Northwest Airlines said it expects to sign contracts with seven National Basketball Association teams and one National Hockey League team to carry professional athletes to their away games, starting in October. The contracts are all seven years in duration. The airline will transform five of its 149-seat 727s into luxury charter jets with 56 first-class- style seats. The airplanes will have leather seats, card tables with swivel chairs, a couch and a dual video system for movies and game films.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION is in the midst of a membership boom. NBAA, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month, welcomed its 3,000th member in 1988 and then waited eight years to reach the 4,000 mark in mid-1996 (BA, July 15, 1996/25). Since then, however, the growth rate has soared. NBAA membership was at the 4,900 mark at the end of August and officials expect to achieve 5,000 members around the time of this month's annual convention in Dallas.
ROBERT CRANDALL, chairman of AMR Corp., and Jane Garvey, the new FAA Administrator, will be the keynote speakers at the opening session of NBAA's convention in Dallas, Texas this month. In addition to American Airlines, AMR Corp. owns the AMR Combs fixed-base operations and is a major player in business jet charters and fractional ownership programs through its Alliance charter operation and Business JetSolutions joint venture with Bombardier.
THE PILOT RECORD SHARING ACT continues to be a major irritant to carriers and air taxi operators. Although the requirements were implemented seven months ago, an RAA official noted that the association continues to receive a couple of calls a day with questions, concerns, or complaints about the act. Air carriers still experience months of delays in receiving records from both FAA and other carriers.
CITY OF CHICAGO is working with FAA to develop procedures for aircraft to make instrument approaches to Merrill C. Meigs Field though use of the Global Positioning System. The city said last week that publication of an instrument approach procedure using GPS will take between six and nine months.
Scandinavian Airlines System's SAS Commuter confirmed Wednesday it has placed orders for 15 de Havilland Dash 8Q-400 aircraft plus 18 options. The aircraft will be delivered between July 1999 and December 2000. Value of the order was placed at $350 million. Initially, the aircraft will be configured for 72 passengers and will serve the carrier's European destinations from Copenhagen. Later aircraft will be configured for 76 passengers and will operate in the domestic and international Swedish operation from Stockholm, joining at least six Saab 2000 47-seaters.
The U.S. Navy is soliciting proposals for propulsion technologies to significantly increase the performance and affordability of various aircraft and other air vehicles. "Specifically needed," the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command said in an Aug.
MATRIX AVIATION, a unit of Banner Aerospace, received ASA-100 Quality System Standard accreditation in accordance with Advisory Circular 00-56, the Voluntary Industry Distributor Accreditation Program. Matrix Aviation, based in Wichita, Kan., supplies rotable aircraft parts, radar equipment, radios, instruments and other avionics to corporate and commuter operators.
FLYTE COMM OF FLORIDA released its line of real-time flight tracking systems for Windows 95 and Windows NT. The line, including Flyte Trax, Net Trax and Win Trax, allows corporate, charter and airline operators to track the location of their aircraft flying under instrument flight rules worldwide. The programs also allow fixed-base operators to track all inbound aircraft at a particular airport. For more information, contact Flyte Comm at (954) 730-7086.
DUNCAN AVIATION'S Dallas avionics shop added a mobile installations unit that will service Love Field, McKinney Airport, Ft. Worth and other surrounding areas in Texas. The unit is equipped to handle most avionics system installations, including digital telephones, upgrades for reduced vertical separation minimums, traffic alert and collision avoidance systems, and flight management systems. Duncan established its Dallas shop in 1989 and has five technicians working there.
FAA awarded Harris Corp. a contract valued at up to $120 million to replace the current system under which flight service stations provide pilots with information, including emergency assistance and weather briefings. Harris will replace existing flight service automation equipment with a new system, the Operational and Supportability Implementation System (OASIS), one of the first programs to be acquired completely within the guidelines of the agency's new Acquisition Management System.
