Noting that the Federal Aviation Administration has been without an administrator for six months, 50 House legislators Friday urged President Clinton to "quickly appoint" a person to fill the position.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, which has joined several other general aviation groups in a campaign against an aviation user-fee system in the U.S., began its battle against such fees in Canada. AOPA President Phil Boyer warned Nav Canada officials in a letter that "user fees will affect private aircraft owners in ways not yet considered by Nav Canada." Nav Canada, the owner and operator of the Canadian air traffic control system, is developing a user fee schedule, which is expected to go into effect for commercial aircraft this year.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS said its eight-place, single-turbine MD 600N helicopter won FAA type certification. Described as a "large-cabin, higher performing version" of the company's MD 520N, it incorporates the NOTAR (no tail rotor) system for anti-torque and directional control. First 600N delivery is scheduled for early June to AirStar Helicopters, an air tour operator at the Grand Canyon.
LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF AIRPORTS changed its name to Los Angeles World Airports, even though all four airports in its domain - Los Angeles International, Ontario International, Palmdale Regional and Van Nuys - are still located in Southern California, in and around Los Angeles.
A MAJOR ORDER for regional jets by AMR is less than a month away now that American and its pilots have agreed on a new labor contract. AMR President Don Carty said the company expects to decide which and how many regional jets to buy "within 30 days." The company conducted a flyoff between the Embraer EMB-145 and the Canadair CL-65 April 29 in Texas and Carty said both aircraft "are strong contenders."
PRATT&WHITNEY CANADA named Carol Sharpe vice president-communications, responsible for public relations, internal and external communications, translation and media relations for the Montreal, Quebec engine maker. A veteran of more than 15 years in business communications, Sharpe previously worked for Continental Communications and SNC, an engineering firm.
DONALD SCHAFFNER was named aerospace specialist for Cadillac Plastic. Schaffner will maintain Cadillac Plastic's existing customer base as well as attract new customers. He has more than 30 years of sales and marketing experience, including positions with BFGoodrich, AlliedSignal and Eaton.
MILLION AIR RICHMOND added a Bell LongRanger helicopter to its charter fleet. The LongRanger is the first rotorcraft to be added to the Richmond, Va. facility's fleet, which also comprises a Learjet 31, Learjet 24D, Citation II, Beech King Air 200, Beech King Air E90, Piper Navajo Chieftain and Beech Baron.
Fairchild Dornier is switching suppliers for the Do-328 and 328JET fuselage from Daewoo of Korea to OGMA of Portugal. Fairchild Dornier signed a letter of agreement with OGMA earlier this month after failing to come to terms with Daewoo on contract value, said Earl Robinson, vice president-programs aircraft development, who added the decision was based on economics. Tooling transfer from Daewoo to OGMA could begin in the next couple of weeks and the first OGMA-produced fuselage is expected to be on a production 328 by the end of 1998.
Four months after the fatal crash of a Comair EMB-120 Brasilia during icing conditions, FAA last week proposed requiring installation of ice detector systems on the 30-passenger regional airliners.
GREG WEDDING was appointed assistant manager at FlightSafety International's Gulfstream learning center in Savannah, Ga. Wedding previously was assistant manager at FlightSafety's Teterboro, N.J. learning center. He spent 25 years in the U.S. Navy, retiring as a captain.
(Docket No. 96-NM-188-AD; Amdt. 39-10015; AD 97-10-03) - requires repetitive ultrasonic inspections for cracking of the lugs of the engine mounting beams, and replacement of the beam with a serviceable part, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by reports of fatigue cracking of the lugs of the engine mounting beams. The actions specified by this AD are intended to detect and correct such cracking, which could reduce the structural capability of the engine mount.
