The Weekly of Business Aviation

Keystone Aviation

Staff
Aircraft Electronics Association's 46th Annual International Convention and Trade Show, held March 29 through April 1 in Las Vegas, Nev., attracted a record 1,650 attendees and 143 exhibitors that filled 222 booth spaces. Attendance jumped 16 percent from the 2003 event.

Staff
KATRINA BRADSHAW was named director of membership marketing for the Experimental Aircraft Association. Bradshaw has 10 years of experience in aviation association marketing with the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and spent three years with Young & Rubicam in New York. She also had her own creative consulting business.

Staff
National Business Aviation Association has scheduled a lottery in mid-May for booth space at its 57th Annual Meeting & Convention Oct. 12-14 in Las Vegas, Nev. NBAA is still accepting applications for booths at the event, which is expected to draw more than 30,000 attendees and more than 1,000 exhibitors. For more information, contact NBAA's Linda Peters at (202) 783-9368 or [email protected], or NBAA's Marti Smith at (202) 783-9365 or [email protected].

Staff
General Electric and Rolls-Royce were selected to offer engines for Boeing's new 7E7 transport. Boeing selected a version of the Rolls-Royce Trent powerplant, the Trent 1000, as well as GE's Gen-X engine based on the GE90. Forecast International, the Newtown, Conn.-based provider of aerospace and defense market forecasting, said it expects that the 7E7 business will be split fairly evenly between the Roll-Royce and GE offerings.

Staff
MERCURY AIR MOVES INTO NEWPORT NEWS - Mercury Air Centers recently assumed control of a fixed-base operation at the Newport News/Williamsburg, Va. International Airport (PHF), the 20th location in the Mercury Air Center chain. Local officials had issued a request for proposals (RFP) for a new FBO in July with a Sept. 16 deadline for responses, but the RFP was reissued Dec. 11 with a Jan. 15 deadline. The airport had been served by two FBOs, Flight International and Rick Aviation, but Flight International did not submit a bid.

McArthur Airport

Staff
National Air Transportation Association is relaunching its Web site with a new domain name and a "Members Only" section. The Web site can be accessed by using www.nata.aero. The previous address, www.nata-online.org, will automatically redirect visitors to the new site. The new Members section will include NATA's Legislative Reports, Regulatory Reports, Action Calls and archived E-News as well as other features.

Staff
TIMCO SELLS MIRAMAR, FLA. FACILITY - TIMCO Aviation Services sold its former headquarters and warehouse facility in Miramar, Fla., the company announced late last month. The overwhelming majority of the $26 million in proceeds "were used to pay in full the tax retention operating lease (TROL) obligation associated with the construction of the facility." The remaining proceeds of approximately $500,000 will be used for working capital. TIMCO relocated its headquarters to Greensboro, N.C. in 2001, and the company had been subleasing the Miramar facility since then.

Staff
National Air Transportation Association is relaunching its Web site with a new domain name and a "Members Only" section. The Web site can be accessed by using www.nata.aero. The previous address, www.nata-online.org, will automatically redirect visitors to the new site. The new Members section will include NATA's Legislative Reports, Regulatory Reports, Action Calls and archived E-News as well as other features.

Staff
Ducommun Inc. signed a long-term agreement with Eclipse Aviation to provide fuselage and cockpit skin panels for the Eclipse 500 jet. Ducommun AeroStructures (DAS) will perform the work at its facilities in Gardena and Orange, Calif. DAS will provide skin panels for preproduction aircraft this year and ramp up to meet Eclipse's production for 2006. Ducommun said the deal is the largest single contract DAS has won, estimating that it could represent about $120 million worth of work.

Staff
Fred Kirby joined Cleveland-based Avbase Aviation and its affiliate UltraJet as vice president of flight operations. Kirby will oversee all aspects of flight operations, maintenance, training and flight support for the charter and membership services groups. Kirby most recently served as director of vendor standards for fractional ownership provider NetJets in Columbus, Ohio. He has nearly 40 years of aviation experience and formerly was with the National Business Aviation Association.

Staff
General Electric and Rolls-Royce were selected to offer engines for Boeing's new 7E7 transport. Boeing selected a version of the Rolls-Royce Trent powerplant, the Trent 1000, as well as GE's Gen-X engine based on the GE90. Forecast International, the Newtown, Conn.-based provider of aerospace and defense market forecasting, said it expects that the 7E7 business will be split fairly evenly between the Roll-Royce and GE offerings.

