Northern Air, the Grand Rapids, Mich.-based fixed-base operator, is working in partnership with Gerald R. Ford International Airport to reconstruct two aircraft parking ramps to accommodate larger and heavier business aircraft. Construction will begin this month and is slated to be completed in September. Diversco Construction was awarded the bid for the $6.5 million project. The project primarily will be funded through FAA grants; the state of Michigan and the airport will cover about five percent of the costs.
SEVEN ESCAPE AS BELL 2O6 CRASHES IN EAST RIVER - The pilot and six passengers aboard a Bell 206 sightseeing helicopter were quickly rescued last week after the helicopter plunged into New York's East River.
HONEYWELL BUYING FIRM THAT SPECIALIZES IN CORROSION PREVENTION - Honeywell signed a definitive agreement to buy InterCorr International, Inc., a Houston, Texas company that specializes in corrosion monitoring instrumentation, testing and consulting services and predictive software and corrosion research.
Williams International has seen rival engine-maker Pratt & Whitney Canada win several contracts from OEMs for which Williams had been competing in recent years, but it announced some new customers of its own at last week's Paris Air Show. Williams engines will power the new Grob 180 SP light jet and the Javelin, being developed by Aviation Technology Group and Israel Aircraft Industries. See articles below.
Gulfstream Aerospace delivered a Gulfstream V Special Electronic Mission Aircraft (SEMA) to the Israeli Ministry of Defense. The aircraft will replace the Israeli Air Force's aging Boeing 707 aircraft. The aircraft was delivered to the Israeli government last month at Gulfstream's headquarters in Savannah and then flown to Tel Aviv, Israel, where it is being fitted with electronic equipment. Gulfstream expects to deliver another SEMA aircraft next year. Gulfstream won the SEMA contract in November 2001.
Dan O'Malley was promoted to vice president and general manager of Gulfstream Aerospace's facility in Mexicali, Mexico. O'Malley has spent the past five years as general manager of the facility, which provides avionics, assembly and fabrication work for Gulfstream business jets. He joined Gulfstream in 1999 as senior manager of the composite manufacturing business unit in Savannah, Ga. He also has served with Lucas Aerospace and Hughes Electronics.
REGIONAL OEMS ANNOUNCE SPATE OF ORDERS DURING PARIS AIR SHOW - Regional plane-makers Embraer, Bombardier and ATR have racked up a number of recent orders, detailing several of them last week during the Paris Air Show.
NORDAM, 3M PARTNER TO EXPLORE JOINT OFFERINGS - The NORDAM Group teamed with 3M Aerospace and Aircraft Maintenance Division to explore potential areas of collaboration, including applications for radio frequency identification (RFID) technology. The companies are hoping to expand the use of RFID technology in the aerospace market. RFID involves the use of a microchip and antenna that are embedded inside a tag that is affixed to individual aircraft parts or tools, allowing them to be tracked.
Falcontrust Air last week held ceremonies to officially launch operations at Kendall-Tamiami Executive Airport in Florida. The 22,000-square-foot fixed-base operation was designed with an array of amenities, including a fitness center with sauna, a personal movie theater, regulation-size pool tables, a sky lounge with a fully stocked bar for guests and private rooms for pilots. The three-story Mediterranean style building has Italian marble flooring and designer furnishings.
Jet Support Services Inc. (JSSI) launched a new business-to-business portal, MyJSSI.com, to serve as an electronic business platform where JSSI customers, vendors and employees can conduct business on-line. "The MyJSSI.com venture responds to our customers' valuable input and their desire to interact on-line and reduce the paperwork involved when transacting with JSSI," said Marla Gelfond, executive vice president and chief financial officer.
Malcolm Stamper, 80, a long-time Boeing executive who headed up development of the 747 airliner, died June 14 at his home in Seattle after a long battle with prostate cancer. An electrical engineering graduate of Georgia Tech University, Stamper joined Boeing in 1962 as head of the company's aerospace electronics division. He subsequently was named vice president and general manager of the company's Turbine Division and became president of the company in 1972. He served in that post and on the board of directors until 1985, when he became vice chairman.
