Experimental Aircraft Association tapped actor Harrison Ford to serve as the new chairman of the EAA Young Eagles Program. Ford, who first began flight training in the 1960s but put those ambitions on hold until the early 1990s, is a pilot who is rated in rotorcraft and tailwheel aircraft. He is the third person to serve as chairman of the Young Eagles Program, following Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, who held the title from 1994 until recently, and actor Cliff Robertson, who was chairman from the program's founding in July 1992 through 1994.
Smoke And Fire Prevention Systems is marketing lightweight fiberglass fabric curtains designed to contain smoke and toxic fumes in aircraft hangars. Toby Newcomb, executive vice president of the Clarksville, Va. company, said the translucent FabriLock fabric offers lower-cost protection than heavy drywall and metal smoke curtains, adding that his product is accepted by all building codes. In addition to locking in smoke and toxic fumes to protect lives and property, the translucent curtains help illuminate hangar interiors.
Dassault Falcon scheduled its Maintenance and Operations seminar June 13-15 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Fla. Dassault is offering online registration through CVENT at www.cvent.com. Falcon operators who have not received an invitation with an event code for registration should contract Toni Busuttil at [email protected].
National Business Aviation Association published a new children's book, The Flying Office: Aviation Goes to Work, as part of the association's AvKids initiative. AvKids is designed to introduce students in grades 2 through 5 to aviation, and business aviation in particular, through a curriculum that incorporates science, math, geography and language arts.
NATCA GROWS MORE FRUSTRATED WITH ADMINISTRATION, ENDORSES KERRY - National Air Traffic Controllers Association last week continued to express its dissatisfaction over the contract dispute with the Bush Administration, touting a statement by the AFL-CIO that called the Federal Aviation Administration's bargaining approach draconian. NATCA filed a lawsuit in late January seeking resolution of impasses with FAA through the Federal Services Impasses Panel. The contract dispute involves NATCA's non-controller bargaining units.
JEFF AGUR was promoted to vice president of The VanAllen Group, the Atlanta-based aviation and management consulting firm. Agur joined the firm in 2002 as director of business operations. In his new role, he will manage business development.
The controversy surrounding the FAA proposal to further regulate air tours and charity sightseeing flights has captured the attention of some congressional leaders, who want to look into the issue. The Small Business Committee's subcommittee on rural enterprises, agriculture and technology has scheduled a hearing on the proposal at 10 a.m. on March 30.
Israel Aircraft Industries reported sales $1.87 billion last year, an 11 percent decline from the $2.06 billion in sales in 2002. Net profits totaled $15 million last year, compared with $33 million the previous year. The company's year-over-year order backlog remained static at $4.5 billion, but officials noted it signed a contract this month to sell three early warning aircraft to the Indian Air Force, a deal that boosts company backlog to $5.6 billion.
EMBRAER Model EMB-135 and -145 series airplanes (Docket No. 2003-NM-237-AD) - proposes to require repetitive detailed inspections of the oil in the air turbine starter (ATS) to determine the oil quantity and the amount of debris contamination in the oil. If the oil quantity is incorrect or if excessive debris is found, this proposal would require replacement of the ATS with a new or serviceable ATS having the same part number, and continued repetitive detailed inspections.
FAA NAMES TWO TO ATO POSTS - The Federal Aviation Administration continues to round out its Air Traffic Organization with the appointment of Eugene Juba as senior vice president for finance and James Schear as vice president for safety. Juba held senior financial planning and analysis posts at US Airways and United. Most recently he was chief financial officer of EKA Systems. Schear, a retired rear admiral in the U.S. Naval Reserve, joins the ATO from the Transportation Security Administration, where he was deputy assistant administrator of aviation operations.
Dyncorp Technical Services LLC won a contract to provide maintenance and modification services for part of NASA's aircraft fleet. The Dyncorp unit, owned by Computer Sciences Corp., will support NASA's Johnson Space Center at Ellington Field in Houston and at facilities in El Paso, Texas, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. and other locations in the U.S. and overseas. The five-year, follow-on contract is valued at about $200 million.
Two people were killed late last month in Israel when their Robinson R-22 helicopter crashed near the town of Kalansua. The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary report on the accident said the helicopter, 4X-BCM, "experienced an in-flight main rotor blade failure and separation."
