ADVANCED AERODYNAMICS&STRUCTURES, INC. appointed Michael Lai vice president of engineering. Lai will be responsible for all engineering operations for the Jetcruzer 500 single turboprop and Stratocruzer twin jet. He formerly held director, manager of engineering, quality control and other management positions for Lockheed Aircraft Service International in Ontario, Calif. He also has served as a logistics engineer for the development of Space Shuttle structural components at Rockwell International and as a field service representative for Cessna Aircraft.
GE Aircraft Engines unit UNC Monday struck a deal after nearly a year of negotiations to sell UNC Airwork Corporation to BBA Group's Dallas Airmotive for $52 million in cash, BBA and Dallas Airmotive announced last week. The acquisition, subject to regulatory approval, would include Airwork's major turbine centers in Millville, N.J. and Miami, Fla. and four regional turbine shops. Officials hope to conclude the transaction this fall.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION'S newly formed Safety Committee will hold its first conference concurrently with the Corporate Aviation Management Conference Jan. 12-14 in Orlando, Fla. The Safety Committee, led by Chair John Lauber of Airbus Industrie, North America and Vice Chair Pat Andrews of Mobile Business Resources Corp, will focus on "Organizing for Safety Management" during its Jan. 12 session. For more information, contact Sandy Wirtz, NBAA senior manager-seminars, at (202) 783-9366.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Jetstream Model 4101 airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-167-AD) - proposes to require modification of the attach points of the uplock system of the nose landing gear. 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 prevent wear of the attach points of the uplock system of the nose landing gear.
WESTERN AIRCRAFT was named a Raytheon Aircraft authorized service center for the Beech King Air, Baron and Bonanza. Western, also an authorized service center for Hawker aircraft, has performed maintenance and modifications on King Airs for more than 20 years. Western said it plans to invest in additional tooling and training to support Raytheon products as well as carry more spare parts. It also will perform warranty services.
NEW PIPER AIRCRAFT this month completed the first flight of its Malibu Meridian single-turboprop aircraft. The aircraft, the first of four prototypes, took off at 11:39 a.m. Aug. 21 from Vero Beach Airport and flew for 60 minutes. Engineering Test Pilot David Schwartz conducted preliminary tests to determine flying quality, control characteristics and powerplant responses. The aircraft has flown twice since - a 30-minute flight Tuesday and a 12-minute flight Wednesday - and is next scheduled to fly during a Meridian employee celebration tomorrow (Sept. 1).
Federal Aviation Administration this month called for inspection of 60,000 Textron Lycoming and Teledyne Continental reciprocating engines in search of a few hundred possibly faulty crankshafts that were repaired by a Bedford, Mass. company. The airworthiness directive requires owners and operators of Lycoming and Continental engines to determine within 10 hours' time-in-service (following the Oct. 19 effective date of the AD) whether Nelson Balancing Service repaired the engine crankshafts between Feb. 1, 1995 and Dec. 31, 1997.
MITSUBISHI Model YS-11 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-92-AD) - proposes to require repetitive inspections for fatigue cracking in the manhole doublers of the lower wing panels and repair, if necessary. This proposal also would require eventual modification of screw holes in the manhole doublers of the lower wing panels. This proposal is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority. The actions specified by the proposal are intended to detect fatigue cracking in the manhole doublers.
DUANE TERRY was named director of operations for Sony Trans Com, a designer, manufacturer and supplier of inflight entertainment systems. Terry will be responsible for the company's manufacturing, manufacturing engineering and material efforts. He formerly was vice president of operations for Micronet Technologies.
ROBERT GEORGE was appointed to the newly created position of Seattle-area representative for Flight Dynamics. George previously served with AT&T Wireless Aviation Division and Boeing.
TIM KEISER was appointed safety supervisor for Downtown Airpark. Keiser was a long-time United Airlines employee and a former flight engineer in the U.S. Air Force.
PRIMEDIA INTERTEC published its 1998-1999 AC-U-KWIK International Manager's Edition. The 800-page book contains airport, fixed-base operation, hotel and support services information. The book includes airport diagrams, listings of charter, limousine, catering and executive protection companies and U.S. Customs information. The book, which retails at $69.95, also is offered through a Windows-based software program. To order, contact PRIMEDIA Intertec, P.O. Box 12901, Overland Park, Kan. 66282-2901; telephone: (800) 400-5945.
