CAE won a contract to provide an Embraer 145 full-flight simulator for Hainan Airlines of China. The simulator is scheduled for delivery in 2008 to the carrier's training center in Sanya, the southernmost city in Hainan province. CAE also will provide a Simfinity integrated procedures trainer and virtual simulators.
Model 390 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-28068; Directorate Identifier 2007-CE-043-AD] - The proposed AD would require inspecting the starter-generators to determine the serial number and suffix letter (which indicates if the part is defective) of each and replacing any defective starter-generator with one of a new design. This proposal results from reports of a manufacturing error where certain starter-generators may have been improperly shimmed.
Joined Flight Display Systems (FDS) as Southeast sales manager. His territory includes Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, South Carolina, North Carolina, West Virginia and Virginia. Hala, who was formerly a flight instructor at PDK Flight Academy in Atlanta, is a veteran of the Army National Guard. He holds commercial and military ratings and is a graduate of Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich.
PRESIDENT BUSH met Friday in Wichita with Russ Meyer, chairman emeritus of Cessna Aircraft, but airplanes were not the primary reason for Bush's visit to the Air Capital of the World. Meyer invited Bush to visit a new $8 million Boys & Girls Club facility in one of Wichita's poorer neighborhoods, a neighborhood where Cessna and Meyer have been active in trying to make things better for nearly 20 years. The Boys & Girls Club is part of a planned $30 million complex that will include a childhood learning center, an elementary and middle school, and a clinic.
Model DA 42 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-27708; Directorate Identifier 2007-CE-027-AD; Amendment 39-15083; AD 2007-12-05] - Check for proper operation of the auxiliary fuel tank venting system, check for damage to the fuel tanks' structure, install ventilation holes in the filler caps' fitting, and make a temporary revision to the Aircraft Maintenance Manual.
SULLIVAN HIGDON & SINK (SHS), the veteran Wichita advertising and public relations agency, won the first-ever Pro-Comm Silver Sledgehammer Creative Team of the Year award at the Business Marketing Association's annual convention last week in Las Vegas. BMA officials cited the creative work SHS has done for Cessna Aircraft and praised the firm's ability to make visual and verbal elements of advertising work together in a way that goes beyond the borders of the aviation industry.
French aircraft manufacturer Dassault selected Rolls-Royce to provide the engines for a new "super mid-size business jet" that the French manufacturer plans to build.
Airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2007-28353; Directorate Identifier 2007-NM-065-AD] - This proposed AD would require replacement of the pressurization safety valve. This proposal stems from an MCAI from the aviation authority of Israel. During the manufacturing process for the poppet covers of the pressurization safety valves, burrs that could damage the valve diaphragms were not removed. Damage caused by these burrs could eventually cause failure of the safety relief valves, which could result in rapid decompression of the airplane.
EMBRAER recently delivered an ERJ 145 to the government of Bauchi State, Nigeria. The Bauchi government also placed an option for a second ERJ 145, in September. The aircraft will be operated on domestic routes. Embraer in 2005 delivered a Legacy 600 executive jet to the Rivers State government, also in Nigeria, for transport of government officials.
EADS United Astrium Services was named a value-added reseller (VAR) of Iridium satellite communication equipment and services. Astrium is authorized to package Iridium-based satellite voice and data products for commercial and military customers.
CAE SIMUFLITE held grand opening ceremonies for its North East Training Center this month and announced plans to expand the center from six simulator bays to 12 to meet demand. CAE operates 24 civil training centers, four of which are dedicated to business aviation. The North East Center in Morristown, N.J., and the Burgess Hill Training Center in the United Kingdom are CAE's newest facilities. CAE also provides business aircraft training at CAE SimuFlite in Dallas and Emirates-CAE Flight Training in Dubai.
Virgin USA, the North American headquarters of British-based Virgin Group, is jumping into the business aviation market with a new online booking service. The service, Virgin Charter, will connect charter customers with operators. "Through Virgin Charter, sellers make their inventory available to a large customer base without changing the way they currently do business, and buyers search for available aircraft, negotiate pricing, purchase private air travel, and manage their entire trip online," the company said.
ENGINE MAKER Rolls-Royce made a $2 million donation to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. In recognition of the donation, for the next 10 years the Welcome Center at the museum's flagship building on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. will be known as the "Welcome Center sponsored by Rolls-Royce."
