Pilatus is boosting its customer support with two new maintenance options for PC-12 owners - PlaneTrax Electronic Maintenance and Flight Data Tracking and Diagnostix Propulsion Monitoring. Pilatus is offering the programs to customers free of charge during the first year of PC-12 ownership. Currently in final testing at Pilatus authorized service centers, PlaneTrax will forecast maintenance requirement as part of the aircraft's digital record. It will allow operators to log flight time and access real-time aircraft information.
Marion Blakey's nomination to be FAA Administrator is pending before the Senate Commerce Committee following a hearing last week, and the Senate is under pressure to approve her appointment this week or face a vacancy in the federal government's top aviation post during the memorial services relating to the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.See article below.
Department of Transportation is issuing its third and final installment of financial assistance to commercial operators, including Part 135 on-demand operators, who demonstrated losses directly stemming from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. The financial assistance was established under the Air Transportation Safety and System Stabilization Act adopted shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Boeing is creating a new business called On Demand Manufacturing (ODM) that will use the company's selective laser sintering technology "to perform rapid, low-cost fabrication of small lots of complex, hard-to-manufacture parts," Boeing said. ODM's first contract is to supply parts to Boeing for the environmental control system ducts of military aircraft. The new venture will be based in Camarillo, Calif.
Fairchild Dornier sent notices of termination to 1,500 staff members. The layoffs become effective at the end of November. Fairchild Dornier entered insolvency in July and placed 1,500 of 3,600 employees in a temporary employment program partly supported by Germany's labor authorities. The layoffs affect almost the entire 728/928 regional jet division, as well as several hundred employees in other company units.
Aviation General, Inc., the corporate parent of Commander Aircraft Company, named a former Mooney Aircraft executive to several positions at its Bethany, Okla. manufacturing operation. Joseph M. Voss was named executive vice president, chief operating officer and chief financial officer of Commander. Voss previously served as vice president of Mooney Aircraft Corp. and before joining the aviation industry he was with Dell Computer Corp.
Fairchild Dornier sent notices of termination to 1,500 staff members. The layoffs become effective at the end of November. Fairchild Dornier entered insolvency in July and placed 1,500 of 3,600 employees in a temporary employment program partly supported by Germany's labor authorities. The layoffs affect almost the entire 728/928 regional jet division, as well as several hundred employees in other company units.
Docket No.: FAA-200-12171 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR Sec. 91.9(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Universal Airlines Inc. to operate its DC-6A and DC-6B aircraft, Registration Nos. N170UA (45518), N500UA (44597), and N600UA (44894), at a five percent increased zero fuel and landing weight for the purpose or operating all cargo aircraft under the terms of Part 125. Grant, July 1, 2002, Exemption No. 7829
REGIONAL CARGO CARRIERS FORM NEW ASSOCIATION - More than a dozen air cargo carriers have formed a new Regional Air Cargo Carriers Association (RACCA) to address issues of interest to that segment of the industry.
National Transportation Safety Board, citing several investigations that were hampered by lost data, wants FAA to require operators to disconnect cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) promptly after flights in which incidents occur, as part of a post-flight checklist. The board also wants functional checks of CVRs added to pre-flight checklists for a plane's first trip each day. The board has issued several previous recommendations on guarding data and double-checking CVR performance.
Charter Broker eBizJets changed its name to Sentient to reflect the growth of its Private Jet Membership program. "The word Sentient maps directly to our core capabilities and vision - an acute awareness of our private aviation environment and decisive responsiveness to it," said Mark Stone, Sentient chief executive. The company offers Private Jet Membership, which guarantees flight availability within five hours, for frequent fliers as well as on-demand service brokering for clients who require less frequent service.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-9925 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR Sec. 135.203(a)(1) Desription of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit James I. Hamilton Jr., and Arctic Air Alaska to conduct operations less than 500 feet above the ground. Denial, June 13, 2002, Exemption No. 7809
Honeywell plans to lead an industry team to develop a Structural Anomaly Mapping system, a laser guided and computer controlled robotic platform to detect aircraft surface corrosion "that is designed to scan an entire aircraft in hours with no human interaction." The SAM system will deliver "a 3-D digital visualization of the inspection results for maintenance evaluation," Honeywell said.
Model DH.125, HS.125, and BH.125 series airplanes; Model BAe.125 series 800A, 800A (C-29A), 800A (U-125), 800B, 1000A, and 1000B airplanes; and Hawker 800, 800 (U-125A), 1000, and 800XP airplanes (Docket No. 2002-NM-15-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that currently requires an i nspection for cracking or corrosion of the cylinder head lugs of the main landing gear (MLG) actuator and follow-on/corrective actions.
The Eclipse 500 has begun 16 months of flight testing leading up to anticipated FAA certification in December 2003, with its first flight in Albuquerque, N.M. at the end of last month.
Charter Broker eBizJets changed its name to Sentient to reflect the growth of its Private Jet Membership program. "The word Sentient maps directly to our core capabilities and vision - an acute awareness of our private aviation environment and decisive responsiveness to it," said Mark Stone, Sentient chief executive. The company offers Private Jet Membership, which guarantees flight availability within five hours, for frequent fliers as well as on-demand service brokering for clients who require less frequent service.
Aerostructures Corporation won a contract extension from Gulfstream to continue supplying Gulfstream IV-SP wing boxes for at least 10 more years. The agreement, which extends the on-going contract through 2014, has a potential value of more than $500 million. Aerostructures has a 37-year relationship with Gulfstream, supplying the wings for the G-II, G-III and G-IV programs. The Nashville, Tenn.-based supplier of large aerospace structures and components has delivered more than 1,000 shipsets to Gulfstream on those three programs.
Aircraft Technical Publishers has developed a new maintenance CD-ROM product line for Lycoming series engines. The Lycoming CD-ROMs incorporate maintenance manuals, parts catalogs, wiring diagrams, service information, component maintenance manuals and structural repair manuals. The CD-ROMs are indexed to ease accessibility to specific information on the four-, six- and eight-cylinder engines. ATP also provides monthly service and daily e-mail notifications for airworthiness directives.
Cessna Aircraft, which has enjoyed great success in the entry-level end of the market with its CitationJet 1 and 2 aircraft, is launching a CitationJet 3 at this week's National Business Aviation Association convention, with Cessna officials hinting the new airplane has a substantial order backlog.
National Transportation Safety Board, citing several investigations that were hampered by lost data, wants FAA to require operators to disconnect cockpit voice recorders (CVRs) promptly after flights in which incidents occur, as part of a post-flight checklist. The board also wants functional checks of CVRs added to pre-flight checklists for a plane's first trip each day. The board has issued several previous recommendations on guarding data and double-checking CVR performance.
Jet Aviation's West Palm Beach, Fla. facility completed its first installation of a Universal Terrain Awareness and Warning System (TAWS) and a Universal flight management system on a Gulfstream IISP. FAA requires the installation of TAWS in all turbine-powered aircraft by March 2005. The Universal TAWS provides visual displays and aural warnings of the surrounding terrain. The FMS, which contains a 12-channel GPS receiver, interfaces with the TAWS to display three-dimensional navigation maps and the aircraft's intended flight route.
The major fractional providers operate more than 700 aircraft with more than 4,000 shareholders, according to AvData, Inc., of Wichita, Kan. Fractional aircraft's dramatic growth over the past six years - in shares, shareholders and fleet size - is depicted in a chart on Page 116.
One person aboard a Model 25C Learjet was killed and six others injured Aug. 30 when the aircraft ran off the end of the runway while making a landing at the Lexington, Ky. Airport. The aircraft, N45CP, was being operated by an emergency medical services provider.
