Sabreliner's Independence, Kan. plant was appointed a Honeywell authorized warranty and repair station for Pratt & Whitney PT6 engine controls. The new authorization permits Sabreliner to perform repair and overhaul for 22 different fuel controls for various PT6 engine models. In addition to the new PT6 approval, Sabreliner's technicians at Independence are authorized to work on Rolls-Royce Model 250 and Lycoming LTS101 engines.
SR TECHNICS COMPLETES PURCHASE OF FLS AEROSPACE - SR Technics finalized its purchase of FLS Aerospace and projects combined annual revenues of $1.2 billion now that the merger is completed.
The Federal Aviation Administration within the next few weeks will propose to make permanent the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) encompassing a 30-mile ring of airspace over Washington, D.C., a senior agency official told Congress last week. Linda Schuessler, vice president for system operations services for FAA's Air Traffic Organization, last week said the agency had received the appropriate justification for a permanent ADIZ from the Department of Homeland Security and was moving forward with a formal notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM).
National Transportation Safety Board scheduled a two-day public hearing on the feasibility and benefits of cockpit imaging (video) recorders July 27-28 at the NTSB Conference Center and Board Room in Washington, D.C. NTSB recommended in 2000 that commercial aircraft be equipped with video recorders following the crashes of EgyptAir Flight 990 and ValuJet Flight 592 and other accidents in which the safety board had difficulty retrieving critical information.
WESTWIND TAKEOFF CRASH KILLS 7 IN PANAMA - A U.S.-registered Westwind 1124 crashed July 2 during an attempted takeoff from the airport in Panama City, Panama, killing seven people. All six aboard the 1978 model business jet were killed, along with one person on the ground.
NASA TEAMS WITH GULFSTREAM ON ADVANCED VISION RESEARCH - NASA has begun trials to explore new advanced vision and runway incursion prevention systems through a collaboration with Gulfstream Aerospace. NASA and Gulfstream are using a GV equipped with NASA's experimental Synthetic Vision System (SVS).
Esterline Corp., Bellevue, Wash., signed an agreement to acquire Leach Holding Corp. for approximately $145 million in cash. The acquisition, the largest in Esterline's corporate history, will add nearly 20 percent or $120 million to the company's annual revenue base of about $600 million. Leach is a leading producer of high-performance electromechanical relays, solid-state switching devices and advanced power distribution assemblies for aerospace applications.
Northrop Grumman-led teams won three awards from NASA for developing technologies for air and space travel. NASA's Office of Aeronautics recognized a Northrop Grumman/DARPA/NASA team with the "Turning Goals Into Reality" award for demonstrating how to decrease the intensity of a sonic boom by altering an aircraft's shape. Another Northrop Grumman/NASA team was honored for developing new ways to build large-scale, highly reliable cryogenic fuel tanks. The third Northrop Grumman team was recognized for developing second-generation reusable launch vehicle concepts.
Bombardier sold four Q400 regional turboprops to Japan Air Commuter. The contract boosts the number of Q400s that Japan Air Commuter has ordered to nine. Based in Kagoshima, Japan, Japan Air Commuter operates 137 flights daily to 23 destinations.
Mandatory carbon monoxide (CO) detectors will do little to lower the general aviation accident rate, the AOPA Air Safety Foundation (ASF) maintains. Reacting to recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board last month that FAA mandate CO monitors on piston-powered aircraft (BA, June 28/297), ASF said it found only 10 accidents caused by CO poisoning in fixed-wing single-engine aircraft since 1993. "That's one a year," said ASF Executive Director Bruce Landsberg.
Stevens Aviation promoted three executives to new positions. Don Doty, who had been general manager of Stevens' Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport (GSP) facility, is now general manager of Stevens' Donaldson Center (GYH) in Greenville, S.C. Hiott Daves was named director of military operations. Daves, who was instrumental in planning and starting up the military division eight years ago, had most recently been director of maintenance. Mike Fitzgerald succeeds Daves as director of maintenance.
The questions involving piggybacking arrangements were raised during the deliberations on the Part 135/125 Aviation Rulemaking Committee's applicability working group. DOT also has taken a closer look at the arrangements as it hands down enforcement actions against Part 91 operators who appeared to have chartered their own aircraft even though they have management contracts with authorized Part 135 operators.
