team headed by Northrop Grumman and EADS bid the A330 platform, beating out a version of the Boeing 767 offered by Boeing. The tanker version of the A330 will be designated as the KC-45A. The award covers 179 new tankers, the first phase of a three-stage program to replace 530 KC-135s and 59 KC-10s
Citing a need to increase and maintain the accuracy of data in the Civil Aviation Registry, the FAA has proposed a series of new procedures, including re-registration of all current active aircraft and renewal of all registration certificates every three years.
GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION named W. Casey Kinosz manager of operations. He will be responsible for association initiatives involving safety, risk analysis and accident investigation. A private pilot with an instrument rating, Kinosz graduated magna cum laude from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University with a bachelor's degree in safety science. He also is an emergency medical technician.
AS-365N2 and N3; SA-365C, C1 and C2; and SA-365N and N1 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2008-0164; Directorate Identifier 2007-SW-43-AD; Amendment 39-15375; AD 2008-04-03] - Inspect the tightening torque of the bolt that attaches the main-rotor hub to the main-rotor mast in accordance with either Eurocopter Alert Service Bulletin 62.00.22 or 65.44 (both dated Apr. 10, 2006). This emergency AD resulted from an MCAI originated by the European Aviation Safety Agency following several reports of tightening torque loss detected on that bolt.
JET REPAIR ANYWHERE added Bombardier Aerospace, Pentastar Aviation and Jet Corp as members of the company's "Wrench" and "Tool" programs. The JRA Wrench program provides a venue for the companies to advertise to aircraft operators seeking maintenance services. The Tool program was developed for owners and operators attempting to locate maintenance facilities. The Tool program will provide Bombardier operators who are facing Aircraft-On-Ground situations with access to resources at appropriate maintenance facilities.
BOMBARDIER'S board of directors told Bombardier Aerospace officials they can begin making formal sales proposals of the CSeries aircraft family to airlines. The CSeries of 110-seat and 130-seat aircraft will incorporate a largely composite and aluminum-lithium alloy structure with fly-by-wire technology and will be powered by the next generation high-bypass Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engine. Entry into service is anticipated in 2013.
ERA CORPORATION elected Don Antonucci chairman of the board of directors. Antonucci, who joined the Era board in 2006, retired in February 2006 as president of the Lockheed Martin Transportation and Security Solutions Company. He has 37 years of experience, holding a number of executive roles with Loral Electronic Systems and then Lockheed Martin after the 1996 acquisition of Loral. He was executive vice president overseeing all technical, engineering, operations and programs for Lockheed's Air Traffic Management business.
EMB-135ER, -135KE, -135KL, -135LR, -145, -145ER, -145MR, -145LR, -145XR, -145MP and -145EP airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2008-0182; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-262-AD] - This proposed rule would require revising the "Airworthiness Limitations" section of the "Instructions for Continued Airworthiness" to incorporate new maintenance tasks that are intended to eliminate ignition sources in the fuel system. This proposed AD resulted from an MCAI originated by the aviation authority of Brazil. The FAA estimates that this proposal would affect 704 aircraft on the U.S.
GRETEMAN GROUP was selected to develop an employment branding and recruitment marketing strategy for Spirit AeroSystems, the Wichita, Kan. supplier of aircraft component parts and assemblies. Greteman will develop an advertising, marketing and public relations campaign to target prospective employees regionally, nationally and internationally, and also will focus on retaining existing Spirit employees.
Senate aviation subcommittee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) last week expressed his increasing frustration about the general aviation community's strong opposition to user fees and blamed GA for stalling long-term FAA reauthorization legislation this year.
AIRCRAFT ENGINE FIRE PROTECTION CERTIFICATION STANDARDS will be upgraded if a newly proposed rule is adopted. The FAA issued the NPRM to reflect current industry design and certification practices and to harmonize U.S. FAR Part 33 regulations with European Aviation Safety Agency CS-E requirements, thereby simplifying aircraft engine import and export activities. FAA says the changes would provide "nearly uniform" fire-protection certification standards for engines certificated in the U.S. and in Europe.
THE SUCCESS of Dassault's Falcon business jet line seems likely to result in dramatic changes to the company's civil/military sales mix. While defense products accounted for 43 percent of consolidated Dassault sales in 2007, only 14 percent of new orders received last year were for defense products. The remaining 86 percent of $6.26 billion in new orders received last year were for business jets.
AIR METHODS CORP., Denver, Colo., named a Frontier Airlines executive to be the new chief operating officer for the emergency air medical transportation and medical services provider. Paul Tate, who has been serving as executive vice president and chief financial officer for Frontier since October 2001, will take over next month as COO at Air Methods. He has served on Air Methods' board of directors since August 2003, but will resign his board seat when he begins his new duties. Previously the COO role was combined with the chief executive position at Air Methods.
Dassault Chairman Charles Edelstenne said the French manufacturer logged orders for 212 business jets last year, the third consecutive year of record sales. "The results are a tremendous statement to the benefits of business aviation which are only now being understood in some areas of the world," he said in announcing the company's financial results for 2007.
VENEZUELAN AUTHORITIES said all 46 persons aboard an ATR-42-300 were killed Thursday when the aircraft crashed into the face of a mountain shortly after takeoff from the city of Merida. The aircraft wreckage was spotted at an altitude of about 13,500 feet, but searchers were having difficulty reaching the site because of the difficult terrain. The area is known as the Los Conejos plateau, which is located inside Sierra La Culata National Park. The airplane, with 43 passengers and a crew of three, was on a flight to Caracas.
THE NORTH AMERICAN ice protection subsidiary of CAV Aerospace Ltd., formerly called Aerospace Systems and Technologies Inc. (AS&T), was renamed CAV Aerospace, Inc. The Salina, Kan.-based unit manufactures TKS ice protection systems for a number of business and personal aircraft manufacturers as well as for retrofit. The parent company said the new name elevates the ice protection business unit within the corporation and reflects its growing role in the global aerospace manufacturing market. In addition to the Salina, Kan. business, CAV Aerospace Ltd.
COMPOSITES ENGINEERING INC. (CEi) recently completed a flight demonstration of a new unmanned aircraft, the BQM-167X, which sustained supersonic flight at the U.S. Navy Pt. Mugu Test Range. The Jan. 31 flight was part of a contract the U.S. Navy awarded to CEi in September of 2006 for a high performance aerial target system capable of very high subsonic low altitude performance. CEi designed and built the aircraft at its Sacramento, Calif. facility.
