Joines AIG Aviation as chief claims officer. Barrett has 25 years of aviation industry experience and most recently was senior vice president, director of claims and corporate counsel, with Phoenix Aviation Managers. He holds a juris doctorate from Georgia State University and is a member of the Florida and Georgia bars.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL said a new Level D Cessna Sovereign business jet simulator installed in the company's Orlando, Fla. learning center is the first commercial simulator to be equipped with electric motion and control loading instead of hydraulic systems. FSI has produced 35 electric motion and control loading simulators for military aircraft, including the TH-67, UH-60 and CH-47 helicopters and the C-17 transport, but has relied on hydraulic controls for its commercial units until now.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE is asking the National Aeronautic Association to confirm a speed record set last month by a G550 business jet. The aircraft flew 4,082 nautical miles from Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport to Dubai, United Arab Emirates in eight hours, 29 minutes, with three crewmembers and four passengers on board. The aircraft had an average airspeed of Mach 0.86 in headwinds that averaged more than 80 knots, Gulfstream said.
The Boeing Company is donating $15 million to the National Air and Space Museum, the single largest corporate donation ever received by the Smithsonian Institution. The donation will help with remaining construction at the museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. as well as to help fund museum programming and artifact care.
Mooney Aircraft officials are busy converting commitments into orders for the company's first new aircraft model in some seven years. The Kerrville, Texas plane-maker unveiled the new single-engine M20 TN Acclaim earlier this month during Sun 'n' Fun in Lakeland, Fla. The Acclaim is the first aircraft that Mooney has introduced to the market since it developed the M20S Eagle as a successor to the M20-J. The Acclaim will succeed the Bravo in the product line.
Model DHC-8-102, -103, -106, -201, -202, -301, -311, -314, and -315 airplanes; equipped with certain cockpit door installations [Docket No. FAA-2006-24411; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-033-AD] - proposes to require modifying the hinge attachment for the cockpit door from a single-point attachment to a two-point attachment. This proposed AD results from a report that, during structural testing of the cockpit door, the lower hinge block rotated and caused the mating hinge pin to disengage, and caused excessive door deflection.
Appointed regional manager for Multi Service Aviation. Owen will be responsible for a territory that includes Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee. She has more than a decade of aviation industry experience in both commercial and general aviation. She has worked with the Race Team Aviators Association and NASCAR.
Executives from the National Business Aviation Association and the Federal Aviation Administration are scheduled to meet this week to iron out questions surrounding FAA's policies on large aircraft operating with special deviation authority under Parts 91 or 135 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. FAA appears to have changed its policies regarding deviation authority, and officials have begun to either deny or revoke letters of deviation authority (LODA) that exempt certain operators of large aircraft from the requirements of Part 125.
Named regional manager for Multi Service Aviation. Vann's territory includes Colorado, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas, Wyoming and all territories in Canada. She formerly held customer relations and sales and marketing positions with Denver jetCenter.
May 3-5 - European Business Aviation Association Convention and Exposition EBACE2006, Geneva, Switzerland, (202) 783-9000 May 9-11 - Flight Safety Foundation/National Business Aviation Association Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar, Phoenix, Ariz., (202) 783-9000 May 17-19 - National Aircraft Finance Association 35th Annual Conference, St. Regis Resort, Laguna Niguel, Calif., (410) 571-1740 May 22-25 - Regional Airline Association Annual Convention, Wyndham Anatole Hotel, Dallas, Texas, (202) 367-1170
DASSAULT FALCON JET is hosting its 26th Maintenance and Operations Seminar for Falcon business jet operators May 30-June 1 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Fla. For more information, call Debbie Lockwood at (201) 541-4587.
EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION has created a new display at the EAA AirVenture Museum on civilian spacecraft and space tourism. The display will be dedicated during EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2006 July 24-30 at Wittman Regional Airport in Oshkosh, Wis. The new exhibit includes a full-size replica of SpaceShipOne, the first successful civilian spacecraft. The replica is made from the same molds as the original with a complete set of components fabricated at Scaled Composites in Mojave, Calif.
