SMITHS INDUSTRIES was selected by Raytheon Aircraft Company to design and integrate the fuel quantity management system for the Hawker Horizon business jet. The integrated fuel system consists of two tank groups located in the left and right wings. The system will provide the following functions: fuel system controlling, ground refueling, venting and draining, fuel quantity indicating and fuel circulation. Smiths said the contract is potentially worth more than $50 million over a 15-year period. Deliveries are to begin in 2000 and continue through 2015.
Atlantic Coast Airlines' mechanics and related workers represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) have rejected a tentative contract agreement. The United feeder on the East Coast has yet to secure a new code-sharing agreement with the major that would allow the regional's pilots to fly 12 new Canadair Regional jets on order, the first of which was delivered Friday. ACA plans to begin jet service in September, with or without the jets flying as United Express. O.C.
LONNIE THIBODEAUX was promoted to manager of domestic sales. Thibodeaux will be responsible for Midcoast and Sabreliner maintenance sales in eight U.S. domestic regions and Mexico. He previously was Midcoast's manager of Southwest regional sales.
If you've ever had a desire to own an aircraft used by drug smugglers, the U.S. Customs Service has a deal for you. The agency plans to auction a 1966 Beech A-23 Musketeer at this year's Experimental Aircraft Association convention in Oshkosh, Wis. The plane was seized by Customs last year after two people were apprehended while transporting 129 pounds of marijuana from McAllen to Houston, Texas. The four-seat aircraft is equipped with various avionics, including a Global Positioning System unit and dual 30-gallon fuel tanks.
Mercury Air Group, Inc., named Steven R. Ritchie, 49, president of the company's Mercury Air Cargo subsidiary, effective Aug. 1. Ritchie has been president and chief executive officer of Gateway Freight Services in Los Angeles, which Mercury described as "the largest independent cargo handler in the U.S.," with 21 terminals in 10 cities. Gateway has 1,000 employees and handles approximately 100 million pounds of cargo each month for 48 airlines.
A GALAXY spokesman told BA he believes Cessna officials may have been surprised Galaxy was willing to participate. He conceded the Astra SPX would not have beaten the Citation X on a transcontinental flight, but said the difference between the two aircraft might have been as small as 15 minutes "on a lot less fuel" burned by the Astra. Speaking for Galaxy he said, "we'd love to do it," adding that it would "inject a level of friendly rivalry" between the two manufacturers.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION will host two FAA Air Traffic Users Dialogues. The first session, scheduled for July 15 at Flightcraft in Portland, Ore., will concentrate on procedures, problems and planning. The second session, July 22 at the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum in Anchorage, Alaska, will discuss user fees, Flight 2000 and interaction. For more information, contact Paul Smith at (202) 783-9255.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL'S Canadair Regional Jet simulator received Level D certification from FAA. The simulator, built by FSI's Simulation Division in Tulsa, Okla., is installed at the company's training center near the Cincinnati, Ohio Airport to serve pilots of Delta Connection carrier Comair and other CRJ operators. The system has a VITAL ChromaView visual system. A second Canadair RJ simulator will be delivered soon to the training center of Brit Air in Morlaix, in Brittany. That facility also houses an ATR 42/72 turboprop simulator.
THE FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION will publish new regulations this week mandating retrofit of new digital flight data recorders during the next four years capable of recording additional parameters of flight data. The new requirements will apply to a wide variety of large commercial airliners and regional aircraft. FAA estimated the total cost of the rule will be $316.3 million.
GENERAL ELECTRIC CT58 series engines (Docket No. 97-ANE-18-AD) - proposes to require removal from service of certain Stage 1 and 2 forward cooling plates and Stage 2 aft cooling plates, and replacement with serviceable parts. This proposal is prompted by reports of certain cooling plates forged with contaminated alloy that could reduce the lives of parts. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent cooling plate fracture, which could result in a contained engine failure and an inflight engine shutdown.
AMERICAN AIRLINES executive George Hazy was named president of American Eagle carrier Executive Airlines based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Hazy, most recently managing director of the Caribbean for American, joined the airline in 1979 as an industrial engineer and since has served in a number of financial and administrative posts.
