GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE signed an agreement with JAMCO of Japan to provide line service for Gulfstream aircraft at JAMCO facilities at Sendai Airport, north of Tokyo. Gulfstream said JAMCO is a "multi-faceted aircraft support, maintenance and equipment company" with facilities at Sendai and other locations around the world.
PROPOSALS for a fixed-base operation on a 3.3-acre tract at the Groton-New London, Conn. Airport are being solicited by the Connecticut Department of Transportation. Proposals are due Aug. 8 and a mandatory pre-proposal meeting will be held July 8 at 1 p.m. at state DOT headquarters in Newington, Conn. For more information, contact Cornelius B. O'Connor at (860) 594-2545 or Kathleen Frasca at (860) 594-2543.
Executive Jet Aviation, one of Cessna Aircraft's best customers of late, placed an order with the Wichita manufacturer for nearly five dozen more Citation business jets. In an announcement scheduled to coincide with the beginning of this week's Paris Air Show, EJA is ordering 50 Citation Excel business jets, which it said is "the largest single order in unit size for business aircraft in aviation history." In addition, EJA is boosting its total commitment for Cessna's top-of-the-line Citation X with an order for six more of the Mach .92 aircraft.
The Eurocopter consortium and Intertechnique of France were unsuccessful in this month's attempt to fly a single-engine helicopter across the Atlantic Ocean. The Ecureuil flight had logged nearly 1,700 miles, but ended soon after the third of five planned inflight refuelings, when an auxiliary fuel tank developed a leak. The aircraft landed safely on the tug Picardie, over which it had refueled, and the companies gave up on the flight when they found the leak was caused by a soldering problem that could not be repaired safety aboard the tug.
Boeing Business Jets snared a high-profile Gulfstream Aerospace customer last week, signing an agreement with professional golfer Greg Norman under which he will buy a new Model 737 Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) for his business and personal use and also will serve as a worldwide ambassador for the Seattle, Wash.-based aircraft manufacturer. The company also said it has signed orders for 18 BBJs and plans to be producing them at a rate of two per month by 1999.
KEITH PRODUCTS, Dallas, Texas, won FAA certification for an evaporator upgrade kit for the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter. The company said Service Bulletin 139-1 provides for the conversion of existing Keith Products Freon R-12 systems to the current industry standard refrigerant R-134A. The manufacturer said the upgrade, applicable to all models of the S-76, will provide a 50 percent increase in cooling performance with no weight penalty. The modification requires approximately 20-man hours to install.
SIKORSKY Model S-64F helicopters (Docket No. 95-SW-34-AD; Amdt. 39- 10028; AD 97-10-15) - requires inspections and replacement, if necessary, of the main gearbox second stage lower planetary plate. This amendment is prompted by two incidents in which the plate was found cracked. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent failure of the plate due to fatigue cracking, which could lead to failure of the main gearbox and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.
PATRICK HARRIS was appointed senior vice president of marketing and sales for Barfield. Harris has more than 20 years experience in the aviation industry, serving with both original equipment manufacturers and repair and overhaul companies. Most recently, he was vice president of international marketing and sales at Crane/Hydro-Aire. In his new position, Harris will be responsible for increasing Barfield's repair and overhaul business.
TERRY FLYNN was named regional sales manager for Jet Support Services, Inc. Based in Nashville, Tenn., he will be responsible for marketing and servicing JSSI products to clients in the Northeast U.S. He was most recently president of Crump Financial Services.
WAYNE R. OEDEWALDT, who recently served as president of Astra Jet Corporation, was named regional vice president for western regional sales for Galaxy Aerospace Corp., which took over responsibility for marketing and supporting the Astra and Galaxy line of aircraft last year (BA, Nov.
BUSINESS AVIATION interests are cautiously optimistic an amendment by Rep. Mac Collins (R-Ga.) to an aviation tax package will be retained in the final bill. The Collins amendment, attached to Rep. Bill Archer's (R- Texas) aviation tax overhaul package, would eliminate the requirement that non-business travel by company employees on a business flight be taxed as imputed income. Supporters of the amendment say it will have a negligible effect on government revenue, but will remove an administrative burden from aircraft operators. See article below.
HOUSE and Senate negotiators last week removed language from an emergency relief supplemental appropriations bill that would have directed the Federal Aviation Administration to exclude most of general aviation from fees the agency is charging for services provided for flights that transit through U.S. airspace, but neither take off nor land in the U.S. The conference committee agreed to delete the measure after House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Archer (R-Texas) objected to it for procedural reasons (BA, May 26/236).
