WILLIAM (GENE) HOWARD, 56, founder and president of Aero Insurance, died of pancreatic cancer Jan. 29 at Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas, Texas. Howard founded Aero Insurance in 1992 after a long career with insurance firms including Export Insurance Company, Corroon&Black and the Mills Company. Aero Insurance provides a range of general aviation insurance products, including Aero One, designed for small aircraft operators. Howard was a licensed pilot and belonged to more than 17 aviation-related organizations.
Model EMB-120 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-125-AD; Amendment 39-12090; AD 2001-02-06) - supersedes an existing AD that requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to include requirements for activation of the ice protection systems and to add information regarding operation in icing conditions; installing an ice detector system; and revising the AFM to include procedures for testing system integrity. This amendment requires installing the ice detector system in accordance with revised procedures.
DAN BELCHER was named director, BBJ and special projects, for BIZJET International in Tulsa, Okla. Belcher has 30 years of aviation maintenance and management experience, most recently as senior manager for the Sabre/AMR Airline Consulting Group. He is a retired U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel who spent 10 years with the Oklahoma national guard.
U.S. aircraft manufacturers delivered $8.6 billion in new aircraft in 2000, the fifth consecutive year of record billings and more than four times higher than the value of the industry's shipments just eight years ago. The turnaround has been even more dramatic in the past four years, as billings jumped from slightly more than $3 billion in 1996 to $4.6 billion in 1997, $5.7 billion in 1998 and $7.8 billion in 1999, driven by soaring demand for new business jets for both fractional aircraft programs and traditional corporate flight departments.
FAA is completing a review of New Orleans Lakefront Airport's preliminary privatization application, which will "probably be completed within a couple of weeks," FAA airport compliance officer Kevin Willis said. Two others, however, are basically on hold.
Industry and government leaders last week stepped up pressure on the White House to fully fund the Federal Aviation Administration next year amid reports that an early Office of Management and Budget draft budget would leave aviation programs $568 million short. While the fiscal 2002 budget proposal is not expected to be formally released for another month, reports of early estimates started to trickle out late last month.
A Dallas-based air charter and air medical services provider, Seven Bar, plans to launch a regional fractional aircraft program this week. The operation, which will focus on customers in the Southwest U.S., will begin selling shares in Beech King Air 200s, but plans to add Sino-Swearingen SJ30-2 business jets when they become available.
KAMAN said one of its K-MAX helicopters owned by Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. is operating in Taiwan to support construction of a major hydroelectric power station. The K-MAX, designed to perform continuous external lift missions, will be used in the construction of the Ho-Ping power station and its related roads, dam and tunnel system on the northeast coast of Taiwan.
BOEING BUSINESS JETS signed service contracts with Associated Air Center Inc. and Jet Aviation Management AG. The two companies will be authorized to perform warranty work on BBJs and will be designated as BBJ Authorized Warranty Repair Facilities and BBJ Factory Authorized Service Centers. "This decision was based on feedback from our customers who wanted better global access to more facilities authorized by Boeing Business Jets," said Tom Lindberg, vice president and chief operating officer for BBJ.
ANOTHER BELEAGUERED aviation technology, the Wide Area Augmentation System for GPS signals, however, continues to receive GA's backing. General Aviation Manufacturers Association President Ed Bolen said his association fully supports WAAS, and Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Phil Boyer said that AOPA would continue to support the concept of GPS augmentation until it becomes cheaper to install instrument landing systems at every airport.
The IBM corporate flight department won FAA approval this month to conduct CAT III approaches in Falcon 2000 business jets equipped with the Flight Dynamics Head-up Guidance System (HGS). The approval, believed to be one of the first such authorizations for a Part 91 operator, permits properly trained company pilots to make approaches to airports in conditions as low as 700 feet runway visual range and a 50-foot decision height. IBM has been operating a Falcon 2000 since 1995 and had it retrofitted with the HGS system in 1998.
JET-CARE INTERNATIONAL developed an online aircraft engine monitoring software package, Engine Condition Health Online, which can identify and quickly notify customers of early signs of engine problems. Jet-Care customers will receive their ECHO file as an email, with a complete update and history of an engine's records. Jet-Care will continue to contact customers by phone or fax in urgent situations. Jet-Care monitors engines in more than 50 countries. It conducts oil, filter and chip, hydraulic fluid and fuel analyses.