Gordon F. Baxter, 81, a popular radio broadcaster and aviation columnist, died June 11 in Beaumont, Texas after a long series of health problems. Born on Christmas in 1923 in Port Arthur, Texas, Baxter became a Texas celebrity with a long-running radio talk show decades before talk shows proliferated. He gained national exposure with his "Bax Seat" column that began running in Flying magazine in 1972 and continued through the mid-1990s.
House Transportation Appropriations subcommittee last week called for substantially increasing FAA funding levels despite the Bush Administration's request for nearly $900 million in cuts. The committee recommended a $14.427 billion fiscal 2006 budget, some $877 million more than the fiscal 2005 budget and up $1.74 billion from what the Bush Administration had sought for the agency.
The Federal Aviation Administration last week directed its inspectors to increase their oversight of Part 135 operations to ensure that those using a "d/b/a" or "doing-business-as" name are doing so properly and complying with regulations (BA, June 13/281). That direction came in a five-page notice issued to all Part 135 principal operations inspectors (POIs) that clarifies the use of a d/b/a and focuses attention on who has operational control of an aircraft.
General Electric won a $50 million contract to provide CT7-8E engines for use during the system development and demonstration (SDD) phase of the Presidential Helicopter Replacement program. Work will begin immediately and continue through 2008. Three of the engines will power each US101 helicopter, a variant of the AgustaWestland EH101 multimission helicopter. Lockheed Martin System Integration-Oswego is the prime contractor for the program.
Aerosonic Corporation, Clearwater, Fla., was selected to provide standby instruments for Adam Aircraft's twin-piston A500 and turbine A700 aircraft. Adam received type certificate approval for the A500 last month and expects to begin deliveries this year. The A700 is slated for certification and delivery next year. Aerosonic will supply altimeters and airspeed indicators for both aircraft.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia found that the city of Naples, Fla., introduced "ample evidence" to support its ban on Stage 2 aircraft at Naples Municipal Airport and overturned the Federal Aviation Administration's findings that the airport had violated its grant assurance agreements. The decision clears the way for Naples to seek up to $3.2 million in airport grant funding that had been withheld from the airport by FAA in the past three years.
Executive Jet Management added a Citation X and Falcon 900EX to its charter fleet. The Citation X is based at DuPage Airport in Chicago, and the Falcon 900EX is at San Francisco International Airport. EJM manages 101 aircraft in more than 60 locations throughout the U.S.
MICHAEL BOWMAN was promoted to executive vice president of Washington operations for DRS Technologies. A retired vice admiral in the U.S. Navy, Bowman has served as senior vice president of the Washington office since joining DRS in March 2001. He had a 35-year career in the Navy and carried out a number of assignments involving congressional relations in support of Navy and Marine Corps defense issues.
Gulfstream Aerospace's Long Beach, Calif. service center won approval from the Civil Aviation Administration of China to provide support for Chinese-registered Gulfstream IV-SP, G-III and G-II business jets, the company said.
Federal Aviation Administration is expected shortly to release a notice addressing the use of "DBAs," or doing business as, by charter aircraft brokers and providers. The agency has been concerned about the lack of transparency regarding who has operational control of an aircraft, and that concern was heightened after the Challenger runway overrun in February at Teterboro Airport (BA, Feb. 7/61).
DASSAULT CELEBRATES 30 YEARS IN LITTLE ROCK, PLANS EXPANSION - French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Falcon Jet celebrated the 30th anniversary of the company's Little Rock, Ark. completion center this month as officials are planning a major expansion of the facility to accommodate work on the new Falcon 7X business jet.
CHARLIE WITTMAN was promoted to senior manager, program integrated product team, for Midcoast Aviation. A licensed airframe and powerplant mechanic, Wittman worked as a technician for several aviation companies before joining Midcoast in 1990.
"It's going to take a lot more time than any of us thought," one lobbyist predicted while discussing when general aviation might get back into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The Homeland Security Department had indicated that it was ready to release its interim final rule (IFR) outlining a plan to reopen DCA to general aviation last month (BA, May 30/241). But the IFR has not surfaced, and DHS is believed to still be putting some finishing touches on it.
