Landmark Aviation completed a $300,000 interior renovation of its fixed-base operation at Dulles International Airport (IAD) in Virginia. The renovation included upgrades to the lobby, restrooms, weather room, conference rooms, snack rooms and pilots' lounge at the 8,000-square-foot facility. The renovation also included new furnishings that reflect the hunt country heritage of the region. Landmark called the IAD facility one of its flagship FBOs. The facility also has 54,000 square feet of hangar space and 27,000 square feet of shop and office space.
Doug Schwartz, a long-time FlightSafety International executive and former head of AT&T's flight department, has joined TAG Aviation USA as vice president of flight operations and standards. Schwartz will report directly to Jake Cartwright, president and chief executive officer.
Bristow Helicopters placed a firm order for two S-92 helicopters from Sikorsky Aircraft, and took options for another 13 of the 19-passenger rotorcraft. Based on a B/CA-equipped price of $17.5 million for the S-92, the order could be worth more than $260 million if all options are exercised.
Pinnacle Aviation added a Cessna Citation Excel to its charter fleet. The business jet is the fifth Citation Excel to be operated by Pinnacle. The aircraft is based at John Wayne Airport in Orange County, Calif., giving the Scottsdale, Ariz. charter and management company additional lift in Southern California. Pinnacle also offers a Gulfstream III for charter that is based in Ontario, Calif.
Camp Systems and Gulfstream Aerospace are engaged in a legal battle regarding the use of maintenance manuals produced by the Savannah, Ga. business jet manufacturer. Gulfstream claimed copyright and trademark infringement by CAMP, but a federal district judge ruled in favor of the maintenance tracking provider. Now Gulfstream is asking the court to reconsider that decision, and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association has filed a brief in support of Gulfstream. See article below.
The Federal Aviation Administration's new requirement that Part 121, 135 and 91(K) operators include a 15 percent safety margin in the landing distance calculations for their aircraft is drawing strong opposition from the National Air Transportation Association, which says the requirement is misguided and should be shelved. FAA issued a notice of the controversial requirement earlier this month, saying it would release a new Operations Specification/Management Specification this month implementing the new mandate (BA, June 12/268).
The Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority (NFTA) is seeking bids from parties interested in running a fixed-base operation at Buffalo Niagara International Airport (BUF) in Buffalo, N.Y., where incumbent FBO Prior Aviation Services has been providing fuel and related services for more than 40 years.
House appropriators, estimating that FAA's costs will outpace revenues coming into the Airport and Airway Trust Fund in fiscal 2007, declared that "It is imperative for the agency to lower its operating costs and find ways to be more efficient in all its operations." The work-year cost for a full-time FAA employee in fiscal 2006 was $142,587, the highest of all federal agencies, the committee said in the fiscal 2007 FAA appropriations bill.
Model DHC-7 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-22146; Directorate Identifier 2002-NM-184-AD; Amendment 39-14606; AD 2006-11-02] - Requires implementing a Corrosion Prevention and Control Program (CPCP) either by accomplishing specific tasks or by revising the maintenance inspection program to include a CPCP. This AD results from a determination that, as airplanes age, they are more likely to exhibit indications of corrosion. FAA is issuing this AD to prevent structural failure of the airplane due to corrosion. This AD will affect about 26 airplanes on the U.S. Registry.
Model EMB-120, -120ER, -120FC, -120QC, and -120RT airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2006-24072; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-016-AD; Amendment 39-14614; AD 2006-11-10] - Requires replacing the de-icing system ejector flow control valves with new, improved control valves having hermetically sealed switches; and rewiring applicable connectors. This AD results from a fuel system review conducted by the manufacturer.
June 21 - Wings Club Luncheon featuring Scott Donnelly, president & CEO of GE Aviation, Yale Club, New York City, 212-867-1770, email: [email protected]. July 24-30 - Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture Oshkosh 2006, Oshkosh, Wis., (920) 426-4800 October 17-19 - National Business Aviation Association 59th Annual Meeting & Convention, Orlando, Fla., (202) 783-9000 November 9-11 - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Expo 2006, Palm Springs Convention Center, Palm Springs, Calif., (301) 695-2000, www.aopa.org/expo
The Wings Club named Albert Lee Ueltschi, founder and chairman of FlightSafety International, as the recipient of the 2006 Distinguished Achievement Award. The award, to be presented Oct. 27 in New York, recognizes "outstanding accomplishments in the field of aviation and astronautics." Ueltschi soloed at the age of 16 and subsequently was a flight instructor, staged air shows and was the chief pilot for Queen City Flying. In 1941, he joined Pan American World Airways when he was 24.
