FOKKER Model F.28 Mark 0070 and 0100 series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-128-AD) - proposes to require repetitive operational tests for discrepancies of the heating system of pitot tube #1, and replacement of the pitot tube, if necessary. This proposal also could require eventual modification of the alternating current sensing circuit for pitot tube #1, which would terminate the repetitive operational test requirement.
INNOTECH AVIATION in Montreal earned a Design Approval Organization designation from Transport Canada. The designation allows Innotech to design and certify its own supplemental type certificates for avionics installations, structural repairs, modifications, and interior/cabin installations. The approval covers work performed on both Part 23 and 25 aircraft as well as Part 17 and 19 helicopters.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION's board of directors elected a new slate of officers, including George Saling, vice president of aviation and travel services for Philip Morris Management Corp., as chairman. Saling joined Philip Morris in 1991 after holding management positions with FlightSafety International, GTE Service Corp. and Tenneco Inc. The board named Donald Baldwin, director of corporate aviation for The Coca-Cola Company, as vice chairman. Baldwin joined Coca-Cola in 2001 after retiring from a 25-year career with Texaco.
GE CAPITAL SIMUFLITE added Beechjet 400/400A pilot training at its Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport headquarters. Initial and recurrent pilot training programs as well as technical training programs are available. SimuFlite's new Beechjet 400A full flight simulator received Level D FAA qualification last month. NLX Corp. of Sterling, Va. built the simulator, one of five Level D devices that it will supply to SimuFlite. SimuFlite is installing a Raytheon King Air 350 and has a Cessna Citation CJ and two other simulators on order.
KENT CRAVER was elected president of the World Airline Entertainment Association for the 2001-2002 term. The international organization represents about 100 passenger airlines and 300 airline-supplier companies in issues related to airline inflight entertainment and communications. Craver will preside over WAEA's board of directors.
GULFSTREAM Model G-V series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-305-AD; Amendment 39-12477; AD 2001-21-06) - requires an initial inspection of the electrical connections for the fire extinguisher bottles; an inspection after any subsequent maintenance affecting the fire extinguisher bottles; corrective action, if necessary; and reporting of the results of the inspection to FAA.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION last week urged its members to comment on the proposed rule governing fractional providers, saying it "will have benefits for all aviation businesses." The deadline for submitting comments on the proposal is Friday. FAA delayed the deadline by a month at the request of NATA and the National Business Aviation Association, which have been immersed in airspace issues. NATA praised the collaborative approach FAA used to draft the bill as well as some of the major provisions.
WOOD GROUP TURBOPOWER opened a regional turbine facility at the North Bay Aerospace Center northwest of Toronto in Ontario, Canada. The Transport Canada-approved facility will maintain Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6 turboprop engines used on corporate, commercial and military aircraft. The facility initially will specialize in -20 to -67 models. Wood Group also operates a regional turbine service center in Santa Monica, Calif., to provide maintenance for customers on the West Coast and in the Asia Pacific region.
AMERICAN UTILICRAFT CORPORATION received a patent (#6311-106) from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for the Automatic Flat Rate System (AFRS), its new aircraft power management system. The AFRS "is designed to economically manage the power from turbine-powered aircraft engines and automatically sense and adjust the required engine power for takeoff and cross country flight depending on aircraft weight and atmospheric and runway conditions," the company said.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD and the Food and Drug Administration will host a meeting Wednesday and Thursday (Nov. 14-15) at NTSB headquarters on the impact of prescription and over-the-counter medications on the performance and ability of vehicle operators. NTSB said that since 1987 it has investigated more than 150 accidents in all modes of transportation involving vehicle operators whose performance may have been impaired by prescription or over-the-counter medications. One of the accidents involved a Beech 35 crash in 1999 that killed three people.
Southern California's Hawthorne Municipal Airport was saved from closure by city referendum last week. City residents voted 70 percent against a ballot initiative that asked if the city should "pursue reuse of the property currently operated by the city as an airport to generate additional revenues, to improve education, police and other community services, to diversify the economic base, and to create jobs for the residents of the city?" Local developers had spent more than $200,000 in a campaign to force the issue of closure to a vote.
Grant, 09/21/2001, Exemption No. 6689C Docket No.: FAA-2001-9982 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR Sec. 25.785(b) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Cessna to equip Cessna Model 608 Sovereign airplanes that were manufactured before Jan. 1, 2004, with multiple-occupancy side-facing seats that are not designed to include the general occupant protection requirements of Sec. 25.785(b). Partial Grant, 09/07/2001, Exemption No. 7625
Bombardier Aerospace received an order for five new Bombardier Global 5000 business jets from TAG Aeronautics, the company announced last week at the Dubai Air Show. "This agreement further strengthens our growing association with TAG, which has led to the delivery of over 70 Bombardier aircraft to Middle East customers in the past 15 years," said Shawn Vick, senior vice president, international sales, Bombardier Aerospace, Business Aircraft. TAG is the exclusive representative and distributor for Bombardier widebody aircraft in 22 Middle Eastern countries.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION today (Nov. 12) plans to roll out a new aviation security plan that would include an identification system, industry-wide employee fingerprinting and proposals for new air navigation and communication networks "that could eventually support remote aircraft control technology." The system "will provide a way, for the first time, to identify, pre-clear, and positively verify passengers on American aircraft," NATA said.
