A new shared aircraft ownership company, ShAirForce, unveiled its aircraft sales and marketing program by launching its web site, www.shairforce.com, last week. The launch follows on the heels of an agreement between the company and Piedmont Aviation Services to operate ShAirForce's fleet of new Boeing Business Jets on Piedmont's Pace Airlines' FAA Part 121 certificate.
HONEYWELL said its new Flight Management Simulation system will enable pilots to be trained on the same Honeywell flight code used in aircraft, so the displays they see in training are the same they will see when flying aircraft. "Vendors using Honeywell's FMS Simulation System in their training products will no longer need to use reverse-engineered displays," said Mads Brandt, Honeywell's training solutions manager.
GA CAUTIOUS OVER BUSH HOMELAND SECURITY PROPOSAL -- General aviation industry leaders are hoping that President Bush's proposal to create an all-encompassing cabinet-level Homeland Security Department will create a more efficient approach to handling aviation security, but express concern about moving aviation security further away from transportation expertise.
In an attempt to allay fears of air traffic controllers and the general aviation community, the Bush Administration last week emphasized that it had no plans to propose privatizing the air traffic control system even though it deleted a phrase in a Clinton Administration executive order that calls air traffic services "an inherently government function." President Bush raised concerns over the potential of privatization when he removed that phrase and then re-signed a Dec.
Gary Hay, a career-long Cessna Aircraft employee who became chief executive of the Wichita manufacturer just two and one-half years ago, will retire from the company at the end of the month because of significant differences with officials of Textron, Inc., Cessna's parent company.
ANOTHER AIRLINE has acknowledged that business jets are claiming a bigger share of its high-yield, first-class passengers. Swiss International Air Lines, formed from the ashes of Swissair's post-9/11 demise, is logging 80 percent load factors on long-haul flights after just three months of operations. But officials say the numbers would be better if not for the reluctance of some former first-class passengers to fly on commercial carriers.
KEYSTONE HELICOPTER signed a five-year agreement to provide flight management services for the MetroHealth System's Metro Life program in Cleveland, Ohio. Keystone will provide 25 pilots and nine aircraft maintenance technicians to support the hospital's four Sikorsky S-76 helicopters.
CMC TO ACQUIRE FLIGHT VISIONS -- Montreal-based CMC Electronics signed an agreement to buy Flight Visions, Inc. of Sugar Grove, Ill. Flight Visions designs and manufactures a range of cockpit systems and products that includes head-up displays, mission computers and control panels for fighter and trainer aircraft, and helicopters. The Sugar Grove plant has about 100 employees.
General aviation industry leaders are hoping that President Bush's proposal to create an all-encompassing cabinet-level Homeland Security Department will create a more efficient approach to handling aviation security, but express concern about moving aviation security further away from transportation expertise. Bush's plan calls for consolidating government-wide security offices, which means that the Department of Transportation's newly formed Transportation Security Administration, as well as the Coast Guard, will move to the Homeland Security Department.
AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION has launched a search for a new president. The organization, which represents the large scheduled airlines, said Carol Hallett plans to step down as president and chief executive April 30, 2003. She joined ATA in 1995. Hallett, who has been active in Republican Party activities, previously served as U.S. Customs Commissioner under the senior President Bush and as the U.S. ambassador to The Bahamas.
KEN SCHNURBUSCH was named manager of avionics planning at JetCorp in St. Louis. He will be responsible for preplanning for all major avionics installations and acquiring new technology. He also will provide sales support and act as a contact between production and customers. Schnurbusch was most recently JetCorp's avionics sales manager and has more than 25 years of avionics experience.
KEN SCHNURBUSCH was named manager of avionics planning at JetCorp in St. Louis. He will be responsible for preplanning for all major avionics installations and acquiring new technology. He also will provide sales support and act as a contact between production and customers. Schnurbusch was most recently JetCorp's avionics sales manager and has more than 25 years of avionics experience.
ROCKWELL COLLINS said its avionics communications router (ACR) will be used to support datalink capabilities on the Airbus A380. The ACR is an onboard system that connects aircraft and ground-based systems and both manages and supports data traffic through various communications tools, including the airborne communications addressing and reporting system.
Faulty coordination between the pilots and the continuation of an unstabilized approach past the missed approach point, were cited by the National Transportation Safety Board as critical factors in the March 29, 2001 crash of a Gulfstream III at Aspen-Pitkin County Airport Sardy Field (ASE) in Aspen, Colo. (BA, April 2, 2001/156).
