FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION adopted a final rule permitting payment of fees to the agency via credit card for certification services performed outside the U.S.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD last week called on FAA to require Part 121, 135 and 91K operators to calculate a 15 percent runway landing distance margin based on actual conditions. The recommendation - classified as "urgent" - stemmed from the Dec. 8, 2005 Southwest Airlines runway overrun at Chicago Midway International Airport.
PETTERS AVIATION opened a new Sales & Service Center at Minneapolis St. Paul International Airport. Petters has partnered with Hawthorne Corporation to manage its Airbus North American corporate jet sales operation from the center. Petters expects the center will initially employ 30 people. The Petters Aviation Sales & Service Center will offer services to clients who do not have their own flight department, as well as supplement those who do.
THE SALINA, KAN. AIRPORT AUTHORITY awarded a $6 million contract to Busboom and Rauh Construction Co. to build a 69,000-square-foot hangar and office complex at the airport's Aviation Service Center. The 41,400-square-foot, clear-span hangar will be large enough to accommodate aircraft with a 100-foot wingspan and a tail 28 feet high.
Piper Aircraft is developing a new unpressurized aircraft based on the Malibu Mirage platform. Piper is positioning the newest addition to its product line as a high-end cabin-class piston that blends performance and value. "Many of our customers and prospective buyers told us that they wanted an airplane that provided the best in luxury, elegance and performance at a price that is hundreds of thousands of dollars below what has been available," said Piper President & CEO James Bass. "The Piper Matrix fills those requirements."
CESSNA AIRCRAFT COMPANY said it received an order for 14 business jets from the company's Italian sales representative. S.C.S Maretti ordered eight Citation Mustangs, one CJ2+, two CJ3s, one CJ4 and two XLS+. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in May 2009. The contracts were finalized by Marisa Maretti of Monaco at the NBAA convention last month in Atlanta. "The growth of business aviation in Italy is following the trend across Europe," said Trevor Esling, vice president of international sales.
LUFTHANSA TECHNIK is working with Bombardier on a program under which the German firm is providing its network integrated cabin equipment (nice), a digital Ethernet-based cabin management and inflight entertainment system, for all Challenger 300 business jets delivered from Bombardier's Montreal manufacturing facility. An iPod is integrated into the aircraft using a special docking station that streams the audio output via the nice system's Ethernet network.
ERA CORPORATION won a contract to install its noise and operations management system, AirScene.com NOMS at Reid Hillview Airport in Santa Clara, Calif. The system will be integrated with Era's multilateration flight tracking system, MSS. Reid Hillview is the largest of three airports owned by Santa Clara County, ERA said, adding that the NOMS system can be expanded to the other two airports. The Web-based system will provide flight tracking and include a redundant data center to ensure availability.
Model 146 and AVRO 146-RJ airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-29337; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-150-AD] - This proposal would require operators to perform a detailed visual inspection of the auxiliary power unit heat shield and surrounding fuselage skin. If any corrosion, pitted fastener or pillowing is found, remove the APU heat shield and repair the affected area in accordance with BAE Systems' Service Bulletin ISB.53-191 (dated October 25, 2006).
Named director of final phase operations for Gulfstream Aerospace's manufacturing facility in Savannah, Ga. Elliott will oversee the final phase manufacturing - interior completions and exterior paint - for Gulfstream business jets. A nine-year Gulfstream employee, she formerly was the manager of the final phase integrated product team. She also has served as an industrial engineer, a final phase team manager and a production manager for both GIV and GV electrical systems and GV structures and electrical and hydraulic systems.
ATR is moving forward with the -600 generation of its ATR 42 and 72 regional aircraft lines with new Pratt & Whitney engines and Thales avionics. ATR will equip the aircraft with new PW127M turboprops, which will increase the power rating of the new models and improve hot and high performance. ATR also selected Thales to develop a new integrated flight deck that will include five wide LCD screens to replace the current electronic flight instrument system.