Appointed managing director, European operations for FKI Logistex. Woodhouse previously led a number of business development programs for ITT. He also has served with GEC Telecommunications, Bovis Construction and Cegelec Environmental.
The U.S. Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General Despite rising duties, CG's budget growth slowsannounced it will audit FAA's progress in meeting its controller staffing plan; the plan was created in December 2004 to address an expected surge in controller retirements. The OIG says the audit - scheduled to begin June 26 - will examine the effectiveness of major staffing and training initiatives, and also FAA's efforts to increase controller productivity.
The pilot of an emergency medical services (EMS) helicopter that crashed in Washington, D.C. May 30 had aborted a landing attempt at a hospital heliport because of control problems that worsened just before the Eurocopter EC-135P1 crashed into a tree on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home a half-mile from the helipad, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Federal Aviation Administration raised the safety rating of Ecuador to Category 1 after reassessing that nation's civil aviation authority. FAA said it had assessed the nation's civil aviation authority in 1995, with subsequent technical visits following from 1997 to 2002. After receiving a Category 2 rating during the 1995 review, Ecuador's civil aviation authority "has shown increasing improvements since the FAA began providing technical assistance in 2002," FAA said.
House lawmakers are using the annual appropriations process to direct FAA to accelerate the introduction of runway safety and satellite navigation technology, and extra money is also being earmarked to speed FAA's hiring of safety inspectors.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is concerned that a recent National Transportation Safety Board ruling in an enforcement case could effectively make service bulletins (SBs) mandatory. The ruling, involving an enforcement action against a mechanic, said NTSB was not persuaded by the arguments that SBs are not mandatory.
James T. Murphy, a former FAA official who implemented mandatory airline passenger security screening in 1973 and later oversaw the plans to expand Washington Dulles International Airport, died of cancer this month at his home in Alexandria, Va. He was 81. After serving as an FBI agent, Murphy joined FAA in 1963, leading the office of compliance and security. He became the director of security in 1971 and implemented passenger screening two years later to combat hundreds of aircraft hijackings around the world, including a steady stream of individuals taking over U.S.
Montgomery Aviation recently renovated its facility at Indianapolis Executive Airport. The FBO, an Avfuel dealer, added an all-weather arrival/departure canopy that is 33 feet high and 100 feet wide. The facility also added 19,000 feet of hangar space and office space for corporate clients. The $2 million project includes a new ramp funded by Hamilton County, the airport owner/operator.
DayJet, the startup air taxi firm that plans to operate hundreds of Eclipse Very Light Jets (VLJs), will begin operations from a network of five Florida cities - Boca Raton, Gainesville, Lakeland, Pensacola and Tallahassee - the company announced Wednesday (BA, April 24/183). The cities were selected because they lack scheduled airline service altogether (Boca Raton and Lakeland) or have only limited airline operations (Gainesville, Pensacola and Tallahassee).
GlobalAir.COM added the Cutter Aviation fixed-base operation chain to the Web site's Airport Resource Center (ARC) and fuel mapping center. GlobalAir provides an online moving map system that allows visitors to look up destination cities and view fuel prices at participating FBOs. The ARC also provides data on U.S. airports, runway conditions, local weather and other airport and flight support services. Cutter, which operates at seven airports in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, provides fuel, maintenance and charter and management services.
The Department of Transportation Deputy General Counsel last week assessed up to $175,000 in civil penalties and issued a cease and desist order to Platinum Jet Management, which operated the Bombardier Challenger CL-600, N370V, that overran the departure end of Runway 6 at Teterboro Airport in February 2005. The consent order, issued June 12, was part of a compromise agreement between the government and Platinum officials, who denied any wrongdoing.
