NATA, JET SOLUTIONS PROGRAM TO TRACK REGULATION COMPLIANCE - The National Air Transportation Association is working with Jet Solutions to develop a new program called IC (In-Compliance) Check that is designed to ensure an operator is in full compliance with applicable regulations before each flight is cleared. The Web-based IC Check is not a flight planning tool, maintenance tracker or accounting program, but includes elements of all three, said David Almy, vice president, membership, marketing and communications for NATA.
ROLLS-ROYCE NAMES TOUTANT PRESIDENT OF CANADIAN UNIT - Engine maker Rolls-Royce named Michel Toutant president and chief operating officer of Rolls-Royce Canada, Ltd., succeeding Pierre Racine, who is planning to retire.
CHC HELICOPTER CORP. said it won two contracts valued at more than $1 billion to provide helicopter support for offshore oil exploration and production units in the Norwegian Sea. CHC, headquartered in Vancouver, B.C., said it won two contracts from Statoil ASA of Norway, which CHC said it believes are "the largest bundle of helicopter service contracts ever awarded, with a total value of approximately $1.1 billion (Canadian) over the fixed and option periods.
NEW RECIPES: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has turned up the heat for its BioFuels program. DARPA is backing research and development by UOP LLC, a Honeywell company, for technology to convert vegetable and algal oils into military jet fuels. The agency is backing similar efforts by GE Global Research and the University of North Dakota's Energy and the Environment Research Center to develop a surrogate fuel based on crop oils instead of petroleum.
HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CORP. delivered the 200th Beechcraft Premier Thursday to a company that has been using business aircraft for more than 50 years, Hannay Reels. The company, which is headquartered in the upstate New York community of Westerlo, about 150 miles north of New York City, manufactures metal reels for hoses and cables used in a number of industries including aviation fuel-truck hoses. Hannay Reels has owned and operated business aircraft since 1952. The company previously owned a King Air F90 and a Citation CJ1 before acquiring the new Premier 1A.
HAWKER BEECHRCRAFT named InterGlobe General Aviation Private Limited as the exclusive representative for Hawker products in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives and Myanmar. InterGlobe will provide sales and service support for the Hawker 400XP the Hawker 125-series including the Hawker 750, Hawker 850XP and Hawker 900XP; and Hawker 4000 model.
Congress is moving to slice into the Coast Guard's Deepwater appropriations for fiscal 2008 while looking to use the embattled program as a catalyst to scale back giant contractors' influence over large, complicated defense and homeland security programs and forcing more transparency from federal officials.
LIMITED WORK: U.S. Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Thad Allen is promising lawmakers that all task orders issued to Deepwater prime contractor Integrated Coast Guard Systems' (ICGS) over the next 43 months will be limited to 18 months, will revolve around ongoing efforts, will be restricted in scope and will include numerous oversight and open-acquisition measures as the Coast Guard takes on lead systems integrator (LSI) duties for Deepwater and decides whether to bypass ICGS for original providers.
DALLAS AIRMOTIVE expanded the services at its Millville, N.J. facility with the addition of repair, hot section inspection and field service on Pratt & Whitney Canada PW500 turbofan engines, which power Cessna Citation Bravo, Encore, Encore+, Excel, XLS and XLS+ models. Dallas Airmotive, which is owned by BBA Aviation plc, also provides PW500 support at its facilities in Dallas, Texas and Portsmouth, England.
ROMEO OSCAR INC., the Montreal-based advertising and public relations agency, recently relocated to new quarters at Trudeau International Airport. The new address is: Romeo Oscar Inc., 9675 Cote de Liesse, Suite 102, Dorval, Quebec, Canada H9P 1A3. The telephone (514) 780-8525 and fax (514) 780-8535 numbers remain the same, as does the Web address, www.RomeoOscar.com. The agency, which specializes in work for aviation and aerospace firms, is headed by President James R.O. (Jamie) McIntyre.
JET AIRWAYS, a carrier based in India, signed contracts for 13 new ATR 72-500s. Jet Airways ordered seven of the ATR 72-500s directly from ATR. The remaining six will be leased through the Irish-based leasing company Aircraft International Renting, which is a subsidiary of TAT Group. ATR valued the two contracts at $238 million. Delivery of the ATRs will begin this year and continue through 2010. Jet Airways currently operates eight ATR 72-500s, and plans to use its expanded fleet to open new routes and increase frequencies across the Indian subcontinent.
