National Air Traffic Controllers Association said the Transportation Department and FAA should caution travelers against flying to Costa Rica because of a lockout of controllers in that country. NATCA's warning last week said Costa Rican authorities have replaced controllers with unqualified personnel.
Business & Commercial Aviation magazine and Conklin & de Decker will hold their Second Annual Charter Operators & Management Tax Course in Van Nuys, Calif. Sept. 9-10 at the Airtel Plaza Hotel. The course will cover the entire range of key tax issues confronting business aircraft management companies and charter operators, including federal excise taxes, state taxes, international fees, the Federal Aviation Regulations and Internal Revenue Service rulings. The fee is $895 for registration before Aug. 20 and $995 for registrations received after that date.
RHODE ISLAND REPEALS AIRCRAFT SALES/USE TAXES - The State of Rhode Island will repeal the seven percent tax on the sale or use of aircraft beginning Jan. 1, 2005 under a new law that Rhode Island Gov. Donald Carcieri (R) signed last week. The legislation, House Bill 7211, passed the Rhode Island House and Senate June 25 and was sent to the governor for his signature June 29. A broad-based tax bill, H7211 includes a provision that exempts the sale, storage and use of new and used aircraft from both the sales and use tax.
Chinese Aviation Authorities and Thales are building three new en route air traffic control centers in China. The first facility, in Beijing, has passed site acceptance tests, with the Shanghai and Guangzhou centers to follow. When operational, the three centers are expected to handle about 60 percent of China's air traffic.
STANDARDS COMMITTEE RELEASES UAV SENSE-AND-AVOID STANDARD - The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) International's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) standards committee has released its first technical standard, which defines the requirements for an automatic "sense-and-avoid" system that would allow UAVs to detect and deconflict with other air traffic. Founded in 1898, ASTM specializes in the development of voluntary industry standards.
Brazilian Manufacturer Embraer delivered 66 aircraft in the first half of the year, and reconfirmed its plans to deliver a total of 160 aircraft for the commercial, corporate and defense markets this year and 170 airplanes in 2005. Embraer's firm backlog was $10.5 billion at the end of June; backlog including options totaled $28.3 billion.
FIRST-HALF ACCIDENTS DOWN, BUT EMS CRASH MARS SECOND-HALF START - Accidents and fatalities involving the U.S. business jet and turboprop fleet were down during the first half of 2004, Robert E. Breiling Associates reported last week, but the second half of the year got off to a bad start July 2 with the fatal crash of an Israel Aircraft Industries 1124 Westwind medical evacuation flight that claimed seven lives in Panama. See article on Page 16.
Bombardier Aerospace won Transport Canada certification for the Model 40 Learjet business jet. Introduced at the 2002 Farnborough Air Show, the Learjet 40 won U.S. FAA certification in July 2003.
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.
