Kaman Aerospace Corp. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony presided over by Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to celebrate the opening of the company's new Jacksonville, Fla. operations facility. The Jacksonville plant includes two buildings, with a total of 248,000 square feet of space, equipped with state-of-the-art, milti-axis computer-numeric-controlled machining cells. The facility has 158 employees now, but the workforce is expected to total 450 when the facility is fully staffed.
Veteran aviation writer Richard B. (Dick) Weeghman, 75, died Oct. 13 near his home in Sarasota, Fla. A Yale graduate, Weeghman flew F-86s in the U.S Air Force. After leaving the service, he held editorial positions with several aviation publications. He was an associate editor at Flying magazine, editor-in-chief at Air Progress and for many years was the editor of The Aviation Consumer, which frequently took light aircraft and component manufacturers to task for perceived problems in quality and product support.
ARINC Direct opened a new regional aircraft service center in Scottsdale, Ariz. ARINC Direct Scottsdale will be a part of the new 100,000-square-foot Scottsdale Air Center, which opened in March with 75,000 square feet of hangar space. The center will offer pre- and post-flight inspections, and 100-hour, phase and annual inspections. Aircraft-on-ground repairs also will be available. The Scottsdale facility is the first of several regional locations that ARINC plans to open.
THUNDER AVIATION LAUNCHES FALCON RVSM PROGRAM - Thunder Aviation of Chesterfield, Mo. has teamed with Honeywell, Inc. to seek certification of Reduced Vertical Separation Minimums (RVSM) capability for Falcon 10 and 20 aircraft using Honeywell components. Lou Churchville, vice president of sales and marketing for Thunder, said the companies are seeking FAA supplemental type certification of the required hardware by mid-December, with RVSM certification of the system to follow by yearend.
ROCKWELL COLLINS BUYS VIRGINIA ELECTRONICS FIRM - Rockwell Collins, Inc. signed a definitive agreement to buy NLX, LLC, of Sterling, Va., a manufacturer of integrated training and simulation systems for military and commercial customers. Under terms of the deal, which is subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals, Rockwell will pay $125 million for NLX in a cash transaction. NLX is expected to have revenues of about $125 million in 2004. NLX is being purchased from Arlington Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.
October 26-28 - International Aviation Womens Association 15th Annual Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, www.iawa.org, e-mail [email protected] October 26-30 - ATCA 48th Annual International Technical Program and Exhibits, Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, 703-522-5717, fax 703-527-7251, e-mail [email protected] October 30-November 1 - Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Expo 2003, Philadelphia, Pa., (301) 695-2000
The Department of Transportation is expected to publish a rule for domestic reduced vertical separation minimums by the end of the month in the Federal Register. Expected to take effect in January 2005, the rule will mandate six additional flight levels between 29,000 and 41,000 feet, reducing vertical separation between aircraft from 2,000 feet to 1,000.
Ultrajet LLC ordered 100 Avocet ProJet aircraft from Avocet Aircraft with deliveries scheduled to begin in January 2007. The Avocet ProJet is a six- to eight-place twin-engine turbojet geared to the air taxi and charter market. A subsidiary of Jet Partners, LLC, UltraJet is a private membership charter company that caters to customers with a fleet of Gulfstream, Citation and Learjet aircraft operated and maintained by AvBase Aviation, a fellow Jet Partners subsidiary.
Mercury Air Group, Inc. notified the American Stock Exchange that the company will delay filing its annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2003. Mercury said its new auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, have not completed the audit and preparation of the company's financial statement for the fiscal year. Mercury added that it "does not believe that the continuing audit indicates any underlying weakness in the company's financial conditions or prospects." The company said it is reviewing its accounting related to the Dec.
National Air Transportation Association officials spent three hours with a delegation of French regulatory officials last week providing a "Fractional 101" briefing on the scope, outlook and operational parameters of fractional aircraft providers. The French, like their counterparts in the United Kingdom, are considering whether/how to regulate fractional aircraft and those operated under management contracts that fly into Europe.
