GE Engine Services, which recently acquired several engine overhaul businesses including Garrett Aviation Services (GAS) (BA, Sept. 8/101), has named GE veteran Ron Frederick to head the Garrett operation.
SHORT BROTHERS Model SD-3-30 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-220- AD; Amdt. 39-10164; AD 97-21-11) - requires a one-time inspection to measure the depth of the skin flutes of the skin panels of the rudder and elevators and repair, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by reports indicating that, due to a manufacturing process error, the depth of certain skin flutes of the rudder and elevators is less than the design specification.
ROBINSON Model 44 helicopters (Docket No. 97-SW-01-AD) - proposes to require removing and replacing the cyclic control pilot's grip assembly with an airworthy grip assembly. This proposal is prompted by a report of a crack in the welded corner of a grip assembly. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent use of a grip assembly that may crack resulting in failure of the grip assembly and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter. Comments on the proposal must be sent in triplicate before Dec.
TRIUMPH GROUP, INC., Wayne, Pa., commenced a public offering Thursday of just over two million shares of its common stock at $33 per share. Net proceeds, expected to be approximately $62.3 million, will be used to repay indebtedness.
THE FIRST Cessna Citation Excel to be completed on the final assembly line rolled out Friday in Wichita and officials said the program remains on target to win FAA certification in January. Two Excel prototypes engaged in certification flight testing were built using production tooling, but the aircraft featured in ceremonies Friday was the first to move through each step of the final assembly line.
Northwest Airline operator Mesaba Airlines converted options to firm orders for 19 new Saab 340B Plus and three pre-owned 340A regional turboprops. Mesaba in March 1996 originally ordered 30 340B Plus aircraft and 20 used 340As with options for 10 more 340B Plus and 12 used 340A aircraft. This latest order changes the options mix to mostly new aircraft with only three of the 340As.
Air traffic controllers in India, who began a go-slow protest Nov. 1, threatened to add periodic work stoppages if their demands for higher wages are not met. The slowdown has caused flight delays of up to three hours, and the controllers' proposed "direct action" would stop work totally for four one-hour periods per day. "We plan to switch off the radar systems during those times," a spokesman for the Indian Air Traffic Controllers Guild said, observing that busy airports like Mumbai and Delhi handle as many as 50 aircraft movements per hour at peak times.
RAYTHEON Model DH.125-400A; BH.125-400A and -600A; HS.125-600A and -700A; BAe 125-800A and Hawker 800 and 800XP series airplanes, including military variants (Docket No. 96-NM-274-AD; Amdt. 39-10158; AD 97-21-05) - requires a one-time inspection to determine if certain high-pressure oxygen hose assemblies are installed, and, if installed, replacement with new, improved hose assemblies.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT SERVICES in Chester, England won a long-term maintenance contract from Cassovia Air of the Slovak Republic. The contract covers maintenance for Cassovia Air's Hawker 800XP over the next four years. The aircraft, based in Kosice, originally was expected to accumulate nearly 300 flight hours annually, but has surpassed that in its first five months of service, Raytheon officials noted. Cassovia Air operates the Hawker for its parent company VSZ, a major steel company. Cassovia Air also operates a Beech King Air.
NORTHSTAR AVIONICS said its M3 GPS Approach 12-channel receiver was included on the recommended equipment list for American Champion aircraft. Northstar, based in Acton, Mass., is a subsidiary of Canadian Marconi Company Electronics, which designs, manufactures and sells electronics and avionics.
GENERAL ELECTRIC CT58 series turboshaft engines (Docket No. 97-ANE-18- AD; Amdt. 39-10161; AD 97-21-08) - requires removal from service of certain Stage 1 and 2 forward cooling plates and Stage 2 aft cooling plates, and replacement with serviceable parts. This amendment is prompted by reports of certain cooling plates forged with contaminated alloy that could reduce the lives of the parts. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent cooling plate fracture, which could result in a contained engine failure and an inflight engine shutdown.
NATIONAL AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLERS ASSOCIATION expanded its bargaining unit by approximately 10 percent when FAA engineers voted to join the union. NATCA said more than 55 percent of the 1,150 engineers eligible voted and 498 of the 639 votes counted were cast in favor of representation by NATCA.
Banner Aerospace this month reported net income of $2.4 million for the second quarter of fiscal 1998, a 41 percent increase over the $1.7 million in net income in the same period in fiscal 1997. Sales for the second quarter ended Sept. 30, 1997 grew to $123 million, up from the $84 million in the same period a year earlier. For the six months ended Sept. 30, 1997, Banner said net income rose to $5.6 million, or 24 cents per share, compared with $3 million, or 13 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.
LOCKHEED Model 382 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-08-AD; Amdt. 39- 10155; AD 97-21-13) - requires revising the airplane flight manual to prohibit the positioning of the power levers below the flight idle stop. This amendment is prompted by incidents and accidents involving airplanes equipped with turboprop engines in which the propeller beta was used improperly during flight.
