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.
DAVID CURRENCE was appointed chief information officer for Aerospace Products International. Currence formerly served with United Parcel Service, where he was vice president of informational technology and strategy, UPS Supply Chain Solutions. Before that, he was vice president and chief information officer for UPS Logistics Group. Currence also has served as executive vice president and chief information officer for Brightpoint, Inc.
Elliott Aviation won FAA supplemental type certification for installation of Universal Flat Panel Integrated Displays (FPIDs), Universal Terrain Awareness and Warning Systems (TAWS) and Collins Attitude Heading Reference Systems (AHRS) aboard Citation 550/560 series aircraft. The FPIDs replace standard Citation electromechanical or electronic flight instrumentation systems and can be interfaced with the existing Honeywell Primus radar system. The certification includes options of Universal TAWS, Vision I Synthetic Vision and a UNS-1L Super Flight Management System.
Aircraft Electronics Association has scheduled a three-day seminar on avionics and panel installation for avionics technicians. The seminar will be held Nov. 3-5 at the Northwest Campus of Tarrant County College in Fort Worth, Texas. The seminar, designed for apprentice technicians, will cover proper wiring techniques, panel structure and layout, antenna installation, schematic interpretation and guidelines for documentation of alterations. Registration fee is $345. For more information, contact AEA at (816) 373-6565.
SIKORSKY DELIVERS FIRST S-92, SHOWCASES H-92 VXX ENTRY - The first production Sikorsky S-92 helicopter, a commercial version of the H-92 being bid for the next-generation U.S. Navy VXX presidential helicopter, was scheduled for delivery last weekend in Louisiana for offshore service on the Gulf of Mexico with Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. (PHI). A second S-92 for PHI is nearing delivery early next month, Sikorsky said Sept. 23.
TEXTRON NAMES WALSH TO REPLACE WOLF AT LYCOMING - Ian Walsh, a former Textron and Bell Helicopter executive, was tapped to replace Mike Wolf to run Lycoming Engines in Williamsport, Pa. Wolf, former president of Lycoming, will continue providing general aviation expertise to Lycoming parent Textron Systems as well as participating in strategic development of Lycoming, Textron said in a statement last week.
Mesa Airlines founder Larry Risley, 59, died Sept. 22 at his home in Austin, Texas after a lengthy battle with cancer. Risley and his wife Jane founded Mesa Airlines in 1982 with a single Piper Saratoga in Farmington, N.M.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Alan Mulally, who was the keynote luncheon speaker during FAA's safety forum Thursday, conceded with a smile that he didn't know much about small airplanes. Responding to a question about how he thought general aviation safety fit into the spectrum of commercial aviation safety initiatives, Mulally said he couldn't speak to small aircraft safety, but that he had learned more about small aircraft by sitting with FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and Northwest CEO Richard Anderson during the luncheon.
TWO VICTIMS WALK AWAY FROM 'UNSURVIVABLE' CESSNA 206 CRASH - Two injured National Forest Service workers escaped from a Cessna 206 that crashed Monday in mountainous terrain and walked to safety after local law enforcement personnel had labeled the crash unsurvivable and suspended search activities.
Gulfstream Aerospace named two new sales directors to its North American team. Brian Miller is now sales director, key accounts, and will represent the entire fleet of Gulfstream business jet aircraft to new and existing customers in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. Miller previously held sales posts with Cessna Aircraft and a fractional aircraft ownership company. Most recently he was vice president of new technologies marketing for Tyler Technologies, a Dallas, Texas software firm. Jeff Vilker was named sales director of the Midwest territory.
SENATE PANEL OKs CHARTER, RENTAL CUSTOMER SCREENING - Aircraft charter and rental companies would have the option of ensuring customers are not included on the federal government's "no-fly" list under a bill the Senate Commerce Committee approved last week. The Commerce Committee adopted by voice vote S.2393, the Aviation Security Advancement Act, which contains several measures aimed at tightening cargo security and other security initiatives.