JET CENTER OF DALLAS recently renovated its facility at Dallas Executive Airport. The lobby was furnished with marble floors and leather sofas and recliners, and the facility includes amenities such as a WSI Weather and flight planning station, wireless Internet, a Chrysler 300 courtesy car and snooze room. Jet Center of Dallas also provides exercise equipment. Owner Dalton Lott has invested more than $9 million in the facility, which is an Avfuel-branded dealer.
CPI AEROSTRUCTURES entered into a $4.1 million, five-year agreement to provide structural assembly kits for the S-92 civil helicopter program. Each kit will contain various subassemblies, detail parts and installation hardware. CPI expects to begin shipping kits in early 2008 and continue through 2013. CPI was previously selected to provide seat fitting kits, search and rescue (SAR) door provision kits and SAR door completion kits for the S-92.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION awarded a three-year contract to ARINC Inc. to continue providing FAA with the VHF Extended Range Network (VERN), which supports air traffic control communications in the Gulf of Mexico. The VERN network includes two air/ground stations - one on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and the other in Key West, Fla. ARINC has operated the VERN air/ground stations and network infrastructure continuously since deploying them in 1998.
FIRSTFLIGHT added a Learjet 60 to its managed aircraft fleet. The Learjet 60, which is based in Nashua, N.H., joins a growing number of small, midsize, super-midsize and large cabin aircraft in FirstFlight's fleet. FirstFlight also recently added a fourth Hawker 1000 to its fleet, joining three others added earlier this year.
Hawker Beechcraft Acquisition Company, LLC reported that its net sales increased more than 32 percent (from $504.6 million to $667.8 million) during the quarter that ended on March 25. The increase was due primarily to a 48 percent surge in orders for its business and general aviation aircraft, which company officials attributed to "continued strength in the general aviation market, recent derivative launches and growth in international sales." Sales of Premiers and King Airs were particularly strong.
THE WHITE HOUSE said President Bush intends to nominate Thomas Barrett as deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation. Barrett, who is serving as acting deputy secretary, is a retired Coast Guard vice admiral who previously headed DOT's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. He was named acting deputy in February, replacing Maria Cino, who resigned early this year shortly after Mary Peters was nominated as DOT Secretary (BA, Feb. 5/65).
THE TRANSPORTATION SECURITY ADMINISTRATION continues to pursue rulemaking to address security for large aircraft at reliever and general aviation reliever airports (BA, Jan. 22/35). "I can't say there is funding for the program now, but we do see a vulnerability with larger aircraft at reliever airports," said Charlotte Peed, acting general manager for airports stakeholders at the annual meeting of the American Association of Airport Executives last week in Washington, D.C.
DASSAULT FALCON'S business jet sales remain strong and the outlook is so bullish the company announced plans Friday to develop a new aircraft. But that doesn't mean the French manufacturer is without concerns. Chairman Charles Edelstenne listed the declining value of the U.S. dollar and related supply chain problems among the clouds on Dassault's horizon. See article below.
Cape Air, which offers dozens of Cessna 402 flights connecting Boston, Hyannis and Provincetown, Mass. with Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard, was forced to cancel a large portion of its scheduled flights last week to address problems with the engine crankshafts in the airplanes.
The board of EADS Socata announced new roles for two of its senior executives. Stephane Mayer, who had been heading small aircraft manufacturer Socata, was appointed chief executive of ATR, the joint venture between EADS and Alenia Aeronautica of the Finmeccanica Group that builds the ATR line of regional turboprops. Mayer was credited with overseeing development of the TBM 850, the higher-powered successor to the popular TBM 700 single-engine turboprop.
Carlsbad, Calif.-based Jet Source is planning to jump into the fractional ownership market with a fleet of composite fuselage jets built by Spectrum Aeronautical, Jet Source announced last week. The rapidly expanding aviation services firm is laying the groundwork to offer three programs with Spectrum models - a fractional ownership program, an owner-pilot club and a travel card membership for flights on Spectrum 33 and 40 jets.
Eclipse Aviation Friday formally opened a new 61,000-square-foot service center at the Gainesville-Alachua County, Fla. Regional Airport (GNV). The new Southeast Eclipse Service Center is the second service center that Eclipse has opened, and the first outside of the company's headquarters in Albuquerque, N.M. Plans call for future centers to open in Albany, N.Y. and Van Nuys, Calif. over the next few months and in other locations in 2008.
