KEVIN PARKER was named general manager of Raytheon Aircraft Company's aircraft servicing facility in Fulton County, Ga. Parker will be responsible for the aircraft maintenance, avionics, refurbishment and modifications activities as well as oversee the fixed-base operation at the facility. He most recently was general manager of repair and support for Delta Air Lines and held various technical operations positions with the airline.
LEE RICHARDS was named regional sales director for Flight Options. Richards will be responsible for sales in the Great Lakes region. He most recently held an aircraft sales position with Bell Aviation.
THE FATE of the pilot of that Cessna 150 was believed to be nearing resolution Friday afternoon. FAA initially indicated it planned to revoke the pilot's license of Hayden L. (Jim) Shaeffer, Jr., but sources say he retained legal counsel, possibly in an effort to work out a deal to surrender his certificate without having it revoked.
NTSB RENEWS CALL FOR BETTER GA DATA From FAA - The National Transportation Safety Board renewed its call for the Federal Aviation Administration to improve its data collection, releasing this month another round of recommendations urging better tracking methods for general aviation, on-demand and fractional ownership aircraft operators. NTSB and other agencies rely on the FAA General Aviation and Air Taxi Activity Survey (GAATA) to compile accident rates and other safety statistics, but the safety board expressed doubts about the GAATA data.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION'S board of trustees last week elected William Trimble, III, chairman. Trimble, an active pilot who is a senior executive at a money management firm, succeeds Paul Heintz, who has been chairman since 2002. Heintz has served on the board for nearly 30 years and will continue as a board member.
HONEYWELL has begun flight-testing its new TFE 731-50 turbofan engine on a Falcon 20 testbed aircraft. The latest variant of the venerable TFE731 line, the -50 is a derivative of the -60 production engine that uses a common core and a scaled wide chord damperless fan. The -50 incorporates N1 digital electronic engine control with hydromechanical backup. On schedule for certification in 2006, the engine has accumulated nearly 100 hours of run time and 26 flight hours.
ROCKWELL COLLINS' Tailwind 550 satellite television system was awarded a supplemental type certificate for installation on Boeing 767-200/-300/-400 aircraft. Jet Aviation in Basel, Switzerland installed the system, which enables aircraft to receive direct broadcast satellite television channels while flying in the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. The fuselage-mounted Tailwind 550 system brings more than 450 television channels to the aircraft. Tailwind 550 includes a lightweight antenna that provides clear reception on the ground and during all phases of flight.
LORI EDWARDS joined the Shawnee, Kan. law firm of Jackson, Wade and Blanck, L.L.C. as an associate attorney. Edwards began working with the firm before law school and participated in the FAA 125/135 Aviation Rulemaking Committee Operations work group. She is an A&P mechanic and pilot and helped build the firm's Lancair Legacy.
Summary: This notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of 14 CFR, dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities.
ROCKWELL COLLINS TO TEST BROADBAND CONNECTION FOR BIZJETS - Rockwell Collins secured an experimental license from the Federal Communications Commission to deploy and test the company's eXchange broadband connection for business aircraft. The license will permit the transmission of information through the eXchange system using a specific set of radio frequencies in the U.S. Rockwell Collins is authorized to install and use the system on aircraft as well as conduct testing in various labs.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model EC120 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2005-20289; Directorate Identifier 2003-SW-55-AD; Amendment 39-14073; AD 2005-09-05] - requires inspecting the tail rotor drive shaft damper half-clamps to determine if they are centered on the friction ring, and if not correctly positioned, centering the half-clamps on the friction ring. This amendment is prompted by the discovery of half-clamps that were incorrectly positioned.
Hillsborough County Aviation Authority is soliciting letters of interest from firms for a customs facility in the general aviation area at Tampa International Airport. The firm would be responsible for design, engineering and construction services. Send letters of interest to Dan Noettl, manager, planning and development, Hillsborough County Aviation Authority, Post Office Box 22287, Tampa, Fla. 33622. The letters of interest must be received by 5 p.m. June 1, and a mandatory pre-qualification conference will by held at 2 p.m. June 16.
BAE Jetstream Model 4101 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-21087; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-019-AD] - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires operators to determine the number of flight cycles accumulated on each component of the main landing gear (MLG) and the nose landing gear (NLG), and to replace each component that reaches its life limit with a serviceable component.
Aroni Aviation moved its Landing Gear and Accessory shops into a 25,000-square-foot facility next to the George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston, Texas. The facility includes more than 10,000 square feet of environmentally controlled shop space. The larger facilities will allow the company to grow its HS125 landing gear overhaul business.
PETER LIKORAY was appointed sales director for new and used aircraft in Canada for Bombardier Aerospace. Likoray will be responsible for Learjet, Challenger and Global Express business jets in Canada. Based in Montreal, he reports to Jahid Fazal-Karim, senior vice president of new aircraft sales for Bombardier Business Aircraft. Likoray joined Bombardier in 1990, serving in the Spare Parts Sales Department for the Amphibious Aircraft Division.
TAG Aviation CEO Roger McMullin and Cannes/Mandelieu Airport were among those selected by the European Business Aviation Association and the National Business Aviation Association as 2005 recipients of the European Business Aviation Awards. McMullin will be recognized for directing TAG's effort to modernize Farnborough Airport, the only airport in the United Kingdom dedicated to business aircraft use. TAG worked to obtain planning and environmental approvals from local government authorities and to coordinate major renovations to runways and operational infrastructure.
Gulfstream Aerospace's long-range Gulfstream V received a type certificate from the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau. Gulfstream began work to obtain the approval after receiving an order from the Japan Coast Guard for two special mission GV aircraft. The first aircraft was delivered earlier this year, and the second aircraft is slated for delivery shortly. "Historically, the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau has granted validation on a case-by-case basis to operators of GV aircraft," said Gulfstream President Bryan Moss.
Ten years after Bombardier Aerospace entered the fractional aircraft business with its Dallas-based Flexjet offering, Flexjet officials say they are finally making money in a "very, very fickle" business and believe they have a workable plan to remain a significant player in the fractional business.
Kaman Corp., Bloomfield, Conn., posted first quarter net earnings of $4.7 million, a 291 percent jump from a year earlier. Sales increased 7.3 percent to $263.3 million. Aerospace net sales jumped 10.7 percent to $65.7 million and Aerostructures reported a 20.5 percent increase to $12.9 million. The Helicopter Division's net sales, however, fell from $18 million in first quarter 2004 to $15.2 million in the most recent quarter. The division completed production of 11 SH-2G(A) aircraft for Australia.
Two days after a pair of wayward pilots from Pennsylvania triggered evacuations of the White House, Capitol and other government buildings when their vintage Cessna 150 strayed into restricted airspace around Washington, D.C., members of Congress and aviation industry lobbyists were saying Friday that the incident should not result in any significant setbacks in the long-awaited reopening of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to business jet flights.
Federal Security Officials are drawing closer to publishing a plan under which business aviation flights could return to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, but they're believed to be insisting on some very burdensome restrictions - including making DCA-bound flights undergo security inspections at specified "portal" airports and carrying law enforcement personnel on board. See article below.
DORNIER Model 328-100 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-21053; Directorate Identifier 2005-NM-053-AD] - proposes to require modifying the electrical wiring of the fuel pumps; installing insulation at the hand flow control and shut-off valves, and other components of the environmental control system; and installing markings at fuel wiring harnesses. This proposed AD also would require revising the Airworthiness Limitations section of the Instructions for Continued Airworthiness to incorporate new inspections of the fuel tank system.
