SIMUFLITE TRAINING INTERNATIONAL's QuickTurn division added Cheyenne pilot training to its list of product offerings with the installation of a new Cheyenne flight training device in its Grapevine, Texas training center. The FTD, Level 5 certified, includes a King KCI 310 flight command indicator, a King KPI 553A and KPI 552 pictorial navigation indicator, a King KFC 300 automatic flight control system and a KLN 90B global positioning system. Initial Cheyenne training is five days with recurrent training lasting two or three days.
United Technologies unit Hamilton Standard expects to close this month on the acquisition of Claverham Group, Ltd., a United Kingdom-based supplier to the European aerospace defense industry. Hamilton Standard said the acquisition will enhance its ability to offer "an entire line of actuation products for flight control systems." Claverham builds secondary mechanical actuation systems, which are used to move flaps and other control surfaces. The British firm has about 400 employees.
INFLIGHT AUDIO VIDEO SYSTEMS is offering aircraft-specific videotapes or compact discs for audio and video passenger information and entertainment. The company, based in Dana Point, Calif., can produce tapes or CDs that incorporate a flight department's corporate logo and/or a picture of their aircraft and provide safety briefings specific to aircraft type and model. For more information, contact the company at (949) 481-5704 or check the web site at www.inflightavs.com.
With a changing political environment in Washington, the National Air Transportation Association sees a ripe opportunity to stress the importance of strengthening the nation's system of general aviation and reliever airports both on a local and federal level. NATA last month unveiled a list of "America's 100 Most Needed Airports" it believes are crucial to a national aviation system, but which face uncertain futures.
Petitioner: Compoende Aeronautica Ltda Section of 14 CFR Affected: 14 CFR 145.47(b) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Compoende to use the calibration standards of the Instituto Nacional de Metrologia, Normalizacao e Qualidade Industrial in lieu of the calibration standards of the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology to test its inspection and test equipment. Grant, Nov. 30, 2000, Exemption No. 6550C
A NORTHROP GRUMMAN team won an Air Force contract to develop software that will better diagnose problems and predict failures in systems aboard older aircraft, including F-16s, F-15s and C-130s. The Predictive Failures&Advanced Diagnostics (PFAD) for Legacy Aircraft contract is an indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity award valued at up to $9.4 million over five years.
Department of Transportation is changing its procedures for drug and alcohol testing in a rule that the agency said will provide more protection for employees and make the requirements easier to administer. The rule, which will be published in the Jan. 19 Federal Register and take effect Aug. 1, "makes an important and technically complex safety program easier for everyone to understand and use, while reducing both compliance costs and paperwork," said Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater.
AL JACKSON, director of legislative affairs for The Boeing Company, is moving to a Washington, D.C. consulting firm next month. Jackson was named a vice president at Bergner Bockorny, Inc., a lobbying firm whose clients include Boeing and Northwest Airlines, where he will specialize in aerospace and aviation matters.
THE AVIATION COMMUNITY is anxious to see Edward W. Stimpson continue in his role as ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Montreal, but the protocol of transition politics has raised concerns. Stimpson, the former long-time president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, is technically a State Department employee. As such he is required to submit a resignation letter to President-elect George W. Bush, but aviation industry officials say Stimpson's departure would leave the U.S.
A female passenger aboard a Hewlett-Packard corporate shuttle flight Thursday afternoon en route from Sacramento to San Jose, Calif. apparently opened the door of the de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter in flight and jumped or fell to her death. FAA said the aircraft, N252SA, had departed Sacramento but the crew then returned to the airport and made a precautionary landing because of a "door unlocked light indication." The door was checked on the ground and no problems were found. The aircraft took off again for San Jose.
The U.S. Navy, which had been on the verge of authorizing full-rate production of the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft, abruptly delayed that decision Tuesday and grounded its tiltrotor fleet following the Dec. 11 crash of a Marine Corp. MV-22 Osprey that killed all four Marines aboard.
THE NEW BUSH ADMINISTRATION will have only limited opportunities to make near-term federal budget changes, according to John W. Douglass, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association. During AIA's annual yearend luncheon and forecast session Wednesday, Douglass said the George W. Bush team will have "only 30 days from the time he takes office" to influence the fiscal 2002 budget request to Congress, which is due on Capitol Hill in February.
