Randy House was promoted to director and national sales manager for Merrill Lynch Capital Equipment Finance group. House joined Merrill Lynch Capital when it was created in 2002 and has more than 20 years of experience in equipment finance sales and sales management.
Cessna this month mated the wing to the fuselage of the Mustang business jet, the latest milestone in preparation for first flight later this year. Cessna relocated 50 of its employees in Independence, Kan. and Columbus, Ga. to Wichita, where the first five Mustangs will be built. The airframes are in various stages of assembly. Three of the aircraft will be used for flight testing and two will be used for structural testing.
Jim May, president of the Air Transport Association, said he expects to find a sympathetic audience on Capitol Hill for the industry's complaints about a new security tax the Bush Administration is proposing to help offset the costs of the Department of Homeland Security. ATA joined forces with a wide range of travel industry and anti-tax groups to oppose the new security fee. See article below.
CMC expects that the Bombardier Enhanced Vision System, which incorporates CMC's SureSight I-series Enhanced Vision System infrared sensor, will win Transport Canada and U.S. FAA approval within the next few weeks. Transport Canada certified the SureSight sensor in late December. The sensor will be incorporated in the Thales HUD as part of the Bombardier EVS. CMC also is supplying the sensor for EVS systems aboard Boeing Business Jets and the Dassault Falcon business jet fleet. Those systems are powered by Rockwell Collins Flight Dynamics' HGS-4860/5860.
Bell Helicopter completed the transition of its Commercial Business Unit to more than 160,000 square feet of hangar and warehouse space at the Alliance, Texas, Airport. Bell's Customer Center and Customer Training Academy are based at the Alliance site, and the company employs about 300 people there. In addition to two hangars and warehouse space, the Alliance site includes office space for customers and showrooms for helicopter design and configuration discussions.
BELL Model 407 helicopters [Docket No. 2004-SW-07-AD; Amendment 39-13963; AD 2005-03-07] - requires creating a component history card or equivalent record for each crosstube assembly, converting accumulated run-on landings to an accumulated Retirement Index Number (RIN) count, and establishing a maximum accumulated RIN for certain crosstube assemblies.
Don Peterson was promoted to director of aircraft sales at Kansas City Aviation Center (KCAC). Peterson has spent five years with KCAC, most recently as Midwest regional director for Pilatus Aircraft. In his new position, Peterson will be responsible for all sales activities, including for Pilatus, Piper and national used aircraft. Before joining KCAC, Peterson was a PC-12 factory demonstration pilot for Pilatus Business Aircraft in Broomfield, Colo. He has more than 3,000 hours in the PC-12
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model EC120 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2005-20289; Directorate Identifier 2003-SW-55-AD] - proposes to require 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 proposal is prompted by the discovery of half-clamps that were incorrectly positioned.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association will report "stronger-than-anticipated" results during the association's Annual Industry Review today (Feb. 14), with sales up domestically, internationally and across all aircraft types. General aviation manufacturers posted a 20 percent increase in billings in 2004, and GAMA believes that last year was only the beginning of what could be a sustained period of industry growth.
FAA Friday was crafting a clarification to its field offices after some notified manufacturers that they would not be accepting any new aircraft certification applications for 90 days. Grappling with scarce resources in the agency's certification and regulation activities, FAA officials have decided to develop a protocol for prioritizing certification applications and notified offices that the protocol may take 90 days to develop. Some offices interpreted that to mean that they should freeze application processing in the interim.
Three people were killed and another two seriously injured after the Cessna C206 carrying them crashed outside of Port Alsworth, Alaska Feb. 9. The aircraft, on a Part 91 flight, departed Anchorage at 1900. The aircraft crashed under unknown circumstances.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model AS355E, F, F1, F2, and N helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2005-20293; Directorate Identifier 2004-SW-34-AD] - proposes superseding an existing AD that currently requires replacing certain main or combiner gearboxes with airworthy gearboxes. Further investigation has shown that the main gearbox is not affected, and this action would require replacing a certain combiner gearbox with a modified airworthy gearbox. This proposal is prompted by a report of a freewheel unit slipping, resulting in an engine overspeed and shutdown.
