All four people aboard a Cessna 340 were killed March 24 when the pilot encountered problems while attempting to land at Centennial Airport (APA) in Englewood, Colo. The aircraft, N341DM, was being operated by Lear 171 Inc. of Billings, Mont. under Part 91 of the FARs. The flight had departed Gunnison, Colo. at 1540 local time under an instrument flight plan and about 50 minutes later was cleared to land on Runway 35R at APA. The local controller said that about 90 seconds after receiving landing clearance the pilot reported he had lost an engine.
A Gulfstream V operated by the NetJets fractional program was slightly damaged last week at New York's La Guardia Airport. FAA said the airplane, N509QS, "was on a non-movement area making a right turn when wingtip struck a fence."
Salvage crews recovered a recently restored Boeing 307 Stratoliner from Elliott Bay in Seattle last week after the crew ditched the vintage airliner when they encountered power problems during a test and training flight a few days earlier. The airplane, one of only 10 of its type built and the last remaining, is owned by the National Air & Space Museum and is destined to be housed in the museum's new facility at Dulles International Airport. It had been restored by a 30-member team of Boeing volunteers over the past six years.
A group of workers under threat of losing their jobs at Raytheon Aircraft banded with management to find ways to cut costs and improve productivity, and their efforts have proved so successful that the initiative is being expanded into other areas of the company. Raytheon Aircraft Chairman and CEO James Schuster warned employees several months ago that the company was considering outsourcing its wire harness work to Mexico to cut costs. Such a move put 320 jobs at risk.
MICHAEL MCCONNELL was appointed vice president of customer and product support at Eclipse Aviation. He was most recently senior vice president of strategic planning for Mooney Aircraft. McConnell also worked for Dell Computer Corporation for 12 years with positions in marketing and management.
AVFUEL CORPORATION added Brownwood Regional Airport in Texas (BWD) to its network of dealers. The company has more than 800 Avfuel-branded dealers in the nation.
THE EUROPEAN UNION Parliament last week adopted a new noise rule that effectively repeals a controversial ban on hushkitted aircraft. That ban was the subject of an international dispute that culminated in the U.S.
GENE CARPENTER was named market and business development director for AirLiance Materials. He will be responsible for developing and managing the company's growth strategy in existing and new markets. Carpenter was most recently vice president of marketing and sales for AAR engine component services and has more than 30 years of aviation management experience.
JOSEPH J. LHOTA will join the board of directors of First Aviation Services this week. Lhota, the former deputy mayor of operations in New York City, currently is the executive vice president, corporate administration of Cablevision Systems Corporation. He also has served as the budget director for New York City, managing its $36 billion operating budget and $45 billion capital improvement program.
KAISERAIR of Oakland, Calif. received FAA certification to install Terrain Awareness Warning Systems on Gulfstream GIIB and GIII aircraft. TAWS is required on turbine aircraft by 2005.
Widespread concern about the possible impact of new security regulations being considered by the nascent Transportation Security Administration and the impact those rules will have on general aviation and corporate operators and the businesses that cater to them dominated conversation among attendees at last week's National Air Transportation Association convention in Indianapolis, Ind. Those fears were not allayed by TSA representatives at the NATA convention who acknowledged they don't know how far-reaching the new security rules might be.
ROCKWELL COLLINS bought Maryland-based Communication Solutions for $23 million and plans to integrate the new business into its government systems division. Communication Solutions, which had $16 million in revenues in 2001, has an "extensive product line" of signals intelligence technology, used in defense and security-related applications, said Rockwell Collins. "This acquisition strengthens our government systems business, which represents 45 percent of our overall business and is continuing to grow," said Clay Jones, Rockwell Collins president and CEO.
STEVENS AVIATION added a Cessna Citation V to its charter certificate. The eight-passenger aircraft is based in Aiken, S.C. Stevens, which has been in the charter business for more than 30 years, has 23 pilots on its charter certificate.
RAYTHEON AEROSPACE CO., Madison, Miss., is being awarded a $23.4 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to provide logistics support for the T-1A aircraft through September 2002. The locations of performance are Rayth eon Aerospace, Madison (57 percent), and Pratt and Whitney Engine Services, Bridgeport, W. Va., (43 percent). The Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio is the contracting authority.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION awarded MCI WorldCom a sole-source contract, worth up to $604 million, for MCI to continue providing, for up to five more years, telecommunications infrastructure services for air traffic controllers at the 20 en route centers. The MCI systems will enable controllers to communicate by voice and data with each other and with pilots, an FAA spokesman said. MCI's present contract for the Leased Interfacility NAS Communications System (LINCS), competitively awarded in 1992, expires this month.
TDR-94 and TDR-94D Mode S transponders (Docket No. 2000-CE-32-AD; Amendment 39-12683; AD 2002-06-06) - requires, for certain Rockwell Collins TDR-94 and TDR-94D Mode S transponders that derive altitude information from a Gillham (gray code) encoded pressure altitude source and are installed on airplanes, having the unit modified to prevent erroneous altitude reporting.
LANCAIR late last week expected to hand over a new "Spirit of St. Louis" aircraft, a single-engine Columbia 300, to Charles Lindbergh's grandson Erik Lindbergh, who plans to retrace his grandfather's Lone Eagle flights of 1927. Lindbergh will kick off the tour in April in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the historic flights. Lancair modified a Columbia 300 piston-powered aircraft to carry additional fuel for the Lindbergh flights, which will include a solo Atlantic crossing.
RAYMOND SANTA was named sales director, pre-owned aircraft in the southeastern United States, Mexico and South America for Bombardier Aerospace, Business Aircraft. He was most recently marketing manager for Bell Textron's South American division. Santa will be based in Dallas, Tex.
THE AVIATION COMMUNITY is attempting to cope with two serious diseases, "insuranceitis" and "securityitis," National Air Transportation Association President Jim Coyne told his members last week. The first malady is manifested by dramatic increases in insurance premiums, while the second involves "the inflammation of people wearing badges around airports."
BOMBARDIER'S 415 Multi-Purpose aircraft made a successful two hour and 35 minute first flight last month from the company's facility at North Bay Airport. The aircraft is derived from Bombardier's Model 415 fire-fighting aircraft. In addition to its fire-fighting capabilities, the new model is equipped with sensors that will help in applications such as search and rescue, coastal patrol, environmental monitoring and control of illegal immigration.
FRACTIONAL AIRCRAFT PROVIDERS are demanding customers who seek significant price breaks on fuel, but fixed-base operators still covet their business because they operate so many flights. George Ball, vice president of logistics for Executive Jet, told an overflow crowd at last week's NATA convention that his company bought more than six million gallons of fuel last year with an average uplift of 451 gallons.
TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY NORMAN MINETA swore in the first group of federal security directors hired by the Transportation Security Administration last month.
The Department of Transportation's plans to transition to the Global Positioning System as the primary means of navigation will be delayed while new infrastructure to support the technology continues to be installed and tested, the department said in its 2001 Federal Radionavigation Plan, released last week.
AIRCRAFT SHOPPER ONLINE (ASO) is collaborating on a new DVD-based video, Global Business Jet TV (CGBJTV), designed to provide a forum for dealers and brokers to sell business jets. ASO will distribute the video on a quarterly basis to some 6,300 pilots and senior executives who own and operate medium, large and long-range business aircraft. GBJTV of the United Kingdom is the producer of the video, and ASO is acting as the exclusive sales agent for GBJTV. The videos, to be issued beginning in May, will include two- to three-minute tours of selected used aircraft.
