The Japanese Transport Ministry's Civil Aviation Bureau plans to buy three aircraft to replace YS-11 low- and medium-altitude navaid flight check aircraft. The bureau intended originally to replace its six YS-11s with five Saab 2000s, but it had ordered only two when Saab announced plans to end the production program. For the remaining three, the bureau wants a two-engine jet or turboprop that can use runways less than 1,800 meters long.
THE NEW PIPER AIRCRAFT, INC. Models PA-31, PA-31-300, PA-31-325 and PA-31-350 airplanes - adopts a new AD requiring replacement of the lower spar splice plate and reworking the lower spar caps. FAA said the AD resulted from "numerous reports of fretting and cracking of the lower spar splice plates on Piper PA-31 series airplanes in Australia, and a report of one such incident in the U.S. FAA estimates that 1,700 aircraft on the U.S. Registry will be affected by the AD, which is expected to cost $690 per airplane.
Mercury Air Group, Los Angeles, Calif., reported a 24.9 percent increase in net income for the third fiscal quarter ended March 31, even though revenues were down significantly for the period. The company had net income of $1.4 million, compared with $1.1 million for the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the third quarter was $52.7 million, a drop of 27.2 percent from the $72.4 million a year ago, a decline that was due "to a decline in both the price of aviation fuel and volume of fuel sold," according to Mercury.
Brit Air, the European launch customer for the Canadair Regional Jet in October 1994, placed a follow-on order for six 50-passenger CRJs and two 70-seat CRJ Series 700 regional airliners from Bombardier Aerospace. The manufacturer said the carrier plans to secure additional options on Series 700 CRJs. Excluding options, Brit Air will operate a fleet of 24 Canadair RJs by 2001, comprising 20 Series 100s and four Series 700s. The carrier, headquartered in Morlaix, France, currently operates 13 50-passenger Series 100 RJs.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE continues to develop new product packages and services for its customer base and "is in the process of developing a Gulfstream operating lease program," according to a registration statement filed in connection with the recent public offering of Gulfstream stock (BA, April 27/184). The lease program, expected to include third-party participation, would provide new sales outlets and introduce customers with less initial capital to the company's products.
PETER STAUFFER was promoted to vice president of sales&marketing for Hermetic Aircraft International Corp. (HAIC). A veteran of 23 years in the aerospace business, he previously worked for Oerlikon Buehrle and Ferranti International before joining HAIC in 1991 as commercial director and manager of government programs.
Fairchild Aerospace Corp., which is headquartered at the San Antonio, Texas International Airport (SAT), said its Fairchild Gen-Aero, Inc. subsidiary there has acquired a competing fixed-base operation, AVSAT, Ltd. The AVSAT acquisition includes a 24,000-square-foot hangar, a five-acre concrete ramp, fueling capabilities and the ability to perform repairs. The facility, with 26 employees, occupies more than 7.5 acres and "has prime flightline access" at SAT, according to Fairchild. A spokesman said Fairchild intends to continue operating both FBOs.
BRIAN O'DELL was promoted to vice president-customer service at International Total Services, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio, which provides aviation and security staffing. O'Dell had been vice president of performance management at ITS. O'Dell began his aviation career with Frontier Airlines in 1978 and later worked for Continental.
FAIRCHILD AEROSPACE named Joe Breeman senior vice president-customer support, responsible for the company's entire customer support organization worldwide. He most recently was vice president-engineering and fleet reliability for Northwest following a stint as the carrier's vice president-engineering, inspection and quality assurance. Before that he logged 20 years of engineering experience at Douglas Aircraft, where he was chief design engineer for the DC-9/MD80 family of aircraft.
DASSAULT Model Falcon 2000 series airplanes - adopts a new AD that requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to provide the flightcrew with procedures for monitoring and properly setting the fuel booster pump pressure and repetitive visual inspections of the fuel lines to detect fatigue cracking and fuel leakage. The AD also requires a one- time dye penetrant inspection of the fuel lines to detect cracking, replacement of any discrepant part with a new part and installation of new brackets between the pressure switch and fuel pump of the Nos.
Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing Co. ordered five Boeing 717 (formerly McDonnell Douglas MD-95) aircraft, the first orders for the 100- seat airplane since ValuJet, now AirTran, ordered 50 and took options on 50 more in October 1995. The Munich-based company will lease the airplanes when deliveries begin in late 1999 and into 2000.
