Concerns that security-sensitive operational information was publicly available prompted the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) to ask FAA to block access to transcripts from the public hearings on a proposal to make permanent the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over Washington, D.C. (BA, Jan. 23/31). FAA, with participation by TSA and a number of other federal agencies, held two hearings in January that together drew more than 500 attendees - most of them opposed to the ADIZ proposal.
Aircraft salesmen looking to India as the next hot market for business jets and regional airliners got some good news recently when Indian officials announced an ambitious plan to upgrade the nation's secondary airports.
Promoted to vice president of large fleets and government contracts for Landmark Aviation. Larsen formerly was director of large fleet and government contracts and engine program sales manager for Landmark. He has 24 years of business aviation management experience and was one of the founders at Standard Aero Alliance Inc./Alliance Engines.
Appointed West Coast regional sales manager for S-Tec, the Mineral Wells, Texas producer of flight control systems. Doyle has 28 years of aviation experience and most recently was president of his own aviation consulting firm. He also was a founding member of the Global Aeronautical Foundation, a non-profit organization that preserves and showcases vintage aircraft
Model EMB-135 airplanes; and Model EMB-145, -145ER, -145MR, -145LR, -145XR, -145MP, and -145EP airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-23283; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-185-AD; Amendment 39-14483; AD 2006-04-02] - requires repetitive inspections of the pitot static heating relay K0057 for damage to the pin-type contacts, relay enclosure, and finishing material and corrective actions if necessary. This AD also requires a terminating modification, which ends the repetitive inspections.
Schubach Aviation, a Carlsbad, Calif.-based on-demand charter company, added a Hawker 800 to its fleet. The addition of the Hawker brings the number of aircraft in the Schubach charter fleet to 13. The company also operates two Citation CJ1s, a Challenger 601, two King Air 200s, a Citation 1SP, two Learjet 35s, two Learjet 55s and two Hawkers.
Representatives of the nation's large scheduled airlines and the business aviation community espoused fundamentally different approaches last week about how a new space-based air traffic control system should be funded and who should be trusted with governance of the Air Traffic Organization in the future.
Honeywell and Soloy received a supplemental type certificate from FAA for installation of Honeywell's LTS101-700D-2 turboshaft engine on the AS350B2 AStar helicopter. The engine will boost takeoff power by 14 percent at sea level and 18 percent during hot-day conditions, compared with the LTS 101-600A-3A that had been offered for AStar conversion. "We developed this program to satisfy operator demand for the LTS101 engine," said Doug Kult, sales director of Honeywell Light Utility Helicopter programs.
Model AS350B, BA, B1, B2, B3, C, D, and D1 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2006-23888; Directorate Identifier 2005-SW-03-AD] - proposes to require installing right and left side Geneva cyclic control sticks and modifying the cyclic grips and the co-pilot cyclic stand (receptacle). This proposal is prompted by reports that pilots had restricted cyclic stick travel when using Eurocopter factory-installed cyclic sticks in a helicopter that has been modified in accordance with a certain Supplemental Type Certificate (STC) for the installation of a Geneva P132 console.
IN RESPONSE to a report last week about an FAA airworthiness directive regarding problems with cockpit flight panel displays in Gulfstream IV and V aircraft (BA, March 6/104), Honeywell said it has "identified an issue in its Primus Epic avionics that could cause momentary blinking or blanking of the cockpit display units." The Honeywell statement said the problem "only affects the display units, not the overall Primus Epic system," adding that it "is aware of one confirmed occurrence" in which the primary displays "momentarily blanked before stabilizing." Honeywell sai
Sharp details this month will begin offering aircraft cleaning to customers at Signature Flight Support and Jet Aviation at Hanscom Field (BED) in Bedford, Mass. The company will provide wipe-downs, brightwork polishing, Teflon paint protection, Xzilon application, washes, interior detailing and carpet shampooing for based and transient aircraft. The addition of BED continues Sharp Details' expansion in the Northeast.
J.J. Ingalls, 72, who got his start in aviation atop a ladder washing airplane windshields and came to symbolize outstanding FBO customer service, died March 2 in Mesa, Ariz. after a two-year battle with cancer.
