EMBRAER Model EMB-145 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-221-AD; Amdt. 39-10124; AD 97-19-04) - requires repetitive visual inspections to detect cracks in the firewall of the auxiliary power unit and repair, if necessary. This AD also requires installation of a visco-elastic damper blanket on the firewall, which constitutes terminating action for the repetitive inspection requirements. This amendment is prompted by reports indicating that cracks were found in the firewall of the APU due to vibration of the fire-wall.
DeCrane Aircraft Holdings and the Collins Division of Rockwell reached separate agreements last week to acquire major players in the in-flight entertainment market. DeCrane said Monday it signed a definitive agreement to purchase Audio International, Inc., described as "the nation's largest and leading independent provider of premium, customized aircraft entertainment and cabin management products and systems for the high-end corporate jet market."
H. JAY SETTER, 75, former director of the Mid-Continent Airport Authority in Wichita, Kan., died Oct. 31. During his tenure at the Wichita airport, Setter also served a term as president of the Airport Operators Council International. He retired from the airport post in 1984.
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended that FAA require inspections of all Textron Lycoming IO-320-B1A engines that use a particular propeller mounting flange after the aircraft in which they are installed perform certain high-stress maneuvers. The board's action stems from its continuing investigation of the fatal crash of a Lancair 320 near Fond du Lac, Wis., on Aug. 8, 1996. The board said the propeller separated from the aircraft and the aircraft went into a flat spin from which the commercially rated pilot could not recover.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION rescheduled its Air Charter Leadership Conference from early December to Jan. 22-23 at Marriott's Sawgrass Resort in Ponte Vedra, Fla. The leadership conference will provide a forum for senior managers of Part 135 air taxi and aircraft management companies to look at the future of the business over the next 10 years with speakers on marketing, finance, human resources, maintenance and government regulation. For more information, contact NATA at (703) 845- 9000.
WAYNE GRANT was named C-21A program manager for SimuFlite Training International. Grant, previously a coordinator of the program, is responsible for all C-21A training operations. He is a 30-year aviation professional with nearly 5,000 hours total flight time.
CLINT SMART was promoted to software development manager for Miller Information Technologies. Smart joined Miller Aviation as a service writer and moved into the Information Technologies division in 1994 as a junior programmer.
Louis R. Comeau, a former power company executive, and John W. Crichton, who heads the Air Transport Association of Canada, were named chairman and president/chief executive officer, respectively, of Nav Canada, that country's provider of civil air navigation services.
NEW PIPER AIRCRAFT, which has seen production increase each year since the company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (BA, Aug. 7, 1995/55), expects that trend to continue with nearly a 25 percent jump in production next year. Piper is on target for 217 airplanes this year and has plans to build 265 in 1998. Employment, at one point down to about 40, also has swelled to 800, a number that should accommodate next year's goal of 265 airplanes, said Larry Bardon, director of marketing and sales.
STEVE LOFGREN, former National Air Transportation Association staffer who recently joined Sporty's Catalogs as vice president of government and industry affairs, is moving to Signature Flight Support in Orlando, Fla. as manager of communications (BA, July 14/20).
The House aviation and national parks and public lands subcommittees have scheduled a joint hearing next week in St. George, Utah to consider issues involving air tours over national parkland. The hearing, to be held at 10 a.m. Nov. 17 in the Gardiner Center Ballroom at Dixie College in St. George, will be used to gather recommendations on a national policy to govern air tours, a subcommittee aide said.
GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION named Walter Desrosier manager- maintenance and engineering. Desrosier spent the past two years as a presidential fellow at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University while he worked toward a master's of business administration degree in aviation. Previously, he served as a powerplant mechanic and laboratory instructor with the university and has served with Tradewinds International Airlines and Airfreight Services, Inc.
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-2B19 (Regional Jet Series 100) airplanes (Docket No. 96-NM-271-AD; Amdt. 39-10120; AD 97-18-10) - requires a one- time inspection of the direct current power distribution system for reliability, and correction or repair of fuse holders and associated electrical wiring, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by a report indicating that a loose fuse holder caused the DC power distribution system to short circuit on one of the affected airplanes, which resulted in a burnt wire between circuit breaker panel CBP-2 and junction box JB7.