HAWKER BEECHCRAFT CORP. named Empire Aviation Group (EAG) an international sales representative for the Gulf Cooperation Council countries of Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. EAG, based at Dubai International Airport, was formed this year to manage the regional aviation interests of Emirates Investment Group.
WASHINGTON lobbyists are growing increasingly pessimistic about the possibility of Congress completing a comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill before the current authorization and aviation taxes expire at the end of September. The Senate Commerce Committee approved its version of the bill in May, but the Finance Committee now may wait until late July before moving on the taxes portion.
PPG AEROSPACE - TRANSPARENCIES recently won sole-source contracts to provide cockpit windows for the Embraer Phenom 100 Very Light Jet and Phenom 300 jet as well as the Cessna Citation CJ4. The Embraer contract covers the life of the aircraft programs, which could reach more than 1,000 aircraft. The windows will include the PPG Surface Seal rain-repellent coating, which eliminates the need for wipers. The windshields also will be equipped with the Aircon heating system for anti-icing and temperature control.
EMBRAER named four men to its Executive Jets sales team in North America and the Caribbean, bringing to 12 the number of regional salesmen in those markets. The new additions and their territories are: Cameron Gowans, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama; Gregory Babcock, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, the Dakotas and Nebraska; Michael Payne, Canada; and Timon Huber, Mexico and the Caribbean.
Model Falcon 900DX and 2000EX airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-27849; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-249-AD; Amendment 39-15094; AD 2007-12-16] - This AD requires inspection and repair of aircraft in accordance with the instructions of Dassault Service Bulletin F900EX-308 (dated Oct. 18, 2006) and Dassault Service Bulletin F2000EX-133 (dated September 28, 2006). The bulletins call for inspection of skin panels on each side of the fuselage between Frames 9 and 10, including holes and structures.
Models SR20 and SR22 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-28245; Directorate Identifier 2007-CE-047-AD] - This proposed AD would require replacement of the cabin door rod ends located at the upper and lower hinges of the cabin door with newly designed rod ends. To perform this task, operators should follow Cirrus Design Corporation Service Bulletins SB 2X-52-07 and SB 2X-52-07 (both dated May 3, 2007). This proposed AD results from two known occurrences of in-flight cabin door separation. The FAA estimates that this proposed AD would affect 1,562 airplanes on the U.S.
Was promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety International's Cessna Learning Center in Wichita, Kan. Brasfield is a 19-year veteran of the U.S. Army who has been a member of the Army Reserve since 1999 when he went to work for FSI as an instructor. Since then he served as program manager for the Beechjet, Hawker 800 XP and Hawker Horizon training programs and most recently was director of programs.
NetJets, the world's largest fractional aircraft operator, placed an order for 96 Citation business jets from Cessna Aircraft at last week's Paris Air Show, the Wichita manufacturer announced. The NetJets order includes 50 Encore+, 37 XLS+ and nine Citation X aircraft, valued at more than $1 billion.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff says he's worried that terrorists may try to sneak operatives or weapons of mass destruction into the country on a U.S.-bound international general aviation flight. Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups are "going to try to find people that they think they can slip in under the radar screen" and "techniques they think we haven't discovered yet," Chertoff told attendees at the DHS National Small Vessel Security Summit last week, where he noted that small airplanes, as well as small boats, are a security concern.
FAA on July 1 is slated to begin a round of special emphasis inspections on Part 135 operators to ensure they are in compliance with new operational control requirements. FAA released its latest guidance on operational control at the end of May, and the new guidance takes effect July 1 (BA, Jan. 8/13). The inspections will take place over the next six months, and a National Business Aviation Association official warns that operators need to be prepared to answer detailed questions.
INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATIONS GROUP (ICG) teamed with Thrane & Thrane, a manufacturer of global mobile satellite terminals and earth stations, to integrate ICG's ICS-200 dual-channel satellite communication terminal with the Thrane & Thrane Aero-HSD+ system. The compact, lightweight system will have an expanded number of voice channels and permit the use of the same communications devices over both the Iridium and Inmarsat satellite networks.
