NEW YORK BILL WOULD MAKE SECURITY GUIDELINES MANDATORY - National Business Aviation Association wrote to New York officials last week urging them to eliminate provisions in proposed legislation that would mandate a lengthy list of security requirements for owners and operators of private aircraft and aviation facilities.
Proponents of extending until Dec. 31, 2005 the date-in-service deadline for aircraft buyers to avail themselves of bonus depreciation say they continue to receive "very good feedback about the level of support" for the measure from House members and staffers on the House Ways and Means Committee. The legislation passed the Senate by a wide margin three weeks ago (BA, May 17/221). The House was in recess last week, but supporters hope the measure will reach the House floor this week or next.
Dassault Falcon Jet expanded its field service network with the appointment of four representatives. The company promoted Bernie Curtis to field service representative and Falcon 2000/2000EX model specialist covering New England. He had been a Help Desk representative. The company also named Travis Dick as field service representative and Falcon 900/900EX model specialist in the Western region. Dick has served with Dassault Falcon for nearly five years, most recently in flight-testing in Little Rock, Ark.
Gulfstream Aerospace said FAA has decided that the manufacturer's G450 and G350 business jets will share the same pilot type rating with the G550 and G500 models. Additionally, since the G550 and GV already share the same type rating, Gulfstream said the GV pilot rating will apply to the four new aircraft as well. GV pilots will be authorized to fly the G500 and G350 upon completion of a five-day "differences" course that highlights the airplanes' PlaneView flight deck.
Aircell tapped Tom Myers to serve as director of marketing. Myers will oversee corporate communications, brand management, product positioning, advertising and media relations for the airborne telecommunication systems specialist. Myers formerly was a senior account executive for the advertising agency fd2s in Denver, Colo., where he represented aerospace clients including Pilatus Business Aircraft, FlightSafety International and Embraer. He also has served as director of marketing at Elliott Aviation.
Emirates-CAE Flight Training continued to expand its business base with agreements valued at about $2.5 million from Jet Aviation in Switzerland, Jet Alliance in Austria and Aramco in Saudi Arabia. Jet Aviation, an original Emirates-CAE Flight Training customer, renewed its contract for ongoing BBJ training. Jet Alliance has signed a multi-year agreement for Gulfstream IV, and GV training. Aramco also signed a contract for GIV training as well as training on the Boeing 737NG and Hawker 800.
Raytheon Aircraft recently delivered its 100th Beechcraft Premier I to FDRS Air, Inc., based in Norfolk, Va. The Premier I fleet has accumulated more than 23,000 hours and is certified in 16 countries. Thirteen of the part-composite business jets are operating in Europe.
Dassault Falcon Service has begun a major expansion of its facilities at Le Bourget Airport in Paris. The project includes construction of a 36,000-square-foot, three-floor building that will house an underground parking lot, customer facilities and new administrative offices. The new building is slated for completion in March 2005. The expansion also includes consolidation of DFS facilities for airline services in the existing "H1" building and expansion of the aircraft parking apron. The expansion will provide space for six more medium-sized aircraft.
Despite the many issues still unresolved in the Part 135 rewrite, the FAA official overseeing the project is confident the task can be accomplished on schedule. Kathy Perfetti told the Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association in Scottsdale, Ariz. Wednesday she expects the ARC's June meeting will be "a real tough one" with more than 50 significant issues to be addressed.
CONTROLLER TRAINING FEES WOULD HELP FAA BUDGET, BLAKEY SAYS - A proposal to make federal controllers help pay for their own training could be part of a plan FAA will submit to Congress at the end of the year in response to controller staffing concerns. The agency's training budget would go further if controllers shouldered some of their training costs, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said at a National Air Traffic Controllers Association conference last week.
The manufacturers of the next generation of light, personal jets have varying opinions about what this class of aircraft should be called, but they agree that "microjets" just doesn't cut it. The microjets moniker connotes small and is not in the manufacturer's best interest, said Rick Adam, chairman and CEO of Adam Aircraft, who said "personal jet" is a better term.
NEVADA DELEGATION FINDS NUMEROUS FAULTS IN AIR TOUR RULE - Nevada's five-member congressional delegation dissected FAA's proposed air tour rule Friday, part of a series of presentations at a second public hearing on the controversial notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) Friday in Las Vegas.
CMC Electronics was selected to provide its CMA-900 global positioning system-based flight management system for the Brazilian Air Force fleet of C-130, B707, P-95 and Learjet 35 aircraft. CMC Electronics will begin delivering the units immediately for 20 aircraft. The system provides control and display functions for up to three LTN-92 inertial navigation systems.
MATTHEW GOODMAN was named vice president for Stonebridge International, a global business strategy firm based in Washington, D.C. Goodman is an expert on financial matters relating to Japan and China. He formerly was director for Asian Economic Affairs for the White House's National Security Council, and before that, headed Goldman Sachs' government affairs operations in Tokyo and London.
National Business Aviation Association, which joined forces with the Transportation Department 15 years ago in a case that overturned a Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) peak-hour pricing scheme for Boston Logan Airport (BA, Aug. 21, 1989/57), is meeting this week with several industry groups to discuss Massport's latest peak-hour pricing schedule released this month.
Airbus won approval for 180-minute extended range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) with its A319, A320 and A321 single-aisle aircraft, including corporate jet versions, from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The European manufacturer also is seeking ETOPS approval for the A318.
Massachusetts Port Authority on May 5 released its peak-pricing plan, a $150 landing fee that would be imposed on all aircraft operations once the airport exceeds its good-weather capacity of about 120 operations per hour. The plan includes exemptions for essential air service flights.
All Nippon Airways placed a firm order for four additional Bombardier Q400 turboprop airliners. The order for the 74-seat aircraft is the fourth by ANA and upon delivery will increase its Q400 fleet to 12 aircraft.
