The Senate Finance Committee last week agreed to an aviation tax package that calls for an extension of the current general aviation fuel and airline passenger ticket taxes for 10 years. The Senate tax package, however, became contentious last week among air charter operators and airlines because early versions would have replaced the $6 per-passenger international departure tax with a 10 percent tax on the portion of international flights flown through domestic airspace.
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Board of Commissioners authorized payment of $3 million to the Linden Economic Development Corp. if Linden Airport takes certain steps to curtail airspace conflicts that cause airline flight delays at Newark Airport during inclement weather.
TRONAIR introduced a multi-head towbar designed for business jets with gross weights up to 125,000 pounds. The towbar is priced at $1,559, while attachment heads for the Gulfstream V and Global Express aircraft are priced at $2,094, and $2,075, respectively. For more information, contact Tronair at (419) 866-6301; fax (419) 867-0634 in Toledo, Ohio.
House and Senate leaders are being urged by companies and associations to extend the research and development tax credit, which expired May 31. The Electronic Industries Association (EIA), which is pressing the move, said it support the credit "because it provides the economic incentive for U.S. companies to increase their investments in research and development in order to maintain their competitive edge worldwide."
In a move lauded by the National Air Transportation Association, the Federal Aviation Administration reversed its decision to require calibration of tools used for troubleshooting. FAA earlier this year changed a long-standing policy of exempting certain test equipment from calibration requirements (BA, April 28/189).
EXECUTIVE JET added a Cessna Citation VII midsized business jet to its European fractional ownership program. The program, NetJets Europe, was launched in June 1996 through a collaboration with Zimex Aviation in Switzerland and Air Luxor in Portugal. Executive Jet also offers the Cessna Citation S/II in the European program.
THE BOMBARDIER GLOBAL EXPRESS aircraft, S/N 9003, damaged during a gear-up landing in April (BA, May 5/201), returned to flight test June 17 with a two-hour flight. Technicians replaced the plane's belly fairing and some fuselage skin, but most of the post-incident downtime was taken up with testing and recalibrating equipment and components on the aircraft.
NATIONAL AERONAUTIC ASSOCIATION is offering a special record certification kit to pilots planning to fly to or from the Experimental Aircraft Association convention in Oshkosh, Wis. July 30-Aug. 6. Applications must be received by July 18 and are valid for flights taking place from July 27 through Aug. 9. For more information, contact NAA at 1815 N. Fort Myer Drive, Suite 700, Arlington, Va. 22209, or telephone (703) 527-0226.
FAIRCHILD SA226-AT, SA226-TC, SA227-AC and SA227-AT airplanes (Docket No. 96-CE-68-AD) - proposes to require inspection of the cargo door lower belt frames at the cargo latch receptacles for cracks in the belt frames, repair of the cracks and the installation of doublers to reinforce the cargo door lower belt frames. This action is prompted by a decompression incident during flight caused by fatigue at the bottom of the cargo door on a Fairchild SA226-TC.
AVIAT Models S-2A, S-2B and S-2S airplanes (Docket No. 97-CE-17-AD) - proposes to supersede AD 96-09-08 R1, which requires repetitive inspection of the upper longerons just aft of the rear cabane struts for cracks and repair of any cracks found.
VisionAire late last month broke ground for an assembly plant for its single-engine Vantage business jet in Ames, Iowa. The Chesterfield, Mo. company selected the 13-acre tract on Ames Municipal Airport in August 1995 while development of the aircraft continued at Scaled Composites, Inc. in Mojave, Calif. (BA, Aug. 14, 1995/69). The site will include a 101,000- square-foot assembly building and a 13,000-square-foot flight test hangar. VisionAire officials expect the facility will be completed in mid-1998 and eventually employ 150 people.
HONEYWELL signed an "alliance agreement" with Aviapribor, a leading supplier of equipment for commercial aircraft in the Commonwealth of Independent States, covering avionics for use in aircraft manufactured in the CIS.
Esterline Technologies, Bellevue, Wash., sold its Angus Electronics subsidiary to Westronics, Inc., of Kingwood, Texas for an undisclosed price, Esterline announced. Wendell P. Hurlbut, chief executive of Esterline, said the divestiture allows the company to increase emphasis on its core business of engineered products for the commercial aircraft, aerospace and defense industries. Angus makes analog and digital acquisition and recorder products and power measurement instruments. Westronics supplies data recording and acquisition instrumentation.