Nicolas Chabbert rejoined EADS Socata as vice president of customer support. Chabbert has 15 years of aviation experience, formerly serving as senior vice president of sales and marketing for the U.S. division of Socata Aircraft and executive vice president of Mooney Aerospace Group. Chabbert will be responsible for expanding customer support at EADS Socata and its U.S.-based operations.
Cessna Aircraft delivered the first new Cessna 172 Skyhawk and 182 Skylane equipped with AmSafe's seatbelt airbags. The 172, equipped with two front-seat airbags, was handed over to Midland College for student pilot training. The Skylane, equipped with seatbelt airbags in all four seats, was sold to Central California Aviation, a Cessna dealer and authorized service center. The seatbelt airbags are now standard equipment on all Cessna 172s, 182s and 206s.
BELL UNVEILS LARGE-CABIN TWIN-ENGINE HELICOPTER - Bell Helicopter Textron (BHT) unveiled two mockups of a new twin-engine Model 429, designated the GlobalRanger, at last week's Helicopter Association International convention in Anaheim, Calif.
March 8-10 - National Air Transportation Association/Professional Aviation Maintenance Association GSE Aviation Services and Suppliers AS3 Supershow, Sands Expos & Convention Center, Las Vegas, Nev., (703) 845-9000 March 10-12 - 16th Annual International Women in Aviation Conference, Adam's Mark Hotel, Dallas, Texas, (386) 226-7996 March 14-16 - 17th Annual Flight Safety Foundation European Aviation Safety Seminar, Sheraton Warsaw Hotel and Towers, Warsaw, Poland, (703) 739-6700
MD HELICOPTERS Model 600N helicopters [Docket No. 2004-SW-16-AD] - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires certain inspections of both upper tailboom attachments, nutplates, and angles for a crack or thread damage, and repairing or replacing any cracked or damaged part. Also, that AD requires replacing certain tailboom attachment bolts, adding a washer to each bolt, and modifying both upper access covers.
FAA, INDUSTRY TO CONSIDER CHARTER SAFETY INITIATIVES - Senior Federal Aviation Administration officials have asked several industry groups to assemble in a closed-door meeting Friday afternoon (Feb. 18) to consider initiatives that promote best practices for charter safety. The meeting will continue an ongoing dialogue between the National Air Transportation Association and the agency over measures the industry can take to improve safety.
BELL SELLS 20 AB139s TO SEACOR FOR OFFSHORE SUPPORT - Bell/Agusta received a contract from offshore support services company SEACOR for 20 AB139s, the largest single order that the joint venture has received for the medium-twin helicopter, the company announced last week. Bell/Agusta will begin delivery of the AB139s to Seacor later this year and continue through 2009. SEACOR will use the helicopters to support offshore oil operations in the Gulf of Mexico, but might use them in more extensive operations in the future.
Thales won a contract valued at $40 million (U.S.) from the Presidency of Civil Aviation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to provide its EUROCAT air traffic management system for Saudi Arabia. The contract calls for Thales to supply air traffic en route control centers for Riyadh and Jeddah and approach control centers for Riyadh, Jeddah and Madinah. The system will provide air traffic radar coverage throughout Saudi Arabia.
The Senate last week approved 72 to 26 legislation that would require certain kinds of class action cases to be heard in federal court rather than state court. The legislation is expected to be considered by the House this week.
Simon Maina was named regional sales manager of the Central region in the U.S. and Canada for Aviation Technology Group. Maina will oversee sales of the Javelin jet in a region that includes North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and Indiana. He has more than 20 years of experience in sales and management. He most recently was commercial sales manager for ATG. Before that, he ran his own aviation sales company, Boulder Aviation, and was president and CEO of Premier Aviation.
AGUSTA Model A109E helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2005-20292; Directorate Identifier 2004-SW-26-AD] - proposes to require visually inspecting each main transmission support fitting attachment bolt for a fracture, a crack, or looseness, and verifying the torque on each fitting bolt. This proposal is prompted by two incidents of fatigue failure of the bolts that secure the transmission rear support fittings to the helicopter.
AIR TRACTOR Models AT-502, AT-502A, AT-502B, and AT-503A airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2004-19961; Directorate Identifier 2004-CE-48-AD] - proposes to supersede AD 2002-26-05, which lowers the safe life for the wing lower spar cap for Models AT-502, AT-502A, AT-502B, and AT-503A airplanes and those that incorporate or have incorporated Marburger Enterprises winglets.