Staff
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-8-401 and -402 airplanes (Docket No. 2004-NM-11-AD; Amendment 39-13508; AD 2004-05-13) - requires a records review to determine the repair/modification status of the airplane, and follow-on and corrective actions as necessary. This action is necessary to prevent cracks in the lower fuselage skin due to fatigue damage in the vicinity of the Number 2 VHF antenna, which could result in rapid decompression of the airplane. The AD was effective March 25.

Dave Collogan
The committee seeking a new president for the National Business Aviation Association is asking association members to let the panel know what qualifications they're looking for in a candidate and to recommend potential candidates.

Staff
WILLIAM CARROLL joined HeliFlite Shares as sales director. He will help expand the fractional helicopter business in the Northeast. Carroll formerly was the regional marketing manager for the Northeast for Eurocopter. He also introduced NetJets fractional ownership to New York and New England in the late 1980s. He also has been director of sales for Aerospatiale General Aviation, and most recently Carroll was commercial sales manager for Aero Aire Corp.

Staff
Transportation Security Administration last week issued a request for proposals for a registered-traveler pilot program to begin operating at select airports by the end of June. TSA is soliciting interest from companies by April 19 to provide program management, tactical operations, systems integration and biometrics for the registered-traveler program. Under the program, frequent travelers at the airports will have the option of volunteering. Volunteers will submit information including biometrics such as fingerprints.

Staff
Raytheon Aircraft Charter & Management recently added four aircraft to its charter fleet - a Challenger 604 based in Cincinnati, Ohio; a Gulfstream IV in Houston, Texas; a Beechjet 400A in Houston, Texas and a Beechcraft King Air B200 in Van Nuys, Calif. Raytheon Aircraft Charter & Management added seven aircraft to its charter certificate in 2003. Founded in 1999, the Raytheon unit operates a fleet of aircraft that includes Challengers, Gulfstreams, Hawkers, Learjets, Citations, Diamond Jets and King Airs throughout the nation.

Staff
CESSNA Models 208 and 208B airplanes (Docket No. 2002-CE-23-AD) - proposes to revise an earlier proposed AD that would have revised AD 2002-22-17, which currently requires repetitively inspecting the inboard forward flap bellcranks for cracks and eventually replacing these bellcranks. The proposed AD would have provided the option of installing a newly designed bellcrank to increase the life limits and terminate the repetitive inspections. AD 2003-21-04 also requires inspections of the inboard forward flap bellcranks on these airplanes.

Staff
Avbase Flight Services, LLC last month added two Gulfstream 200s to its charter and management fleet. One of the G200s will be based at Cleveland Hopkins Airport in Cleveland, Ohio and the other will be based at Addison Airport in Dallas, Texas. Both aircraft are configured to seat 10 passengers. Avbase manages aircraft at 20 locations throughout the country.

Staff
DASSAULT Model Mystere-Falcon 900 series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-390-AD; Amendment 39-13510; AD 2004-05-15) - requires revising the Abnormal Procedures section of the airplane flight manual to advise the flightcrew to avoid use of certain display modes during approaches. This AD also requires replacing certain symbol generators of the Electronic Flight Information System (EFIS) with modified symbol generators.

Staff
Ducommun Inc. signed a long-term agreement with Eclipse Aviation to provide fuselage and cockpit skin panels for the Eclipse 500 jet. Ducommun AeroStructures (DAS) will perform the work at its facilities in Gardena and Orange, Calif. DAS will provide skin panels for preproduction aircraft this year and ramp up to meet Eclipse's production for 2006. Ducommun said the deal is the largest single contract DAS has won, estimating that it could represent about $120 million worth of work.

Staff
National Business Aviation Association has scheduled a lottery in mid-May for booth space at its 57th Annual Meeting & Convention Oct. 12-14 in Las Vegas, Nev. NBAA is still accepting applications for booths at the event, which is expected to draw more than 30,000 attendees and more than 1,000 exhibitors. For more information, contact NBAA's Linda Peters at (202) 783-9368 or [email protected], or NBAA's Marti Smith at (202) 783-9365 or [email protected].

Staff
Fred Kirby joined Cleveland-based Avbase Aviation and its affiliate UltraJet as vice president of flight operations. Kirby will oversee all aspects of flight operations, maintenance, training and flight support for the charter and membership services groups. Kirby most recently served as director of vendor standards for fractional ownership provider NetJets in Columbus, Ohio. He has nearly 40 years of aviation experience and formerly was with the National Business Aviation Association.