Executive Aircraft Completions (EAC) LLC, an interior design engineering firm in Tulsa, Okla., signed an agreement with Midcoast Aviation under which EAC will support Midcoast's interior completions efforts on the Bombardier Global 5000 business jet. The contract also licenses Midcoast to use EAC's new PERMIT proprietary 3D solid-modeling engineering software.
The Federal Aviation Administration likely will grant a limited extension for the Part 135/125 Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) to develop a series of draft notices of proposed rulemaking that will provide the framework for a sweeping rewrite of Part 135 requirements, impose new flight and duty time standards and substantially alter Part 125, Kathy Perfetti, the FAA official leading the ARC, said last week during the National Air Transportation Association annual meeting and convention in Las Vegas.
One major rule FAA has yet to make a decision on, Perfetti said, is air tour safety. Perfetti noted that the rule generated strong opposition and said the agency was combing through the comments on it (BA, May 17/221). FAA, she said, has "not made a decision about what to do with that."
HELICOPTER PIONEER Frank N. Piasecki, founder and president of the Piasecki Aircraft Corp. of Essington, Pa., received the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievement in ceremonies at the museum March 9. Piasecki was honored "for his distinguished career as a pioneer in helicopter design and development, and for his lifelong commitment to aerospace," said Jack Daily, director of the museum. Piasecki is responsible for the development of more than 23 different vertical-lift aircraft in a career than spans 60 years.
FAA TO HELP DOT WITH DISABILITY ACT COMPLIANCE - FAA inspectors will help the U.S. Transportation Dept. enforce airline compliance of the Air Carrier Access Act as the department works to revise implementation of the law designed to ensure that disabled passengers have fair and equal access to air service.
Lockheed Martin hired a Pennsylvania firm to design a new manufacturing facility where the VXX presidential helicopter fleet will be built. L. Robert Kimball & Associates will design a 176,000-square-foot complex at Lockheed Martin's Systems Integration facility in Oswego, N.Y. The Oswego unit is the prime contractor and systems integrator for the U.S. Navy's Presidential Helicopter Replacement Program (VXX). The Lockheed Martin team won a contract earlier this year to supply the 23 helicopters for the Defense Department.
POGO'S CRANDALL SAYS AIRCRAFT SELECTION STILL UP IN THE AIR - Robert Crandall, the chairman of POGO Jet, Inc., said the company is still pushing ahead with plans to offer point-to-point service with the new generation of small business jets now in development, but in his remarks at last week's National Air Transportation Association convention he maintained that company officials have not decided on an aircraft provider - despite a previously announced order for 75 Adam A700 aircraft valued at $150 million.
LUFTHANSA, NETJETS TEAM UP; NEW PARTNERSHIP EXPLAINED - Lufthansa and Netjets yesterday unveiled a cooperation agreement that will see the two companies become partners on an exclusive basis. Under the agreement, signed yesterday in Munich by Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber and Netjets CEO Richard Santulli, Netjets initially will provide business jet services to Lufthansa passengers arriving or departing on the airline's long-haul flights in Munich.
Gulfstream Aerospace, preparing for an anticipated increase in business jet sales in India, signed a sales representation agreement with Air Works India Engineering Private Ltd. to offer Gulfstream's line of seven business jet models to the Indian market. Established in 1951, Air Works India is an aircraft sales and service company based at Mumbai International Airport with facilities in Delhi, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad. There are currently nine Gulfstream aircraft based in India flown by public- and private-sector operators.
BOMBARDIER TO INSTALL COMMON ENGINE ON CRJ-700/-900 - Bombardier is upgrading the engine for the CRJ-700 aircraft, switching to a variant of an engine that powers the CRJ-900, starting in the second quarter. The OEM unveiled plans last week to change the CRJ-700 engine from the General Electric CF34-8C1 to the CF34-8C5B1, a sibling to the CF34-8C5 engine used in the CRJ-900.
BOEING TO ACCELERATE CEO SEARCH IN WAKE OF STONECIPHER'S OUSTER - Boeing's board of directors is accelerating its search for a new chief executive officer after it forced incumbent Harry Stonecipher to resign because of an inappropriate relationship with a female Boeing executive.
