REGIONAL AVIATION PARTNERS signed on six new members for its now 54-member organization representing small community air service interests. Pierre Regional Airport of South Dakota; Diversified Business Enterprises of Milwaukee, Wis.; Page Municipal Airport of Arizona; Durango Mountain Resort/Destination Durango of Colorado; The Perry Company, LLC of Utah and Elite Services Group of California are the newest RAP members.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., Shanghai Little Eagle Science&Technology Co. (SLEC) and Schweizer Aircraft Corp. announced plans to manufacture a version of the Schweizer Model 269 series helicopter for the Chinese market. The selection of the Model 269 "is a major step toward finalizing" an agreement announced last September between Sikorsky and SLEC to create a joint venture, Shanghai Sikorsky Helicopter Co.
RAYTHEON plans to present its Wide Area Augmentation System for FAA acceptance testing soon. WAAS, which Raytheon installed for testing on Wind River System's Tornado to validate compliance with the DO-178B standard, is a system that improves the accuracy of global positioning system signals to pilots. Raytheon plans to have WAAS certified for commercial flight navigation after FAA acceptance, the company said.
JACK AREHART was appointed senior vice president of business development at Aviation Sales Company. He will be responsible for the company's sales, marketing and new business development. Arehart was most recently vice president, program development, at The Nordam Group, where he worked for 14 years.
CESSNA'S Citation Sovereign completed its first engine run test. The Sovereign is powered by two Pratt&Whitney PW306C engines that each produce 5,686 pounds of thrust, allowing cruise speeds of up to 444 knots. The aircraft is on target for first flight later this quarter, FAA certification in late 2003 and first customer deliveries in early 2004.
EUROCOPTER Model EC120B helicopters (Docket No. 2001-SW-68-AD) - requires installing front and side covers to protect the yaw control. This proposal is prompted by the report of a mobile phone falling between the windshield canopy and the cabin floor jamming the yaw control pedal. The actions specified by this proposed AD are intended to prevent an object from sliding between the canopy and the cabin floor, loss of yaw control, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter. FAA estimates that this proposed AD will affect 44 helicopters on the U.S.
EAGLE AIRCRAFT consolidated its manufacturing operations in Malaysia. Production scheduling, spare parts control, expediting, research and development as well as customer and distributor support will be run centrally from Eagle Aircraft's Melaka plant in Malaysia. The manufacturer plans to finish assembly of two Eagle 150B aircraft at its Perth, Australia plant and then transfer equipment to Malaysia by midsummer 2002. Eagle employs 150 workers in Malaysia and 44 in Australia.
EMBRAER conducted a successful first flight of its Embraer 170 regional jet Feb. 19 at company headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos. The Brazilian manufacturer said certification of the 70- to 108-seat had been anticipated by the end of 2002, but the company said it is reassessing the impact of a two-month delay in the start of the flight test program. Officials plan to "reevaluate the program schedule in the coming days to determine if this is still feasible."
BAe Model HP.137 Jetstream Mk.1, Jetstream Series 200, and Jetstream Series 3101 airplanes (Docket No. 2000-CE-58-AD; Amendment 39-12643; AD 2002-03-02) - supersedes AD 98-13-03, which currently requires repetitive inspections of the main landing gear hinge fittings, support angles, and attachment bolts. AD 98-13-03 also requires eventual installation of improved design MLG hinge fittings as terminating action for the repetitive inspections of the hinge fittings and attachment bolts.
A slimmed-down New Piper Aircraft has trimmed production in anticipation of another soft sales year, but the company is continuing to invest in customer service, product and manufacturing improvements in an effort that President and CEO Chuck Suma said will help it emerge as a strong company once the economy picks up. "It's going to be a rough year for everybody but I believe the market will flatten out," Suma told BA.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION petitioned FAA Friday to require that pilots carry government-issued photo identification cards, such as a driver's license or passport, with them whenever they pilot an aircraft. AOPA said that ID, matched with the information on an FAA pilot certificate - which does not carry a photo of the license holder - would positively identify the legitimate pilots.
