Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan, attempting to fly to a fundraising event despite inclement weather, was killed Oct. 16 when a twin-piston aircraft piloted by his son crashed about 25 miles south of St. Louis. Carnahan, 66, was the Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Sen. John Ashcroft (R-Mo.).
Model DHC-7-100, -101, -102, and -103 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-181-AD) - proposes to require inspecting the endcaps of the main landing gear selector valve for leaks of hydraulic oil and, if leaks are detected, replacing the leaking endcaps or the entire selector valve. This proposal would also require eventual replacement or rework of certain selector valves, which would terminate the repetitive inspections.
ANOTHER MEGA-MERGER in the oil industry was announced last week, with Chevron planning to take over Texaco in a deal valued at $100 billion. The deal, announced Monday, raised concerns in the aviation industry that the merger could affect the price and supply of aviation fuels - particularly in the western U.S. where both companies have a significant share of the aviation market.
Docket No.: 26559 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 43.3(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit pilots employed by member operators of HAI or AAMS or other similarly situated certificated operators to remove and reinstall oxygen containers in their aircraft after receiving and documenting appropriate training by a properly certificated airframe mechanic. Grant, Aug. 29, 2000, Exemption No. 6002C
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE sales were up four percent in the third quarter "while earnings increased 16 percent as Gulfstream continues to reap the benefits of productivity improvements introduced across their lines of business," parent General Dynamics said last week. Aerospace sales for the quarter were up $29 million to $733 million and for the first nine months rose 12.1 percent to $2.28 billion. Aerospace operating earnings were up $21 million to $149 million for the quarter.
JET AVIATION said its Dallas Aircraft Sales Division, which was acquired in October 1999, had $68 million in sales during its first year under the Jet Aviation banner. The division offers acquisition of new and used aircraft, consulting, brokerage, leasing and finance placement and completion monitoring services. The sales team is headed by Walt Wakefield, vice president of aircraft sales.
THE HONEYWELL-UTC talks raised concerns among airframe manufacturers who build business jets and regional jets, because such a deal threatened to remove an engine manufacturer from the marketplace.
KAY ARDALAN was appointed manager of product support for Pilatus Business Aircraft. Ardalan has 20 years of experience in aviation OEM customer support, most recently as director of service center operations for Galaxy Aerospace. He also has served as a production/quality control manager with Parker Hannifin.
DASSAULT, which reported three consecutive record-breaking sales years for its Falcon family of business jets, had expected those sales to level off in 2000, said John Rosanvallon, president for Dassault Falcon Jet. But officials were wrong, he said, because sales in 2000 appear poised to be even better than previous years. Dassault has sold more than 60 airplanes so far this year and expects that number to reach 80 by yearend.
ASSOCIATED AIR CENTER, the Dallas-based business jet completion center, announced the retirement of its long-time president, Roy Gilbreath. He has been president of Associated since 1984, and before that was executive vice president of the Dee Howard Company, part of a 49-year career in the aviation industry. Richard L. Penshorn, senior vice president of operations at Associated, was named president. Penshorn has more than 34 years experience in aircraft maintenance and completions.
PETE MENDEZ was named regional sales manager for Signature Regional Maintenance Centers. Mendez will oversee the Southwest and Mexico. He has 20 years of corporate aviation experience, most recently as manager of service center sales for Galaxy Aerospace.
STEVEN KROEZE was appointed manufacturing manager for Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures Inc. Kroeze has a 25-year aerospace career, serving with Northrop and B/E Aerospace in positions including production control supervisor, material manager, director of operations and enterprise resources planning implementation team leader.
EXECUTIVE JET, INC., which began testing a "Pilot Gateway System" program early last year to allow pilots for its NetJets fractional fleet to begin and end their tours in about 10 different cities, expanded the program to 25 locations throughout the U.S. "The constant growth of the NetJets fractional aircraft ownership program continually calls for new pilots to handle the growing fleet and these new gateways are helping us attract pilots," said Executive Jet Director of Operations Tim Markley.
NAV CANADA and the Federal Aviation Authority of Russia (FAAR) released a feasibility study Wednesday concluding that polar air routes are feasible and desirable. A series of limited commercial flights using four polar routes has been under way for some time.
BORGE BOESKOV, president of Boeing Business Jets, said the initial success of the BBJ program has drawn the attention of Boeing's senior executives. "We see the Big Boeing being much more excited about business aviation than it was before," Boeskov told reporters last week. "We have decided that business aviation is very important to us," he added, "and we will be expanding in that area." As part of that expansion, Boeskov said the company is fine-tuning its customer support operations to make them more responsive to the different needs of BBJ customers.
In a move that may reshape its approach to the avionics market, Rockwell Collins last week unveiled its new Pro Line 21 Continuum initiative to retrofit and upgrade aircraft already in service with the latest technology. The Pro Line Continuum offers an open architecture that would allow operators to incorporate new advancements as well as improve system performance and lower life-cycle costs, said Ted Fuhrer, vice president and general manager-Business and Regional Systems for Rockwell Collins.
HONEYWELL officials are hoping to reduce airfoil count by up to 50 percent and reduce cost of ownership by 20 percent to 30 percent on its new gas turbine engine under study. The engine builds upon technology evolving through its AS900 program. Honeywell has a team of 30 engineers working on the project and plans to run a test demonstrator by the end of the year.
Honeywell is designing new integrated avionics suite of products to cover a range of general aviation aircraft. Honeywell announced the Bendix/King Apex 1000 for single-engine aircraft, Apex 2000 for high-end singles and small twins, and Apex 9000 for turboprops and light business jets. The Apex, which stems from Honeywell's Project Echo for the next generation of GA avionics, will display flight information in graphics and integrate electronic attitude, heading and air data sensors as well as central control of radios, flight controls and safety systems.
JOHN ROGERS was promoted to vice president of customer support for Barfield Inc. Rogers, who has served with Barfield in Miami for 12 years, formerly was director of sales and marketing.
Dassault Aviation will round out its product line of top-end business jets with a new Falcon 2000EX aircraft that will feature a 25 percent improvement in range over its sister Falcon 2000, and is eyeing a new intuitive "EASy" cockpit avionics suite for its wide-body products under a joint effort with Honeywell.
FREDERIC DENISE was named vice president of sales and marketing for Barfield Inc. Denise spent 13 years with Sogerma Maintenance Group, most recently as area sales director based at Barfield in Miami.
SINO SWEARINGEN, hoping to conduct the first flight of the production version SJ30-2 entry-level business jet soon, expects certification at the end of 2001, about a year after first flight, said President Jack Braly. Orders now total 175 airplanes, valued at $800 million, extending the backlog into 2004. Price has climbed to $4.8 million.
TAG AVIATION, the aircraft charter and management company with aircraft based in 50 locations worldwide, added 39 aircraft to its fleet this year and expects the number of additions to grow to 44 by yearend. Tag's fleet in the U.S. totals 122 aircraft and the European fleet numbers 31 aircraft. Additions this year include four Gulfstream Vs, a Falcon 900, two Learjet 45s and Citation Excel.
