BLAKEY NAMES NEW NO. 2 IN AIRPORTS OFFICE - FAA Administrator Marion Blakey named Kate Lang deputy associate administrator for airports, with responsibility for overseeing the daily operations of FAA's nine regional airport offices. Lang, who joined the agency in 1992, will report to Woodie Woodward, associate administrator for airports. For the past four years Lang was director of the office of airport planning and programming. She also served as chief of staff to Linda Daschle when Daschle was deputy administrator of FAA during the Clinton Administration.
TAG Aviation USA added 10 aircraft at eight locations to its management fleet in the second quarter, ranging from a Bell 412 helicopter to a Gulfstream IV-SP business jet. "Referrals from our existing clients have been the key to continued growth during a period of depressed conditions in the market," said Jake Cartwright, CEO.
FCI Emergency Maneuver Training, based in Mesa, Ariz., updated its upset recovery and spin training programs to include head-down instrument recovery training. FCI also reformatted its programs to offer a full Emergency Maneuver Training course as well as a three-mission Upset Recovery Training program and two-mission Spin Training course. The Upset Recovery Training, designed for both the business and commercial pilot, focuses on unusual attitudes, spiral dives, wake turbulence encounters, basic aerobatic recovery skills and an academic ground school.
ARINC Incorporated struck an agreement with satellite communications provider Telenor Satellite Services under which ARINC will resell Telenor's aeronautical services to the worldwide commercial, government and general aviation markets. ARINC will use Telenor's global network infrastructure for its Inmarsat satellite services. "Telenor and ARINC Incorporated have had a long-standing relationship, including investment, for the provision of Inmarsat satellite services on a global basis," said Bob Thompson, ARINC senior director of satellite services.
September 14-17 - Airports Council International - North America 12th Annual Conference & Exhibition, Tampa, Fla., (202) 293-8500 September 17-19 - European Regions Airline Association General Assembly, Citywest Hotel, Dublin, Ireland, +44 1276-856495 September 20 - AIRINC, Airline Pilot Job Fair and Seminar, Hilton Alexandria Mark Center, Alexandria, Va., 800-JET-JOBS (538-5627), www.jet-jobs.com September 20-23 - 72nd National Association of State Aviation Officials Annual Convention and Trade Show, Charlotte, N.C., (301) 588-0587
MIDEAST COUNTRIES IN LINE TO BUY VIP AIRLINER PROTECTION DEVICES - Four Middle East countries would outfit their VIP transport planes with anti-missile infrared countermeasures sets supplied by the U.S., Congress was told by the Department of Defense. Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia would buy AN/AAQ-24(V) Directed Infrared Countermeasures (DIRCM) systems, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said in announcements dated Sept. 3.
CSI Aviation Services won a contract to lease seven aircraft to the U.S. Marshals Service for prisoner transport and illegal alien deportation. The contract covers MD-82 and Boeing 727 aircraft, insurance and maintenance for the U.S. Marshals Service's Justice Prisoner and Alien Transportation System. The aircraft will be based in Oklahoma, Louisiana and Arizona. CSI Aviation Services has served as a U.S. Department of Justice contractor since 1989.
Elite Flight Solutions is in final negotiations on a definitive agreement to buy American Air Network of St. Louis, Mo. The agreement will include the final terms and closing dates for the acquisition. Elite and American Air already have partnered on an air ambulance contract in Alaska (BA, Sept. 8/104). American Air Network has been in the charter business for more than 20 years and has more than 50 aircraft on its certificate.
AEROSPATIALE Model ATR 42-200, -300, -320, and -500 series airplanes; and Model ATR 72 series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-306-AD; Amendment 39-13298; AD 2003-18-07) - supersedes an existing AD that currently requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to modify procedures for calculating takeoff performance when Type II or IV de-icing or anti-icing fluids have been used. This amendment requires revising the existing AFM revision to correct the performance values for Model ATR 72 series airplanes and to provide an additional method of compliance for all airplanes.
NAVAIR ORDERS MORE TRADE STUDIES ON PRESIDENTIAL HELO PROGRAM - Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) intends to award follow-on study contracts to Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky as part of the VXX Presidential Helicopter replacement program, in anticipation of releasing a request for proposals (RFP) for the next phase of the program this fall.
New Piper won FAA approval for its new Piper 6XT turbocharged fixed-gear version of its six-place Saratoga II aircraft. New Piper secured the type certificates seven months after project launch. The normally aspirated Piper 6X received FAA approval in July, some six months after launch. New Piper has priced the 6XT at $358,400. Powered by a 300-horsepower Lycoming engine, the 6XT will fly at 165 knots. The 6X, which is priced at $338,400, will cruise at 153 knots.
