Cessna Aircraft Company delivered its 3,000th Citation business jet this month and officials say they are on track to celebrate two similar delivery milestones over the next eight years. The 3,000th Citation, a top-of-the-line Model X, went to John Menard, president and chief executive of Menard, Inc., a chain of 145 home improvement stores headquartered in Eau Claire, Wis. with annual sales of $4 billion. Menard's flight department has been operating Citations for the past 13 years.
SERMATECH INTERNATIONAL formed a joint venture with Samsung Aerospace Industries to provide surface treatment services for turbine engine components. The new venture, Sermatech Korea, will apply aluminum-ceramic, diffusion and thermal spray protective coatings for new turbine components. For components undergoing repair, Sermatech Korea will provide the same coatings and perform activated diffusion brazing and weld repair processes. Sermatech Korea will be based at Samsung's plant in Changwon, Korea, which produces and repairs components.
L.J. AVIATION, the fixed-base operator, aircraft charter and management company based in Latrobe, Pa., is building a new 5,000-square-foot facility that is scheduled to be completed in March. The FBO is located at the recently renamed Arnold Palmer Regional Airport.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.251, 135.255, 135.353, and Appendices I&J of Part 121 Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To allow the MSSA to conduct local sightseeing flights at Mt. Sterling-Montgomery County Airport in Mt. Sterling, Ky., on the weekend of August 21, 1999, for compensation or hire, without complying with certain anti-drug and alcohol misuse prevention requirements of Part 135. Grant, Aug. 20, 1999, Exemption No. 6950
FRACTIONAL OWNERSHIP is "truly reshaping business aviation," Bombardier's President and Chief Operating Officer Michael Graff told the Aero Club of Washington last week, noting it has grown at a rate of more than 50 percent annually over the past few years. Fractional ownership is expected to represent about 17 percent of industry deliveries within two years, compared with 12 percent last year, Graff said. Bombardier officials predict that number will grow to almost 30 percent of business aircraft deliveries within the next decade.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 121.344(b)(3) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit ASA to operate 10 EMB-120RT airplanes subject to heavy maintenance checks before parts are available, without installing in each airplane, the required DFDR until the next heavy maintenance check after January 15, 2000. Partial Grant, Aug. 18, 1999, Exemption No. 6946
A group of Chicago executives hope to create a new way of travel using business jets to provide scheduled, published service. Plans call for Indigo, an operation formed by Matt Andersson, a 20-year corporate aviation and regional airline executive, to begin regular service between Chicago Midway and Teterboro Airport in New Jersey in early 2000 with Falcon 20s. The schedule, to be announced in the next month, initially will include three trips each way on weekdays.
Model ATR 42-200, ATR 42-300, and ATR 42-320 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-94-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires inspections to determine the proper installation of rivets in certain key holes and to detect cracks in the area of the key holes where rivets are missing; and correction of discrepancies. This action would increase the compliance time for the existing requirements and expand the applicability of the existing AD to include additional airplanes.
NATIONAL AIRCRAFT RESALE ASSOCIATION members reported $800 million in used turbine sales through the first half of 1999, capturing 16.4 percent of the worldwide used jet market and 10.6 percent of the used turboprop market. NARA cited AMSTAT figures that 718 used jets and 670 used turboprops were sold between January and June of this year. NARA members sold 118 jets and 71 turboprops during that time.
Models Lake LA-4, Lake LA-4A, Lake LA-4P, Lake LA-4-200, and Lake Model 250 airplanes (Docket No. 99-CE-27-AD) - proposes to require inspecting the left and right wing upper and lower spar caps and doublers for cracks, replacing any cracked parts and/or incorporating a modification kit depending on the extent of the damage, and reporting the results of the inspection to FAA. The proposed AD is the result of a report of a fatigue crack found at the second most inboard wing attachment bolt hole on one of the affected airplanes.
Canadian and Brazilian officials last week continued their dispute over a World Trade Organization ruling concerning aircraft subsidies in a conflict that could erupt beyond the aerospace industries of the two nations. Both have asked the WTO to form a compliance panel to determine whether Bombardier and Embraer have complied with WTO rulings concerning the subsidizing of aircraft sales.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 121.577(a) Description of Relief Sought: To permit Continental to move an airplane on the surface before takeoff or after landing when beverages or other containers provided by Continental to passengers are retained at the passenger's seat.