EXECUTIVE JET SERVICES, INC. renewed its contract with Air Routing International and Air Security International for worldwide flight support, weather and security services for domestic and international flights. The one-year contract calls for Air Routing to provide flight planning, overflight and landing permits, ground handling and weather services to Executive Jet's NetJets program. Air Security will provide transportation, security briefings, aircraft security and executive protection for Executive Jet's crews.
GENERAL ELECTRIC named Frank Klaus general manager of the Small Commercial Turbofan Department at GE Aircraft Engines in Lynn, Mass. Klaus replaces Lloyd Thompson, who has been promoted to general manager of gas turbines at GE affiliate Nuovo Pignone in Florence, Italy. Klaus served as CF34 growth program manager since the program's inception in 1994 and prior to that was a director in GEAE's military marketing division where he managed programs in Turkey and Israel.
AAR ALLEN GROUP INTERNATIONAL - The Netherlands received a contract from Boeing Commercial Airplane Group to support Boeing aircraft. AAR will warehouse airframe parts for B737-700 aircraft, provide limited inspection and repair services and provide a spares exchange service.
FOKKER Model F28 Mark 0070 and Mark 0100 series engines (Docket No. 97-NM-245-AD) - proposes to require replacement of the operating handles of the overwing emergency exits with improved handles that illuminate. 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 ensure that the operating handles of the overwing emergency exists are clearly visible during an emergency evacuation.
PARK OVERFLIGHTS also have gained the attention of House legislators with the aviation and national parks and public lands subcommittees holding a joint hearing next week to explore possibilities for a national parks overflights policy. See article below.
GERHARD NEUMANN, 80, a jet-engine pioneer and General Electric veteran, died Nov. 2 of complications from leukemia. Before retiring as head of GE Aircraft Engines in 1979, Neumann amassed eight patents and is widely credited with being the father of the highly successful CFM International partnership between GE and France's SNECMA.
NORTHROP GRUMMAN CORP. was selected by Mexico's civil aviation authority (SENEAM) for the first phase of a multi-year air traffic control modernization program. Northrop Grumman did not disclose terms of the contract, which calls for a new surveillance radar system, the ASR-12, mounted with a long-range monopulse secondary surveillance radar (MSSR) for approach and terminal operations at Guadalajara International Airport.
Ogden Corporation's Aviation Group income more than doubled in the first nine months even though revenues declined because of gains from the sale of some operations, the company reported. The Aviation Group had income of $10.2 million on revenues of $94 million for the third quarter, compared with income of $12.8 million on sales of $114.8 million for the same period a year ago. The income for the third quarter included a one- time gain on the sale of the company's JFK Airport ground services operations.
FAIRCHILD DORNIER will roll out the new 328JET Dec. 6 at Oberpfaffenhofen, near Munich, with first flight scheduled for Jan. 20. Shipment of the first two Pratt&Whitney Canada PW306B turbofans is set for mid-month with installation planned before the end of the month on S/N3002, the second 328 turboprop built. Four test aircraft will participate in the flight-test program, which is expected to culminate with certification and first delivery in March 1999. The orderbook stands at 10 firm and five operations, with Aspen Mountain Air down for four and four.
ADVANCED AERODYNAMICS&STRUCTURES, INC. broke ground Tuesday on its 200,000-square-foot aircraft factory in Long Beach, Calif., where it plans to build the Jetcruzer 500, a single turboprop, six-place personal aircraft priced at $1.3 million. AASI said it had orders for 70 of the aircraft by late October, a backlog valued at $85 million.
GARRETT AVIATION in Springfield, Ill. won a supplemental type certificate to install a BFGoodrich GH-3000 Electronic Standby Instrument System in Dassault Falcon 50 aircraft. The GH-3000, first installed in a Gulfstream IV by The Jet Center in Van Nuys, Calif., is designed to provide the functions of electro-mechanical standby attitude, airspeed and altitude instruments in one 3ATI-size display.