NEW EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT NAMED AT BAE SYSTEMS - BAE Systems North America announced the immediate appointment of Walter Havenstein as executive vice president. In the newly created post, Havenstein will be responsible for "directing and integrating" several areas of the business, including operations, engineering, strategy and finance. He will report to Mark Ronald, president and CEO. Havenstein served as president of the Nashua, N.J.-based Information and Electronic Warfare Systems - and the former Sanders unit - since May 1999.
ELITE FLIGHT SOLUTIONS last week launched a new subsidiary formed with American Air Network of St. Louis, Mo. The subsidiary, based in Anchorage, Alaska, will fulfill a Yukon-Kuskokwin air ambulance contract that was signed earlier this year. The new subsidiary will be called American Air Network Alaska and will operate two Learjet 35s and a Cessna Citation II that will be moved to the Anchorage hangar by the end of September. Elite will own 51 percent of the subsidiary and American Air Network will own 49 percent.
GENERAL AVIATION groups, meanwhile, continue to fortify their position in support of the bill and have begun to warn their members that an advertising blitz by labor unions against the privatization measure is "misrepresenting" both GA positions as well as the facts behind the provision in the bill. "If anybody tries to tell you that AOPA supports privatizing ATC, you tell them that's a damned lie," Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Phil Boyer said. "AOPA is dedicated to the benefit of all general aviation, particularly GA pilots.
SUMMARY: Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption (14 CFR Part 11), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR Chapter I), dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities.
NAPLES CONSIDERS APPEAL OF FAA GRANT DECISION -- Naples, Fla. Municipal Airport officials expect that the Naples Airport Board will continue to appeal the determinations by the FAA that the airport's ban on Stage 2 aircraft violates grant agreements. Woodie Woodward, FAA associate administrator for airports, late last month upheld earlier findings that the airport was failing to comply with grant agreements and that the agency would continue to withhold airport grants (BA, Sept. 1/87).
Aerospace suppliers step up efforts to derail Buy American legislation -- A group of U.S. supplier companies has stepped up its efforts in recent weeks to derail provisions in the House fiscal 2004 defense authorization bill that would place new restrictions on the Pentagon's use of foreign sources. More than 60 members of the Aerospace Industries Association's Supplier Management Council visited 38 House and Senate offices in July to urge bipartisan resistance to the so-called Buy American provisions, AIA revealed late last week.
NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION has been conducting a series of aircraft surveillance missions last month around Typhoon Dujuan in the western Pacific Ocean as part of its DOTSTAR program (Dropsoned Observations for Typhoon Surveillance) to improve tropical cyclone forecasting. The missions, conducted in collaboration with meteorologists in Chinese Taipei, involve the use of airborne sensors called dropwindsondes that are released from an Astra SPX supplied by Taipei's Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. flying at about 42,000 feet.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION'S Eastern Region is proposing to assess a fine of $303,600 against the Maryland Aviation Administration for allegedly failing to comply with FAA regulations related to the training of its airport firefighters. The MAA owns and operates Baltimore-Washington International Airport. FAA claims that 35 firefighters employed by MAA had not received appropriate live-fire training at least once every 12 months as required by FAA regulations. FAA said it noticed the problem during an annual certification inspection.
The Department of Transportation's Inspector General released a study last week reaffirming earlier claims that visual flight rules towers operated privately continue to have fewer reported operational errors than towers run by the Federal Aviation Administration. The report comes as the fight over whether to provide FAA the latitude to contract out up to 69 of the 71 remaining federally run VFR towers has reached a fever pitch -- Democrats and labor unions warn that safety is in jeopardy, but industry and general aviation groups dispute those warnings.
ARINC is working with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to help operators in the Caribbean and South America comply with new aircraft standards required to operate in reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) airspace. Under the teaming agreement, IATA will help commercial and business aircraft operators obtain aircraft modifications and RVSM approvals while ARINC will provide a range of aircraft services both in the region and at its repair station in Colorado Springs, Colo.
THE HOUSE is hoping to begin consideration of FAA's reauthorization legislation this week, but a firestorm surrounding a privatization provision could continue to jeopardize progress. House Republicans want to send the bill to the floor as it is but opponents to the privatization measure -- which would give FAA the latitude to contract out up to 69 more VFR towers as part of the contract tower program -- are hoping to block progress until changes are made to the bill.
Maintenance Firm Claims Excess Weight Caused Charlotte Crash -- Vertex Aerospace, formerly Raytheon Aerospace, claims the Beech 1900D that crashed after takeoff from Charlotte in January flew outside of center of gravity (CG) limits, rendering the aircraft unstable and uncontrollable.
