HAINAN AIRLINES of China will take delivery of the first two of 10 Fairchild Dornier Metro 23 aircraft today. Five more will be delivered by yearend and the remaining three in 1998. The carrier will operate the 19- passenger aircraft from the city of Haikou.
Sales of new jet aircraft for the corporate market will continue to grow steadily for the next few years, but turboprop sales will decline, according to a new forecast by The CIT Group/Equipment Financing. More significantly, the total number of turbine-powered airplanes sold to the corporate market (both new and used), is predicted to decline markedly over the next few years, based on CIT's Outlook for Corporate Aircraft for 1997- 1999.
THE SENATE COMMERCE COMMITTEE sent to the full Senate last week the nomination of Jane Garvey to be the next FAA administrator, but will not schedule a confirmation hearing on deputy administrator nominee George Donohue until September at the earliest, after the August congressional recess. Donohue is currently FAA associate administrator for research and acquisitions.
The fatal midair collision July 19 between a Cessna 172 and a Beech Bonanza near Chicago's Meigs Field has led the National Transportation Safety Board to examine the Federal Aviation Administration's contract tower program at the airport. Separately, the City of Chicago Thursday banned all touch-and-go operations at Meigs.
KELLSTROM INDUSTRIES, INC., Sunrise, Fla., said second quarter revenues shot up 203 percent to $17.9 million, compared with $5.9 million in the same 1996 quarter, while net income soared 134 percent to $1.9 million, or 22 cents per share, compared with $828,409, or 13 cents per share, in 1996. For the first half, revenues were up 208 percent to $34.4 million and net income was up 168 percent to $3.6 million, or 42 cents per share. Kellstrom purchases, refurbishes (through subcontractors), leases, markets and resells commercial jet engines and jet engine parts.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, responding to requests from congressional leaders about providing special consideration to charter operators in implementing new pilot record-sharing requirements (BA, May 19/224), said the pilot record-sharing law passed in fall 1996 leaves little room for such special consideration.
FLIGHT DYNAMICS' Head-Up Guidance System won Joint Airworthiness Authorities certification on Swiss carrier Crossair's Saab 2000 fleet. The navigation system will allow Crossair to perform precision low-visibility landings at airports previously accomplished by only jet aircraft. The system will allow a range of approaches, including Category 1, 2 and 3 precision approaches, non-precision approaches and visual landings. "The benefits of [the system] are not just its Category 3 capability," said Andre Dose, vice president-flight operations for Crossair.
OPERATORS of fractional aircraft ownership programs apparently put out the word on Capitol Hill that they were concerned about the FAA chief counsel's examination of whether fractional ownership programs should be permitted to continue under Part 91 of the Federal Aviation Regulations or be placed under the more stringent Part 135. At least five senators asked administrator-nominee Jane Garvey to respond in writing on that issue.
Federal Aviation Administration proposed four airworthiness directives reducing the payload of Boeing 727 cargo conversions from 8,000 pounds to 3,000 pounds per container, effective within 48 hours of its final AD.
A student pilot and a flight instructor were killed last week when their Singapore Airlines Model 31A Learjet crashed just short of the top of a mountain ridge while the aircraft was on a training flight in Southeast Asia. Singapore acquired four Model 31As beginning in October 1991 to use as trainers. The Learjets are heavily instrumented to help simulate the operations of the 747-400s the carrier operates in scheduled service.
THE SENATE APPROPRIATIONS BILL directs FAA to exercise an option to acquire a new, modified Learjet 60 flight inspection and airways calibration aircraft under a contract between FAA and E-Systems. FAA awarded the contract to E-Systems in January 1993 for fleet modernization. The initial contract included the purchase of two Learjet 60s and the Appropriations Committee said it "understands that FAA is pleased with their performance." The committee targeted nearly $19 million for the contract in fiscal 1998.
RMI Titanium Co., Niles, Ohio, finalized its agreement with Galt Alloys, Inc., to acquire 90 percent of the common stock of Galt, following receipt of regulatory approvals. RMI said Galt is the largest domestic manufacturer of ferrotitanium and a producer and worldwide distributor of specialty alloys to ferrous and nonferrous customers. As a result of the acquisition, Galt will undertake an $18 million expansion program that will include a new scrap preparation facility, a plasma consolidation furnace and a plasma hearth furnace.