Taxes on noncommercial gasoline and jet fuel would continue at present levels under legislation proposed Monday by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas), but other aviation excise taxes would change dramatically under his proposal. In addition, Archer began modifying his original proposal within hours after it was introduced in response to industry objections.
DUNCAN AVIATION completed the relocation of its Instrument&Avionics Component Services operation to a new 44,000-square-foot facility at the Lincoln, Neb. Airport. The move involved relocation of more than 90 Duncan technicians, support staff and more than $10 million in equipment and inventory. The new facility boosts shop floor space by 50 percent, incorporates a larger, stand-alone calibration laboratory and provides more space for technical representatives, inventory and loaner units.
UNISON INDUSTRIES, INC., completed the acquisition of The BFGoodrich Aerospace Engine Electrical Systems Division Thursday. The former BFGoodrich division has plants in Fort Worth, Texas and Norwich, N.Y. and employs nearly 600 workers (BA, May 12/214). Unison has manufacturing operations in Rockford, Ill., and at its headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.
Advanced Aerodynamics&Structures, Inc. (AASI), which is developing the Jetcruzer 500 aircraft, said the State of California approved funds for the issuance of industrial revenue bonds (IRBs) that will permit the company to build a new production facility.
GARRETT AVIATION LOS ANGELES recently finished a five-month completion of a Fokker F-28 executive aircraft that included interior refurbishment, new paint and installation of a state-of-the-art avionics package. Originally configured for 65 passengers, the interior was redesigned in a dual cabin arrangement with seating for eight in the forward executive cabin and 20 in the aft cabin. The avionics package includes a Collins TCAS II, AlliedSignal Mark VII ground proximity warning system, Collins four-channel SatCom and dual AlliedSignal GNS-XLS system with GPS.
STEVE NEWMAN was named manger of the commercial airline sales division for AVSCO. Newman, who will be based in College Park, Ga., previously was an outside sales representative for the Western Region for Avsco.
AIR TOUR OVERFLIGHTS also were being addressed in the courts last week as parties litigating the issue filed briefs with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Oral arguments in that case, which pits air tour operators against FAA and environmental groups, are scheduled for Nov. 6.
JOSEPH MOSELEY joined Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. as a field service representative in the company's St. Louis, Mo., office, where he will work with fellow field service representative Charlie Horton. Before joining Dassault Falcon Jet, Moseley had been a senior maintenance technician for a Falcon 900 operator based at the Teterboro, N.J. Airport. He previously spent six years with Dassault's Falcon Jet's Little Rock, Ark., Jet Center where he was a flightline mechanic and quality assurance inspector.
GTE said FAA selected the company to design, install and operate a new Aeronautical Information System (AIS) that will be used for flight planning and weather briefings for military pilots. FAA personnel and military pilots at 250 installations across the country will use AIS to plan and file flight plans with the FAA, and to communicate weather briefings and advisories on-line, making it faster and easier for FAA and military pilots to communication important data, the company said.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT acquired facilities from Euralair International at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, France and will open its first company-owned Citation service center outside the U.S. Cessna plans extensive renovations to the Euralair facility that will permit technicians there to handle inspection, maintenance and service requirements for the entire line of Citation business jets. The Citation fleet in Europe numbers 332 aircraft, an increase of 7.7 percent in the past two years.
WALTER T. GIVEN, a 16-year veteran of the Xerox Corporation flight department, was named eastern regional maintenance manager for Jet Support Services, Inc. of Chicago, Ill. Given, who held a variety of positions with the Xerox flight department, including supervisor of aircraft maintenance, will work directly with each service facility to ensure that JSSI clients receive quality maintenance. His office is in Hopewell Junction, N.Y.
BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON Model 47B, 47B-3, 47D, 47D-1, 47G, 47G-2, 47G- 2A, 47G-2A-1, 47G-3, 47G-3B, 47G-3B-1, 47G-3B-2, 47G-3B-2A, 47G-4, 47G-4A, 47G-5, 47G-5A, 47H-1, 47-J, 47J-2, 47J-2A and 47K helicopters (Docket No. 96-SW-28-AD) - proposes to require installing a safety washer kit designed to preclude separation of the stabilizer bar damper link if the damper link rod end bushing loosens and exits the damper link rod end.
