RAYTHEON AEROSPACE won a two-year contract valued at $4.9 million to provide aircraft maintenance, engineering, fabrication, technical support and airfield management services to NASA's Ames Research Center at Moffett Federal Airfield, Calif. The contract includes a one- and a two-year option, which could increase the potential value to $13.1 million. Under the contract, Raytheon will maintain, manage, and provide logistics, engineering, design and fabrication services for four rotary-wing aircraft and associated support equipment in flight research.
Honeywell, Inc. and Coherent Technologies, Inc. entered into a long term agreement to develop and sell hybrid airborne systems designed to provide advance warning of all types of atmospheric turbulence. "By using a combination of microwave radar and infrared radar, the new system will detect every type of turbulence from rough air in thunderstorms to clear air turbulence," said Frank Daly, president of Honeywell Commercial Electronic Systems.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators were continuing to search for clues last week as to what caused the fatal crash of an Israel Aircraft Industries Westwind II Dec. 12 while it was en route from the West Coast to the New York area.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION, meanwhile, has told its on-demand air taxi members that they are not the focus of the enforcement notice, published in June with a Dec. 12 compliance date (BA, June 21/284). The association advises that if an operator is contacted by a principal operations inspector regarding the enforcement notice, then the operator should ask the POI to first check with FAA headquarters before taking further action.
OBTUSE, BYZANTINE AND CUMBERSOME. These are a few of the words pilots used to describe FAA regulations. The agency is taking steps to curb that image. See article below.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION scheduled its next series of Line Service Supervisor Training seminars Jan. 13-14 in San Diego, Calif.; March 16-17 in Hartford, Conn.; May 9-10 in Tampa, Fla.; and, July 13-14 in Portland, Ore. Seminars cost $245 for NATA members and $295 for non-members. For more information, contact NATA at (703) 845-9000.
TROY ADAMS was appointed avionics manager at Elliott Aviation's Minneapolis, Minn. facility. Adams will oversee equipment installation and line maintenance activities as well as overall growth and profitability of the avionics operation. Adams has served as a lead avionics flight test technician for Dassault Falcon Jet and also was an avionics technician with the U.S. Marine Corps.
INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF MACHINISTS told the Federal Aviation Administration that its oversight of industry workers is inadequate and proposed changes to protect workers from hazards. At an FAA hearing this month, the machinists, representing 130,000 U.S. transport workers, said aviation employees are "entitled to the same protections provided by federal health and regulations as are afforded to other American workers. The existing regulatory 'no-man's land'...is unjust, unsafe jurisdiction and unacceptable." FAA held the Dec.
EILEEN COLLINS, an astronaut and Space Shuttle commander, is slated to be the keynote speaker for the 11th annual International Women in Aviation Conference March 9-11 at the Memphis Cook Convention Center in Memphis, Tenn. Other invited speakers include Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater, NASA Chief Scientist Kathie Olsen, FedEx CEO Dave Bronzek, SR-71 pilot Marta Bohn-Meyer, Northwest Airlines Vice President Fay Beauchine, former U.S.
General Electric continued to expand its reach into the aviation training segment with an agreement to take a stake in Thomson-CSF's commercial aviation training subsidiary. The joint venture agreement, subject to regulatory approval, calls for Thomson-CSF's ORBIT unit to transfer training center operations and six commercial flight simulators to GE Capital Aviation Training. The joint venture will be called GE Capital Aviation Training, and GE Capital will hold the majority ownership.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION is soliciting comments for a proposed policy memorandum on issuance of experimental airworthiness certificates for flight tests.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION'S enforcement notice addressing the requirement to ensure flight crews get adequate rest took effect last week, and despite its extension for Comair, the agency is holding the rest of the scheduled carriers to the notice immediately (BA, Nov. 22/233). Peggy Gilligan, FAA deputy associate administrator for regulation and certification, said the agency initially will look at Part 121 operators and then work with Part 135 operators "to see if there are ways to assist them to come into full compliance."
Federal Aviation Administration, accused of writing rules that that are "obtuse," "Byzantine" and "cumbersome," hopes to soften those views with its new effort to simplify and use "plain language" in proposals. FAA Administrator Jane Garvey issued a statement last week noting that recent surveys revealed that pilots find FAA's rulemaking confusing and obsolete. "This message reinforces what we heard from the American Customer Satisfaction Index - our regulations are not clearly written.
