The Weekly of Business Aviation

Avfuel continued to expand its nationwide fixed-base operation customer network with the additions of Tango One Aviation of Mesa, Ariz., Aurora Jet Center of Aurora, Ore., and Yellowstone Jet Center of Bozeman, Mont. Tango One renewed a relationship with Avfuel after purchasing the assets of long-time Avfuel customer Royal Aviation. Aurora Jet Center and Yellowstone Jet Center are new to the network, which includes more than 700 branded dealers and 2,500 other aviation customers nationwide.

Swissport and PrivatAir founded a joint company, PrivatPort, at Geneva Airport to provide business jet ground handling. The venture recently opened a new private passenger terminal and will provide flight planning and rostering, airport handling, limousine services, catering, safety and security measures and VIP services.

KAMAN Model K-1200 helicopters (Docket No. 2000-SW-50-AD; Amendment 39-13123; AD 2001-13-03 R1) - revises an existing AD that currently requires reducing the life limit of the rotor shaft and teeter pin assembly and establishing a life limit for the flap clevis. This amendment retains those requirements but removes a flap clevis part number from the applicability and, as a result of a comment, changes the application of the life limit from the flap clevis to the flap clevis assembly.

The House Aviation Subcommittee this week is expected to consider a measure to provide up to $100 million in relief to certain general aviation businesses and operators that were financially damaged by the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Aviation subcommittee Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.) has expressed a strong interest in assisting the general aviation community and has stated that a relief package would be included in a comprehensive FAA reauthorization bill. The subcommittee is scheduled to vote on the reauthorization legislation Wednesday.

International Council of Aircraft Owners and Pilots Associations added a 57th affiliate when a group of pilots from Chile banded together to join the council. "Our organization came about because general aviation aircraft owners and pilots feel they had little, if any role in developing aviation rules," said Gonzalo Pico Dominguez. "Our purpose is to cooperate with authorities, improve flight safety and promote GA among the general public." The Chilean group formed with 37 founding members.

The Cessna Citation CJ2 won steep approach certification. The CJ2 is the latest of six Citation models to meet steep approach requirements. Introduced in 1998, more than 155 CJ2s are in service.

DALLAS AIRMOTIVE BUYS PREMIER TURBINES - Sabreliner sold its Premier Turbines business to engine overhaul specialist Dallas Airmotive in a move that executives say will allow Sabreliner and its Midcoast unit to concentrate growth in the company's "longstanding areas of expertise," including airframe maintenance, modifications and completions. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "We are proud to have created an engine company that was sought after," Chairman and CEO F. Homes Lamoreux said.

Honeywell unveiled a new APEX/R avionics retrofit for turboprop and light-turbine aircraft. The avionics suite will include major line replaceable units, including primary attitude, heading and air data displays, dual digital navigation, communications systems, dual global positioning systems with Wide Area Augmentation System capability, dual air data and attitude heading reference systems, autopilot, terrain, traffic and weather information.

Ed Bolen, the president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, was named by FAA to chair the Steering Committee for the agency's Part 135/125 review, which is scheduled to get under way early next month. Bolen, who gained Capitol Hill experience as a top aide to former Sen. Nancy Kassebaum (R-Kan.), has drawn praise for his leadership of GAMA, which he joined in mid-1995. Bolen also serves as chairman of the Management Advisory Council that advises FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and is a member of the Commission on the Future of U.S. Aerospace Industry.

FSI TO BUILD BUSINESS JET SIMULATOR TRAINING CENTER AT FARNBOROUGH - FlightSafety International plans to build a major business aviation simulator training facility at Farnborough Airport outside London, the latest step in a long-range plan by TAG Aviation to turn the airport into a key European business aviation center.

HONEYWELL PICKS BOEING SPACE EXEC TO RUN ENGINE BUSINESS - Russell D. (Russ) Turner, a former psychology professor and senior executive of Boeing's United Space Alliance business in Houston, Texas, was selected last week to head Honeywell's Engines, Systems & Services business.

LOTT: SECURITY LOAD SHOULD BE SHARED BY GOVERNMENT, PUBLIC ALIKE - Increasing security costs have become too much of a burden and the problem should be addressed by spreading the responsibility more equally and also resisting the tide of unnecessary requirements, said Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), chairman of the Senate aviation subcommittee, last week.

Max-Viz's EVS-1000 enhanced vision system won temporary certification for evaluation on a demonstrator Falcon 900EX until the end of December. The certification permits Dassault and customer pilots to evaluate the system for effectiveness in viewing terrain and obstacles in a variety of conditions. The EVS images are displayed on the Honeywell FMS 820 center pedestal control display unit as well as on a display mounted on the co-pilot's side panel.

GA GROUPS UPSET BY LATEST DHS AVIATION THREAT WARNING - General aviation lobbying groups were steamed Friday by an advisory from the Department of Homeland Security suggesting that there was a new threat of Al-Qaida using small aircraft to conduct terrorist attacks.

GAMA TAPS JONES TO SUCCEED BOISTURE AS CHAIRMAN - The General Aviation Manufacturers Association named Clay Jones, chairman, president and chief executive of Rockwell Collins, to be chairman, succeeding Bill Boisture, who resigned that post last week after he stepped down last month as president of Gulfstream Aerospace (BA, April 14/167). Boisture joined the GAMA board in 1999 and chaired the International Affairs Committee in 2000 and 2001. GAMA said he also was instrumental in the creation of the GAMA Security Committee.

The House Ways and Means Committee this week is slated to vote on a tax package that includes a measure that would accelerate the bonus depreciation schedule for new aircraft and other purchases from 30 percent to 50 percent through 2005. Accelerated depreciation was one of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association's top priorities discussed during its annual industry review in February (BA, Feb. 17/71).

Before the Department of Homeland Security issued an advisory late Thursday warning of the dangers of small airplanes, the Transportation Security Administration's Aviation Security Advisory Council set up a working group to develop a series of recommended standards for general aviation airports where TSA does not already have a presence. TSA officials stressed that they are not looking to regulate the airports, but want a series of government-endorsed, voluntary standards for enhancing security.

William D. (Bill) Hall, 77, former editor of Aerospace Daily, died last month at his home in Alexandria, Va. A native of Erwin, Tenn., Hall was a journalism graduate of the University of Tennessee who served as a reporter with United Press International in Knoxville, Tenn. and New York early in his career. He relocated to the Washington, D.C. area in the late 1960s and spent nearly 25 years with American Aviation, Ziff-Davis and McGraw-Hill editing the well-respected Aerospace Daily newsletter.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission is planning a special meeting May 15 to discuss the future of the funding and rental rates at the five reliever airports in the Twin Cities area - St. Paul Downtown, Flying Cloud, Anoka County/Blaine, Crystal, Lake Elmo and Airlake. The agenda will include consideration of a Northwest Airlines proposal to eliminate the subsidy the MAC contributes to run the airports - part of an effort by the carrier to reduce the fees it pays at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

AEROSPATIALE Model ATR 42-500 series airplanes, and Model ATR 72-102, -202, -212, and -212A series airplanes (Docket No. 2002-NM-73-AD; Amendment 39-13122; AD 2003-08-10) - requires replacement of insulation blankets constructed of metallized polyethyleneteraphthalate (MPET) located from Sections 11 through 16 of the fuselage with new insulation blankets constructed of Terul 18TM.