VISIONAIRE CORPORATION named Kurt Johnson executive vice president. Johnson, most recently vice president, engineering for BF Goodrich Aerospace, has 35 years of aerospace and high-technology manufacturing experience. He spent 27 years with McDonnnell Douglas Corporation in various technical and management positions and also served as group vice president, engineering for Farrell Corporation.
ALLIEDSIGNAL Model TPE331 series turboprop engines (Docket No. 97-ANE-47-AD) - proposes to require removal of suspect fuel manifold assemblies and replacement with serviceable assemblies. This proposal is prompted by an FAA investigation into Hoses Unlimited's repairs of TPE331 fuel manifolds that were not approved by FAA. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent fuel leakage at the fuel manifold fittings, resulting in fuel spraying on hot turbine components, which could result in an engine fire.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, interested in developing a government/industry partnership on the Local Area Augmentation System, will hold a briefing on the issue April 3. The agency said it will try at the briefing to explain its LAAS development method and the subsequent acquisition program. The first stage will involve the development and certification of the system and meeting all requirements through Category 1 operations. Second stage is development and certification, including Cat 3.
MICHAEL O'BRIEN was named account executive for SimuFlite Training International's QuickTurn division. O'Brien has served as a sales representative for SimuFlite since 1995 and previously was an executive branch manager for Transamerica Financial Services.
TEXTRON named company executive James Koerner to replace David Assard as president of Textron Lycoming. Assard left the company earlier this year to join an industrial turbine engine company in Pittsburgh. Assard moved to head Lycoming in spring of 1997 after serving as president of Cessna.
JET AVIATION is expanding its facilities in West Palm Beach, Fla. with the addition of three 27,000-square-foot hangars to accommodate new and existing tenant aircraft. The new hangars, which will be large enough to accommodate either the Global Express or Gulfstream V, will increase Jet Aviation's total hangar and workshop space to more than 150,000 square feet. Other plans at West Palm Beach involve remodeling the cabinet and upholstery shop, redesigning the avionics shop and adding an administrative building with a conference tower.
CESSNA last month held grand-opening ceremonies for its newest Citation Service Center at Le Bourget Airport near Paris. Cessna acquired the center in June and recently completed renovations. The facility can provide inspection, maintenance and service requirements for the Citation fleet.
DUNCAN AVIATION installed a Collins six-channel satellite communications system in a Falcon 2000, becoming the first independent facility in the U.S. to perform such an installation. Duncan also removed two flight management systems and installed Honeywell NZ-2000s with Global Positioning System approach capability on the Falcon 2000.
AERMACCHI S.205 Series and Models S.208 and S.208A airplanes (Docket No. 97-CE-144-AD) - proposes to require inspecting all flight control cables (elevator control, aileron control, rudder, flaps, nose gear steering, parking brake, safety belts and autopilot systems) for cracks in the eye end, and replacement of any control cable with any crack in the eye end. This proposal is prompted by mandatory continuing airworthiness information issued by the airworthiness authority for Italy.
APPEALS COURT RULED THAT THE CITY OF NEW YORK MAY NOT RESTRICT ROUTES OF SIGHTSEEING FLIGHTS THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT ruled that the City of New York may not restrict routes of sightseeing flights because such restrictions preempt the federal government's control over airspace. The court noted that the city claimed the invasive nature of helicopter noise justifies sightseeing route restrictions. "This argument, as the trial court recognized, evidences a misunderstanding of federal aviation law," the court said in its decision.
Federal Aviation Administration should not give pilots greater control over their routes until it can demonstrate the safety of the "Free Flight" plan and resolve potential conflicts between pilots, airline operations personnel and air traffic controllers, according to a panel of the National Research Council. FAA and industry are working on ways to use new technology, such as Global Positioning System navigation and data link, to implement Free Flight to reduce flight time and emissions and improve fuel economy.
PATS said its rotary engine power unit has begun endurance testing as part of the final development stages. The rotary-engine auxiliary power unit installation weighs 20 percent less and costs about one-third to one-half as much as an equivalent turbine-powered unit, PATS said. The unit runs on a variety of fuels, including diesel and kerosene, along with jet fuels.
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-1A11 and CL-600-2A12 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-256-AD; Amdt. 39-10294; AD 98-03-02) - requires replacement of the anti-noise filter on the standby and auxiliary power unit fuel pump assemblies. This amendment is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
AIRWORK has undertaken expansion initiatives for the first half of 1998, including a new satellite shop, a larger site for its Wichita shop and completion of the final stage of a $7 million Rolls-Royce Tay engine program. Airwork is doubling the size of its base in Wichita by moving to a larger facility currently under renovation. The renovation is expected to be completed within the next few months.
David Smukowski, a veteran of nearly two decades with The Boeing Company, was named president of FlightSafety Boeing Training International, the joint venture between the simulator training provider and the aircraft manufacturer that provides airline pilot and maintenance technician training.
Engine makers AlliedSignal and Allison both anticipate continued growth in the civil helicopter market, but AlliedSignal's five-year outlook is more bullish than the 10-year view provided by Allison, both of which were unveiled at last week's 50th anniversary Helicopter Association International convention in Anaheim, Calif.
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT named Larry Jorash general manager of its Hartford, Conn. base. Jorash, who has 12 years of fixed-base operation experience, formerly was general manager for the Smyrna Air Center near Nashville, Tenn. He also has served as turbine aircraft maintenance manager for Priester Aviation in Wheeling, Ill. Jorash will report to Brent Russell, Signature's Northeast area manager.
Ametek Inc., named G. Richard Patterson vice president and general manager of its Aerospace Division, effective immediately. Patterson had been divisional vice president-marketing and had been acting general manager since June 1997. He will continue to report to Robert W. Chlebek, president of Ametek's Electronic Instrument Group.
SHARYL STEIN joined Elliott Aviation as marketing administrator. Stein formerly served with a Dallas-based consumer advertising agency, most recently as manager of advertising services.
GE Capital Services, which began negotiations last year to buy SimuFlite Training International, completed the acquisition Feb. 13 and officials are now concentrating on assimilating employees of the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas-based simulator training company into GE.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL provided its maintenance training software, "The Principles of Troubleshooting," to Mesaba Airlines. Mesaba technicians will use the interactive troubleshooting program for initial and recurrent training at the Northwest Airlink carrier's bases in Detroit and Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minn.
At the request of FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, RTCA, the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit technical group, is forming a task force to address concerns about the FAA certification process as the agency focuses on modernizing the national airspace system.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT delivered a fourth Grand Caravan to Tropic Air of San Pedro, Belize. Tropic Air, the first airline in Central America to provide Caravan service, accepted its first Grand Caravan in 1991 as part of a Twin Otter fleet replacement program. The airline, which began in 1979 as a charter company with a Cessna 172, makes 80 departures daily to cities in Belize as well as 14 flights to Guatemala.
CLAY FOX joined King Aerospace as cabinetry department lead technician. Fox previously was a cabinet builder and parts manufacturer approval coordinator for HeliDyne Systems in Hurst, Texas.