CENTURY AEROSPACE CORP. named Thomas C. Wyckoff chief executive officer. Bill Northrup, Century's founder and chairman, said the company is evaluating several potential sites for its new corporate headquarters and assembly facility and is negotiating agreements with major risk-sharing partners. He said one of Wyckoff's responsibilities will be to oversee those negotiations. Wyckoff is a lawyer and a member of Century's board who has been advising the company as it develops the Century Jet aircraft (BA, Oct. 19, 1998/172).
THE U.S. ARMY is testing a helicopter airbag system designed to protect pilots in the event of an accident. Simula, Inc. developed a Cockpit Air Bag System (CABS) that was installed in a Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopter and deployed in flight.
CAROLE PAMMER joined Flight Safety Foundation as director of marketing and business development. Pammer formerly was director of marketing for the National Defense Industrial Association.
FAA, which will open the Fractional Ownership Aviation Rulemaking Committee meetings to the public Tuesday and Wednesday (BA, Nov. 22/238), also is providing a brief window of opportunity for submission of written statements. Interested parties unable to attend the public meetings may submit comments no later than Dec. 1.
ALTHOUGH Bombardier has made a concerted effort to integrate its business jet products under the Business Aircraft Division, Graff acknowledged that "the best known name in our lineup is Learjet." Graff told the Aero Club last week that market research has demonstrated the visibility attached with the name Learjet and said, "we're certainly not going to drop that."
ALLIEDSIGNAL said the Hart-Scott-Rodino waiting period has expired with no requests for additional information from the government on its offer to acquire TriStar Aerospace. The two companies said the conditions related to the tender offer have been satisfied and that they expect to complete the acquisition next month.
TRUMAN ARNOLD COMPANIES' TAC Air Division said its aircraft technical services facility in Shreveport, La. was completely remodeled and upgraded and received its FAA Repair Station Certificate this month. The renovation included remodeling the facility, upgrading the support shop and office areas and recruiting nine technicians. The company also acquired additional tooling and equipment and installed a new inventory control system.
SABRELINER CORP. promoted seven executives as part of an overall reorganization of its marketing, sales and finance functions. The company named D.C. Iain Glendinning vice president-operations for Sabreliner and Premier Turbines, with overall management responsibility for those operations. Donald (Jim) Meier was appointed vice president-government services with responsibility for government marketing and program management.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.251, 135.255, 135.353, and Appendices I&J of Part 121 Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To allow the Fellowship to conduct local sightseeing flights in the vicinity of Grace College of the Bible in Omaha, Neb., on the weekend of Aug. 21, 1999, for compensation or hire, without complying with certain anti-drug and alcohol misuse prevention requirements of Part 135. Grant, Aug. 19, 1999, Exemption No. 6948
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.165(b)(6) and (7) Description of Relief Sought: To permit Shoreline to conduct extended overwater operations in jet aircraft with one high-frequency communication system in North Atlantic airspace west of the North Atlantic Minimum Navigation Performance Specifications western boundary and west of a line from longitude 60 deg. W. to latitude 10 deg. N. including the areas of the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators have competed their work at the scene of the Oct. 25 crash of a Model 35 Learjet in Mina, S.D. and are now conducting detailed examination of some of the aircraft's recovered components. The accident killed all six persons aboard, including golfer Payne Stewart, after the crew apparently became incapacitated not long after the flight took off from Orlando, Fla. for Texas (BA, Nov. 1/200).
THE NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM ended its search for a director Friday, naming John R. Dailey, a retired Marine Corps general and senior NASA administrator, to succeed Vice Adm. Donald D. Engen, who was killed in a glider accident in July. See article below.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION, citing concerns that a growing number of general aviation airports are in danger of closing, selected Weber McGinn, an Arlington, Va., based communications and research group, to prepare a study of the benefits of GA airports. The study will measure views of GA, the effects of aviation on quality of life, and the economic effects of general aviation on local communities. NATA expects to announce the details of the research at its annual Aviation Services and Suppliers SuperShow May 9-11 in Tampa, Fla.