Italian airports have launched top-level lobbying efforts to torpedo a new law that would ban all night flights in the country. The law, being discussed by the national parliament's environment committee, would ground all flights between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for emergency and official government flights.
BIZJET INTERNATIONAL divided its Aircraft Sales&Customer Service unit into four regions and named directors who will represent all of the company's services and products. The regional directors and their respective regions are: Gary Conaway, Western region; Keith Rash, Midwest; Tony Koprivnik, Great Lakes/Central/Southern; and Mitch Muller, East/Northeast. Jace Stone is senior director for the Aircraft Division.
ALBERT C. POD was named president and chief executive officer of Executive Jet Management (EJM), which provides management and charter services. Richard Santulli, CEO of the parent company, Executive Jet Inc., said Pod "has done a superb job as executive vice president of EJM. We look forward to his continued success as president and CEO." Pod has been with Executive Jet for the past 14 years. Before being named executive vice president of EJM he served as vice president of operations of Executive Jet International and director of operations for EJM.
Engine manufacturers Rolls-Royce and Honeywell predict continued, but modest growth in the world helicopter market in market forecasts presented at this week's Helicopter Association of America Heli-Expo convention in Anaheim, Calif. Rolls-Royce, in a 10-year forecast, predicts delivery of nearly 1,000 helicopters per year through 2010 - a total of 9,805 units. The market split is expected to be 55 percent civil (5,175) and 45 percent military (4,630).
Michael Chowdry, chairman, president and chief executive of Atlas Air, Inc., and Jeff Cole, aerospace editor of The Wall Street Journal, were killed Wednesday when Chowdry's experimental Czech jet trainer crashed and burned shortly after taking off from Front Range Airport (FTG) near Denver, Colo.
HP137 Mk1, Jetstream Series 200, and Jetstream Models 3101 and 3201 airplanes (Docket No. 99-CE-83-AD; Amendment 39-12072; AD 2001-01-02) - requires an inspection of the steering jack assembly to assure proper clearance between the bush heads on the steering plates and the shim on the steering jack trunnions and to assure that there is adequate lubrication at both trunnions and the eye end fitting. This AD also requires an adjustment of the clearance and lubrication, as necessary.
PRIVATAIR HOLDINGS of Geneva, Switzerland formed a new aviation group, consisting of the Switzerland-based executive VIP operation of PrivatAir and newly acquired companies Flight Services Group, based in Connecticut and Compangnie Transair, a fixed-base operation at Le Bourget Airport in Paris.
PARSONS BRINCKERHOFF was selected to prepare a 20-year plan for Bradley International in Windsor Locks, Conn. The project includes surveying existing facilities, working with airport management and other parties to develop a vision for the airport's future, and preparing forecasts, analyses and plans. The company also will assist the Connecticut Department of Transportation to develop a strategic plan for Bradley. The project will be completed in 2001.
John C. Clark, a veteran employee of the National Transportation Safety Board and Wichita, Kan. native, was named director of the agency's Office of Aviation Safety. Clark, 53, has been with NTSB since 1981. He succeeds Bernard S. Loeb who retired after more than 23 years at NTSB.
Docket No.: FAA-2000-8430 Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR Sec. 135.143(c)(2) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit RMH to operate certain aircraft under Part 135 without a TSO-C112 (Mode S) transponder installed in the aircraft. Grant, Dec. 13, 2000, Exemption No. 5774E
Norman Mineta, who was sworn in as Secretary of Transportation after sailing through the Senate confirmation process, warned Congress that this coming summer likely will be as bad - if not worse - than last in terms of air traffic delays and congestion, and pledged to "take whatever steps we need to, no matter how large or small, even if the payoff is not immediate." Mineta made those remarks during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee Wednesday, saying he was "painfully aware of the formidable challenges" that DOT faces when he accepted the tr
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION wrote the City of Lawrence, Kan., Aviation Advisory Board strongly supporting proposals to increase the primary runway from 5,000 feet to 5,500 feet and strengthen the pavement from 38,000 pounds to 60,000 pounds at Lawrence Municipal Airport (LWC).