CORPORATE WINGS, INC., a business aircraft management and charter company based in Cleveland, Ohio, formed a strategic alliance with Odessey Aviation of Toronto, Ontario. The two companies operate fleets of aircraft that range from turboprops to Gulfstream business jets. Corporate Wings also has fixed-base operations at Cuyahoga County Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, South Bend, Ind., Rochester, N.Y. and Bolton Field in Columbus, Ohio and provides navigation and avionics re-certification through its Intertia Airline Service, Inc., division.
PILATUS BRITTEN-NORMAN BN-2A and BN-2A Mk 111 series airplanes (Docket No. 96-CE-24-AD; Amdt. 39-10058; AD 97-14-01) - supersedes AD 75-24-07 R1, which requires repetitive inspection of the left-hand rudder bar assembly for cracks and loose fasteners and replacement of any cracked part. This action requires inspecting of the left-hand rudder bar assembly and determining the thickness of the slider tube unit.
PROFESSIONAL AVIATION MAINTENANCE ASSOCIATION praised the Federal Aviation Administration for rescinding its position to require calibration of tools used for troubleshooting (BA, June 23/278). PAMA said the requirement "could have caused a tremendous financial impact on aviation maintenance technicians and their employers without a corresponding improvement in safety." PAMA noted it joined other associations in lobbying against the policy decision that came in the form of a Handbook Bulletin earlier this year (BA, April 28/189).
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL'S latest de Havilland Dash 8 flight simulator received FAA Level C certification for its replication of the Series 100 aircraft. It will be certified to Level D standards for the Series 200 within a few month, FSI said. The simulator is located in FlightSafety's Toronto, Ontario training center.
European regional aircraft consortium Aero International (Regional) received a contract from Northwest Airlines for 24 Avro RJ85 regional jets. The order, which exercises previously announced options, will bring the total number of RJ85s Northwest has ordered to 36. Delivery of the additional aircraft is scheduled to begin in May 1998 and continue over the following four years. Northwest initially ordered 12 RJ85s in October and took delivery of the first aircraft in April.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT slipped the schedule for the rollout and first flight of its Premier I business jet until spring 1998 and now expects first customer deliveries in 1999.Originally, the Premier was to fly in December, with certification and deliveries in late fall 1998 (BA, Oct. 2, 1995/141).A Raytheon official cited several reasons for the schedule slip, including improvements to the wing design to add fuel capacity and ensure a 1,500- nautical-mile range.
British Airways believes its Concorde fleet is increasingly durable, and engineering studies have led the airline to forecast that the world's only supersonic commercial aircraft will fly at least through 2012. With most aircraft operating just one flight per day or 300 cycles - takeoffs and landings - per year, British Airways fleet to date averages 6,500 cycles, far fewer than the 24,000-cycle design life.
AIR TRACTOR Models AT-301, AT-302, AT-400, AT-400A, AT-401, AT-402, AT-501 and AT-502 airplanes (Docket No. 96-CE-47-AD; Amdt. 39-10063; AD 97- 14-05) - supersedes AD 95-20-06, which requires repetitive inspection of the front spar attachment lugs and the rear spar for fatigue cracks and modification of the vertical fin if cracks are found. The modification terminates the repetitive inspection requirement and may be incorporated at any time, if cracks are not found.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Model 4101 airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-131-AD; Amdt. 39-10078; AD 97-15-05) - requires an inspection to determine the data on the label of certain hose assemblies and replacement of all hose assemblies from any discrepant batch with certain new hose assemblies.
BFGOODRICH AEROSPACE EVACUATION SYSTEMS DIVISION, citing strong demand from Boeing and Airbus Industrie, plans to expand manufacturing capacity at its Spencer, W. Va., facility by about 30,000 square feet to more than 80,000 square feet. Construction will begin later this year.
DENISE M. TREADWELL joined MEDjet International, Birmingham, Ala., as chief flight nurse practitioner, responsible for staffing and coordination of all domestic and international air medical flight activities for the company. Treadwell received a master's degree in nursing from the University of Alabama-Birmingham and previously worked as a trauma nurse at the The Children's Hospital of Alabama and as an emergency department nurse practioner at Northeast Regional Medical Center. MEDjet, with 27 employees, has been in the air ambulance business for 17 years.
