Avemco Insurance Company has become a Bronze-level sponsor for BE A PILOT, the industry-sponsored nationwide learn-to-fly program. Avemco plans to use its sponsorship to help educate pilots about renter's insurance in non-owned aircraft operations. BE A PILOT estimates that up to 300,000 pilots fly in rented or borrowed airplanes without insurance coverage to protect themselves. BE A PILOT plans a series of educational features on its Web site (www.beapilot.com), and insurance will be the first subject in the educational series.
Million Air Salt Lake City added a Gulfstream G200 and a Cessna Citation Ultra to its charter operation. The additions boost the operation's fleet to nine aircraft, including Pilatus, Learjet, Raytheon, Cessna and Gulfstream models. Million Air Salt Lake City operates and manages aircraft in Salt Lake City and Provo, Utah. It also provides aircraft sales, maintenance and fuel sales.
Rolls-Royce's AE 3007 engine family reached the 10 million-flight-hour mark some eight years after introduction into service. The AE 3007 engine, which is in the 7,000- to 9,000-pound thrust class, powers the Embraer ERJ 145 regional jet and Cessna Citation X. Nearly 50 civil, military and corporate customers operate more than 750 ERJ aircraft, and Cessna has placed more than 200 Citation X aircraft in service. Rolls-Royce estimated that the AE 3007 engine accumulates more than 275,000 flying hours per month, about one takeoff or landing every 20 seconds.
Lancair last month won FAA certification for its Columbia 400, the third certified aircraft for the Bend, Ore. general aviation manufacturer. Powered by a 310-horsepower turbocharged Continental TSIO 550, the 400 reaches speeds of 220 knots true airspeed at 18,000 feet and 235 KTAS at 25,000 feet. Lancair delivered the first Columbia 400 to customer Paul Duckett and plans additional deliveries beginning this month.
Proavia, the French airport and air traffic control trade association, appointed Jacques Lafay of the European information technology specialist Steria as president. Other newly appointed officers are: SEEE executive Emmanual Barthoux as vice president; CS Communication & Systems executive Philippe Ledoyen as vice president and Coris executive Philippe Vadon as secretary general.
AOPA's arguments before the Minnesota officials follow a counterpoint editorial AOPA wrote in response to a USA Today editorial titled, "Why should overtaxed fliers subsidize private planes?" (BA, April 19/173). That editorial based its rationale in part on Northwest CEO Richard Anderson's comments that commercial fliers are subsidizing private aircraft owners.
Aircraft Owners And Pilots Association last week found itself battling another apparent effort by Northwest Airlines to raise fees on general aviation. Association representatives met with Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) to enlist his support to stem Minneapolis Airports Commission (MAC) proposals to dramatically raise airport fees. The MAC held a special meeting Thursday to discuss fee increases, which AOPA estimates could result in a 700 percent hike in general aviation charges.
May 17-19 - Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association Spring Conference, Radisson Resort and Spa, Scottsdale, Ariz. Contact Stan Bernstein, (508) 747-1430 May 18-20 - AS 3/GSE Aviation Services and Suppliers Supershow, National Air Transportation Association/Professional Aviation Maintenance Association, Las Vegas, Nev. (703) 845-9000 May 25-27 - European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE2004), Geneva, Switzerland, (202) 783-9000
Montreal Jet Center, a new company specializing in business jet interior refurbishing, avionics upgrades and modifications, named Louis Deveault vice president-aircraft maintenance. Deveault will be responsible for all operations functions, including shop loading and scheduling, estimating, pricing and planning. He has more than 20 years' experience and holds an aircraft engineer's license with endorsements for a wide variety of business jets.
WILLIAM BODIE is joining DFI Government Services as vice president for Armed Services programs. Bodie formerly served with the Department of the Air Force as director of Air Force Communications. Before that he was special assistant to the secretary of the Air Force.
National Business Aviation Association last week urged its members to remain vigilant about their security efforts. The association said the Bush Administration fears that terrorist organizations hope to coordinate another attack on the U.S. before the November elections to create an event like the train attacks in Spain just days before national elections there. The Administration is not sure how such an attack would be staged in the U.S.
Sy Sherman, 81, founder and chairman of Aircraft Parts Corp., Holtsville, N.Y., died April 19 after several weeks of complications from pneumonia. Sherman, who stepped aside from his leadership role in 2002 after suffering several strokes, founded the business in 1960 providing small aircraft parts to customers. In 1974, APC purchased the piston-engine product line from Bendix Corp. and began to handle sales, distribution and manufacturing of piston-engine starter products.