Model G-159 (G-I) airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-19-AD; Amdt. 39-10069; AD 97-14-13) - supersedes AD 67-17-05, which requires repetitive inspections for chafe wear on the upper diagonal engine mount tube, and replacement or repair, if necessary. This amendment requires the installation of chafe guards at the engine mounts, which terminates the required inspections. It also requires that the chafe guards be repetitively inspected for wear. This amendment is prompted by the development of a modification that will provide better protection against future chafe wear.
JACK SWENSEN joined Western Aircraft as a lead avionics installation technician. Swensen has 15 years of avionics electronic repair and troubleshooting experience, previously serving as service manager at Avtronix Technologies, Inc.
BOOZ ALLEN&HAMILTON will host a Users Conference Sept. 8-9 on Loran-C at its headquarters in McLean, Va. as part of the firm's study of the technical merits of extending the Loran-C navigation system beyond 2000. The Department of Transportation retained the consulting firm to assist in the congressionally mandated review of its decision to decommission the Loran-C navigation system in 2000. Booz Allen also is accepting written comments until about Dec. 15 on the issue.
International Aviation Composites purchased two acres in the Alliance development park near Alliance Airport in Ft. Worth, Texas for a new corporate headquarters and a facility to provide maintenance and repair services on aircraft composite components and helicopter rotor blades. Construction was to begin late last month, with completion set for February. The company supplies leading-edge abrasion strip replacement, composite and metal skin repairs, doubler repairs, non-destructive testing, refinishing and static balancing.
Advanced Aerodynamics&Structures, Inc., made a successful first flight of its Jetcruzer 500 turboprop this month, the latest step in a development program the company hopes will result in initial customer deliveries in the third quarter of 1998.
SAVANNAH, GA. INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT said Runway 9-27 will reopen Sept. 2 for the first time in 10 months. The main runway at Savannah has been closed since November for a $5.9 million reconstruction project.
The Federal Aviation Administration should be a performance-based agency with a clear cost accounting system that is funded through user fees on airlines and fuel taxes on general aviation and on-demand air charter operators, according to a recent draft proposal by the National Civil Aviation Review Commission.
DASSAULT FALCON JET CORP. named David Lustgarten and Carlos Mejia field service representatives. Lustgarten will be based at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. and will cover eastern Canada, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and lower New York. He has 17 years of Falcon experience, serving as a technician, an inspector and chief of maintenance for two corporate operators in the Northeast. Mejia will be based in Dallas, Texas, and support Falcon operators in Mexico and Central America.
ALICIA GARDINER was appointed director of marketing for Professional Aviation Associates. Gardiner, who has more than 21 years of aviation industry experience, most recently was a sales representative for PAA.
CLARK GORDON, Northeast regional sales manager for Duncan Aviation, was named Eastern regional director for the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association. Gordon joined Duncan in 1990 at its satellite avionics shop in Teterboro, N.J. and, before that, was a shop supervisor and field service representative with Bendix/King.
FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION issued a call for papers for its 43rd annual Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar May 6-7 in Hartford, Conn. The seminar theme is "Safety Outside the Box" and Flight Safety is specifically seeking papers that address interactions necessary among operators, manufacturers and regulators to improve technology in flight operations, training and weather-related safety factors. Abstracts must be submitted by Sept. 26 to Robert Vandel, Director of Technical Projects, Flight Safety Foundation, 601 Madison St., Suite 300, Alexandria, Va.
Summary: Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption (14 CFR Part 11), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR Chapter I), dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities.
UNITED AIRLINES agreed to reimburse Washington Dulles-based Atlantic Coast Airlines' expenses of leasing Canadair Regional Jets and staffing them with flight crews for the remainder of 1997, even though United's Air Line Pilots Association unit has yet to agree to ACA's pilots flying jets under the United banner. United would give no indication whether the interim agreement with ACA was a sign of progress with pilot talks. If no agreement is reached by Dec. 8, ACA will begin operations with the RJs under a new name, Atlantic Coast Jet.
The National Business Aviation Association has established a program aimed at improving the communication flow between the Washington-based organization, its members and potential members who operate business aircraft across the country. The new program is called Operation REACHBAC (Regional Effort to Advise, Communicate with and Help the Business Aviation Community).
