New Piper Friday delivered the 200th Malibu Meridian to Ontario, Canada customers Don and Jane Lockhard. The aircraft is the second Meridian shipped to the Lockhards, who also have owned two Piper Mirages and a Piper Malibu.
If the long-term trend continues, 2005 could be the first year since 1944 with fewer than 300 fatal general aviation accidents in the U.S. There were 312 fatal accidents last year, which represents a 37.3 percent drop over the past 20 years. See NTSB charts and article below.
The agreement will not affect the protest NAATS filed last month contesting FAA's decision to award the flight service station contract to Lockheed Martin. NAATS joins the employee-based Most Efficient Organization (MEO) in contesting the decision. FAA has until April 29 to respond to the protests. NAATS also last month filed an age discrimination suit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging that the process infringes upon employees' rights and benefits.
TERRY WESLEY-SMITH was named general manager of Jeppesen's newly opened facility at the Boeing offices in Canberra, Australia. Wesley-Smith has both military and civil aviation experience. A helicopter pilot in the Australian Army, he retired from the service in 1987 after a 20-year career. He also has served as general manager of Pilatus Australia Pty. Ltd and is chairman of the board for the Regional Aviation Association of Australia.
CESSNA Models 172R, 172S, 182T, and T182T airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-20587; Directorate Identifier 2005-CE-10-AD; Amendment 39-14021; AD 2005-05-53 R1] - Revises emergency AD 2005-05-53 for Cessna Models 172R, 172S, 182T, and T182T airplanes. This AD contains the same information as emergency AD 2005-05-53 R1 and publishes the action in the Federal Register. It requires a one-time detailed inspection of the flight control system, correction of installations that do not conform to type design, and repair of any damage.
NATA SEEKS MORE TIME ON TRAINING DIRECTIVE - The National Air Transportation Association last week appealed to the Federal Aviation Administration to give commercial and fractional aircraft operators more time to comply with a directive to audit training centers, saying many operators are just now finding out about the mandate. FAA issued a notice to principal operations inspectors Feb.
Pilatus Aircraft appointed OceanAir Taxi Aereo Ltda. an exclusive factory-authorized sales and service representative in Brazil. OceanAir Taxi began operating in 1998 and in 2003 was named the exclusive representative for Bombardier Business Jets in Brazil. Through a partnership with Target Company, OceanAir Taxi opened a maintenance center at Congonhas Airport in Sao Paulo. OceanAir said the Pilatus agreement "opens huge possibilities for the PC-12 since the Brazilian market has a great demand for sophisticated small business aircraft."
CESSNA Models 172R, 172S, 182T, T182T, 206H, and T206H airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-20438; Directorate Identifier 2005-CE-03-AD] - proposes to require inspecting any MC01-3A I.C. 9 or MC01-3A I.C. 10 main electrical power junction box circuit breakers for correct amperage (amp) (a correct 40-amp circuit breaker) and replacing any incorrect amp circuit breaker with the correct 40-amp circuit breaker.
Commonwealth Business Media completed its purchase of aviation and air transportation information supplier BACK Aviation Solutions. BACK, headquartered in New Haven, Conn., provides aviation information and analytical tools to the air transport industry, including traffic data, airline schedules, financials, operating statistics, fleet data, and route mapping.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-8-101, -102, -103, -106, -201, -202, -301, -311, and -315 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-20730; Directorate Identifier 2004-NM-68-AD] - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires installation of a placard on the instrument panel of the cockpit to advise the flight crew that positioning of the power levers below the flight idle stop during flight is prohibited. Additionally, the existing AD requires eventual installation of an FAA-approved system that would prevent such positioning of the power levers during flight.
SENIOR FAA OFFICIAL WARNS OF CERTIFICATION DELAYS THROUGH 2006 - Delays in the certification process are expected to continue for the foreseeable future because FAA will be down some 300 Aviation Safety positions this year and has plans to fill only about 100 of those positions in fiscal 2006, Peggy Gilligan, deputy associate administrator for Aviation Safety, said last week.
