July 29-Aug. 4 - Experimental Aircraft Association 51st AirVenture Oshkosh '03, Wittman Regional Airport, Oshkosh, Wis., (920) 426-6523 September 8-12 - Society of Automotive Engineers 2003 Aerospace Congress & Exhibition, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, (724) 772-4081 September 14-17 - Airports Council International - North America 12th Annual Conference & Exhibition, Tampa, Fla., (202) 293-8500 September 20-23 - 72nd National Association of State Aviation Officials Annual Convention and Trade Show, Charlotte, N.C., (301) 588-0587
Stonebridge Technologies received a contract from Aviall to design and implement computer technology that supports Aviall's enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, Aviall.com and enterprise application integration. Stonebridge, based in Tulsa, Okla., will supply the hardware and software from Sun Microsystems, including the Sun ONE web server software and Sun B1600 Blade servers.
ITALIAN INVESTMENT PARTNERSHIP TO BUY FIAT AEROSPACE BUSINESS - The Carlyle Group and Finmeccanica will acquire Fiat Group's aerospace businesses in a $1.7 billion deal to be completed by the end of this year. The acquisition of FiatAvio SpA, a supplier to the aircraft industry, will include the design, development and production of engine components, accessory gearboxes, low-pressure turbines and naval and space propulsion systems. It also will include the maintenance, repair and overhaul business for military and commercial engines.
TELEDYNE TECHNOLOGIES BUYS SPIRENT AVIATION INFORMATION UNITS - Aerospace electronics specialist Teledyne Technologies expanded its flight data capability with the $6.5 million acquisition of Spirent Systems' Aviation Information Solutions (AIS) businesses. The deal includes Spirent Systems Wichita, Inc., Spirent Systems-Aerospace Solutions in Ottawa and The Flight Data Company Limited in the United Kingdom. The acquisition did not include Spirent's aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul software business.
Embraer secured a $200 million, seven-year loan to support the production of the Embraer 170/190 family of aircraft. Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation arranged the loan, which will finance the purchase of components, parts and equipment, with the help of ABN Amro Bank, Credit Lyonnais and Societe Generale. Nippon Export and Investment Insurance, the Japanese government's export credit agency, will be the commercial and political risk insurer.
New Piper Aircraft sold three Arrows and three Seminoles to Nashua, N.H.-based Daniel Webster College for flight training. Columbia Aircraft Sales in Connecticut facilitated the fleet sale.
Federal Aviation Administration denied the National Air Transportation Association's petition for a rulemaking that would allow on-demand charters to access Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), saying that those decisions primarily were up to the Transportation Security Administration and other government agencies, NATA said last week (BA, March 17/122).
Aircraft manufacturers and repair station operators are locked in an acrimonious lobbying battle on Capitol Hill over a single provision in pending FAA reauthorization legislation that would make maintenance manuals more widely available. While most segments of the aviation community believe the reauthorization legislation will be generally beneficial, the provision on maintenance manuals in the House bill is causing a major rift between the companies that build airplanes and companies that maintain them.
CAE REACHES AGREEMENT WITH UNION - Canadian simulator manufacturer CAE signed a five-year agreement with Local 522 of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada. The company said the agreement provides for wage and benefit increases of 13 percent over the five-year agreement. The union represents about 700 of CAE's 4,000 workers in the Montreal area. Union members voted June 19 to accept the contract.
Mercury Air Group appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP as its new independent auditor, replacing Deloitte & Touche, which had filled that role since 1987. Mercury Air Group told the Securities and Exchange Commission that it did not have any disagreement with Deloitte & Touche on any accounting principles or practices, financial statement disclosures or auditing scope or procedures.
UltraAir LLC of Omaha, Neb. won Part 135 certification from FAA and is providing charter service with a newly refurbished 1991 Model 35A Learjet. The company is owned by Scott Robertson and Gail Werner-Robertson of Omaha. John Koltes, who oversaw the company's Part 135 approval process with FAA, is director of operations and chief pilot for UltraAir. Before joining UltraAir, Koltes was general manager and chief pilot of Jet Linx Aviation.