Appointed director of sales, West Coast region, for FirstFlight Management. De Sousa will be responsible for sales of charter, management and executive aircraft for Firstflight in the western U.S. He formerly was a charter broker with Blue Star Jets and was sales director of Bombardier/Skyjet's West Coast region. He also served with TWA.
VETERAN AVIATION JOURNALIST Jay Donoghue is leaving Air Transport World magazine to join the staff of the Flight Safety Foundation in Alexandria, Va. Donoghue, who began his aviation career as a U.S. Army combat helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War, started earning a living as a reporter in 1976 when he joined the staff of BA affiliate Aviation Daily. He moved to Air Transport World in 1980 and held a number of posts before being named editor-in-chief in 1991. Donoghue has been serving as editorial director of ATW Media Group since 2002 .
Greater Washington Business Aviation Association has scheduled its next general meeting April 7 at the Manassas, Va. Airport. The meeting, which will be held at the new FlightWorks facility, begins at 11:30 a.m. To attend, contact GWBAA at [email protected].
Marketlift recently launched in Dallas, Texas to provide aviation marketing services. Marjorie DeLong, who has 15 years of business aviation marketing and business development experience, founded the firm to help businesses with strategic marketing planning and implementation. DeLong has worked with CAE SimuFlite, L-3 Communications Avionics Systems and JSSI. For more information, contact DeLong at (214) 862-8992.
Billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffet admitted to his shareholders last week that he was "dead wrong" last year in his prediction that his subsidiary NetJets would make money in 2005.
AVCRAFT DORNIER Model 328-100 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-22813; Directorate Identifier 2002-NM-117-AD; Amendment 39-14493; AD 2000-24-03 R1] - revises an existing AD that requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to provide the flight crew with additional information regarding procedures to ensure complete pressurization of the hydraulic lines for the flaps. The existing AD also requires, for certain airplanes, modifying the flap actuators of the flight controls.
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES CORP. (UTC) tapped Pratt & Whitney President Louis Chenevert to be president, chief operating officer and a director of UTC. Chenevert moves to head the parent company after serving as president of engine maker Pratt & Whitney for seven years. Steve Finger, currently president of Sikorsky Aircraft, will replace Chenevert as president of P&W, and Jeff Pino, Sikorsky's senior vice president for strategy, marketing and commercial programs, will step into the role of president of the helicopter maker.
Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.), teamed with three other senators, drafted an amendment to change reimbursement rules for lawmakers when they use corporate aircraft. The amendment, which is expected to be offered on the lobbying reform bill, S.2349, would require senators who travel on private aircraft to reimburse the owner of the aircraft the fair market value of the flight based on either the charter or rental rate. Current Senate rules allow senators to reimburse owners of the planes at a rate roughly the equivalent of a comparable first class ticket.
FLYING IN ALASKA is still different, DC-3s are tough airplanes and 7 is still a lucky number, based on information contained in a preliminary report by the National Transportation Safety Board. On March 3 an FAA principal operations inspector found a DC-3 "with extensive left wing leading edge damage" at the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport.
Mooney Airplane Company delivered its 11,000th production aircraft, an Ovation2GX, last month to Dennis Strigl of New Jersey. Mooney delivered its first aircraft in 1948. At the time, the company was based in Wichita, Kan. and shipped 66 aircraft in its first full production year. Mooney moved to Kerrville, Texas in 1951 and passed the 10,000-airplane milestone in 1991.
THE NEXT GENERATION AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM will have its day on Capitol Hill this week in an event sponsored jointly by the House space and aeronautics and aviation subcommittees. The Next Generation Air Transportation System Day on Capitol Hill will be held Wednesday, March 15, from 9:30 a.m.-noon in the Rayburn House office building.
The Federal Aviation Administration predicts a double-digit growth rate for the U.S. business jet fleet over the next 12 years, including the addition of nearly 5,000 Very Light Jets. Industry forecasts also are bullish, but some observers believe FAA's business jet predictions may err on the high side, part of the Bush Administration's attempt to convince Congress that FAA needs new funding mechanisms to deal with more business aviation traffic.
