ACI-NA, AAAE ASK SENATORS TO INCREASE WILDLIFE MITIGATION FUNDING - Airports Council International-North America and the American Association of Airport Executives have requested that the Senate increase funding for a program designed to improve airport safety through wildlife hazard mitigation efforts.
National Air Transportation Association is looking past the pervasive heat now enveloping most of the country to schedule four Deice/Anti-Icing Seminars for line technicians, ground personnel, flight crews and dispatch personnel in September. The seminars will be held Sept. 7 in Windsor, Conn.; Sept. 14 in Vandalia (near Dayton), Ohio; Sept. 21 in Denver; and Sept. 28 in Milwaukee, Wis.
James Melvin was appointed vice president and general manager of Plastic Fabricating Company, Inc., the Wichita, Kan.-based unit of Kaman Aerospace. Melvin has more than 20 years of aerospace and defense experience and spent the past 10 years with Unison Industries. He also worked for Texas Instruments and EG&G Sealol.
Precise Flight Models SVS I and SVS IA standby vacuum systems [Docket No. FAA-2004-19354; Directorate Identifier 2004-CE-30-AD; Amendment 39-14107; AD 2005-11-05] - requires replacing the airplane flight manual supplement (AFMS) in the airplane flight manual with the appropriate revision and installing placards as defined in the AFMS, upgrading the Model SVS I or SVS IA SVS to the Model VI SVS, and adding the instructions for continued airworthiness (ICA) to the maintenance schedule for the aircraft.
Premier Air Center entered into an agreement with Universal Avionics Systems Corp. of Tucson, Ariz. to certify Universal's Vision-1 synthetic vision system with the "egocentric" view on the EFI-890R primary flight display. Premier also signed agreements with two Falcon 50 operators to install the EFI-890R flight display package in their aircraft. The first Falcon 50 was scheduled to arrive at Premier's East Alton, Ill. facility Friday (July 1), with the second to follow in September.
Cessna Models 401, 401A, 401B, 402, 402A, 402B, 411, and 411A airplanes [Docket No. FAA-05-21176; Directorate Identifier 2005-CE-25-AD; Amendment 39-14128; AD 2005-12-12] - supersedes AD 79-10-15, which requires repetitive inspections of the right and left wing spar lower cap areas for fatigue cracks and requires wing spar cap repair or replacement as necessary.
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) plans to take a closer look at aviation safety issues as well as those affecting Alaska this week while the Senate is on a one-week break. Stevens scheduled a field hearing for July 5 in Anchorage to consider issues including Essential Air Service, runway lighting, air traffic control technology and the Five Star Medallion Program, among others. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and FAA Administrator Marion Blakey are scheduled to testify, as are seven aviation officials from the Alaska region.
CITATIONSHARES OFFERING RIDES ON POSITIONING LEGS, BOOSTING PRICES - CitationShares, the five-year-old fractional ownership program based in Greenwich, Conn., is launching several new initiatives for its members and boosting rates to ensure it can continue to provide top-notch service for its customers.
Elliott Aviation is working toward an FAA supplemental type certificate to upgrade the cockpit on the Falcon 10/100 aircraft. The upgrade would include replacing electromechanical flight instruments with a Universal 890R large-format instrument suite.
ERJ-145 MAY BE TOO SMALL FOR ARMY AIRBORNE SENSOR PROGRAM - The U.S. Army-led Aerial Common Sensor (ACS) program has concluded that it will need a larger airframe than the Embraer ERJ-145 regional jet that it selected less than a year ago, according to prime contractor Lockheed Martin. Responding to questions, Lockheed Martin told BA affiliate Aerospace Daily and Defense Report in a statement June 29 that ACS designers have found "additional integration weight" that will prevent the program from using a modified ERJ-145.
Marty Graham joined the aviation consulting practice BACK Aviation Solutions. Graham, who will be based in the firm's Washington, D.C. office, previously was a senior analyst for transpacific revenue management for Northwest Airlines Cargo.
Raytheon Model 390, Premier 1 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-21239; Directorate Identifier 2005-CE-27-AD] - proposes to require installing a kit to correct chafing conditions in the powerplant left-hand and right-hand engine installations. This proposed AD results from reports of inadequate left-hand and right-hand engine assembly cable, wire, and hose routing clearance. FAA is issuing this proposed AD to detect and correct chafing conditions in the engine installation, which could result in leaking flammable fluids near an ignition source.