Honeywell signed an agreement with Airservices Australia under which the avionics manufacturer will develop, certify and commercialize a Ground-Based Augmentation System (GBAS) and Ground-based Regional Augmentation System (GRAS) to provide navigation and landing guidance for aircraft flying over the continent.
Named manager of FlightSafety International's London Farnborough learning center. Hewett joined FSI as assistant manager of the London Farnborough facility in 2004. He has 25 years of aviation experience, previously serving as the flight department manager and chief pilot for a division of the Motorola Company in Europe. He also has held management, pilot and instructor positions and spent 13 years with Electronic Data Systems. He has multi-engine FAA and CAA ratings and Bermuda certification.
A CESSNA CARAVAN registered to Atesa Aero Taxis Ecuatorianos S.A. of Quito, Ecuador "crashed following a loss of engine power" while departing from the Cuenca, Ecuador Airport (CUE) March 24, according to a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board. Visual meteorological conditions prevailed during the 11 a.m. local time takeoff.
Model ATR 42 airplanes and Model ATR 72 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2006-23635; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-245-AD; Amendment 39-14546; AD 2006-07-19] - requires installing protective ramps on trim panel 110VU; and inspecting the protective guard of the standby pitch trim switch to determine if it is missing, damaged, or ineffective, and taking the corrective action if necessary. This AD results from a finding that the protective guard of the standby pitch trim switch, which is installed on the center pedestal, could be damaged or missing.
Models 208 and 208B airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2006-23648; Directorate Identifier 2006-CE-07-AD; Amendment 39-14514; AD 2006-06-06] - corrects AD 2006-06-06, published in the March 16 Federal Register, that requires incorporation of information into the applicable section of the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) and Pilots Operating Handbook (POH) and requires installation of placards (BA March 20/127).
Model DHC-8-400 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2006-24365; Directorate Identifier 2006-NM-022-AD] - proposes to require repetitive inspections for cracks of the first fuel access panel outboard of the nacelle on the left- and right-hand wings, and related investigative/corrective actions, if necessary. This proposed AD also would require eventual replacement of each access panel with a new access panel having a new part number. The replacement would terminate the repetitive inspection requirements.
Appointed chief financial and reinsurance officer for AIG Aviation. Jarrett has served as chief reinsurance officer of AIG since 2003. His new role will include the management of the financial as well as the reinsurance operations of AIG Aviation's U.S. and London offices. Jarrett joined AIG Companies in 1979 in Bermuda and became assistant comptroller of AIG Aviation in 1986. He also has served as American International Domestic Brokerage Group Southeast region operation manager and executive vice president/general manager of AIG Truck Insurance Group.
MEANWHILE, speculation in Washington has been growing about whether the FAA proposal can win OMB approval this year. With former OMB Director Josh Bolten taking over as White House chief of staff, some question whether the turnover at OMB will slow the vetting of a lot of pending proposals. One source said OMB officials are asking why the FAA's Air Traffic Organization needs a new funding system before agency officials have identified what new technologies will be needed for NAS modernization or what the cost will be.
LIBERTY AEROSPACE was cleared for FAA production certification approval after an agency unit evaluated the company's Melbourne, Fla. facility. The FAA's PC Board determined that Liberty had met all the requirements for issuance of the PC and will recommend the PC be issued within the next few weeks, the company said. Liberty Aerospace produces the two-seat XL2 piston aircraft. The aircraft is built with a carbon fiber composite fuselage and is powered by a Continental IOF 240-B engine with a PowerLink full authority digital engine control system.
FAA'S PROPOSAL for a new system to finance the Airport and Airway Trust Fund has been sitting at the White House Office of Management and Budget for "some weeks," Blakey acknowledged, but she still hopes to be able to announce the details this spring. "It takes time" to win OMB approval because "there are some big ideas in this [proposal] and it takes a lot of discussion to get this through," she said.