Jet Aviation Engineering Services, San Antonio, Texas, recently completed the engineering and certification testing for installation of an Electronic Flight Bag in a Boeing Business Jet cockpit. The San Antonio facility designed and engineered the device's supporting structure, which provides power and video signals to the EFB. The installation was done at Jet Aviation's Basel, Switzerland, facility.
Honeywell teamed with Cryotech Deicing Technology to develop a chemical runway deicer that will reduce aircraft brake corrosion. The deicer, BX36, is designed to reduce the oxidation effects of runway liquid deicers on aircraft carbon brakes.
BRIT AIR RJ CRASH CLAIMS CREWMEMBER - One flightcrew member was killed and nine passengers were injured June 22 when a CRJ100 operated by Air France partner Brit Air crashed about 900 yards short of the runway at Brest-Guipavas Airport near Brest in northwestern France. The aircraft, with 21 passengers aboard, was flying from Nantes to Brest when it struck a road short of the airport. A fire broke out after the crash but was extinguished by local fire fighters.
UTC NAMES NEW SIKORSKY PRESIDENT - United Technologies Corp. named a new leadership team for its Sikorsky Aircraft unit last week, with Dean Borgman moving from president to chairman and Stephen Finger selected as president of the Connecticut-based helicopter manufacturer.
HOUSE AVIATION SECURITY BILL INCLUDES PROVISION TO REOPEN DCA - The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the Aviation Security Technical Corrections and Improvement Act last week, including provisions directing federal regulators to quickly develop a plan to reopen Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport to both nonscheduled commercial flights and Part 91 flight operations.
The Air Group, headquartered in Van Nuys, Calif., added nine business jets to its management fleet in the past six months. Most of the aircraft are corporate owned and are available for charter through Air Group's eight U.S. offices. Aircraft added to the fleet include: a Hawker 800 based in Teterboro, N.J.; a Gulfstream III in Norfolk, Va.; a Challenger 601 in Seattle, Wash.; Challenger 604s in Baltimore, Md. and Boston, Mass.; Gulfstream IV-SPs in Santa Ana and Van Nuys, Calif.; and a Gulfstream V and a Bombardier Global Express, both based in Seattle, Wash.
The Salina, Kan. Airport plans to open a new 4,300-foot north-south runway June 30. The new runway, designated 18-36, is designed for use by general aviation to help relieve congestion on the airport's primary parallel runway, which is 13,337 feet long. The new GA runway was funded locally through the use of general obligation bonds, "making it one of the country's few new runways paid for without using federal funds," said Tim Rogers, executive director of the airport.
OKI Electric Industry Co., based in Tokyo, Japan, received a subcontract from Harris Corp. to provide the first Aeronautical Telecommunication Network (ATN) router to FAA. Harris is the prime contractor for FAA's Telecommunications Infrastructure program. The router will be installed at FAA's Salt Lake City facility in March 2004. It will be part of the Air Traffic Services Message Handling System.
Transportation Security Administration last week gave the go-ahead for operators based at White Plains, N.Y. and Morristown, N.J. to begin training for a TSA Access Certificate (TSAAC). The approval to expand the program comes after the security agency recently completed audits of the eight Part 91 TSAAC holders based at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, all of which apparently passed scrutiny "with flying colors" (BA, June 23/285).
Jeremiah F. Creedon, NASA's associate administrator for aerospace technology, is retiring after 40 years with the agency to join the faculty at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Va., effective July 3. Before being named associate administrator a year ago, Creedon had served as director of NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., the seventh person in Langley's 86-year history to hold that post. NASA credited Creedon with developing new university and commercial partnerships that developed and exploited technology breakthroughs.
INDIA PICKS EMBRAER LEGACY FOR EXECUTIVE JET - The Indian Ministry of Defence will buy four Embraer Legacy aircraft for its executive service, a ministry official said. Three of the Brazilian manufacturer's 20-seat aircraft will be used by the Indian air force's New Delhi-based communication squadron, which ferries top government officials across the country. The fourth aircraft will be used by the Ministry of the Interior for the deputy prime minister and dignitaries visiting India.
NASA LOSES PROTOTYPE FLYING WING IN CRASH - NASA's Helios prototype aircraft, a proof-of-concept, solar-electric flying wing designed to operate at extremely high altitudes, was destroyed Thursday during a flight from the U.S. Navy's Pacific Missile Range Facility on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.
