KATHY EBNER was appointed charter services manager for Executive Jet Management's Charter Services office at Teterboro Airport in Teterboro, N.J. Ebner has 12 years of corporate aviation experience, most recently as a charter sales representative for Jet Aviation Business Jets. She also has served with KC Aviation, Alfa Romeo and Ferrari North America.
UNIVERSAL BUYS OUT PARTNER IN SHANNON-BASED HANDLING FIRM - Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. has purchased the remaining shares in a joint venture flight planning operation known as Ocean Bridge Handling.
National Air Transportation Association hired Deborah Highsmith as manager of education and training, with responsibility for the association's Professional Line Service Training program, educational seminars, the National Air Transportation Foundation and NATA scholarships.
GD 'GUARDEDLY OPTIMISTIC' ABOUT GULFSTREAM OUTLOOK - Operating earnings at Gulfstream Aerospace more than doubled in the third quarter, and the chairman of parent company General Dynamics said he is "guardedly optimistic" the financial picture will continue to improve at Gulfstream.
FORMER NBAA OFFICIAL FRED MCINTOSH DIES - Frederick B. (Fred) McIntosh, 86, a decorated combat veteran of World War II and a retired staff member of the National Business Aircraft Association, died Oct. 15 in Leesburg, Va. after a brief illness.
National Business Aviation Association elected five directors to three-year terms. New to the NBAA board are Douglas Schwartz, aviation director for AT&T, and Randy Hudon, president of corporate aviation and travel services for BellSouth. Re-elected to the board are immediate past Chairman George Saling, who is vice president of aviation and travel services for Altria Corporate Services; NBAA Treasurer Jeffrey Lee, who is director of flight operations for IBM Corp.; and John Ratcliff, aviation director and chief pilot for the Ford Motor Company.
TAG OPENS TETERBORO OFFICE - San Francisco, Calif.-based TAG Aviation USA is expanding its reach into the East Coast, opening a new regional office at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey. The office will provide corporate aviation services to clients in the Greater New York and Northern New Jersey area. The Teterboro base will work in tandem with TAG's East Coast operations base at Westchester County Airport and will play "a significant role in our long-term growth strategies," said TAG Aviation USA President Jake Cartwright. "Our continued growth in the Northeastern U.S.
Honeywell earned FAA approval for use of the company's carbon friction material on Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft brakes. "Our customers in regional aviation told us they wanted a high-quality, cost-effective braking product for their aircraft, so we developed this 'heat sink' that will help them reduce their cost of operation," said Peg Billson, vice president and general manager of Honeywell Aircraft Landing Systems. Billson estimated the new carbon brake material increases brake life by 20 percent.
Rockwell Collins secured FAA approval for paperless flight operations on a Challenger 601 equipped with the Rockwell Collins dual Integrated Flight Information Systems (IFIS). The FIS system, integrated with the Pro Line 21 avionics retrofit, provides electronic charting, graphical weather and enhanced map overlay. The system makes it easier to use a variety of weather services that provide real-time data link weather images.
IAI TEAMS WITH ATG ON ADVANCED JET TRAINER - Israel Aircraft Industries signed a strategic cooperative agreement with Englewood, Colo.-based Aviation Technology Group (ATG) to develop a military-targeted Advanced Jet Trainer based on ATG's design for a two-seat Javelin jet. The agreement calls for a joint development process covering marketing, engineering and co-production. IAI will infuse cash into the program and provide its expertise in commercial and military certification. The aircraft will be assembled in both New Mexico and Israel.
Rockwell Collins was selected to supply its Airshow 21 cabin electronics system for Raytheon Aircraft's Hawker 800XP aircraft and Gulfstream's G350 mid-range and G450 long-range business jets. The Airshow 21 system integrates cabin amenities, ranging from information and entertainment to cabin lights and environmental controls. Airshow features include a 15-inch bulkhead monitor to provide access to a variety of options such as moving maps and Airshow Network programming. Other options include digital DVD and CD programming.
BOMBARDIER LAUNCHES ENHANCED LEARJET 40 PROGRAM - Less than a year after the Learjet 40 entered service, Bombardier has developed a follow-on to the light business jet that will have upgraded engines providing better performance.
Clay Lacy Aviation, a Van Nuys, Calif.-based charter operator, added a Gulfstream G550 and G400 as well as a Hawker 800XP to its fleet. The operator also increased its Seattle, Wash. fleet, adding a Gulfstream IV and Falcon 900EX. Clay Lacy plans to bring a Boeing Business Jet into its fleet in November.
BOMBARDIER WINS MAJOR TURBOPROP ORDER FROM AIR NEW ZEALAND - Air New Zealand placed a series of orders and options with Bombardier Aerospace for as many as 40 new turboprop airliners, if all options are exercised. Under the contract, Air New Zealand placed a firm order for 17 Q300 50-seat twin turboprops and took options on 10 Q300s and 13 Q400s, Bombardier's four-engine, 70-seat turboprop.
JEAN-PIERRE COUSSERANS was appointed senior vice president of customer services for Avions Transport Regional (ATR). He joined Aerospatiale in 1991 and spent more than 12 years since with ATR. Most recently he was general secretary of ATR and has been involved in a complete re-engineering of major processes of ATR.
DALEY CLAIMS CHICAGO DIDN'T BREAK RULES BY BULLDOZING MEIGS - Chicago Mayor Richard Daley and other city officials disputed FAA findings that the city violated federal grant agreements when it destroyed Meigs Field's runway in the middle of the night without advance notice. FAA early this month proposed fining the city $33,000 - the maximum possible - for closing the airport without the required 30-day notice and stated it was further investigating whether the city improperly diverted $1.5 million in airport revenues to pay for the demolition of Meigs (BA, Oct. 4/148).
National Research Council Of Canada's Institute for Aerospace Research is testing an experimental millimeter-wave (MM) radar imager on its Falcon 20 aircraft to research single- and multi-sensor vision systems for all-weather approach guidance. NRC will integrate the MM imager with the Falcon 20's existing head-up display. NRC noted that infrared sensors improve guidance in poor weather, but cannot penetrate all extreme conditions.
Premier Aircraft, LLC, of East Alton, Ill., entered into an agreement with Honeywell Aerospace to upgrade existing TFE731-3-1C and TFE731-3D-1C engines installed on Falcon 50 aircraft to a TFE731-4-1C configuration. The modification is designed to improve several operating parameters, increasing range, reducing time-to-climb and boosting hot-and-high performance.
Innotech Aviation of Montreal, Canada won Service Target Authorization and Approval Rating (STAAR) for its powerplant and auxiliary power unit support. The recognition covers Honeywell TFE731 engines and GPTC-36 APUs, which are installed on many Falcon, Challenger, Hawker, Citation and Learjet business jets. Innotech, which began business in 1955 as Timmins Aviation, is preparing to celebrate its 50th year in business.
