CONGRESS is expected to return this week to begin a lame-duck session. Topping the agenda are a series of appropriations bills - including transportation - that have yet to be completed for fiscal 2005. Several legislators said they wanted to approve another continuing resolution to keep the government running through January, and then return in January to complete the series of bills. The White House, however, is pressing Congress to finish work on the bills as quickly as possible, which may keep legislators in Washington, D.C. longer this fall.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said agency employees will miss their maximum pay increase for the second consecutive year because FAA fell short on too many performance goals in the fiscal year that ended in October.
WILSON AIR CENTER will take over management of the fixed-base operation at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport (CLT) in the near future. The FBO at CLT had been operated by Signature Flight Support, but Wilson and the airport reached an agreement under which the airport will retain ownership of the FBO facilities, while Wilson Air Center will handle day-to-day operations and be responsible for short- and long-term management strategies. Wilson Air Center also operates an FBO at the Memphis, Tenn. airport.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION hired Dan Kidder as manager of communications. Kidder most recently served as director of communications for retiring Rep. Mac Collins (R-Ga.). Before that Kidder was senior vice president of public relations and business promotion for Uptown Columbus, Inc., a non-profit economic development agency in Columbus, Ga. He also has filled communications roles with the National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the National Association of Home Builders.
LOCKHEED MARTIN was awarded a $29 million contract from the U.S. Air Force to modify one C-130J aircraft for the Pennsylvania Air National Guard, with options for two more planes. The work, to be done at Lockheed Martin's Greenville, S.C. facility, includes installing a more powerful generator for electrical power, an expanded internal communication system, a modified operator station and aerial refueling equipment. The plane will be delivered in the third quarter of 2006. The C-130J will be operated by the 193rd Special Operations Wing in Middletown, Pa.
NEW PIPER delivered a Warrior III equipped with the Avidyne FlightMax Entegra cockpit to Dowling College. Dowling is the first aviation program to use the Avidyne flat panel displays for flight training. Dowling, which operates a fleet of 11 Piper aircraft, ordered two Warriors.
GENERAL AVIATION COALITION today (Nov. 15) is scheduled to hold a meeting with Adm. James Loy, the deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security who formerly headed the Transportation Security Administration. Flight training background check requirements are expected to top the agenda. Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association continues to push for changes in the TSA interim final rule released in September, saying the rule is causing confusion among both pilots and flight instructors.
Part 135 cargo carriers would continue to operate under the "Twelve-Five" security regime under a comprehensive proposal the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) released last week to strengthen and codify cargo security. TSA released the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) Wednesday, saying the agency was taking a "layered" approach to improving cargo security through a series of airport and operator requirements tailored to various segments of cargo operations.
HORST BERGMANN, former president and chief executive of Jeppesen, joined Englewood, Colo.-based Aviation Technology Group (ATG) as executive vice chairman. Bergmann will take an active leadership role on the ATG board and oversee marketing, sales, risk management, legal and human resources. Bergmann retired from Jeppesen in May 2003 after more than 40 years with the company. He joined the German-based Jeppesen & Co., GmbH in 1963 and took on positions of increasing responsibility. He was named president and CEO of Jeppesen in 1988 and relocated to Denver, Colo.
National Air Transportation last week issued an "Action Call" urging its members to contact their local legislators to oppose the Environmental Protection Agency's latest decision to include fuel trucks in the agency's enforcement of Spill, Prevention, Control and Countermeasure (SPCC) requirements. The association met with EPA to discuss how the agency enforces SPCC requirements after an aviation business received a letter from an EPA regional office calling for secondary containment of mobile refuelers that are parked at the end of the day.
JET AVIATION'S facilities in Zurich and Dusseldorf were named authorized service centers for the Cessna Citation Sovereign. The authorization includes heavy, scheduled line and base maintenance, modifications and engine repair on the Sovereign. Jet Aviation Zurich has been an authorized service center for Citation business jets since 1976. The Dusseldorf facility was first named a Citation authorized service center in 1981.
FAA last week determined that the minimum random drug testing requirements for 2005 will remain at 25 percent of covered aviation employees and the minimum random alcohol-testing rate will be 10 percent. FAA determines the annual testing rate requirements based on the previous year's rates of positive tests. The 2005 random test requirements stem from a 2003 positive drug test rate of 0.56 percent - well below the one percent threshold that would trigger a higher percentage of random testing.
MARION BLAKEY seems enthusiastic about continuing to head the Federal Aviation Administration during the second George W. Bush administration. Blakey has been mentioned as a possible successor to Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta if he were to leave the Cabinet, but his spokesmen say Mineta still enjoys the DOT job (BA, Nov. 8/205).
THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION is losing one of its key aviation officials, Edward W. Stimpson, who is the U.S. ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. President Clinton nominated Stimpson for the ICAO post in the summer of 1999 and he was sworn in later that year (BA, Oct. 11/161). Stimpson told BA last week he has submitted his resignation as ICAO ambassador and plans to wrap up his duties in Montreal when the current ICAO Council session ends Dec. 17.
November 15-18 - Flight Safety Foundation/International Federation of Airworthiness/International Air Transport Association 57th Annual International Air Safety Seminar, Pudong Shangri-La Hotel, Shanghai, China, (703) 739-6700 November 18 - National Business Aviation Association Business Aviation Regional Forum, Dallas, Texas, (202) 783-9000 February 6-8, 2005 - Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo 2005, Anaheim, Calif., (703) 683-4646
Federal Aviation Administration temporarily put on hold a controversial handbook bulletin covering Part 135 aircraft seat requirements to provide the industry-based Part 135/125 Aviation Rulemaking Committee an opportunity to address the issue. The handbook bulletin for airworthiness (HBAW) was slated to take effect Nov. 29, but FAA has now decided to make the new compliance date Feb. 28.
AEROSPATIALE Model ATR 42-200, -300, and -320 series airplanes (Docket No. FAA-2004-19562; Directorate Identifier 2004-NM-73-AD) - proposes to require inspecting to determine the part and serial number of the swinging lever of the main landing gears (MLG) and replacing the swinging lever if necessary. This proposed AD is prompted by a report that, on an airplane lined up for takeoff, the swinging lever of the left MLG collapsed when engine power was applied.
National Business Aviation Association realigned its senior staff, promoting veterans David Almy and Kathleen Blouin and hiring a new vice president of communications.
FAA declined to approve a proposed privately bankrolled Houston JetPort that would have a 7,000-foot runway, citing airspace concerns that could not be mitigated. David Johnson, FAA's vice president of terminal services, told airport planners last week that the proposed site would overlap with existing traffic patterns at other Houston-area airports. "From an operational perspective....establishment of the airport would create a circumstance in which aircraft flying in accordance with federal regulations would routinely be placed in conflict."
BLAKEY, who is two years into her five-year term as FAA Administrator and who has been leading the attempt to turn the agency into a performance-based organization, describes her FAA experience as "very personally satisfying." She pointed out that she's added some key individuals to the agency's leadership team in the past year - including Russ Chew, the chief operating officer of the Air Traffic Organization, and Ramesh Punwani, chief financial officer - adding, "We feel like we're fresh and ready to go."
