Teledyne Continental Motors named two executives to senior level positions. Robert Jacklin was promoted to vice president and general manager and John Oakley joined the Mobile, Ala. company as director of manufacturing operations. Jacklin, formerly vice president of finance and materials, has served with TCM for four years and with its parent company, Teledyne, for 17. He also has held posts with Teledyne's Brown Engineering, Teledyne CAE and Teledyne Power Systems division.
CESSNA received an order from Singapore Airlines for five Cessna 172 Skyhawks. The aircraft, slated for delivery in April, will be used at the Singapore Flying College near Perth, Australia. Singapore Airlines founded the $2.5 million facility and training program in 1988 to train new pilots outside the restricted airspace over the Republic of Singapore. The program typically trains 660 students over 10 months through multi-engine instrument flight rule standards before the pilots return to Singapore for advanced training.
FLIGHT DYNAMICS' Head-Up Guidance System won Joint Aviation Authorities certification on the Dassault Falcon 2000 for Category IIIa approaches. The Portland, Ore. company said the Falcon 2000 is the first business jet to receive Category IIIa type certification.
DASSAULT Model Mystere Falcon 200 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-189-AD; Amdt. 39-10293; AD 98-03-01) - requires reducing the life limit of the polyurethane foam used in the fuselage fuel tanks. This amendment is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority. The actions specified by this AD are intended to ensure replacement of the polyurethane foam in the fuselage fuel tanks when it has reached its maximum life limit.
The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking comments by April 13 on a petition for rulemaking filed last year by several environmental advocacy and wildlife protection groups to add airports to the list of facilities required to report releases of toxic chemicals listed on the Toxic Release Inventory.
WORKERS ON STRIKE AT TEXTRON LYCOMING'S WILLIAMSPORT, PA. PLANT ARE NOW RETURNING TO WORK WORKERS who have been on strike for the past seven months at Textron Lycoming's Williamsport, Pa. plant are returning to work today, officials from the company confirmed.Nearly 375 production and maintenance United Auto Workers members struck Aug. 5 over what UAW members called unfair labor practices, including the use of "office workers" to assemble engines (BA, Oct. 6/147).
RICK DAVIS was named manager, advanced programs for SimuFlite Training International. Davis, who has 25 years of aviation experience and more than 6,000 hours of flight time, will be responsible for advanced training courses, including international procedures and crew resource management.
UNIVERSAL AVIONICS received supplemental type certification for installation of its UNS-1C flight management system with a UniLink air-to-ground two-way datalink system on the King Air 350. The UNS-1C systems, which use Universal's latest software version SCN 602.2, are interfaced with Collins five-tube EFIS-85B systems coupled with Collins FCS65 autopilots. The UniLink system provides several communications media including VHF, telephone and satcom.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL was named the official training organization for the Galaxy business jet. FlightSafety's Simulation Systems Division in Tulsa, Okla. is designing and building a full flight Galaxy simulator that will meet FAA Level D standards. The simulator will be based in the Dallas/Fort Worth area near Galaxy Aerospace headquarters at Alliance Airport, Fort Worth.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) attacked revenue provisions in the Clinton administration's fiscal 1999 budget proposal, faulting the President's plan for a series of tax hikes, including those affecting "millions of airline passengers." In opening remarks at his committee's hearing on the budget last week, Archer described $6 billion in new user fees as an "old-fashioned tax hike...and I oppose it." Archer's comments were part of an overall attack on the Clinton budget, supported by a Joint Committee on Taxation analysis released Wednesday
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.