Signature Flight Support, the nation's largest chain of fixed-base operations, took a significant step toward increasing its market share at Chicago's Midway Airport with the purchase last week of rival FBO Monarch Air Service. Matthew J. Lynch, president of Monarch for 25 years, sold his fueling operation to Signature following a series of discussions that began nearly two years ago. The Signature and Monarch facilities are adjacent to one another in the area between the approach ends of Runway 13R and 4L.
FRASCA INTERNATIONAL received an order from the Colombian Police for a Model 342 helicopter flight training device. The FTD, slated for delivery in August, will be installed at the Colombian National Police training base in Mariquita, Colombia. Frasca also received a contract to provide three cockpit procedures trainers for the United Kingdom Defense Helicopter Flying School. Two of the trainers will provide cockpit familiarization, engine start and ground emergency training for the Eurocopter AS350BB Squirrel. The third trainer will be used for the Bell 412EP.
ROBINSON Model R22 helicopters with Lycoming O-360-J2A engines (Docket No. 97-SW-04-AD) - proposes to require replacing the carburetor and carburetor air temperature gauge with an improved carburetor that does not require manual leaning of the fuel/air mixture during flight, and a remarked carburetor air temperature gauge. The proposal also would require a revision to the rotorcraft flight manual to remove the reference to leaning the engine.
After 14 months of study, Raytheon Aircraft Corp. (RAC) launched its own fractional aircraft ownership program last week, offering shares in new Beech King Air B200s, Beechjets and Hawker 800XPs and predicting that growth of the already strong fractional-share market will accelerate with the addition of a third major aircraft provider.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT tapped one of the strongest niche markets, the world of professional golf, to find the first customer for its new fractional aircraft ownership program.Golfer Fred Couples bought a one-eighth interest in a Beechjet 400A, according to Raytheon officials. Executive Jet Aviation has some 25 Professional Golf Association members in its NetJets fractional ownership program, including Tiger Woods, who recently purchased a share in a Citation X.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS began final assembly of the first MD-95-30 airliner late last month in Long Beach, Calif. Production workers at Douglas Aircraft Co. lowered the first center fuselage barrel onto the wing May 24, marking the start of final assembly. First flight of the MD-95 is planned in the second quarter 1998, with joint U.S. and European JAA certification expected in 1999. ValuJet Airlines is the only announced customer for the MD-95 (BA, Oct. 23, 1995/177). The aircraft will be powered by BMW Rolls- Royce BR715 turbofans.
PARSONS AVIATION moved its offices from Washington, D.C. to Miami, Fla. Parsons said the move will better position the company to pursue aviation opportunities in Latin America. Parsons Aviation, a division of Parsons Infrastructure&Technology Group, provides a range of aviation services for airports including airport feasibility studies, business plans, master plans, design and engineering, design management, construction management and program management. The new office is located at 6303 Blue Lagoon Drive, Suite 320, Miami, Fla.
Elliott Aviation President Wynn Elliott promoted two employees to new executive positions. Warren Tanner, who was vice president-operations, was promoted to a new position, director of special projects. He will be responsible for new business development and assist with implementation of the company's five-year strategic business plan. Tanner joined Elliott as a service technician and later became vice president/general manager of the Des Moines, Iowa base.
AMETEK AEROSPACE PRODUCTS was selected to design and build the nacelle interface unit (NIU) for the Bell Boeing 609 tiltrotor aircraft. Two NIUs are required per aircraft, one mounted in the aft section of each nacelle. The NIU is a dual-channel signal conditioning unit designed to process aircraft engine sensor and nacelle sensor signals and transmit the results to other aircraft subsystems.
The National Civil Aviation Review Commission, charged with recommending a funding system for the Federal Aviation Administration, last week informally agreed general aviation should continue to contribute to the national aviation system through fuel excise taxes and that commercial air taxis should pay the jet fuel tax instead of the passenger ticket tax. But the commission failed to reach agreement on what the level of fuel tax should be.
SPEAKING OF GOLF, Boeing Business Jets promises "a major announcement" today in Bethesda, Md., located about 15 minutes from Congressional Country Club where this week's U.S. Open Golf tournament is being played. The timing and site have led to speculation a golfer has placed an order for the new 737 derivative.
JET AVIATION is adding another hangar to its operation at Zurich, Switzerland. Effective July 1, Jet Aviation will take over the hangar of REGA, the Swiss air ambulance, which is moving to a new facility. The addition of a third building will boost the amount of space under roof at Jet Aviation's facility to nearly 14,000 square feet. The new hangar, directly opposite the current Jet Aviation facilities near the General Aviation Center, will permit the company to perform maintenance work on larger business jets, such as the Citation X and Hawker 1000.