Despite persistent reports that Bombardier might sell its Learjet manufacturing operations in Wichita, Kan., that will not happen, said Pierre Beaudoin, president of Bombardier Aerospace. Asked about the possible sale of the Wichita facilities during a conference call on the company's fiscal 2005 financial results, Beaudoin responded that "we have no intention of selling" the Learjet operations, citing demand for Learjet models.
A Texas judge signed a $96 million judgment last week against Textron Lycoming, upholding an earlier jury verdict (BA, Feb. 21/85). The judgment, signed by Judge Jerry Sandel of the 278th Judicial District Court in Anderson, Texas, includes $86.3 million in punitive damages. The case centered around engine failures in aircraft built by Cessna, Piper and other manufacturers, primarily because of broken crankshafts. The jury found Textron Lycoming guilty of fraud and said the company's design of the crankshafts was the "sole cause" of the crankshaft failures.
Peter Bunce took over Friday as president and chief executive of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, bringing a wealth of hands-on congressional experience from his most recent Air Force assignments. See article below.
Carol Carmody left the National Transportation Safety Board Friday after serving as a member for nearly five years. Carmody joined NTSB in June 2000 and served as vice chair from 2001 to 2003. She also served as acting chair during that time. Before joining the safety board, Carmody was the U.S. representative to the International Civil Aviation Organization and a staff member on the Senate Commerce Committee.
Air Transport Association continued its public rhetoric last week about the need for business aircraft operators to pay more for their use of the national airspace system (NAS).
ExcelAire added a Gulfstream IV-SP and a Gulfstream III to its charter fleet. The additions increase the Ronkonkoma, N.Y.-based charter's fleet of Gulfstream aircraft to nine. ExcelAire also added two Hawker 800s to its fleet. The Hawkers are based at Republic Airport in Farmingdale and at Long Island MacArthur Airport in Islip. The ExcelAire fleet also includes Citation and Learjet aircraft and Sikorsky, Bell and Eurocopter helicopters.
COYNE APPEALS TO SENATE LEADERS FOR BANNER-TOWER RELIEF - The nearly three-year-old ban on aerial advertisers over sporting events persists not because of valid security concerns but because stadium operators want to keep the monopoly they enjoy on stadium advertising, National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne told Senate Commerce Committee leaders, urging Congress to lift the ban.
One of the technical issues under discussion between FAA and South American officials is atmospheric effects on GPS and WAAS signals near the equator. Scientists have found problems with the integrity of those signals within 20 degrees of the equator due to ionospheric effects.
BILL GARHILL joined Banyan Air Service as director of customer service. Garhill has more than 25 years of aviation experience, serving as a quality assurance manager at the corporate headquarters of Raytheon Aircraft Services as well as a line service manager in Tampa. He has earned commercial, instrument and certified flight instructor ratings.
April 12-18 - Sun 'N' Fun Fly-In, Lakeland, Fla., (863) 644-2431 April 26-28 - Flight Safety Foundation/National Business Aviation Association Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar, Orlando, Fla., (202) 783-9000 April 27-30 - Aircraft Electronics Association Annual Convention and Trade Show, Grapevine, Texas, (816) 478-3100 May 1-4 - American Association of Airport Executives 77th Annual Conference & Exposition, Seattle, Wash., (703) 824-0504
BAE Model BAe 146 series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-20724; Directorate Identifier 2004-NM-233-AD] - proposes to require repetitive inspections for cracks of the fuselage pressure skin above the left and right main landing gear (MLG) bay. This proposed AD also would require corrective action, including related investigative actions, if leaks are found. This proposed AD is prompted by reports of cracks in the fuselage pressure skin above the left and right MLG bay.
GULFSTREAM'S APPLETON FACILITY PERFORMING MULTIPLE MISSIONS - Gulfstream Aerospace is dividing its Appleton, Wis. manufacturing and maintenance facility into three separate units.
