Airlines will install enhanced ground proximity warning systems voluntarily on a majority of commercial aircraft in the U.S. in a program to reduce controlled flight into terrain, one of the biggest causes of fatal aviation accidents, airline and top government safety officials said last month. The program will start six months to a year "sooner than if the government had acted alone" in requiring the equipment, as recommended by the National Civil Aviation Review Commission (NCARC), Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater told a news conference in Washington.
National Civil Aviation Review Commission, which this month issued its final report Avoiding Aviation Gridlock&Reducing the Accident Rate (BA, Dec. 15/252), called the current accident rate unacceptable and outlined several strategies for reducing that rate. The safety section of the report, which had not been published until last month, echoes many of the themes FAA Administrator Jane Garvey has pursued in recent speeches including a need to prioritize a safety agenda and strengthen government/industry partnerships on safety (BA, Nov. 3/187).
STEAD AVIATION CORP., Manchester, N.H., installed a dual Universal Avionics UNS-1K FMS GPS in a Falcon 50 with a supplemental type certificate pending. Stead also received FAA field approvals for recently completed installations of a BFGoodrich Skywatch traffic advisory system and a Stormscope WX-1000 in a Hawker 125.
MIKE MURRELL, a veteran aviation public affairs and publishing executive, joined Lakewood Publications in Minneapolis, Minn., as vice president and publisher of Potentials in Marketing magazine. The 50,000 circulation trade magazine serves the $23 billion sales promotion and incentive marketing industry. Murrell, who most recently had been a partner and director of integrated marketing with Miller Meester Advertising in Minneapolis, previously served as publisher of FBO magazine and negotiated the purchase of Airport Services magazine from Lakewood in 1993.
CESSNA Models 208, 208A, 208B, 425 and 441 airplanes (Docket No. 97- CE-19-AD; Amdt. 39-10227; AD 97-25-04) - requires amending the limitations section of the airplane flight manual to prohibit the positioning of the power levers below the flight idle stop while the airplane is in flight.
SABRELINER appointed William Bracas group vice president-commercial aviation. Bracas, a 26-year aviation veteran, will have overall responsibility for Sabreliner subsidiaries Dimension Aviation and SabreTech. He has held senior positions with Dassault Falcon Jet in Little Rock, Ark., Gates Learjet and Martin Marietta Baltimore Aerospace. In a related move, Sabreliner appointed Thomas Derieg president of SabreTech, where he will be responsible for the commercial aviation maintenance and modification subsidiary at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix, Ariz.
AEROSPATIALE Model ATR 72 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-280-AD) - proposes to require removal of certain landing gear attachment pins and replacement of the pins with serviceable pins. 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 in the attachment pins, which could result in collapse of the main landing gear. Comments on the proposal must be sent in triplicate before Jan.
TRACY LYKINS was appointed managing editor of Avionics News, the Aircraft Electronics Association's monthly publication. Lykins will oversee daily activities of the magazine, including editing articles, corresponding with writers, profiling members in the magazine and planning the editorial calendar. She also will serve as Education Foundation coordinator for the association.
SMITHS INDUSTRIES AEROSPACE said crash-survivable solid-state recorder systems it is producing for the U.S. Army are being installed on a number of helicopter models, including the AH-64 Apache, the UH-60 Black Hawk, OH- 58 Kiowa Warrior and CH-47 Chinook.
AVIATION PARTNERS, INC. (API), Seattle, Wash., appointed Jet Aviation of West Palm Beach, Fla. to sell and install its Performance Enhancement System on Gulfstream II aircraft. Principal feature of the PES is winglets, which increases the range of G-IIs.
ANTHONY N. PALLADINO, an attorney and specialist in federal contract law, was named head of FAA's Office of Dispute Resolution, which was established last year as part of FAA's new acquisition management system. The agency said the office has "broad discretion to resolve protests and contract disputes." Palladino had been a partner in the law firm of Smith, Pachter, McWhorter and D'Ambrosio since 1988.
THE CITY OF SAN JOSE, CALIF. selected HNTB Aviation and Parsons Brinkerhoff Construction Services as the engineering design and program management team for its airfield expansion program at San Jose International Airport. The expansion program calls for extending Runway 30R from 4,400 feet to 11,000 feet. Design is scheduled to begin in early 1998.