MICHAEL JACKSON CONFIRMED, SWORN IN AT DHS - Michael Jackson, the former deputy secretary of the Department of Transportation, was confirmed by the Senate Thursday for the post of deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Jackson was sworn in Friday by Michael Chertoff, who recently took over as Secretary of DHS. Jackson was a popular choice for the job among aviation officials who worked closely with him during his tenure at DOT. He is viewed as a supporter of efforts to reopen Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to non-airline flights.
Women In Aviation International celebrated its 10th anniversary last week at the group's annual convention in Dallas, Texas. The organization awarded more than 425 scholarships valued at $3.5 million to women seeking careers in aviation in its first nine years and that total was expected to exceed $4 million by the end of last week's meeting.
ELIZABETH MAULAZ joined aircraft components specialist A J Walter Aviation as director of European sales. Her main responsibility will be to coordinate and develop the company's growth strategy in France and the French-speaking markets across North Africa. Maulaz previously was employed as national marketing and key accounts manager at Volvo Aero Services.
AIR TRACTOR, INC. Models AT-300, AT-301, AT-302, AT-400, AT-400A, AT-401, AT-402, AT-602, AT-802, and AT-802A Airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2004-19837; Directorate Identifier 2004-CE-43-AD] - Proposes to require repetitive tightening of the four eyebolts that attach the front and rear spar of the horizontal stabilizer to the respective stabilizer strut to the specified torque, and repetitive replacement at specified intervals of any eyebolts that attach the front and rear spar of the horizontal stabilizer to the respective stabilizer strut.
Several business jets were involved in accidents/incidents last week. A Challenger, N660RM, was damaged when the gear collapsed while the aircraft was taking off from Tupelo, Miss. March 9. There were two pilots and five passengers on board and no injuries were reported. An HS125, N703TS, spent more than a day stuck in the mud at the Teterboro, N.J. airport after the aircraft veered off the runway while landing in gusty wind conditions. No injuries were reported. FAA also reported a Falcon 2000, N27R, that landed with its nose gear up March 10 in Greensboro, N.C.
LEIGH ANN SPOONER joined Sun Air Jets in Camarillo, Calif. as director of charter sales. Previously an executive sales representative at TWC Aviation, she has 19 years of marketing and aviation experience. She will direct Sun Air's charter sales efforts and the acquisition of additional managed aircraft.
CHRISTINE BLAIR, an account executive for Globalair.com, is now operating the company's branch office in Rome, N.Y., where she spearheads the Aircraft Exchange component of the company. Blair spent the past 16 years in the aviation industry. Before joining Globalair.com last year, she was a light-jet sales associate and market research analyst with Boston Aviation. From 2000 to 2003, she held a similar position with Robert B. Currey & Associates. She earlier spent 12 years with JETNET as a turbine and jet research associate and aircraft dealer representative.
Executive Jet Management (EJM) last week filed an application with the Department of Transportation for authority to operate scheduled passenger service as a commuter air carrier with flights to Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. EJM, one of the nation's largest aircraft charter and management operations, proposed entering the scheduled airline arena by serving the three cities with business jets. The company outlined plans to provide about 30 flights per week between Chicago Midway and White Plains, N.Y.
BAE Model BAe 146 and Avro 146-RJ series airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2004-18678; Directorate Identifier 2001-NM-312-AD; Amendment 39-13991; AD 2005-05-03] - requires repetitive detailed inspections of the center and rear fuselage skin including all the lap joints at stringers 2, 10, 19, and 30, and repair if necessary. This AD is prompted by evidence of cracking due to fatigue along the edges of certain chemi-etched pockets in the rear fuselage upper skin.
A Howard DGA-15 aircraft was substantially damaged last month during a landing accident when it ground looped. The aircraft, N68431, piloted by an airline transport-rated pilot, had been on a local flight that originated from and was landing at Spruce Creek Airport in Daytona Beach, Fla. The pilot told investigators that during the landing roll the airplane traveled about 500 feet down the runway when it veered right without warning.
Kohlman Systems Research (KSR), the Lawrence, Kan.-based aerospace engineering specialist, recently completed its 200th test flight for reduced vertical separation minimum approval. The flight involved a Sabre 40 aircraft for Sabreliner Corporation. KSR first began flight-testing aircraft for RVSM approval in 1997, but said it has performed more than half the approval flights in the last two years and has averaged one per week since the beginning of 2002.
