BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE is the first customer for AlliedSignal Engines new AS900 turbofan family, selecting the AS907 to power the new Continental business jet that will be unveiled at the NBAA convention this week. Rated at 7,595 pounds of thermodynamic thrust each, the AS900 powerplants are designed to push Bombardier's new large-cabin business jet "coast to coast with eight" passengers.
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended last week that FAA require all Part 135 scheduled passenger night flights to be operated under instrument flight rules except when such operations are unfeasible. FAA, responding to an earlier recommendation following the crash of a de Havilland Dash 6-300 into a mountain in Hawaii, required that multi-engine airplane operations be conducted under IFR in darkness or poor visibility. FAA further responded when it changed the regulatory basis of 10 or more passenger seats to Part 121.
RMI TITANIUM COMPANY, Niles, Ohio, said the 504 production and clerical workers who went on strike following the Sept. 30 expiration of a labor agreement remain off the job (BA, Oct. 5/151). A spokeswoman said Wednesday that no negotiations with the striking members of Local 2155 of the United Steelworkers of America have been scheduled.
AMERICAN AIRLINES is looking for a few good pilots with at least 4,000 hours of flight time. The Dallas-based carrier, faced with a large number of senior pilots taking early buy-outs to maximize their retirement funds, is accepting applications Nov. 2-30. Applications will be accepted only by mail, with a self-addressed return envelope carrying $1.01 in postage.
LARRY CLARKSON, Boeing senior vice president who had been president of Boeing Enterprises (BA, Oct. 12/160), will resign Feb. 1 to pursue "a variety of alternatives," including becoming a consultant in international relations, strategic planning and aerospace issues.
The widely anticipated annual AlliedSignal Aerospace forecast of demand for new business jets says the industry will deliver nearly 6,500 aircraft valued at $78 billion for the period 1999-2009, an average of nearly 600 aircraft per year during the period. The new forecast represents a dramatic increase - 22.6 percent more aircraft with an estimated value 30 percent greater - over last year's report, which called for 5,300 business jets valued at $60 million in the 1998-2008 period (BA, Sept. 29, 1997/139).
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL won FAA Level D certification for its new Raytheon Beechjet 400A flight simulator. The simulator, the second Beechjet simulator at FlightSafety's learning center in Wichita, Kan., is equipped with the Collins AMS 5000 flight management system. FlightSafety has received 17 FAA simulator certifications so far in 1998, including 16 built by FlightSafety Simulation in Tulsa, Okla.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT received an order for a Beech 1900D from Danish Air Transport, a regional airline based in Vamdrup, Jutland in Denmark. The order, placed through Beechcraft Scandinavia A/S, also included options for two more 1900Ds. The aircraft will join Danish Air Transport's fleet of two Beech King Air 90s, one King Air 200 and a 1900C. Raytheon will deliver the aircraft in November. The aircraft will be operated throughout Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), who in a major political coup engineered a measure to ensure that highway trust fund revenues are used for highway projects, is beginning the groundwork to do the same for the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (BA, June 22/271). He attended a meeting this month of the Alliance for Truth In Transportation Budgeting, a coalition of 50 or 60 transportation associations that lobbied for the highway trust fund measure, in an effort to generate support for similar action on the aviation fund.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT, which plans to deliver 200 new business jets this year, expects to boost production by 10-12 percent next year and deliver 220 to 225 new Citations in 1999.
PHILIP PANZER joined Hawker Pacific Aerospace as vice president of corporate development. He will oversee corporate strategic planning and merger and acquisition efforts. He previously served as president of Botanical Science, Inc. and Camera Platforms International.
FOKKER Model F.28 Mark 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-287-AD; Amdt. 39-10710; AD 98-17-08) - requires repetitive inspections for any discrepancy in the seal-wire of the fireguards of the engine fire shutoff system and repair, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
MICHAEL GRABBE was appointed director of maintenance training at FlightSafety International's learning center in Bethany, Okla. Grabbe, who previously taught airframe and powerplant subjects at a technical college, has turbine aircraft engineering and maintenance experience with Lycoming, Gulfstream and Commander.