ERA AVIATION will begin 18-passenger Twin Otter service in June between Anchorage, Alaska and Seward on the Kenai Peninsula. The new route is the second addition for the Anchorage-based carrier this year. Era also is adding service to Whitehorse in Canada's Yukon Territory later this month. Era said it will take advantage of a soon-to-be installed global positioning system instrument approach at Seward.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT Chairman Art Wegner acknowledged that "we've looked very hard" at the idea of starting Raytheon's own fractional ownership program featuring a mixed fleet of King Airs and Beechjets, but he said Tuesday "we're not ready" to make an announcement yet.It appears that such an announcement may be forthcoming. Raytheon recently hired Gary Hart, who had been vice president-flight operations at the Bombardier/AMR Combs Business JetSolutions fractional share program, to head Raytheon's new, but unannounced program.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION plans to resurrect the controversial flight and duty time rulemaking effort. FAA nearly a year ago shelved a notice of proposed rulemaking to impose more stringent flight and duty time requirement after it received more than 2,000 comments - nearly all negative. Regional Airline Association President Walt Coleman last week called the NPRM "one of the most disappointing rulemakings ever to come out of FAA." FAA is expected to issue a supplemental flight and duty time proposal within the next few months, Coleman said.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT expects to deliver a total of 40 of its top-of-the-line Citation X business jets by the end of 1997. The next available delivery position for the Mach .92 aircraft is in 1998.
(Docket No. 97-NM-35-AD) - proposes to require revising the airplane flight manual to prohibit positioning power levers below the flight idle stop during flight, and to provide a statement of the consequences of positioning the power levers below the flight idle stop during flight. The proposal is prompted by incidents and accidents involving turboprop airplanes in which the propeller ground beta range was used improperly during flight.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION published advisory circulars on turbine engine vibration surveys and continued rotation and rotor locking. AC No. 33.83, Turbine Engine Vibration Survey, provides guidance on compliance with vibration tests and surveys. AC No. 33.74/92, Turbine Engine Continued Rotation and Rotor Locking, discusses acceptable methods for complying with continued rotation and rotor locking test requirements. For more information on the ACs, contact FAA's Engine and Propeller Standards staff in the New England Region at (617) 238-7117.
FRANK RAMIREZ was appointed aircraft maintenance shop foreman for Western Aircraft. Ramirez previously was chief of maintenance for Hunt Wesson's flight department in Ontario, Calif. He also has served with AlliedSignal Aerospace Corp.
MAGELLAN AEROSPACE CORP., Toronto, Canada, promoted J. Stephen Tosi to the newly created post of president of Magellan Aerospace, USA. Tosi, formerly vice president of turbine engine component manufacturer Middleton Aerospace Corp., will direct planning and operations for the three Magellan U.S. facilities - Middleton Aerospace in Middleton, Mass.; Aeronca, Middletown, Ohio, and Langley Corp., San Diego, Calif.
AERO INTERNATIONAL (REGIONAL) is monitoring Jetstream 41 production on a month-to-month basis. The 30-seat market is "frankly quite weak," said Jeff Marsh, senior vice president-sales and marketing for AI(R). AI(R) reduced the production rate on the J41 from 22 to 12 a year and Marsh said, "we will not build the aircraft on speculation." AI(R) logged 13 orders for the aircraft last year, 12 of those from Atlantic Coast Airlines.
EMBRAER'S board of directors will meet in the next few weeks to consider which new regional jet design to pursue and Embraer officials hope to provide details on that aircraft during the Paris Air Show. Embraer is weighing whether it should next develop a 35-seat EMB-135 or a 70-seat EMB- 170 to complement its 50-passenger EMB-145. The -135 would be a near-term project based on the -145, while the -170 would be a new aircraft since the -145 cannot be stretched that much.
BOEING 737-600, -700 AND -800 airplanes will have to meet special conditions under a proposal published last week by FAA. Boeing will have to show that the next-generation 737s will be protected from the effects of high intensity radiated fields (HIRF), particularly digital avionics such as the Air Data Inertial Reference System (ADIRS) and Common Display System (CDS). FAA also is imposing special conditions relating to engine torque loads.