SANTA MONICA REVISES FEE SCHEDULE - The Santa Monica, Calif. Airport Commission is scrapping its controversial weight-based fees in favor of a new fee schedule that has received initial approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for implementation at Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO). The new fee schedule, to take effect Aug. 1, also is weight-based, but is the result of negotiations with the FAA to ensure that the fees are viewed as non-discriminatory and justifiable.
Despite another aircraft incursion into restricted airspace around Washington, D.C. that caused brief evacuations of government buildings on Capitol Hill Wednesday evening, FAA denied a Washington Post report that "Bush Administration officials are discussing the possibility of extending the restricted airspace around Washington, D.C., said an administration official who spoke on the condition on anonymity." See article below.
Nicole Rieder joined BACK Aviation Solutions to provide analytical support. Rieder recently graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University as valedictorian with a degree in aviation management.
July 7 - NBAA Business Aviation Regional Forum, San Jose, Calif., www.nbaa.org July 11-14 - SAE International's Conference on Environmental Systems and European Symposium on Space Environmental Control Systems, Hotel Villa Pamphili, Rome. Call +1 (724) 776-4841 or see www.sae.org July 16 - National Aviation Hall of Fame 44th Annual Induction Ceremony, Dayton, Ohio, (937) 256-0944
Honda, which has provided only limited information on its twin-engine experimental HondaJet aircraft, plans to stage the aircraft's "world debut" at this month's Experimental Aircraft Association convention in Oshkosh, Wis. The Japanese manufacturer has spent nearly two decades developing the aircraft, which began flying in late 2003 (BA, Dec. 22, 2003/275).
Bombardier Model DHC-8-401 and -402 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-21435; Directorate Identifier 2004-NM-163-AD] - proposes to require a one-time inspection of the fuel and hydraulic tubes, and corrective actions if necessary. This proposed AD also would require modifying fairlead plate assemblies. This proposed AD is prompted by reports of chafing between fuel and hydraulic tubes and the fairlead plate where the tubes pass through the firewall.
John T. Walton, one of the richest men in the country, was killed Monday when the unregistered ultralight aircraft he was piloting crashed shortly after takeoff from the Jackson Hole, Wyo. Airport (JAC) in Grand Teton National Park. Walton, 58, was one of three sons of Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton and served on the company's board of directors. His net worth was estimated at $18.2 billion.
CitationShares, the Greenwich, Conn.-based fractional ownership program, may have found a way to help mitigate the cost of aircraft positioning flights, a bane of both fractional and charter operators. At the same time, the company is raising prices and fees for its services in an attempt to push its operations into the black. See article below.
Helicopter Association International is seeking a college graduate "with a documented track record as a skilled manager and team leader" who is an "articulate, organized self-starter, with excellent writing skills, and considerable understanding of the political nature of association work" to serve as HAI's chief staff executive. Experience as a civilian pilot, with helicopter time, is listed as "desirable" for potential candidates.
Raytheon Aircraft Company said its Little Rock, Ark. facility won a trophy from fractional aircraft provider NetJets, Inc. for outstanding performance. The Little Rock facility services and performs scheduled maintenance on NetJets' fleet of Hawker 400XPs, Hawker 800XPs and Hawker 1000s.
Cirrus Model SR20 and SR22 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2004-19694; Directorate Identifier 2004-CE-41-AD] - proposes to revise an earlier proposed AD that would have required measuring and adjusting the crew seat break-over bolts and replacing the crew seat recline locks on both crew seats. The earlier proposal resulted from Cirrus discovering that the crew seats, under emergency landing dynamic loads, may fold forward at less than the 26 Gs required by the regulations.
CRASH NEAR FOGGY GROTON CLAIMS FLYING ROTARIANS - A Cessna 182 Skylane, part of a group flight by members of The International Fellowship of Flying Rotarians, crashed shortly after noon June 27 in dense fog into Fishers Island Sound near Groton, Conn., killing all four people aboard. Local law enforcement officials identified the victims as Herbert K. (Chip) Rollins, III of Phoenix, Ariz., his wife Patricia, and another couple, who resided in Australia.
Business aviation executives are becoming increasingly alarmed that a recent Internal Revenue Service notice on the use of business aircraft for entertainment purposes is so overreaching that it may chase away potential new aircraft buyers. The IRS last month released an interpretation of a new tax law that limits or disallows a wide range of expenses that can be deducted when a company aircraft is used by senior executives for entertainment (BA, Jun 13/266).