SIMUFLITE TRAINING INTERNATIONAL named John L. Geitz manager of the company's Hawker training program, reporting to Eugene Haggerty, vice president of training services. Geitz joined SimuFlite as a Hawker instructor pilot in January 1997. He is a 30-year aviation industry veteran who has logged more than 6,500 flight hours and who served as an FAA principal operations inspector during the 1970s.
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FLIGHT INSTRUCTORS said Greg Brown, a pilot, flight instructor and aviation writer from Fountain Hills, Ariz., was designated as the first "Master CFI" under a new industry accreditation program created by NAFI. The Master CFI program, unveiled at the 1997 Experimental Aircraft Association convention in Oshkosh, Wis., is designed to permit top instructors to enhance their abilities as both pilots and educators by rewarding continuous professional development and involvement in the aviation community.
SIKORSKY reconfigured an S-76C+ helicopter to provide emergency air services for AirEvac of Tulsa, which serves eastern Oklahoma. Sikorsky said the helicopter is the first C+ variant to join the fleet of S-76s used for emergency medical services.
FLIGHTSAFETY SIMULATION is building a fourth full flight simulator for the Beech 1900D regional turboprop to be delivered to FlightSafety International in the last quarter of 1998. The simulator will meet Level D standards, including a panorama-style display with the VITAL MultiView projection system. FlightSafety provides Beech 1900D simulator training at its learning centers in Wichita, Kan., LaGuardia Airport, New York, and Daytona Beach, Fla.
MAG Aerospace Industries, a Compton, Calif. company that manufactures toilets and trash compactors for the aviation market, will be sold to a French firm under an agreement announced by Castle Harlan, Inc., the New York merchant bank that currently owns MAG. Castle Harlan bought MAG in December 1993 and said it is selling the company to Zodiac S.A., a French aeronautical and marine equipment company in a transaction valued at $180 million.
GRUMMAN Model TS-2A series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-75-AD) - proposes to require revising the airplane flight manual to prohibit the positioning of the power levels below the flight idle stop during flight and to include a statement of the consequences of such action. This proposal is prompted by incidents and accidents involving turboprop airplanes in which the ground propeller beta range was used improperly during flight.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION last week determined that the minimum percentage rate for random drug testing of aviation employees in safety- sensitive positions should remain at 25 percent for 1998, but that the random alcohol testing rate should drop to 10 percent. FAA has the option of raising or lowering the random testing rates based on the percentage of positive test results for random drug testing and the violation rate for alcohol testing over two consecutive years for covered employees involved in transportation for hire.
FORTUNE magazine named Southwest Airlines the best company to work for in the U.S. Southwest Chief Executive Herb Kelleher called the announcement "a tribute to the 25,000-plus employees of Southwest, who have made our work environment one which is admired in corporate America." The carrier was named one of the top companies for job security, one of the 10 best for opportunities and a place where fun is a way of life.
Dow-United Technologies (Dow-UT) Composite Products Inc., Wallingford, Conn., has developed and patented a process that enables the manufacture of complex composite aerospace components. The firm said the new process increases the quality of composite aerospace components at the point where two or more sections are molded together.
LINDA FOX joined Unison Industries as senior mechanical engineer for the ignition exciter design team. Fox, who has 10 years of aviation industry experience, previously served in various design and engineering positions for Champion Aviation Products, including designer, associate engineer, design engineer and engineering group leader.
GALAXY AEROSPACE achieved its goal of flying the new Galaxy midsize business jet by yearend and ushered in 1998 with another flight on New Year's Eve. See article below.
PATS, INC. executives are enthusiastic about the success of efforts by state, county and local officials to recruit and train workers for the company's new fuel tank assembly operation in Georgetown, Del. (BA, Sept. 22/121). PATS now has 23 employees in Georgetown, including the first 11 graduates of the training program designed by PATS and Sussex County to equip workers with the necessary production skills. Another class of 10 graduates is scheduled to join the work force this month, with a similar number to be added in February.