SEPT. 11 COMMISSION SLAMS FAA, ISSUES SUBPOENA FOR RECORDS - The White House commission established to investigate the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks issued a subpoena last week to obtain the documents it needs from FAA, but the agency said the step is unnecessary.
Midcoast Aviation was named an authorized service facility for the Bombardier Global Express. The company will provide Global Express maintenance at its location at St. Louis Downtown Airport. Midcoast, a Sabreliner subsidiary, is the only authorized U.S. facility for Global Express maintenance.
RAYTHEON NAMES NEW BEECHCRAFT PRESIDENT - Raytheon Aircraft appointed Randy Groom to head the Wichita, Kan.-manufacturer's recently re-established Beechcraft division.
BE A PILOT, the industry program designed to generate interest in learning to fly, reported that pilot prospects generated by the program dropped 3.2 percent in the first nine months of this year to 26,683. Program President Drew Steketee said the number of programs only declined slightly despite the Iraq war and difficult economy. Visitors to the web site, www.beapilot.com, however, were up 4.1 percent to 667,000 through the end of September.
BUSINESS TURBINE FATAL ACCIDENTS CLIMB IN FIRST NINE MONTHS -The number of turbine business aircraft involved in accidents remained stable through the first nine months of the year despite an increase of seven fatal accidents, according to data compiled by Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. Through the end of September, turbine business aircraft were involved in 44 accidents, 18 of which caused 46 fatalities. That compares with 45 accidents including 11 fatal accidents resulting in 29 deaths through the first nine months of 2002.
INDUSTRY GROUPS WELCOME FAA STUDY OF SUPERSONIC FLIGHT - Aerospace companies and groups are calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to examine supersonic flight regulations, emphasizing new technological developments they say warrant a reevaluation of current standards.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model EC135 P1, P2, T1, and T2 helicopters (Docket No. 2003-SW-08-AD; Amendment 39-13329; AD 2003-20-11) - supersedes an existing AD that currently requires inclusion of the AD or a statement to the Rotorcraft Flight Manual (RFM) informing the pilot to reduce power and land as soon as practicable if a thump-like sound followed by unusual vibration occurs during flight.
National Business Aviation Association said it drew 28,574 registrants to its annual convention this month in Orlando, Fla., an increase of nearly 800 over last year's attendance. This month's meeting attracted a record 1,068 exhibitors.
National Business Aviation Association topped the 7,500-member level, an all-time high for the 56-year-old association. Membership has grown nearly 35 percent over the past five years from 5,700 in 1998. Air Resources of DTI of Windsor, Calif., became the 7,500th member during the association's 56th Annual Meeting & Convention in Orlando. The company operates a King Air.
CAMP SYSTEMS INTERNATIONAL BUYS AMSTAT - CAMP Systems International, LLC entered into a definitive agreement to acquire AMSTAT Corp. of Tinton Falls, N.J., a leading supplier of aviation research information serving the business aircraft market. Under the agreement, AMSTAT will operate as an independent subsidiary and continue to be based at its New Jersey offices under the direction of Diane Levine, founder and president.
The battle to save the FAA reauthorization bill continued in Congress last week with a new proposal that would remove 30 of 69 contract towers from the controversial privatization provision included in the conference report. Designed to win key votes in the Senate for the long-awaited passage of the bill, the proposal from House aviation subcommittee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) is gaining momentum in Congress.
Executive Jet Management added a Beechjet 400A and Gulfstream IV-SP to its charter and management fleet. The Beechjet, the first of the type in Executive Jet's fleet, is based at Peachtreet-DeKalb Airport in Atlanta, Ga. EJM officials said the aircraft "fills an important niche." Jeff Cropper, senior vice president of charter services, said, "Over the past several years we've seen a tremendous growth in large cabin aircraft coming to EJM. Still many of our customers want to charter a short-haul, small-cabin aircraft with an enclosed lavatory.
Three months after taking over as president of the National Business Aviation Association, Shelley Longmuir delivered the first extensive remarks about how she views her role and NBAA's mission during a speech at the organization's convention in Orlando, Fla. earlier this month. Because she's new on the job and not well known within business aviation, BA thought our readers would be interested in reading some excerpts of her remarks.