In a pre-emptive move, the Federal Aviation Administration this month removed restrictions on foreign flight training schools, allowing certified schools to not only train U.S. pilots but issue pilot and medical certificates.
ANOTHER MEMBER of what insiders refer to as "Mineta's mafia" has joined the senior ranks at FAA. FAA Administrator Jane Garvey named Suzanne Sullivan assistant administrator for government and industry affairs. She succeeds A. Bradley Mims, who was selected earlier to become deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs at the Transportation Department. Sullivan, who will be FAA's chief congressional liaison, began her government career in 1986 in the office of Rep.
PIERRE BAYLE was appointed director of media relations for Aerospatiale. Bayle, most recently press adviser to the French defense minister, began his career as a journalist in 1972, working for the Information Bureau of the European Community and Agence France Presse before becoming technical adviser to the French defense minister in 1991.
INDUSTRY LEADERS will provide a briefing for pilots on planned ETOPS restrictions by the European Joint Aviation Authorities that could limit transatlantic flights by twin-engine business jets (BA, Oct. 5/149). NBAA President Jack Olcott, GAMA President Ed Bolen and Brian Humphries, chairman of the European Business Aviation Association, will discuss the latest European initiative. The briefing is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. in Rooms 221N-222N at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT plans to build a $5.5 million terminal and hangar facility at Miami International Airport. The company's announcement last week followed the renewal of its lease at the airport. Construction is expected to be completed in late 1999. Signature currently is operating out of temporary facilities near the new building site.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-7 and DHC-8 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-237-AD) - proposes to require a one-time visual inspection to determine the serial number of the brake shuttle valves of the main landing gear and replacement of the filter fittings with new filter fittings, if necessary. This proposal is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to ensure that proper filter fittings are installed.
RICHARD DEUVE was named assistant manager of the FlightSafety International Paris learning center at Le Bourget Airport. Deuve has served with FlightSafety for five years, teaching ground school, simulator and flight instruction. He also has flight department and corporate flight experience with ratings in Citation and Falcon 50 and 900 aircraft.
ELLIOTT AVIATION, which recently received a supplemental type certificate to install a Collins TCAS-94 traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS II) in a Beechjet 400 (BA, Sept. 28/144), also has won approval to install AlliedSignal's Mark VII enhanced ground proximity warning system in the business jet. Elliott's STC includes special provision for the EGPWS's optional windshear detection function as well as enhanced terrain audio and video display capabilities. Elliott used a 1985 Beechjet 400 based at Love Field in Dallas as the certification aircraft.
BRITISH AEROSPACE and Germany's Daimler-Benz Aerospace confirmed last week they are having ongoing talks about the possibility of a merger, but officials said it was too early to tell where those discussions may lead. In separate statements responding to press speculation about a BAe-DASA merger, the companies said talks of this nature have been under way for several years as part of the effort to restructure the European aerospace business.
MAULE M-4, M-5, M-6, M-7, MX-7 and MXT-7 series airplanes and Models MT-7-235 and M-8-235 airplanes (Docket No. 98-CE-01-AD; Amdt. 39-10669; AD 98-15-18) - corrects an AD that incorrectly references the applicable service bulletin. The AD requires repetitively inspecting certain wing lift struts for internal corrosion and replacing any wing lift strut where corrosion is found. This action corrects the applicable references.
RAYTHEON Model BAe.125, DH.125, BH.125 and HS.125 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-305-AD) - proposes to revise an existing AD, which requires inspection of the elevator mass balance side plate for assembly and spigot for corrosion and repair if necessary; application of corrosion protection treatment and installation of corrosion-resistant Monel rivets in the elevator balance weight structure. That AD was prompted by reports of corrosion on the elevator mass balance side plate assembly and the balance weight spigot.