VISIONAIRE CORP. will hold an open house for its new manufacturing facility in Ames, Iowa May 26. The 101,000-square-foot manufacturing facility and 15,000-square-foot test hangar will be used to assemble and test "the VisionAire Vantage, the world's first composite, single-engine business jet" for which the company said it has more than 100 orders.
TRACOR'S board of directors unanimously approved the tender offer by the North American Group of GEC-Marconi, which commenced at $40 per share for all the shares of Tracor, Inc. The subsidiary of General Electric Co. plc announced plans to acquire the Austin, Texas-based aerospace and defense contractor late last month.
India's sole private-sector aircraft maker, Taneja Aerospace and Aviation Ltd. (TAAL) signed a Memorandum-of-Understanding with the federally-run National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) to design and develop a 15-seater turboprop aircraft for civilian use. Budgeted at about 1.1- billion Indian rupees (US$31.5-million), the project would be financed by the Indian government's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and its Technology Development Board. The prototype is scheduled to be ready by late 1999.
FAA ADMINISTRATOR Jane Garvey will deliver the keynote address June 2 at the American Association of Airport Executives' 70th annual conference May 31-June 3 in Nashville, Tenn. Other speakers are House Transportation aviation subcommittee Chairman John Duncan (R-Tenn.), Continental Airlines Chairman Gordon Bethune and National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall. For more information, call (703) 824-0504.
RICHARD SMALLWOOD, director-business on the board of management for BMW Rolls-Royce GmbH, left the German engine manufacturer last month to return to Rolls-Royce, plc where he will be senior vice president-customer business Europe, South and Central American and Customer Business Director for British Airways. Smallwood's former responsibilities at BMW Rolls- Royce will be handled by Dr. Klaus Nittinger, chairman of the board of management.
ROBERT SMITH is the new director of commercial completions at Dassault Falcon Jet's completion center in Little Rock, Ark. Smith previously served as director of operations for American Eurocopter in Dallas, and prior to that was director of operations for MBB Helicopters, West Chester, Pa. Smith reports to H.M. (Mike) Strange, vice president of industrial operations.
Corporate Angel Network, which began arranging free flights in 1981 to get patients to cancer treatment centers, celebrated its 10,000th flight last month. The passenger selected for the 10,000th flight was Melissa Henne, 43, of Richmond, Va. Diagnosed with breast cancer six years ago after the birth of her second child, Henne has been commuting one day a week for more than a year from Richmond to the Northern New Jersey Cancer Center in Hackensack, N.J., where she is undergoing therapy with an experimental treatment.
Air New Zealand sold the light aircraft operations and the coach touring business of its Mount Cook Group Ltd. subsidiary to Tourism Holdings Ltd., a major tourism operator in New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. The aviation assets transferred in the sale include three Pilatus Porters and six Cessna 185s, all of which are outfitted with skis; two de Havilland Twin Otters; three Britten-Norman Islanders; two Nomads; one Cessna 207, and two helicopters, a Boelkow Bk117 and an Aerospatiale AS 350B.
The $1.5 billion Advanced Automation System program, which the Transportation Department Inspector General termed a "total loss," failed because of an overly ambitious plan and poor oversight by FAA, according to the IG's report on the procurement effort (BA, April 27/187).
The Federal Aviation Administration, which failed to achieve industry consensus when it attempted a major rewrite of flight and duty time regulations two and one-half years ago, plans to revisit the matter and concentrate on the nettlesome issue of reserve status, that is, when pilots are expected to be "on call" and ready to fly if summoned to duty.
CHRYSLER PENTASTAR AVIATION, Detroit, Mich., installed Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning Systems (EGPWS) in both Gulfstream IV and a Gulfstream IV-SP business jets. The company said it expected to receive supplemental type certification from FAA in April for G-IV and in June for the G-IV-SP. Don White, vice president of maintenance for Pentastar, said the company has installed 15 EGPWS systems with 10 more scheduled by the end of 1998.
ROBERT F. CLOSSIN was named director of interior engineering at Dassault Falcon Jet's (DFJ) completion center in Little Rock, Ark. Clossin has 15 years of structural, mechanical and interior engineering experience. He was chief of interior engineering at Learjet in Wichita, Kan., director of structural engineering with K-C Aviation, in Dallas, manager of structural engineering at Midcoast Aviation, St. Louis, and a structures engineer with Cessna Aircraft.