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-1A11 (CL-600), CL-600-2A12 (CL-601), and CL-600-2B16 (CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R, and CL-604) series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-368-AD; Amendment 39-12008; AD 2000-24-01) - requires installation of protection shields in the wheel bay of the main landing gear. This action is necessary to prevent water, ice or slush accumulation on the aileron quadrants and/or control cable pulleys in the wheel bay of the MLG during ground roll.
SIKORSKY AIRCRAFT sold two S-76C+ helicopters to the People's Republic of China for search and rescue missions. China's Ministry of Communications will deploy the aircraft from the Shanghai Salvage&Rescue Bureau's new facility. The helicopters will be fitted with a rescue hoist, forward-looking infra-red system, a Nightsun searchlight, four-axis auto hovering system, two interior patient litters and sophisticated avionics designed for offshore search and rescue. The order includes options for two additional S-76+ helicopters.
Rockwell Collins likely will remain independent - at least for the next couple of years - thanks to the decision by parent Rockwell International to spin-off the Cedar Rapids, Iowa communications and avionics manufacturer. Rockwell International announced Dec. 8 that it would split Collins and its Rockwell Automation unit into separate entities and named Clay Jones, currently president of Rockwell Collins, as chairman and chief executive of the new stand-alone Collins (BA, Dec. 11/269).
FAIRCHILD DORNIER began tests on its 728JET flight controls test rig or "Iron Bird" last month at the company's primary design and production facility in Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany.
MICHAEL GREGORY was promoted to senior vice president of FBO Services for Jet Aviation's U.S. fixed-base operations in Bedford, Mass., Dallas, Texas, Teterboro, N.J. and West Palm Beach, Fla. Gregory has served with Jet Aviation since 1987, beginning as a corporate controller in the Bedford facility. Most recently he was vice president and general manager of the West Palm Beach U.S. headquarters.
ROBINSON Model R22 helicopters (Docket No. 2000-SW-51-AD; Amendment 39-11960; AD 2000-20-51) - publishes an AD sent previously to all known U.S. owners and operators of Robinson Model R22 helicopters by individual letters. This AD requires checking the yoke half assembly for any crack and replacing a cracked yoke assembly before further flight. This AD also requires replacing certain yokes with airworthy yokes before further flight after Jan. 1. This AD is prompted by the discovery of cracks in the yoke.
The Environmental Protection Agency is requiring airports to respond by Jan. 29 to update their storm water permits, which regulate the use of deicing materials on airports.
ROBERT KAUFFMAN, president and co-founder of ElectroSonics, a Columbus, Ohio, avionics repair station, retired after 40 years of service. Kauffman founded ElectroSonics in 1958, working on single-engine aircraft instruments from his car trunk. The company now is capable of performing complete cockpit upgrades and entertainment systems on high-end corporate aircraft and has bases in McKinney and Addison, Texas.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION commissioned a year-long study into the processes used to certify large transport planes. A team of technical experts from FAA, the National Transportation Safety Board, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Department of Defense, foreign civil aviation authorities, industry and academia will participate in the Commercial Airplane Certification Process Study. The study will cover processes used in designing, building, certifying and maintaining aircraft.
FAIRCHILD Models SA226 and SA227 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-CE-28-AD) - proposes to revise an earlier proposed AD that would have required replacement of the brake shuttle valves with parts of improved design and installation of a shield over the hydraulic lines. The earlier NPRM resulted from a report of a wheel brake system malfunction caused by a faulty brake shuttle valve on an affected airplane. Evaluation of the public comments on the NPRM reveals the need to also include airplanes that have an anti-skid system in the applicability of the proposed AD.
WARREN PECK was named director of avionics for BIZJET International in Tulsa, Okla. Peck has 20 years of industry experience and previously served as a customer service/sales representative for BIZJET's Falcon program.
TONY KOPRIVNIK was appointed director of Bombardier sales and service for BIZJET International. Koprivnik, a 22-year industry veteran, most recently was maintenance manager for Crow Executive Air, Inc.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which assumed operational control of the Teterboro, N.J. Airport early this month, is embarking on a major effort to improve deteriorating community relations with airport neighbors and is weighing a number of steps - including a ban on Stage 2 business jets and a curfew on nighttime operations - that could cause serious disruption for business and general aviation operators.