Title IV -- AIRLINE SERVICE IMPROVEMENTS Subtitle A -- Small Community Air Service Section 401. Allows an airline to begin service to a community that has been eliminated from the Essential Air Service (EAS) program without being subject to the mandatory 30-day continuation-of-service (hold-in) requirements of the EAS program if the carrier decides to terminate service to that community
Federal Aviation Administration today is expected to release a report on a three-day meeting that FAA Air Traffic Organization Chief Operating Officer Russell Chew held with about 70 aviation representatives this month to discuss expected summer traffic problems. The meeting was moderated by two non-aviation facilitators, who urged people to ponder far-reaching ideas to solve the problems. Some of those ideas, such as establishing "high-occupancy" lanes reserved for airliners, initially generated stomach acid among business aviation representatives.
Federal Aviation Administration's proposal to adopt new Stage 4 noise standards has attracted dozens of comments from airport authorities and anti-noise activists urging the agency to expand the rule to include more far-reaching noise restrictions, including a ban on Stage 2 aircraft (BA, March 8/101).
Jet And Propjet 2004, the detailed corporate aircraft directory of turbine-powered business aircraft, is now available. The latest edition lists more than 14,500 jets and 11,500 turboprops built by 45 manufacturers and operating in 144 countries. The directory, now in its 26th year, includes 454 new jets that were added to the worldwide file last year and 1,261 jets that changed hands. Compiled by Peter Simmonds and Dave Richardson, the 520-page paperback lists aircraft by registration number, make and model, serial number, owner and previous registration number.
GULFSTREAM G550 WINS JAA/EASA APPROVAL, COLLIER TROPHY - Gulfstream Aerospace's G550 business jet won validation by the European Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) and a type certificate from the new European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The G550, which features the PlaneView cockpit and Gulfstream Enhanced Vision System, won FAA certification in August. The manufacturer said the combination of the JAA recommendation letter and the EASA type certificate enable the G550 to be certified and registered within 37 European and neighboring countries.
Embraer delivered the first two Embraer 170 airliners to U.S. launch customer US Airways and another 170 to Poland's LOT Polish Airlines. Delivery of the aircraft follows certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration and the Brazilian Centro Tecnico Aerospacial late last month (BA, Feb. 23/82). US Airways ordered 85 of the 170s, the first in Embraer's new family of jets spanning the 70- to 100-seat market. The airline, which also took options on 100 more, plans to place the Embraer 170 into service early next month.
TAG Aviation Usa Inc. established an on-line resume-posting process to accept applications from prospective employees. Officials said that once a resume has been posted, the new system allows TAG Aviation to quickly recall a prospect's information to match hiring requirements. "TAG manages and operates aircraft at locations throughout the United States," said Karl Johnson, chief pilot and director of flight standards.
SAE Aerospace will hold its 2004 General Aviation Technology Conference and Exhibition April 20-22 at the Century II Convention center in Wichita, Kan. The three-day event provides a forum for corporate executives, engineers, researchers and production personnel to discuss key general aviation issues and the latest technology. The conference includes more than 150 presentations on certification, aircraft icing, flight test avionics, government updates and a host of other subjects.
GAO CALLS FOR IMPROVED BANNER-TOWER CHECKS, WAIVER PROCESSES - The Transportation Security Administration should improve its background check procedures and standardize its waiver processes for aerial advertisers if Congress lifts restrictions on advertising flights over large stadiums, the General Accounting Office recommended.
March 15-17 - Helicopter Association International Heli-Expo 2004, Las Vegas, Nev., (703) 683-4646 March 22-23 - American Association of Airport Executives, ACI-NA, Spring Washington Conference, Loews L'Enfant Plaza Hotel, Washington, 703-824-0504, www.airportnet.org March 22-25 - National Business Aviation Association 31st Annual International Operators Conference, Anaheim, Calif., (202) 783-9000 March 22-25 - Society of Manufacturing Engineers, WESTEC 2004, Angeles, Calif. Convention Center, (800) 733-4763 or www.sme.org/westec
MARINE CITATION CRASH CLAIMS FOUR IN SAN DIEGO - All four people aboard a U.S. Marine Corps Citation Encore business jet were killed Wednesday night when the aircraft crashed while on approach to the Miramar Marine Corps Air Station near San Diego, Calif. Authorities said the airplane, designated as the UC-35D in Marine Corps service, was on a training flight from Grand Junction, Colo. when it crashed about 8:45 local time. The aircraft hit the ground about 1.5 miles from the Marine base, east of Interstate 15 and burst into flames. All four aboard perished.