CPI Aerostructures retained J.H. Cohn LLP as its independent registered public accounting firm. Cohn replaces Goldstein Golub Kessler (GGK), which had served as CPI's independent registered public accounting firm since 1994. GGK, however was precluded from continued service and not deemed independent after CPI hired Vincent Palazzolo as its chief financial officer (BA, June 14/278). Palazzolo had been GGK's lead audit partner on the CPI audit within the past year.
Midcoast Aviation said it was designated a Platinum Service Center by Raytheon Aircraft Company, the highest level in RAC's ranking of its authorized service centers.
While FAA last week indicated that it plans to make the Air Defense Identification Zone over the Washington, D.C. area permanent, the agency said it would deny the request of the Department of Defense to convert 11 temporary flight restricted areas over military establishments into permanent prohibited areas. FAA had released two notices of proposed rulemaking to make prohibited areas over U.S. submarine bases in Bangor, Wash. and Kings Bay, Ga., the first of 11 anticipated sites.
Karen Paisley was named president of Aircraft Parts Corp., the Holtsville, N.Y. manufacturer of DC power generation systems for aircraft. Paisley is the daughter of Sy Sherman, the founder and president of APC, who recently died. Paisley worked directly for her father for many years and "has played a key role in the company's plans for growth and long-term stability," APC said in a statement.
National Business Aviation Association is hosting a meeting this week with FAA and DOT officials on the treatment of piggybacking agreements, in which Part 91 operators contract their airplanes and crews to Part 135 operators for on-demand service. DOT has begun to question whether those Part 91 operators must meet economic authority standards to participate in piggybacking arrangements. FAA has begun to question who has "operational control" in those operations.
GAMA URGES EUROPEAN REGULATORS TO ADOPT UNIFORM RULES - The European Union needs to develop a uniform set of regulations covering general aviation operations throughout Europe to help foster a safer environment as well as promote international commerce, a senior official from the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) told attendees of the annual U.S./Europe International Aviation Safety Conference in Philadelphia, Pa.
NTSB ASKS FAA TO EXAMINE AIRPORT MARKING GUIDANCE - The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) wants FAA to allow Seattle-Tacoma Airport to use non-standard taxiway markings to prevent repeated aircraft landings on a particular taxiway at the airport. NTSB said flight crews have almost landed or did land on Taxiway T, mistaking it for Runway 16R six times since 1999, with the latest incident occurring in February.
BAE Model 146 series airplanes (Docket No. 2003-NM-94-AD; Amendment 39-13664; AD 2004-12-05) - requires repetitive detailed inspections of the inside of each air conditioning sound-attenuating duct, and corrective actions as necessary. This action is necessary to prevent impairment of the operational skills and abilities of the flightcrew caused by the inhalation of agents released from oil or oil breakdown products, which could result in reduced controllability of the airplane. FAA estimates that 20 airplanes on the U.S.
National Air Transportation Association released its annual survey of general aviation employee compensation, including salary and benefit information for pilots, line-service personnel and maintenance technicians. The compensation information is divided by geographic region, company gross sales, employee base and size of location. Association Research Inc., an economic research firm based in Rockville, conducted the research. The study is available for $50 for NATA members and $100 for non-members.
Gulfstream Aerospace says it reduced prices by up to 48 percent on more than 6,000 consumable spare parts. "Over the past few months, we've been cutting our prices on many of our most popular consumable parts, some by nearly half, and as a result, we've received overwhelmingly positive response from our customers," said Larry Flynn, president of product support for Gulfstream.
Thales last week celebrated the inauguration of new air traffic management systems at the Irish Aviation Authority's air traffic control center in Shannon and Dublin, Ireland. Thales provided EUROCAT air traffic control systems and Voice Communication Control Systems for the air traffic control centers in both Shannon and Dublin under a contract the Irish Aviation Authority awarded in 2000. The systems process radar and flight plan information and cover 500,000 square kilometers of Irish airspace.
Pentastar Aviation's Avionics Department received a supplemental type certificate to install the new Honeywell Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) -217 modification aboard Gulfstream G-1159, G-1159A and G-1159B series aircraft and the EPGWS-218 modification on G-IV series aircraft. The system installed on the G-IV includes the ability to incorporate the Runway Awareness Alerting System, which provides aircraft/airport positioning data to ensure correct runway and taxiway alignment.
