PILOT HIRINGS continue to be strong with 1,244 new jobs opening in April, according to AIR, Inc., which projects the current rate of hiring will mean about 4,000 new jobs at the majors and more than 4,800 at national carriers this year. Overall, AIR projects more than 12,500 new cockpit jobs in 1998 (BA, April 13/161).
Operators of corporate jets filed a legal challenge this month to a new system for allocating takeoff and landing slots at London's Heathrow Airport, which they say will damage their business. High Court officials said it was "abundantly clear" that an application by operators for judicial review was arguable and that a full hearing should take place quickly.
HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE Wednesday marked up legislation amending the Fastener Quality Act by recognizing FAA as the authority on aviation fastener standards. The amendment also would delay implementation of the Fastener Quality Act until June 1999 and require the Commerce Department to conduct a study to determine whether changes in manufacturing practices have obviated the need for the FQA. House action is expected relatively soon. Similar legislation previously was approved by the Senate Commerce Committee.
HAMILTON STANDARD named Gregory J. DeSantis vice president of operations for aircraft products and Sebastian (Bas) Demarteau to succeed DeSantis as vice president of worldwide customer support. Both report to Robert R. Moore, executive vice president of aircraft systems. DeSantis, an engineer, has been with Hamilton Standard for more than 30 years. Demarteau has more than 25 years experience in the industry and joined Hamilton Standard in 1989 as managing director of Hamilton Support Systems in The Netherlands.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE said its secondary public offering of 18 million shares of the company's common stock will be priced at $43 per share. The shares are being sold by affiliates of Forstmann Little&Co. and current and former Gulfstream officers, directors, employees and advisors.
SA 330F, G and J helicopters (Docket No. 97-SW-43- AD) - proposes a new AD that would require removal and replacement of each tail rotor electrical bonding braid. The French airworthiness authority, the DGAC, said the bonding braids and their attachment clamps were to be removed and replaced before Sept. 1, 1995. The problem is addressed in Eurocopter France Service Bulletin SA 330 No. 65.73, dated June 22, 1995. For more information, contact Robert McCallister in FAA's Rotorcraft Directorate at (817) 222-5121; fax, (817) 222-5961.
SPENCE M. (SAM) ARMSTRONG, a retired Air Force three-star general who has been NASA's human resources and education chief since 1991, was named head of the agency's Aeronautics and Space Technology Enterprise.
STANLEY P. FELIX, a veteran Gulfstream pilot, was named manager-Gulfstream programs for SimuFlite Training International. Felix, a 25-year aviation industry veteran, has 8,000 hours total flight time, including 4,000 hours in Gulfstream aircraft. He has been a SimuFlite instructor pilot since 1995 . He was formerly director of operations for U.S. Army Priority Air Transport, where he coordinated flight crews and flight operations worldwide.
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE of the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee last week deferred FAA's request to develop a new rulemaking proposal addressing the reserve status portion of flight and duty time regulations governing pilots (BA, May 4/195). Instead, following more than two hours of discussion, the FAA's "tasking statement" was handed over to a working group for more study and consideration of a number of issues raised by members of the Executive Committee.
PRESIDENT CLINTON announced his intention to nominate Norman Mineta as a member of the Metropolitan Washington Airports authority board of directors. Currently senior vice president and managing director of Lockheed Martin IMS's Transportation Systems and Services division, served in Congress for 21 years and chaired both the House Public Works Committee and its aviation subcommittee during his tenure. Most recently he chaired the Administration's National Civil Aviation Review Commission.
AlliedSignal, Inc., which makes a range of navigation products for larger aircraft, purchased a British company that builds moving-map displays for general aviation aircraft.
LAS VEGAS is proving a sensational draw as a venue for the National Business Aviation Association's annual convention. After purposely avoiding LAS as a convention location for decades because of concern about the city's image, the association shattered its attendance records when the show first visited the desert in 1995, drawing 24,884 registrants - an increase of nearly 40 percent over the previous record.
RTS SERVICES, INC., Fort Worth, Texas, launched "a major new and used parts buying and turbine engine purchasing program," according to President Roger Sickler, who said the company is "aggressively seeking firms who want to sell their new and used (repairable or not) parts for turboprop and turboshaft engines. RTS also is purchasing a number of new and used operating turbine powerplants and engine cores.
NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND TECHNOLOGY is quickly becoming the bane of the aviation industry. First NIST officials issued new fastener regulations that would subject airframe and component manufacturers to a new set of standards in addition to FAA requirements (BA, May 11/207). Now NIST is requiring installation of ticket printers on aviation fuel trucks, a move that is expected to affect half the fuel tankers in the industry. See article below.
ROBERT BIAL is the new president of Professional Aircraft Accessories, Titusville, Fla. Bial was formerly vice president of operations for Solair, Inc., a Banner Aerospace company. "Bial brings professional expertise in repair administration for major OEMs and extensive airline experience, domestic and international, as well as operations management skills necessary in the industry," said Tom Chastain, president of Professional Aviation Associates, parent company of Professional Aircraft Accessories.
Model F27 Mark 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-98-AD) - proposes a new AD that would require replacement of the actuating ram bobbin and O-ring seals of the main landing gear (MLG) with new bobbins and improved O-ring seals. FAA said it was informed by the Rijksluchtvaartdienst (RLD), the Netherlands airworthiness authority, of reports of broken lockstruts on the main landing gear due to loss of dampening of the MLG actuating ram, which extends and retracts the MLG.
A SAFETY RECOMMENDATION LETTER regarding AlliedSignal TPE331 engine flameouts in icing conditions is on the agenda for the National Transportation Safety Board's meeting May 19. The board will consider a staff recommendation stemming from investigation of two Fairchild SA227 aircraft accidents.
HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE Chairman Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) will hold a hearing on the state of competition in the airline industry May 19 at 1 p.m. in Room 2141 of the Rayburn House Office Building. Witnesses will include DOT General Counsel Nancy McFadden.
Models PA-31, PA-31-300, PA-31-325, PA- 31-350 and PA-31P airplanes (Docket No. 90-CE-65-AD) - supersedes AD 79-01- 04 that requires repetitively inspecting the elevator bungee spring for cracks or surface deformation on certain Piper PA-31-350 airplanes, and replacing any elevator bungee spring with cracks or surface deformities.
Model SA-365N1, AS-365N2 and SA-366G1 helicopters (Docket No. 97-SW-49-AD) - adopts a new AD that requires initial and repetitive inspections of the tail rotor blade Kevlar tie-bar for cracks or delaminations. This amendment is prompted by a report of delamination of a Kevlar tie-bar. The actions specified are intended to detect cracks that could lead to delamination of the tie-bar, loss of tail rotor control and subsequent loss of the helicopter. Inspections are required within 10 hours time-in-service after the June 11 effective date.
THERMOMECHANICAL STRESSES on airframe leading edges cruising at Mach 2.4 may be too much for an economically viable passenger aircraft to handle, so the materials community at Boeing wants management and NASA to throttle back to Mach 2 for the prospective High Speed Civil Transport, according to a top Boeing titanium expert. Rodney R.
The Australian government, now that it has leased 17 airports, is transferring its remaining airport holdings from the Federal Airport Corp. to a new government-owned structure, the Sydney Airports Corp. Ltd. The airports affected - Sydney Kingsford Smith, Bankstown, Camden and Hoxton Park - will be corporatized, and Essendon Airport, which was not leased in Phase 2, will be set up as a subsidiary. All existing FAC staff and assets of these airports will transfer to the Sydney Airport Corp. Ltd.
Standards developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) will require installation of ticket printers on all vehicle tank-mounted metering systems by Jan. 1, 1999, a mandate that will entail substantial expense by fixed-base operators and fuel companies with no increase in aviation safety, according to the National Air Transportation Association.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE said it is on schedule to win certification of a full flight simulator and a flight training device (FTD) for the Global Express business jet before the plane's scheduled certification in June. The simulator and the FTD are operational in the company's Montreal training center.
GERARD WALSH was named president and chief operating officer of Norton Performance Plastics Corp., Wayne, N.J., a subsidiary of the Saint-Gobain Corp. He joins Norton from 3M where he was the business unit director for the Masking and Packaging Systems Division. Walsh spent nearly 30 years with 3M in a variety of management and senior manufacturing positions.