Model 407 helicopters, [Docket No. 99-SW-48-AD; Amendment 39-11414; AD 99-23-18] - requires, before further flight, revising the life limits for certain parts and replacing each part that has exceeded its life limit. The AD also requires revising the applicable component history cards or equivalent records and the Airworthiness Limitations Schedule of the BHTC Model 407 maintenance manual to reflect these new life limits.
HONEYWELL and Coherent Technologies have teamed up to develop a new onboard system designed to provide a warning of all types of atmospheric turbulence. See article below.
Brazil's Embraer won an order from Sichuan Airlines for 10 ERJ-145s, its first order from an Asian carrier. The contract, reportedly for $200 million, consists of five firm aircraft and five options, with the first delivery planned for April.
JOHN POHOLSKY was named service manager for Atlantic Aviation's Aircraft Services Division in Wilmington, Del. Poholsky will oversee management for all aircraft maintenance, engine overhaul and hydraulics programs at Atlantic's Wilmington facility. Before joining Atlantic, he was director of aircraft services for Piedmont Aviation Services and also has been a service manager for Fleeman Aviation.
Construction of a new two-story, 100,000-square-foot simulator training center adjacent to Atlanta's Hartsfield International airport is nearing completion and FlightSafety International expects to begin training there next month.
Federal Aviation Administration's proposal to rewrite Part 145 regulations governing repair stations takes a "one size fits all" approach that will drive up costs and cause a number of maintenance facilities to surrender their certificates, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association told FAA. AOPA's assessment agreed with that of the National Air Transportation Association, which asked for a two-tier system to regulate repair stations (BA, Dec. 13/267).
Model 412, 412EP and 412CF helicopters [Docket No. 99-SW-55-AD; Amendment 39-11419; AD 99-23-23] - requires inspecting and measuring the thickness of certain main rotor yoke assemblies. This AD also requires adding 500 hours time-in-service (TIS) to the total time for main rotor yoke assemblies that measure below 0.478-inch thickness and noting the measurement and added TIS on the component history card or equivalent record. This amendment is prompted by a report of an emergency landing due to severe main rotor vibration on a BHTI Model 412 helicopter.
JOINT AVIATION AUTHORITIES are in the early stages of writing new regulations for corporate aircraft operations. JAA's Ops Committee has formed a subcommittee to tackle the new regulations, JAR-Ops 2, and has held its initial meetings for what will likely be a multi-year effort. The initiative has gained the attention of many industry associations both in the U.S. as well as Europe. Some are concerned because JAA appears to be using JAR-Ops 1, which governs air transport operations, as the baseline for crafting rules for private operators. U.S.
Model BO-105CB-5 and BO-105-CBS-5 helicopters [Docket No. 99-SW-58-AD; Amendment 39-11429; AD 99-24-05] - supersedes an existing emergency priority letter AD that currently requires, before further flight, creating a component log card or equivalent record and determining the calendar age and number of flights on each tension-torsion (TT) strap. This amendment requires the same actions as the emergency priority letter AD and additionally clarifies the compliance time requirements specified in the emergency priority letter AD.
LEO MORTIMER was appointed director of air traffic technology for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Mortimer will handle issues dealing with future communications, navigation and surveillance technology; air traffic control automation and modernization; aviation weather automation and avionics standards and certification. He formerly was a consulting engineer in NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center that supported the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System program office.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION issued a draft Advisory Circular 91-XX, Altimeter Errors at Cold Temperatures. The AC provides guidance about the potential hazards of altimeters in extreme temperatures. The AC discusses the importance of cold temperature correction procedures. FAA said the AC is intended to help address controlled flight into terrain. Copies of AC 91-XX can be accessed on FAA's website at www.faa.gov/avr/arm/nprm/nprm.htm. Comments on the AC should be sent before Jan.
Model 500, 501, 550, 551, and 560 series airplanes [Docket No. 99-NM-136-AD] - withdraws a proposal that would have required revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to include requirements for activation of the airframe pneumatic deicing boots. Since the issuance of the proposal, FAA has received new data that indicates the AFM revision is unneccessary. Accordingly, the proposed rule is withdrawn.
