OurPLANE LAUNCHES EXECUTIVE FRACTIONAL OWNERSHIP PROGRAM - Canadian fractional aircraft company OurPLANE is expanding its business with a program that will offer aircraft shares to non-pilots and to pilots who want to fly jet aircraft. With a fleet of piston aircraft and King Air turboprops, OurPLANE is marketing the Executive Fractional Aircraft Ownership Program to business professionals who are not necessarily pilots and need between 75 to 250 hours a year of aircraft use.
Duncan Aviation earned a supplemental type certificate to install a TT-5000 Aero-I Telecommunication System and the accompanying antenna on a Cessna Citation X. The TT-5000 Aero-I provides high-quality communication on multiple channels.
RAYTHEON PLANNING TO TRASH STARSHIP FLEET - Raytheon Aircraft, which spent nearly $1 billion to develop the all-composite Starship turboprop aircraft, plans to scrap the entire fleet because the aircraft is becoming too difficult to support. There were 53 Starships built, including three prototypes. A Raytheon spokesman confirmed last week that the company has acquired 40 of the production airplanes and is in contact with owners of the remaining 10, who have been warned that RAC plans to stop supporting the Starship.
FAA NAMES NEW HEAD OF INTERNAL SECURITY AND HAZARDOUS MATERIALS - The Federal Aviation Administration named 24-year FAA veteran Lynne Osmus as assistant administrator for the newly created office of Internal Security and Hazardous Materials. Osmus will manage 450 employees in the new office that will oversee FAA's hazardous materials program, personnel and contractor security investigations and security of FAA facilities. The office also will serve as FAA's liaison to the Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration.
Nearly two years after Part 135 and Part 91 operators were abruptly barred from using Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport because of federal security concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the leader of one aviation lobbying organization believes there is hope officials may be ready to consider opening the airport to non-airline flights once again.
Thales Air Traffic Management signed a contract with Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic (ANS CR) for one RSM 970S Mode S Monopulse Secondary Surveillance radar system. The radar, part of the Czech government's ANS CR Mode S implementation program, will be installed at a facility in Pisek.
William H. Swanson, a 31-year veteran of The Raytheon Company, was named president and chief executive officer and was elected to the board of directors. Swanson, 54, has served as president of Raytheon since last July and succeeds Daniel Burnham, 56, who served as Raytheon's chairman and CEO since July 1999. Burnham will continue as chairman for a period of time. He announced his plans to step down in April.
A Federal Aviation Administration hearing officer last week backed the agency's decision to withhold airport grants from Naples, Fla. Municipal Airport, but at the same time said the Naples Airport Authority's (NAA) ban on Stage 2 jet aircraft is not preempted by federal law nor is it unjustly discriminatory. The 57-page decision ruled on an appeal by the city of Naples for FAA to restore its airport grants. FAA revoked the airport's grants in March on the grounds that the Stage 2 jet ban was unreasonable, unjustly discriminatory and pre-empted by federal law.
FAA PONDERS AIRPORT ACCESS RESTRICTIONS BASED ON PAVEMENT CONCERNS - The Federal Aviation Administration last week proposed to clarify its policy on when an airport can restrict access based upon pavement design. The proposal is an attempt to develop a "uniform national policy" on weight-based restrictions, the agency said. Some airports have implemented weight-based restrictions to protect pavement not designed for heavier aircraft, bringing into question whether the restrictions were reasonable, FAA said.
AGUSTA Model A109K2 helicopters (Docket No. 2003-SW-26-AD; Amendment 39-13198; AD 2003-12-13) - adopts a new AD that requires a visual check of each tail rotor blade for a crack; a visual inspection of each blade for a crack at specified intervals; and if necessary, a dye-penetrant inspection. Replacing any cracked blade with an airworthy blade before further flight is also required. This amendment is prompted by a report of a crack that occurred in an Agusta Model A109K2 blade.
National Air Transportation Association issued an action call to members Thursday to solicit Senate support for a letter that Sens. John Warner (R-Va.) and George Allen (R-Va.) plan to send to President Bush on the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) access issue. Warner and Allen circulated a "Dear Colleague" letter last month asking fellow senators to sign a letter to Bush urging him to allow approved charter companies to access DCA (BA, June 9/265). See related article below.
Jackson Hole, Wyo. airport officials, who have been carefully watching the proceedings over the Naples, Fla. Municipal Airport Stage 2 jet ban, received a little help from Congress that would allow them to bypass the process Naples used. The Senate included language in its version of an FAA reauthorization bill that authorizes the airport to "impose restrictions on, or prohibit," operation of Stage 2 aircraft weighing less than 75,000 pounds.