AVCRAFT PLANS MAJOR MAINTENANCE, COMPLETION CENTER - Avcraft is opening a new 180,000-square-foot maintenance and completion center at the former Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Myrtle Beach facility will be used as the factory-owned service center for the Dornier 328 turboprop and 328JET and support Avcraft's maintenance work with BAE Systems. It also will be the completion center for new corporate 328JET aircraft and provide maintenance and completions for other regional airliners and business aircraft.
TRIUMPH GROUP NET INCOME FALLS 50 PERCENT - Triumph Group reported slightly higher revenue for the 12 months ended March 31, but net income for the year was just half what it had been in the previous year. Sales from continuing operations in fiscal 2004 were $608.3 million, compared with $565.4 million in fiscal 2003. Net income for the most recent year totaled $18.2 million, or $1.14 per common share. That compares with net income of $36.7 million, or $2.31 per share, for fiscal 2003.
GA SHIPMENTS, BILLINGS BOUNCE BACK IN FIRST QUARTER - General Aviation Manufacturers Association President and CEO Ed Bolen credited the bonus depreciation tax benefit for helping to spur a first quarter turnaround in general aviation shipments, which had stagnated in 2003. GAMA Friday reported that billings had jumped 21.1 percent from 2003's first quarter to $2.38 billion and deliveries jumped 9.7 percent to 541 aircraft in the first quarter.
IRAQ AUTHORITY'S PLANE REQUEST PROMPTS QUESTIONS FROM INDUSTRY - A requirement for eight surveillance aircraft to be used by the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq has prompted a series of questions from builders of such aircraft. The planes would report on "potential threats, tampering, and malfunctions of essential infrastructure elements in divergent areas throughout Iraq," according to a FedBizOpps notice from the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), the CPA's contracting agency.
David A. Pishko, 61, a veteran aviation marketing and communications executive, died April 27 of an apparent heart attack while cutting the grass at his home in Coralville, Iowa. Pishko had been director of corporate marketing communications for Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa since March 2002, but he had held communications, sales, advertising and marketing posts for a number of airframe and engine manufacturers for the past 34 years.
BAE SYSTEMS Model Avro 146-RJ series airplanes and BAE Systems Model BAe 146 series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-317-AD; Amendment 39-13541; AD 2004-06-15) - requires a test to determine the torque setting for the collar cap screw of the differential box for the nose landing gear, and follow-on actions. This action is necessary to prevent uncommanded inputs to the nosewheel steering, which could reduce controllability of the airplane during takeoff and landing. FAA estimates that 55 airplanes on the U.S.
A small team of Executive Branch officials is developing a national vision statement for an air transportation system that can meet air traffic demand in 2025.
AEROSPACE INDUSTRY SEEKS PERMANENT R&D TAX CREDIT - The Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) is part of a coalition urging Congress to pass legislation to make the federal research and development tax credit permanent. The credit has been renewed by Congress 12 times since its creation in 1981, and without another renewal will expire June 30. The credit benefits mostly manufacturers, who receive 68.6 percent of the value.
CAMP SYSTEMS TO TAKE OVER MONITORING CHALLENGER FLEET - Canadian manufacturer Bombardier Aerospace and CAMP Systems announced an agreement under which CAMP will "assume responsibility for providing maintenance-tracking services for Bombardier business jets."
Rolls-Royce received a contract from Bogota, Colombia-based El Servicio Aero a Territorios Nacionales (SATENA) to provide its TotalCare engine support for the carrier's Embraer ERJ 145 aircraft. The deal is valued at $14.9 million through 2016. The Rolls-Royce AE 3007 engine powers the ERJ 145. "SATENA is the first carrier in Colombia to operate regional jets, and we welcome them to the growing list of AE 3007 TotalCare customers worldwide," said David Whetton, executive vice president-airlines Americas for Rolls-Royce North America.
CAE reached an agreement to provide CRJ type rating training for graduates of the DeLand, Fla. airline career school, Regional Airline Academy. CAE estimated that the agreement will generate revenues in excess of $2.4 million. CAE will train CRJ candidates at its Denver training center and will work with airlines to place graduates.
National Air Transportation Association has been soliciting candidates for the association's summer internship program. The program will include opportunities for interns to attend congressional hearings and industry meetings, research aviation issues and assist with event planning or staffing. For more information, contact Beth Van Emburgh at [email protected] or (703) 845-9000.
