BAE SYSTEMS Model BAe 146 and Avro 146-RJ series airplanes (Docket No. 2002-NM-90-AD; Amendment 39-13785; AD 2004-18-07) - supersedes an existing AD, which currently requires identifying the part numbers of discharge valves and cabin pressure controllers, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary. This amendment requires identifying the part number of an additional cabin pressure controller, and related investigative and corrective actions if necessary.
Aviation Points Exchange (APEX) added four new fixed-base operations to the APEX network. Latest APEX participants are Downtown Air Center at Bates Field in Mobile, Ala.; Executive Flight Center at Madison County Municipal Airport in Huntsville, Ala.; Premier Aviation at Tucson International Airport in Tucson, Ariz.; and Crotts Aircraft Service at Dodge City Regional Airport in Dodge City, Kan. APEX is a nationwide loyalty and rewards program designed for aviation businesses. More than 35 FBO and Air Chef bases participate.
RTI BUYING CANADIAN COMPONENT MANUFACTURER - RTI International Metals, Inc. signed an agreement to acquire Claro Precision, Inc., of Montreal, Quebec, which supplies a number of aircraft components for Canadian original equipment maker Bombardier. RTI, headquartered in Niles, Ohio, described Claro as a "leading manufacturer of precision-machined components and complex mechanical and electrical assemblies for the aerospace industry." The company has 130 employees and annual revenues of about $20 million (Canadian).
Rockwell Collins teamed with General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems to integrate and jointly market Rockwell Collins' moving map and multi-region satellite television system with General Dynamics' YES! in-flight entertainment system. The companies will integrate Rockwell Collins' Airshow 4200i three-dimensional interactive moving map and Tailwind 560 television system on YES!-equipped aircraft.
Operators of older business jets who had been hoping for a delay in implementation of Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums are not going to get their wish. FAA said Thursday that a meeting Wednesday between FAA officials and their counterparts in Mexico and Canada confirmed that RVSM will go into effect over North America Jan. 20, 2005.
October 10-11 - National Business Aviation Association 13th Annual Tax Conference, Las Vegas, Nev., (202) 783-9000 October 12-14 - National Business Aviation Association 57th Annual Meeting and Convention, Las Vegas, Nev., (202) 783-9000 October 21-23 - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Expo 2004, Long Beach, Calif., (301) 695-2000
Barco, the Belgium-based software displays specialist, is working with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University's Air Traffic Management Research Laboratory to research advanced display software. Under the agreement, the Embry-Riddle research lab will use Barco's ODS Toolbox development software for the research. Embry-Riddle and Barco will share intellectual property rights in applications that the laboratory develops using the ODS toolbox.
Air Transport Association President Jim May is the speaker for this Wednesday's (Sept. 29) Aero Club of Washington noon luncheon at the Capital Hilton Hotel. For more information, contact Nancy Hackett at [email protected]
The Bob Hope Hollywood USO at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) was re-dedicated Friday after a $513,000 expansion tripled its size to 3,600 square feet. The airport said more than 26,000 U.S. service members and their families visit the USO center each year. Comedian Bob Hope, for whom the center is named, was revered for decades of staging shows for U.S. troops around the world, beginning during World War II.
Civil Air Patrol awarded a $1.6 million contract to Space Computer Corp. (SCC) for software to operate 15 hyperspectral imaging (HSI) systems. The HSI systems will be used to detect people and objects from the air. "Hyperspectral imaging is the next wave of reconnaissance technology," said Maj. Gen. Dwight Wheless, national commander of the CAP. "This will make a tremendous difference when we're searching for individuals or aircraft that are lost or in trouble.
Just in time for the National Business Aviation Association convention - a new company with plans to develop a supersonic business jet. Brian Barents, who's held senior executive posts with Galaxy Aerospace, Learjet, Cessna and Toyota, has teamed up with billionaire Robert Bass to announce the Aerion Corp. of Reno, Nev. will pursue development of a supersonic business jet. Aerion will "open a new page of history," Barents said last week, but declined to discuss details of the new airplane until an 0730 press conference in Las Vegas Oct. 11.