Million Air added a new fixed-base operator in Santa Fe, N.M. to its chain of 26 FBOs around the U.S. Formerly Santa Fe Executive Aviation, the 2,700-square-foot facility at the Santa Fe Municipal Airport (SAF) will be renamed Million Air Santa Fe. The FBO will be renovated with new signage as well as a new driveway and entryway.
MERCURY FILES SUIT AGAINST INVESTORS - Mercury Air Group late last month filed a lawsuit in federal court in Los Angeles alleging that a group of mostly foreign companies have made false and/or misleading statements in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission in an attempted takeover of Mercury's assets. The lawsuit also alleges misuse of proprietary, confidential and trade secret information.
The Office of Management And Budget Tuesday completed its review of new regulations to govern fractional aircraft operations and sent them back to FAA for final approval for publication. OMB, which received the regulations in early April, said it completed its review "consistent with no change." Observers expect it may take a few weeks before the much-anticipated regulations are published in the Federal Register while they await FAA Administrator Marion Blakey's signature.
VOUGHT COMPLETES AEROSTRUCTURES ACQUISITION - Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. completed its acquisition of The Aerostructures Corp. Tuesday, a transaction that brings together two of the major providers of large component structures for the aerospace industry.
Jet Aviation Basel completed work on a green Boeing Business Jet 2, and the facility is working on two more BBJs. The completions project included a full exterior paint job and a VIP head-of-state interior that can seat up to 31 passengers and eight crew members. An in-house interior design team decorated the cabin while Jet Aviation Engineering Services in San Antonio, Texas worked on large-scale mechanical engineering, stress analysis and certification projects.
Breeze-Eastern won a contract from Sikorsky Aircraft to supply rescue hoists for the U.S. Navy MH-60R/S helicopter programs. The MH-60 R/S helicopters are replacing SH-60B and SH60F aircraft. The new helicopters will be used for combat search and rescue, multi-purpose transport, special operations, and mine countermeasures. The Navy programs could call for up to 500 aircraft. The initial contract covers 69 rescue hoist systems valued at more than $4 million. The contract includes options for up to 60 more aircraft per year.
Adam Aircraft selected Avidyne's FlightMax Entegra integrated flight deck for the Adam A500 twin-piston aircraft. The Entegra system includes two 10.4-inch diagonal, high-resolution primary flight displays with air data and attitude heading reference systems. The displays will include standard flight instrumentation such as an electronic attitude direction indicator, electronic horizontal situation indicator and altitude, airspeed and vertical speed indicators.
WHITE HOUSE WANTS 'MARINE ONE' REPLACEMENT PROGRAM ON FAST TRACK - U.S. Naval Air Systems Command's (NAVAIR) effort to develop a replacement presidential helicopter is heating up following a White House request to accelerate the introduction of the aircraft to 2007. NAVAIR released a broad agency announcement calling for designs for the new Vertical Lift Aircraft (VXX) in January. The VXX would replace the VH-3D Sea King helicopter, which was derived from the Sikorsky S-61 and first flown nearly 40 years ago.
Brazilian Manufacturer Embraer delivered 51 airplanes in the first half of the year compared with 60 in the same period a year ago. The total included 47 airline models, a mix of the ERJ 135, ERJ 140 and ERJ 145, plus four airplanes configured for corporate/executive use. Embraer said it had a firm backlog of 450 aircraft plus options for another 794 aircraft.
ERIC GUST was promoted to vice president of safety and regulatory compliance at Mesa Air Group. Most recently the director of management group promotions, Gust, who holds captain qualifications on the Canadair Regional Jet, joined Mesa in 1995 as a mechanic and inspector. He also has served as an airworthiness auditor and the director of safety and regulatory compliance.
Final Assembly of Boeing's planned 7E7 airliner "is targeted to take approximately three days instead of the 13-17 days that today's airplanes take," the company said in a statement Thursday. The 7E7, which Boeing has dubbed the "Dreamliner," will have a majority of its primary structure - including the wing and fuselage - made of composite materials instead of aluminum. Officials said the composites offer a number of advantages, including better durability, reduced maintenance requirements and increased potential for future developments.
John P. Luce, 68, a veteran flight instructor and air taxi operator, died July 1 of an apparent heart attack. Luce had served as the Eastern regional representative for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association for nearly a decade, covering Delaware, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. He began his flying career in the 1950s at Wings Field in Philadelphia, the birthplace of AOPA. He founded Orion Airways in 1964, a Part 135 air taxi service based in Frederick, Md.