BOEING is establishing a new service center in Wichita, Kan., to repair and overhaul aircraft nacelles and composite structures. The Boeing Wichita Service Center increases Boeing's worldwide network of service centers to nine. "Traditionally Boeing Wichita has designed and built aircraft assemblies and components," said Jeff Turner, Boeing Wichita vice president-general manager. "The establishment of this new service center, however, gives us an opportunity to expand into new business endeavors and utilize the expertise of our great workforce."
CHUCK TAYLOR was named director of corporate communications at DynCorp. He was most recently senior vice president at Edelman Public Relations Worldwide. Taylor worked for 11 years at PRC, Inc., formerly Northr. Grumman, as the company spokesperson, and has more than 20 years of public relations experience.
BAE Systems Limited Model 4101 airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-151-AD; Amendment 39-12773; AD 2002-12-01) - requires a functional test of the shortening mechanism of the nose landing gear for free movement of the capsule in the upper and lower bearings, and corrective action, if necessary. This action is necessary to prevent damage to the capsule, which could result in inability to extend the nose landing gear in normal or emergency situations, and consequent injury to passengers and flight crew. FAA estimates this AD will affect 59 Model 4101 airplanes on the U.S.
AOPA also is combating the view that small aircraft pose a threat to nuclear power plants. It released a report that concludes that GA aircraft could not penetrate concrete containment vessels at nuclear plants and that even an "explosive-laden" GA aircraft would not likely cause the release of radiation. As AOPA released its report, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) was trying to generate support for a bill he introduced to require criminal background checks on all foreign applicants to U.S. flight schools, regardless of what size aircraft applicants would be flying.
July 23-29 - Experimental Aircraft Association 50th Annual Gathering, AirVenture Oshkosh 2002, Oshkosh, Wis., (920) 235-3007; September 10-12 - National Business Aviation Association 55th Annual Meeting and Convention, Orlando, Fla., (202) 783-9000
AIR TRANSPORT ASSOCIATION has launched a search for a new president. The organization, which represents the large scheduled airlines, said Carol Hallett plans to step down as president and chief executive April 30, 2003. She joined ATA in 1995. Hallett, who has been active in Republican Party activities, previously served as U.S. Customs Commissioner under the senior President Bush and as the U.S. ambassador to The Bahamas.
CHARTER SERVICES (CSI), a New Mexico-based charter carrier, was selected by the National Interagency Fire Center to work with Falcon Air Express, Spirit Airlines and other carriers to transport firefighters dispatched to combat wildland fires this summer in the U.S. CSI last summer carried more than 100 firefighters from South Dakota to Oregon and transported other crews to sites in Washington and North Carolina.
BOMBARDIER named a veteran airline pilot to head its aviation training programs. Capt. Tilmann (Tim) Gabriel, who has been vice president of flight operations for Bombardier's Flexjet fractional ownership program since 1999, was named general manager, customer training. He will report to Jim Ziegler, vice president and general manager of Bombardier Business Aviation Services. Gabriel spent 20 years with Lufthansa Airlines in his native Germany as a pilot, check airman and business unit manager.
The Department of Justice Friday outlined its much-anticipated requirements for screening foreign applicants for flight training on larger aircraft, providing an expedited background check for already certified pilots, but proposing a lengthier process -- that could take months to implement -- for new applicants (BA, June 10/269). Attorney General John Ashcroft last week unveiled DOJ's Flight Training Candidate Checks Program (FTCCP), which he described as a "new state-of-the-art system designed to protect Americans.
Finalizing a deal struck in April, Air Methods will buy Rocky Mountain Holdings of Provo, Utah, for $28 million to make the company the largest provider of air medical services in the United States, Air Methods said last week. Englewood, Colo.-based Air Methods, which provides medical transportation and performs aircraft modifications, previously announced it signed a non-binding letter of intent to purchase a major air medical service provider (BA, April 22/190).
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION is offering a series of risk management seminars to cover aviation insurance availability, insurance broker selection, claims management, non-traditional sources for coverage and security updates. The seminars are scheduled for July 15 at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C.; Sept. 26 at the Hilton Airport Hotel in Austin, Texas; Oct. 10 at Million Air Cleveland in Cleveland, Ohio; Oct. 25 at the Marriott Courtyard in Los Angeles, Calif.; Nov. 14 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Denver, Colo.; and Nov. 21 in Atlanta, Ga.