Federal Aviation Administration called a ban on scheduled service at Centennial Airport near Denver, Colo. discriminatory and ordered the Arapahoe County Public Airport Authority to present an acceptable plan within 20 days to provide for scheduled service or lose eligibility for future airport grants. The airport authority, notified of FAA's decision early last week, scheduled a meeting Thursday (Sept. 3) to discuss the action, but an airport official said the authority has not announced its next step.
HOWMET CORP., Greenwich, Conn., will expand its manufacturing capacity, building a new aero-airfoil plant and expanding three plants that make industrial gas turbine components. Howmet will begin construction during the fourth quarter, following completion of the site selection process, which is under way for the aero-airfoil plant. The plant will be equipped initially for $60 million in sales, require an investment of $40 million over the next 18 months and will employ about 350 people.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION, which will hold its Expo '98 Oct. 23-25 in Palm Springs, Calif., will return to Atlantic City, N.J. next year for AOPA Expo '99. AOPA last held the event in Atlantic City in 1995, attracting 8,129 attendees. The 1999 Expo is scheduled for Oct. 21-23 at The New Atlantic City Convention Center.
BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON Model 214B and 214B-1 helicopters (Docket No. 97-SW-23-AD) - revises an earlier proposal that would have established a mandatory retirement life of 15,000 high-power events for the pillow block bearing bolts. That proposal was prompted by fatigue analyses and tests that show certain bearing bolts fail sooner than originally anticipated because of the unanticipated high number of lifts and takeoffs (torque events) performed with those bearing bolts in addition to the time-in-service accrued under normal operating conditions.
AS RAYTHEON rolled out the Premier I last week, the company continued design efforts on the next edition of the Premier family. Wegner said the company, which has said from the outset of the Premier I program that the aircraft was the beginning of a new family, was not yet ready to discuss the new airplane, only saying that it is "not smaller" than Premier I. Raytheon officials also hinted at a follow-on of its other new aircraft, the Hawker Horizon, noting that the middle segment of the fuselage could be stretched.
LORD CORPORATION renewed its agreement with AAR Cooper Aviation as the exclusive supplier of engine mounts. Lord has served as a single-source supplier of vibration control products for AAR Cooper Aviation and the former Cooper Aviation since 1989.
MIDCOAST AVIATION named James Bates vice president and chief financial officer. Bates will manage financial and accounting functions for the Midcoast facilities at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport, St. Louis Downtown-Parks Airport and Little Rock National Airport. He also will assist on special projects for Midcoast parent Sabreliner Corp. Before joining Midcoast, Bates was vice president and chief financial officer for Sight&Sound Distributors, Inc.
FLIGHTCRAFT, which celebrated its 50th anniversary last month, increased its flight department fleet of aircraft to 29 and pilot staff to 45 with the addition of nine aircraft since the beginning of the year. The Northwest-based aviation services company added a Learjet 35, a King Air C90 and B200, Cheyenne II, three Citation Is, a Citation II and Citation III. Flightcraft has operations at Portland International Airport, Eugene, Ore., Hayward, Calif. and Seattle, Wash.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT named D. Scott Kalister vice president-customer support. Kalister will manage the customer support division in addition to the Raytheon Aircraft Services fixed-base operation chain and Raytheon Aircraft Parts Inventory and Distribution, a subsidiary formed last year to consolidate Beech and Hawker aircraft parts distribution.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL received contracts to train Federal Aviation Administration pilots for Hawker 800, Gulfstream V and King Air 90 aircraft. FlightSafety's Houston facility is providing Hawker 800 training to pilots from FAA's Office of Aviation System Standards, Flight Inspection Operations Division and the Evaluation and Training Branch. The Gulfstream and King Air training will take place in Savannah, Ga. and Wichita, Kan., respectively.
MILLION AIR DALLAS acquired a new Cessna 525 CitationJet, a new Beech King Air C90B turboprop and a used Hawker 600-731. The additions bring the Million Air Dallas Part 135 charter fleet to 20 aircraft.