ORGANIZERS of GA Team 2000, the industry-wide learn-to-fly promotional program, are encouraged by the continuing rise in the number of student pilots beginning training. Student starts were up 7.9 percent through September, compared with the same period in 1996. The nine-month increase contrasts with declines of 7.4 percent and 6.7 percent, respectively, in 1996 and 1995.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION issued Advisory Circular 27-1A, Certification of Normal Category Rotorcraft, containing a number of revisions since the circular was originally published in 1985. The new material is part of an effort to provide national standardization for rotorcraft certification and has been harmonized with the Joint Aviation Authority, FAA said. Copies can be ordered for $57 from the Superintendent of Documents, Mail Stop: SSOP, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE'S long-range Gulfstream V completed a nonstop flight between Washington, D.C. and Dubai. The G-V completed the 6,330-nautical- mile flight in 12 hours, 40 minutes, 48 seconds, departing Dulles International Airport at 4:30 p.m. local time Nov. 12 and arriving at Dubai International Airport at 2:11 p.m. local time Nov. 13. The aircraft, which carried 41,000 pounds of fuel, seven passengers and a crew of four, cruised at Mach .83 and reached altitudes of 49,000 feet. Gulfstream said the flight was the first nonstop between Washington and Dubai.
BOEING held a ribbon-cutting and site dedication ceremony Nov. 13 for its facility at Williams Gateway Airport in Mesa, Ariz. where the company is working on a $45.6 million U.S. Air Force contract to install a comprehensive avionics package in the service's 500 T-38 trainers. The T- 38 entered service in 1961 and the upgrade will replace original avionics with state-of-the-art digital technology.
LITTON INDUSTRIES Aero Products Division was selected to provide its LTN- 101 Flagship Inertial Reference System for the 70-seat Canadair Series 700 Regional Jet. Litton already provides the LTN-101 for the 50-passenger CRJ airliner and the Challenger 604 business jet.
THE U.S. NAVY is looking at the feasibility of eliminating the MH-53 mine- sweeping helicopter from its inventory and replacing it with a version of the H-60. The MH-53E is the only Navy system that can perform the entire mine hunting mission, according to Capt. Frank Pagano, a Navy requirements officer, but he said it is "very expensive to operate." Naval Air Systems Command is "looking at future technologies and is asking the question: 'Can we go to an H-60 platform?'"
PRELIMINARY PLANS indicate the U.S. will support an incremental expansion of the area over the North Atlantic where reduced vertical separation minimum (RVSM) standards apply. The U.S. will take its position to the international North Atlantic Implementation Managers Group meeting Dec. 1- 5, when international experts will decide how to expand RVSM airspace, currently limited to altitudes between FL330 and FL370. The preliminary U.S. proposal calls for a drop in the floor to FL310 on April 28 and an increase in the ceiling to FL390 on Dec. 3, 1998.
AVIATION SCHOLARSHIPS, Your #1 Guide to Financial Assistance for College and Flight Training, a compilation of scholarship information written by Southern Illinois University instructor Sedgwick Hines, recently was published by First Time Publishing. The 140-page guide provides information on a number of aviation scholarships ranging from administration and maintenance to flight training. The guide is expected to be available in bookstores or can be ordered for $24.95 from First Time Publishing, 8526 Drexel Ave., Suite 3E, Chicago, Ill.
Bombardier Aerospace received the largest business jet order in its history from long-time customer TAG Aeronautics, a 10-aircraft deal valued at $250 million (U.S.). Bombardier said TAG placed firm orders for five Global Express and five Challenger 604 aircraft, boosting total orders for the Global Express to more than 70 aircraft. First Global Express deliveries to TAG will begin in late 1999, while the Challenger deliveries are scheduled to start in late 1998.
TEXTRON LYCOMING is offering classes for the Textron Lycoming Piston Engine Service School twice a month at Pennsylvania College of Technology's airport facility in Williamsport, Pa. The service school, geared toward Lycoming engine owners, operators, A&P mechanics, instructors and students, is designed as a refresher course on Lycoming's piston engines. The course covers avionics, engine maintenance and construction, theory of operation, service, inspection and troubleshooting of related components.
The Teal Group predicts a robust market for business jet aircraft over the next 10 years, forecasting delivery of 3,789 aircraft valued at $45.9 billion, including the industry's first $5 billion year in 1997. Noting that the industry spent the late 1980s and early 1990s "in the doldrums," the Teal Group said "the bizjet market has begun a healthy growth spurt," growing from 315 business jet deliveries valued at $3.02 billion in 1994 to 337 jets worth $3.28 billion in 1995 and 352 deliveries valued at $3.61 billion in 1996.