THE IRISH AIR CORPS is negotiating the purchase of three Sikorsky S-92 helicopters, powered by GE CT7-8 turboshaft engines, for search and rescue missions. The order would include an option for two more aircraft for military transport. The S-92 is a 25,000-pound-class medium helicopter designed for various civil and military missions.
Eclipse Aviation has completed another round of financing, the first aircraft is beginning to come together in the company's Albuquerque, N.M. headquarters facility and officials still expect the first Eclipse 500 will fly before autumn.
GREGORY SMITH was appointed division manager at Barnes Aerospace's Windsor Division. He will be responsible for customer service and support in his division. Smith joined the company in 2001 as operations manager at the Windsor Division and has worked previously for General Dynamics and Pratt&Whitney.
The pilot of a commercial Bell 206L-1 LongRanger and his revenue passenger were killed Feb. 16 when the aircraft crashed in marginal visibility conditions near New Smyrna Beach, Fla.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model AS332C, L, L1, and Model SA330F, G, and J helicopters (Docket No. 2001-SW-47-AD) - proposes superseding an existing AD for ECF Model AS332C, L, and L1 and Model SA330F, G, and J helicopters. That AD currently requires an inspection to determine the angular play of the tail rotor gearbox at specified intervals. This action would change the measurement limits and the load to be applied to a tail rotor blade when determining the angular play.
EXECUTIVE AIR SUPPORT, parent company of Atlantic Aviation said three of its fixed-base operations, which have been operating as Million Air facilities, will change over to the Atlantic Aviation brand. EAS President Lou Pepper said the FBOs in Bridgeport and Hartford, Conn. and Long Island, N.Y. will make the brand switch, joining the Atlantic FBO family that has locations in Teterboro, N.J., Philadelphia, Pa. International and Northeast Philadelphia airports, Houston, Texas and at Midway Airport in Chicago.
DASSAULT Model Falcon 2000 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-417-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD, applicable to all Dassault Model Falcon 2000 series airplanes, and certain Dassault Model Falcon 900EX and Mystere Falcon 900 series airplanes.
COVENTRY-WEST MIDLANDS INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT in the United Kingdom opened its new 8,000-square-foot business aviation center. The center will house offices for customs, immigration and a police special branch. Midwest Executive Aviation, an aircraft handling agent, also will rent office space in the new facility.
Honeywell signed a deal with the Federal Aviation Administration to develop a new aircraft radio that meets the agency's requirements for Very High Frequency Digital Link-Mode 3 (VDL-Mode 3) avionics. Honeywell said FAA is planning to require VDL-Mode 3 radios on more than 170,000 air transport and general aviation aircraft by the end of the decade. VDL-Mode 3, which supports FAA's Next-Generation Air/Ground Communications program, will increase the capacity of the aviation radio band, the company said.
An "outraged" business aviation community last week urged the U.S. Customs Service to hold off on its fines against charter operators that did not - and could not - comply with new reporting requirements for traveling into the U.S. from foreign destinations. Certain on-demand charter operators this month were hit with fines of up to $10,000 after they failed to transmit crew and passenger manifests electronically to the Customs Service before crossing the U.S. border.
THE GERMAN FEDERAL BORDER GUARD ordered 11 Eurocopter EC-135 and two EC-155 helicopters, making it the world's largest operator of those two models. The border guard, which began modernizing its helicopter fleet in 1997, already has 24 EC-135s and 155s.
PETER WRIGHT, SR., founder of Keystone Helicopter, was named chairman emeritus of Keystone Ranger Holdings, a venture capital holding company that recently acquired Keystone. Wright, a pilot for more than 60 years, founded Keystone in 1953 after serving in World War II with the "Flying Tigers." He also is chairman of the American Helicopter Museum in Philadelphia.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, noting the 10th anniversary of the passenger facility charge program, said more than $33 billion has been approved for collection in the program since its inception in 1992. Savannah, Ga., received the first PFC approval on Jan. 23, 1992, for a $39.5 million collection for a terminal building, terminal apron and associated taxiways, entrance road, service road, site work and utilities. FAA said that from 1992 through the end of calendar 2000, a total of $9.3 billion had been collected.
MARK BOOTH was appointed managing director and chief executive officer of NetJets Europe Ltd. fractional aircraft ownership program. Booth was previously co-chairman of NetJets Europe.
