Docket No.: FAA-2002-11499 Petitioner: Randy L. Bailey Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 91.109(a) and (b)(3). Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Randy L. Bailey to conduct certain flight instruction and simulated instrument flights to meet the recent experience requirments in Beechcraft Bonanza and Travel Air airplanes. Grant, Nov. 20, 2003, Exemption No. 5517G
Growth in the fractional aircraft market will continue to be slow this year, based on pilot hiring projections by Aviation Information Resources, Inc. of Atlanta, Ga. Fractional operators hired 1,363 pilots in 2000, 1,038 the following year and 997 in 2002, but the industry added only 198 pilots last year (BA, Jan. 19/21). AIR, Inc. estimates fractional providers will add only about 250 pilots this year.
AIA PRESSES AIR SHOW ORGANIZERS TO FIND COST-CUTTING MEASURES - Complaints by CEOs of some Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) member companies about the high cost of last year's Paris Air Show prompted the association to contact officials of the four major aerospace shows - Paris, Farnborough, Asian Aerospace and Dubai -- about finding ways to cut rental expenses for chalets and exhibition space.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model AS355E, F, F1, F2, and N helicopters (Docket No. 2003-SW-24-AD; Amendment 39-13423; AD 2004-01-09) -- requires revising the Limitations section of the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) to prohibit using the landing light except for landing and takeoff until the 40 amp 10P1 and 10P2 contactors are replaced with 50 amp circuit breakers. Also, this amendment requires upgrading the electrical master boxes.
AVCARD, the Baltimore, Md. area aviation fuel and services credit card company, has formed a subsidiary in the United Kingdom, AVCARD Services, Ltd., to support the firm's growing international business.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model EC130B4 helicopters (Docket No. 2003-SW-41-AD; Amendment 39-13428; AD 2004-01-14) - requires, for helicopters with a certain air intake cowling attachment fitting installed, inspecting for broken or cracked forward fittings. If a broken or cracked fitting is found, inspecting the four center and aft fittings for cracks is required. Replacing broken fittings or certain cracked fittings also is required. This amendment is prompted by reports of cracked and broken fittings; one fitting failed after only 418 hours time-in-service (TIS).
CESSNA 441 and F406 airplanes (Docket No. 2002-CE-18-AD; Amendment 39-13406; AD 2003-09-09 R1) -- revises an AD that requires repetitively inspecting the fuel boost pump wiring inside and outside the boost pump reservoir and repair or replacement of the wiring as necessary. AD 2003-09-09 also requires eventual installation of an improved wire harness and fuel boost pump as terminating action for the repetitive inspections. The way the compliance time is currently written puts certain airplane owners/operators in non-compliance with the AD.
Section 143. Repeals an outdated "Sense of Senate" that FAA should work with law enforcement agencies to help air carriers develop computer-assisted passenger profiling systems Section 144. Makes technical amendments to grant assurance language, including eliminating certain requirements for audit opinions Section 145. Makes eligible for funding the costs of moving federal facilities, such as control towers and navigation aids, that otherwise would impede an AIP project
Two Principals in Tyler Jet, LLC of Tyler, Texas entered guilty pleas last week to engaging in a monetary transaction with the proceeds of criminal activity. According to a multi-count indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Timothy J. Beverley, 47, president and manager of Tyler Jet, and Gregory A. Hopper, 49, the former chief financial officer of the company, were engaged in wire fraud and bank fraud in connection with the aircraft sales and refurbishment company.
Federal Aviation Administration, among the objectives of its Flight Plan 2004-2008 initiative, wants to come up with some sort of composite safety index that will measure the safety of the entire U.S. civil aviation system. The index would include the full spectrum of aviation activities, from general aviation through the scheduled airlines. FAA assembled about two dozen representatives of government, industry and academia to discuss the issue last week.
Docket No.: FAA-2003-15659 Petitioner: F & E Aircraft Maintenance, L.L.C. Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 145.35 and 145.37 Description of Relief Sought: To permit F & E Aircraft Maintenance, L.L.C. to obtain an airframe rating on its repair station certificate without meeting the housing and facility requirements of Sec. 145.35 and 145.37.
Transport Canada suspended the operating certificate of Georgian Express Thursday, less than a week after one of the carrier's Grand Caravan turboprops was involved in a fatal accident that claimed 10 lives. See article below.
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), the ranking Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, last week offered little hope that business aviation would be given access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) anytime in the near future. "I think DCA should have been opened a long time ago to general aviation," Oberstar said.
GULFSTREAM POSTS BEST QUARTER FOR AIRCRAFT ORDERS - Gulfstream Aerospace logged orders for 34 new business jets in the fourth quarter, the best three-month period in the company's history, according to Nicholas Chabraja, chairman and CEO of parent company General Dynamics.
DINA GREEN was hired as manager, seminars for the National Business Aviation Association. Green, who officially starts today (Jan. 26), formerly managed communications for the National Aircraft Resale Association. She also managed projects, media relations and meeting and convention planning for the National Association of State Aviation Officials. Before joining NASAO in early 2000, Green spent five years with the Washington, D.C. law firm of Paul, Hastings, Janofsky and Walker as a senior paralegal.
AVCARD, the Baltimore, Md. area aviation fuel and services credit card company, has formed a subsidiary in the United Kingdom, AVCARD Services, Ltd., to support the firm's growing international business.
NTSB WANTS FAA TO REQUIRE BETTER BUCKLES ON CREW SEATS - The National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) investigation of the crash of an Air Midwest Beech 1900D last January in Charlotte, N.C., led the board to suggest that FAA require guarded buckles on crew seats on those aircraft that currently have unguarded rotary seatbelt buckles. Crash investigators found the captain's body four feet in front of the cockpit and her rotary seatbelt buckle undone, while the first officer remained in his seat.
AVCRAFT PREPARES FOR PRODUCTION RESTART - AvCraft Aviation has begun gradually rebuilding the work force in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, in preparation for restarting the production line for the 30-seat 328Jet regional aircraft. AvCraft, the new owner of the former Fairchild Dornier 328JET, said in December that production would begin soon (BA, Dec. 15/269), and last week announced that work would re-start this quarter with the first completed aircraft rolling off the production line by the fourth quarter.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION'S 15th Annual Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference drew a record 236 exhibitors and an estimated 1,400 registrants last week in Savannah, Ga. The event had grown to the point that NBAA held the meeting in a convention center for the first time last week. NBAA President Shelley Longmuir and Edsel B. Ford, the great-grandson of Henry Ford, addressed conference attendees, and some $30,000 in scholarships was awarded to eight people for professional development.
NETJETS will expand the operating area for its Gulfstream IV-SP and Gulfstream V business jets Feb. 1, "allowing the company to waive ferry charges for owners of these aircraft when flying aboard these aircraft." The ferry charge waiver applies to flights that originate or terminate in the continental U.S. and is designed to benefit customers who use the Gulfstreams for international trips.
U.S. Senate appropriators have taken temporary action to ensure Midway Atoll remains open for aircraft operations until a provision in a major spending bill, which will provide long-term financial support for the airfield, is enacted.
