Model 390 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2006-24640; Directorate Identifier 2006-CE-26-AD; Amendment 39-14755; AD 2006-18-16] - Requires inspection of the spigot bearing, Part Number (P/N) MS14104-16, for the proper position in the spigot fitting assembly and installing the wing spigot bearing retainer kit, P/N 390-4304-0001. FAA is issuing this AD to detect spigot bearings that are not positioned flush with the fitting assembly.
Was appointed airframe maintenance manager for BizJet International. Geis has 32 years of aviation industry experience. Most recently he was director of maintenance for Jetsource Charter, Inc.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION said the wreckage of a helicopter missing in Mexico for more than 14 years was found this month near San Felipe, Mexico. The agency said the Hiller UH-12E, N40268, went missing April 21, 1992 while the pilot was observing some animals from the air for a conservation group. The wreckage and the pilot's remains were recently found in mountainous terrain. The helicopter had been the subject of an extensive search effort in 1992 near the Bay of Gonazja, which is about 100 miles south of San Felipe, Mexico.
ROCKWELL COLLINS acquired IP Unwired, an Ottawa, Ontario-based, privately owned developer of high-data-rate HF/VHF/UHF modem and networking products and services for military customers. Clay Jones, Rockwell Collins chairman, president and CEO, said the purchase strengthens Rockwell's network-centric operations offerings. IP Unwired, which was bought for an undisclosed amount of cash, has annual revenues of about $3 million. About 30 IP Unwired employees will join Rockwell Collins.
HONEYWELL delivered the 1,000th RE220 auxiliary power unit, the company said Friday. The delivery comes 13 years after the Phoenix aerospace giant launched the APU for regional and business aviation. The APU was designed with an effusion cooled low emission combustor, 40kVA of electrical capability up to 45,000 feet, full authority digital electronic control and a foreign object damage resistant radial impeller.
Model 1900, 1900C, and 1900D airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2006-25760; Directorate Identifier 2006-CE-48-AD; Amendment 39-14757; AD 2006-18-51] - Requires a one-time visual inspection of both the left and right wing rear spar lower caps for cracking and other damage such as loose or missing fasteners; repair of any cracks or damage; and reporting of any cracks or damage found to the FAA and RAC. This AD results from extensive cracks found in the wing rear spar lower caps and rear spar web of two of the affected airplanes. One of the airplanes also had missing fasteners.
Model AS350B, B1, B2, B3, BA, D, and AS355E helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2006-25773; Directorate Identifier 2006-SW-16-AD; Amendment 39-14758; AD 2006-19-01] - Requires, within 10 hours time-in-service (TIS), inspecting the tapered housing of each main servo-control (MSC) for a crack. If no crack is found, this AD requires, before further flight, retorquing the upper ball-end attachment nut of the MSC. If a crack is found, this AD requires, before further flight, replacing the MSC with an airworthy MSC.
BRAZILIAN AIRCRAFT MANUFACTURER Embraer named Breno Correa vice president-Executive Jets Marketing and Sales for Latin America. Embraer said Correa was formerly sales director for a business aircraft sales and charter company based in Sao Paulo, where he also directed the company's operations and aircraft management division. Correa is an aeronautical engineer and a private pilot.
Joins Lux Aviation Engineering Corp. as director of business development. He will have marketing and sales responsibilities and provide product selection and development support. Hauck has 40 years of business and general aviation experience. He spent 28 years with Bombardier/Learjet in engineering, marketing support, product development and sales. He also worked for the autopilot division of Astronautics Corp., Hughes Aircraft, Part 135 charter operators and various repair stations.
The Federal Aviation Administration released a rule this month designed to ensure that aircraft produced in the U.S. are type certificated and manufactured under a production approval. The rule also calls for organizations that produce or alter aircraft, engines or propellers based on a type certificate (TC) or a supplemental type certificate (STC) to get permission from the certificate holder.
Airborne communications specialist AirCell is tripling its production capabilities, expanding its existing headquarters and opening a new facility as the company ramps up to become the sole air-to-ground broadband service provider. AirCell was the high bidder in the Federal Communications Commission's spectrum auction for air-to-ground broadband frequencies in May and has been working toward formal rollout of the service by early 2008 (BA, June 12/265).
GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION promoted Jens C. Hennig to the position of director, operations. Hennig, who had been manager of operations, will continue to oversee GAMA's safety and accident investigation programs and provide industry analysis. He sits on several advisory committees, including the JAA Operations Sectorial Team and as a representative on the EASA Safety Standards Consultative Committee.
SHIP IT AOG, a business aviation spare parts distributor, moved into a larger facility at Addison Airport in Texas. Founded in 2000, the company has doubled its annual sales each year. The new 7,000-square-foot facility is nearly five times larger than the previous headquarters. The additional space will allow the company to expand its sales staff by 25 percent and boost on-site inventory by 150 percent.
ATR handed over the 700th ATR aircraft, an ATR 72-500, to Air Deccan. The delivery was the sixth of 30 ATR 72-500s on order with Air Deccan. ATR, the Franco-Italian consortium, delivered its first aircraft in 1985. The delivery comes as the program is enjoying a resurgent market for turboprops. ATR has received orders for 50 new ATRs since the beginning of the year, and has sold 828 aircraft - 401 ATR 42s and 427 ATR 72s - since the start of the program.
KANSAS CITY AVIATION CENTER (KCAC) is opening a 24-hour, full-service fixed-base operation at Spirit of St. Louis Airport. Acquired from Thunder Aviation, the facility includes 30,000 square feet of hangar space and a 12,000-square-foot, two-story office. KCAC named its new St. Louis base the Midwest Aviation Center (MWAC) and will offer aircraft sales, charter services, parts sales and installation, avionics maintenance and installation, aircraft maintenance, fuel services, and leased hangar storage space.
THE AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION was pleased that a meeting this week with key decision-makers involved in Washington, D.C. aviation security policy "crack[ed] open some doors ever so slightly for more creative thinking in trying to solve the economic, operational and security issues with the Washington, D.C. airspace." Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) called for the meeting that also was attended by Sen.
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY will hold a one-day seminar, Managing Aircraft Icing for Corporate Flight Operations, during the National Business Aviation Association's 59th annual Meeting and Convention Oct. 16 in Orlando, Fla. The seminar is designed to help pilots understand how to manage hazards associated with icing. The seminar will cover the limitations of ice protection systems, aircraft design and meteorology and discuss differences between ground icing and in-flight icing.
RCZ-833J/K, -851J/K, and -854J Communication (COM) units, equipped with XS-852E/F Mode S transponders; and Honeywell XS-856A/B and -857A Mode S transponders [Docket No. FAA-2006-24639; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-171-AD; Amendment 39-14761; AD 2006-19-04] - Requires a revision to the Normal Procedures section of the Airplane Flight Manual to advise the flightcrew to check the status of the transponder after changing the air traffic control code.
VERIZON AIRFONE last week began notifying general aviation and military customers that it would continue providing air-to-ground telephone service at least through the end of next year. Earlier this summer, Verizon stated plans to cancel service on Dec. 4, 2006 unless it found a buyer for the business (BA, Aug. 14/69). See article on Page 127.
Honeywell veteran Vicki E. Panhuise recently took over as vice president-helicopters in the company's Defense & Space sector, part of a continuing effort to realign Honeywell's aerospace businesses to make them more transparent and easier for customers to deal with.
LANDMARK AVIATION opened its newly refurbished and expanded fixed-base operation in Toronto, calling the base a flagship FBO in the company's network. The FBO covers 220,000 square feet of aircraft storage, maintenance, office and lounge space. The remodeling project included a 100,000-square-foot hangar and 22,000-square-foot office complex. Landmark a year ago entered a long-term lease with the Greater Toronto Airport Authority to redevelop the 100,000-square-foot hangar in the North Business Aviation Area of the Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Joins Carlsbad, Calif.-based Schubach Aviation as director of sales and marketing. Shepard has 18 years of marketing, sales and management experience, previously leading charter sales and new business development for two other San Diego-based aviation companies. In her new role, she will oversee sales and marketing in the Americas and Europe.