The U.S. Transportation Department stopped accepting electronic comments and submissions through its Docket Management System (DMS), at the end of September as DOT transitions to the Federal Docket Management System (FDMS) as part of the Bush Administration's e-ruling initiative. The migration will affect dockets concerning DOT, the Department of Homeland Security's United States Coast Guard and the Transportation Security Administration. FAA dockets were already accessible in FDMS.
CONGRESS late last month temporarily extended existing aviation excise taxes as part of a comprehensive continuing resolution (CR) that keeps the federal government operating under fiscal 2007 funding levels through Nov. 16. The CR is designed to provide Congress additional time to finish work on a number of appropriations bills - including the one providing FAA funding. The taxes were set to expire Sept. 30. Congress is still debating the future of the aviation excise taxes as part of the larger FAA reauthorization bill.
PRATT & WHITNEY CANADA signed a five-year agreement with Standard Aero for 531 new PT6A series engines under P&WC's Converter Enhancement Program. Standard Aero of Winnipeg, Manitoba, will use the engines for various turboprop aircraft upgrade programs under Supplemental Type Certificates (STCs).
HONEYWELL forecasters predict a relatively weak rate of increase in the Gross Domestic Product in the U.S. and western Europe over the next several years, but say rapidly expanding economies in the rest of the world will help keep demand for new business jets growing. See chart below.
THE WRECKAGE of a Beechcraft King Air C90A, N590GM, operated by Blanding, Utah- based Eagle Air Med, was discovered Friday in the San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado. The aircraft, carrying three crew members, departed Chinle, Ariz. Oct. 4 to pick up a patient in Alamosa, Colo. Radar and radio contact with the aircraft was lost at about 11:22 p.m. Thursday.
DayJet formally launched its long-advertised per-seat, on-demand jet service between five Florida "DayPort" airports. Using a fleet of Eclipse 500 Very Light Jets, DayJet opened its reservation system to some 1,500 registered members. The company won clearance to begin operations with the Eclipses last month and subsequently offered only a few flights to a limited number of passengers while it prepared for a formal launch (BA, Sept. 10/105).
ELLIOTT AVIATION selected Air BP to provide fuel and support services for the fixed-base operation chain's facilities in Moline, Ill., Des Moines, Iowa, Minneapolis, Minn. and Omaha, Neb. Air BP will supply fuel and provide training, marketing, transactions processing and business building programs and services.
ELLIOTT AVIATION'S EXPANSION continued in September as the Midwestern FBO chain broke ground on a new $8 million facility at its Des Moines, Iowa International Airport (DSM) location. The new facility will include an 8,500-square-foot FBO and three 15,000-square-foot hangars, each with an additional 3,000 square-feet of office space. In June, Elliott began a $2.5 million renovation of its FBO at Omaha's Eppley Airfield (OMA) and opened the doors on a new design center at its headquarters at the Quad Cities International Airport (MLI) in Moline, Ill.
MOONEY AIRPLANE COMPANY is incorporating a series of aerodynamic refinements to its Acclaim single-piston aircraft that will boost the top speed to 242 knots. The company redesignated the aircraft the Acclaim-Type S. Powered by a 280-horsepower Teledyne Continental Motors IO 550-G engine, the aircraft originally had a maximum speed of 237 knots when certified in December 2006. Mooney expects to begin deliveries of the Type S model in the first quarter of 2008. The aircraft will be priced at $599,500.
Airlines, airports, FAA and the Department of Transportation must work together to reduce long onboard delays and minimize their effect on passengers, says a new report from the DOT's Inspector General.
Cessna Aircraft Company signed a letter of intent to acquire most assets of Columbia Aircraft Manufacturing Corp. - including the type certificate for the Columbia 350/400 line of composite construction single-engine airplanes - and plans to position those models at the top of Cessna's existing line of single-engine aircraft, officials said last week (BA, Sept. 24/127).