NEW MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE IN PLACE FOR FARNBOROUGH AIR SHOW - A new company, Farnborough International Ltd., has been formed to take responsibility for operating future editions of the Farnborough International Air Show. The show has been run for years by the Society of British Aerospace Companies. Following the recent completion of a wide-ranging review of the Farnborough show, Colin Way was named director of Farnborough International Ltd.
FAA agreed to give aircraft operators another 60 days to comply with Handbook Bulletin 04-06, which requires Part 135 operators to meet certain aircraft configuration standards (BA, Sept. 13/111). The delay comes at the request of the National Air Transportation Association, which feared that operators would not be able to meet the original 30-day deadline set in the handbook bulletin (BA, Sept. 20/123).
The Department of Justice will stop accepting background-check applications from foreign students seeking flight training in the U.S. Tuesday (Sept. 28), and new applications will be directed to the Transportation Security Administration under an interim final rule issued by TSA. Published in the Sept. 20 Federal Register, the interim rule transfers the background check and approval process for foreign students seeking U.S. flight training from DOJ to TSA and expands the applicability of the background check requirements (BA, Sept. 20/129).
Chief Executives at two of the newer general aviation manufacturing companies were recognized last week for their contributions to the aviation industry. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics recognized Eclipse Aviation President and CEO Vern Raburn with the 2004 Piper General Aviation Award for his "outstanding contributions leading to the advancement of general aviation." The Minnesota Department of Transportation presented an award to Cirrus Design Corp.
Experimental Aircraft Association is changing the schedule for its annual EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. to begin earlier in the week. Beginning in 2005, the show will begin one day earlier and will operate on a Monday-through-Sunday format instead of the Tuesday-through-Monday schedule of the past several years. The 2005 show will begin Monday, July 25, and conclude Sunday, July 31. "This year we surveyed a cross-section of EAA members, exhibitors, sponsors and other participants," said Tom Poberezny, EAA president and AirVenture chairman.
Department of the Interior, National Park Service and the FAA are inviting stakeholders and other interested parties to attend an informational meeting this week on an interagency effort to manage aircraft flights over Grand Canyon National Park. The meeting will discuss the current status of the agencies' efforts to achieve compliance with the National Parks Overflights Act of 1987 (PL 100-91), which requires substantial restoration of the natural quiet of the park and protection of public health and safety from adverse effects associated with aircraft overflights.
Eclipse Aviation has been holding discussions with unmanned aerial vehicle experts about the possibility of using some UAV technology in the Eclipse 500 business jet, Eclipse President and CEO Vern Raburn said last week. Speaking on a panel about the future of aviation at FAA's International Aviation Safety Forum, Raburn noted that he's had "a lot of discussions with a lot of companies" about a backup for single-pilot operations.
Lufthansa Technik's supervisory board reappointed August Wilhelm Henningsen executive board chairman through April 2010. Henningsen, who will be 54 in November, is a graduate engineer. He joined Lufthansa German Airlines as a system engineer in 1979 and subsequently held a series of increasingly responsible positions with the carrier and its affiliated companies. He was named chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa Technik AG in January 2001.
Dassault Falcon Jet is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Falcon 900 series of business jets. The original Falcon 900 made its first flight Sept. 21, 1984 from Merignac, France and the manufacturer has since delivered 337 of the intercontinental trijets to customers. The Falcon 900 family evolved into five versions, including the recently certificated Falcon 900EX EASy and the 900DX, which is scheduled for certification in December 2005.
NATA is hoping to provide a forum for the general aviation industry's top decision-makers to collectively voice their concerns with key policy-makers in a two-day event the association is sponsoring in Washington, D.C. The two-day Aviation Business Roundtable, scheduled Nov. 18-19, "isn't just about 'working the system' - it's about changing the system," NATA President Jim Coyne said in a letter sent to a cross-section of industry association heads, business leaders and other key general aviation officials.