RAYTHEON was awarded a $9.5 million task order from NASA's Ames Research Center to create a modeling and simulation capability for the National Airspace System. Under the task order, awarded through NASA's Air Traffic Management System Development and Integration contract, a Raytheon-led team will develop products to evaluate and assess components of NASA's virtual airspace modeling and advanced air transportation technologies projects. The team includes Seagull Technology of Los Gatos, Calif., SAIC of Arlington, Va., Intelligent Automation Inc.
ENSTROM Helicopter Corporation Model F-28, F-28A, F-28C, F-28F, 280, 280C, 280F and 280FX helicopters (Docket No. 2001-SW-28-AD; Amendment 39-12479; AD 2001-22-01) - supersedes an existing AD for Model F-28, F-28A, and 280 helicopters. That AD currently requires inspecting the main rotor shaft for a crack or other evidence of damage until appropriately modifying or replacing the shaft with an airworthy shaft at specified time intervals.
The Federal Aviation Administration launched a formal investigation into the "legality of the Naples Airport Authority's ban on Stage 2 aircraft" at Naples Municipal Airport, jeopardizing the airport's eligibility for federal funding. "We have serious concerns that the ban is contrary to federal law and related sponsor federal grant assurance obligations," FAA said in its Notice of Investigation, Docket No. 16-01-15, filed Oct. 31. NAA has 30 days from the date of the notice to reply with information for the investigation.
Docket No.: FAA-2001-10597 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 135.143(c)(2) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Oskaloosa to operate certain aircraft under Part 135 without a TSO-C112 (Mode S) transponder installed in the aircraft. Grant, 09/19/2001, Exemption No. 7624
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-2B19 series airplanes (Docket No. 2001-NM-155-AD) - proposes to require repetitive inspections for cracking of the left and right lower wing planks, and repair, if necessary. This action is necessary to find and fix such cracking, which could reduce structural integrity of the wing. FAA estimates that this proposed AD would affect 214 airplanes on the U.S. Registry at a cost of $12,840, or $60 per airplane, per inspection cycle. Send comments in triplicate by Nov. 29 to FAA, Transport Airplane Directorate, ANM-114, Attention: Rules Docket No.
QUALIMETRICS won FAA certification for the Model 6500 thunderstorm sensor used in its automated weather observing system (AWOS). The sensor, which will detect electrical discharges associated with thunderstorms within a 200-nautical-mile radius, also reports thunderstorm direction and distance. Qualimetrics is continuing development on AWOS capabilities and plans to add a freezing-rain sensor and runway surface sensor.
PRATT&WHITNEY CANADA completed the first run of its PW625F engine demonstrator, achieving its full takeoff power of 2,500 pounds of thrust after five hours during the test run. P&WC also ran the high-pressure compressor gas generator. The milestones, reached on schedule, "clear the way for the first flight of the new engine on P&WC's Boeing 720 in first quarter of 2002," said John Wright, vice president-marketing, business aviation and military engines for P&WC.
ALTHOUGH FAA ADMINISTRATOR Jane Garvey last week vowed to work to ease airspace restrictions, the agency continued to issue new notices to airmen that temporarily wall off airspace. The latest temporary flight restriction barred flight over the New York City area during the United Nations General Assembly meeting Nov. 10 and 11. FAA also issued notices to airmen that restricted visual flight rules operations near Cape Canaveral in Florida.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL's airline training center at Paris Le Bourget Airport received FAA certification for its new Embraer ERJ-145/135 full flight simulator. FlightSafety now has 13 ERJ simulators in service with orders for five more.
THOMAS LANGER was appointed vice president for security at BAE Systems. He will be responsible for an overall security program to protect classified information and implement new physical and personnel security measures. Langer joined BAE in 1980 and was most recently director of security for the Information and Electronic Systems Integration sector and the Information and Electronic Warfare business unit in Nashua, N.H.
ROCKWELL COLLINS completed flight tests for a Microwave Landing System (MLS) receiver integrated in a Multi-Mode Receiver (MMR). The MMR provides the aircraft's primary position, velocity and time reference. More than 100 MLS approaches were completed at 12 airports in the U.S. and Europe with military and commercial MLS ground stations. MMR's integrated MLS module demonstrated Category IIIb capabilities. Technical Standard Order approval for the MMR is expected in the first quarter of 2002. Initial production models will be delivered to the U.S.