NATIONAL PARKS OVERFLIGHT WORKING GROUP (NPOWG) plans to ask Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to delay a Senate Commerce Committee hearing scheduled July 29 to discuss the senator's parks overflight bill. McCain, chairman of the Commerce Committee, earlier this year introduced legislation that would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to develop recommendations for national park overflight restrictions and direct FAA to implement an overflight plan based on Interior's recommendations (BA, Feb. 10/58).
GROEN BROTHERS AVIATION, INC., Salt Lake City, Utah, was awarded a "Letters Patent" by the Australian Patent Office for its variable pitch rotor head, the company said, adding that the patent "specifically endorses GBA's collective pitch controlled rotor head with infinitely variable pitch in gyroplanes." GBA, the gyroplane development and manufacturing firm, also holds three U.S. patents and said it expects to receive additional foreign patents in the near future.
Two decades after certificating the Piper Tomahawk trainer, FAA is preparing to conduct flight tests to assess the aircraft's ability to recover from turning stalls because of numerous reports that pilots have encountered flat spins from which recovery was extremely difficult or impossible.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Model BAe 146 and Avro 146-RJ series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-02-AD) - proposes to require repetitive detailed visual inspections of the top wing skins for stress corrosion cracks, damage or missing surface protective finish of the metallic surfaces and repair, if necessary. This proposal is prompted by reports of stress corrosion cracks found on the top of the wing skin during routine inspection on these airplanes.
DARLA PATTERSON was named project coordinator for the Million Air fixed- base operation chain. Patterson began with Million Air Dallas in 1993 as a customer service representative and was promoted to customer service manager in 1994.
NEILL OSBORNE, director of flight operations for Air Logistics, began his term as chairman of the Helicopter Association International this month. Osborne, who attained the rank of chief warrant officer in the U.S. Army and was decorated for his service in Vietnam, has served on HAI's board of directors since 1993.
THE OFFICE OF MANAGEMENT AND BUDGET last week opposed a provision in the House fiscal 1998 transportation appropriations legislation that would prohibit the Federal Aviation Administration from using funds to plan or implement any regulation for new user fees not specifically authorized by law.In a July 10 letter to House transportation appropriations subcommittee Chairman Frank Wolf (R-Va.), OMB Director Franklin Raines said the Administration "considers cost-based user fees to be a viable and appropriate means of financing the FAA.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION published a final advisory circular (AC) 140-8, Guide for Developing and Evaluating an SFAR 36 Engineering Procedures Manual. Copies are available from the agency's Certification Procedures Branch, AIR-110, Aircraft Engineering Division, Aircraft Certification Service, 800 Independence Ave., S.W., Washington, D.C. 20591. For further information, call David Hempe at (202) 267-8807.
CHC Helicopter Corp., St. John's, Newfoundland, said it "has been in discussions" with the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority and the European Commission with respect to the possible restructuring of CHC's U.K.
The Port of Portland, Ore., postponed the collection of landing fees for certain general aviation aircraft until Sept. 1 at the earliest to allow time for port staff to analyze the impact of any changes in aviation fuel taxes resulting from the current session of the state legislature. The fees had been scheduled to take effect July 1 at two general aviation airports, Hillsboro and Troutdale, in a move toward making the facilities more self-sufficient (BA, June 23/281).
Randall P. Lincoln, a veteran avionics marketer with more than 15 years experience in business and government aircraft programs, was named publisher of Business&Commercial Aviation magazine and A/C FLYER effective Aug. 3. Lincoln, who is director of worldwide OEM sales and marketing for AlliedSignal Commercial Avionics Systems (CAS), will report to Kenneth E.
GALAXY AEROSPACE said the rollout for the first Galaxy business jet is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 4 in Israel where it is in the final stages of assembly at Israel Aircraft Industries.
Federal Aviation Administration's Aviation Security Advisory Committee is slated to address profiling and passenger bag match issues at its next meeting, July 23. The panel also will hear status reports from its various working groups - cargo, public education, consultation, employee recognition and utilization, airport categorization and universal access system. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. in Room 8ABC on the 8th floor at FAA headquarters, 800 Independence Ave. S.W. For more information, call (202) 267-7622.
