IT'S THE VISION THING. The National Business Aircraft Association is considering a name change to reflect the organization's vision that its activities include all aspects of business aviation. See article below.
THE NEW 201-foot air traffic control tower and terminal approach control (TRACON) at Washington National Airport were dedicated Monday in ceremonies featuring Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and Sen. Chuck Robb (D- Va.). Air traffic controllers began using the new facilities in April, and the new passenger terminal at National is scheduled to open July 27.
AAR Corp. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Cooper Aviation Industries, Inc., a private corporation, for an undisclosed purchase price. Cooper, located in Elk Grove Village, Ill., is a major distributor of new aviation parts and accessories to the commercial, regional and general aviation markets. Cooper, which has been in business for nearly 50 years, has six locations throughout the U.S., along with a network of international representatives. In the most recent 12-month period Cooper had sales of approximately $45 million.
GENERAL AVIATION INDUSTRY AWARDS PROGRAM selected James Trusty of Old Hickory, Tenn., as National Certified Flight Instructor of the Year and Leonard Beauchemin of Webster, N.Y. as National Aviation Maintenance Technician of the year. Trusty, who has been a flight instructor for 25 years, has been an FAA aviation safety counselor since 1989. He completed 1,141 hours of flight time with 125 students last year. Trusty also teaches ground school at a local college and speaks about aviation education to local groups and schools.
NEW PILOT RECORD-SHARING REQUIREMENTS continue to be a problem for the regional airlines as well as on-demand operations. Not only has FAA lagged in its response to airline requests for pilot records, but some companies have been reluctant to release pilot information to prospective employers. The issue is particularly troublesome for regionals now, RAA's Walt Coleman said, because some airlines are experiencing up to a 30 percent pilot turnover rate.
FLIGHT SERVICE GROUP, Stratford, Conn., added four business jets to its air carrier certificate: a Citation I based in Norwich; a Lear 35 based in Teterboro, N.J.; a Beechjet 400A in West Palm Beach, Fla.; and, a Gulfstream II based in Stratford. FSG manages 27 aircraft at 10 East Coast bases stretching from Massachusetts to Florida.
Embraer boosted its EMB-145 orderbook to 65 with a sale of 10 of the 50-passenger regional jets to Rio-Sul Servicos Aereos Regionais S/A of Brazil. The contract, which Embraer valued at about $282 million (U.S.), includes 10 firm orders plus five options for the EMB-145 as well as seven firm orders for the 30-passenger EMB-120 Brasilia turboprop. BNDES, the Brazilian National Bank for Social Development, is financing the deal.
Pratt&Whitney, attempting to stake out a significant share of the engine overhaul market in the face of General Electric's plans to acquire two major overhaulers, announced an agreement last week to buy three airfoil refurbishment plants from Howmet Corp.
Hughes Information Technology Systems won a contract valued at up to $100 million to help the agency increase the reliability of its facilities and 30,000-plus pieces of equipment systemwide. The Landover, Md., unit of Hughes Aircraft Co. will provide technical integration of the National Airspace System Infrastructure Management System (NIMS). It is the centralized management system for FAA equipment and facilities, and will consolidate previously separate efforts.
AIRCRAFT BRAKING SYSTEMS CORP. was selected by Bombardier to develop and build the complete braking system for the Canadair Regional Jet Series 700 aircraft. Under a subcontract with landing gear supplier Menasco Aerospace, ABSC will provide the Series 700's nose and main gear wheels, brakes and brake control systems for the 70-seat airliner.
SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D-N.J.), the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, last week disagreed with the Administration view that the Federal Aviation Administration should be 100 percent user-funded. But Transportation Department Deputy Secretary Mortimer Downey reiterated that the Clinton Administration hopes to phase out the general fund portion of FAA's budget, which currently covers about 25 percent of the agency's annual expenditures, and replace that revenue with new user fees.
ALAN DIETRICH was named vice president of government operations and marketing for AlliedSignal Aerospace, where he will be responsible for the company's Washington, D.C. office, congressional affairs and international relations. Pat Hurley will succeed Dietrich as vice president and general manager of the Communications Systems business of the Electronic Systems division.
DOWNEY also last week called "inappropriate" a measure contained in the Senate version of an emergency supplemental appropriations bill (S.672) to exempt most of general aviation from FAA's plans to charge for flights that transit through U.S. airspace, but neither take off nor land in the U.S.
Mercury Air Group, the Los Angeles, Calif. chain of fixed-base operations and provider of aviation services, reported record income and revenues for the nine months ended March 31 and said it is looking for additional bases to add to the chain. Revenues for the nine months jumped 31.1 percent to a record $215.7 million, compared with $164.5 million a year ago. Net income was up 10.5 percent to a record $3.8 million. For the quarter ended March 31, revenues were up 26.6 percent to $72.4 million while net income rose 29.3 percent to $1.1 million.
Airport Systems International, Inc., Overland Park, Kan., said it is "evaluating strategic alternatives to enhance shareholder value. Among the alternatives being explored are joint venture, mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances," according to a statement issued Tuesday.
The Federal Aviation Administration published its FAA Inflight Aircraft Icing Plan that includes rulemaking, development and revision of advisory material to increase safety of flight crews who find themselves operating in icing conditions.
SAAB Model 2000 series airplanes (Docket No. 96-NM-167-AD) - proposes to require replacement of the existing fire, tailpipe, and bleed-air overheat detector control units with new, improved units. This proposal is prompted by reports indicating that false engine and auxiliary power unit fire warnings were issued from the fire detector control units due to moisture or induced voltages of the detector control unit.
COLTEC INDUSTRIES named Peter Challinor a group president with responsibility for the company's landing gear and flight control operations. These include Menasco Aerosystems, Euless, Texas; Menasco Aerospace, Oakville, Ontario, Canada; Menasco Aerospace Washington, Everett, Wash.; and, Menasco Krosno, Krosno, Poland. Challinor, 48, reports to John M. Cybulski, senior vice president-aerospace, and will succeed Pablo Prieto, who retired at the end of April. Challinor had been heading Coltec's Walbar metals business.
CONTINENTAL EXPRESS took delivery of its seventh EMB-145, Embraer said. The carrier operates -145s from its main hub in Cleveland to Greensboro, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Newark, Hartford and Milwaukee. Embraer now claims 65 firm orders and 194 options for its regional jet.
NEW APPROVALS for the AlliedSignal Aerospace Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System will permit the units to be installed on Gulfstream V, Falcon 900, Canadair Challenger 601-3R and -3A business jets and Beech King Air C-90 turboprops. The system, previously approved for use on several Airbus and Boeing models, includes a proprietary worldwide terrain database that permits warnings to be issued when an aircraft is 60 seconds away from terrain, compared with 10- to 30-second warnings available with conventional GPWS, AlliedSignal said.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION, meanwhile, has threatened to take legal action if FAA implements the "international" general aviation user fees as planned May 19. AOPA, which has adamantly opposed the fees, said last week, "These overflight fees are a threat to safety and an accounting boondoggle. If FAA persists in ignoring public comments and the clearly expressed will of Congress, we'll see them in court."
Dassault Falcon Jet Corp. promoted six members in its Teterboro, N.J. Flight Operations Department. Jerry Tritt was appointed chief pilot- technical, responsible for technical and regulatory matters, including head-up guidance, reduced vertical separation minimums and other avionics and navigational equipment advances. J. David DeAngelis was named chief pilot-operations, responsible for safety, standardization, and the flight operations manual. In addition, DeAngelis manages and assigns collateral duties to pilots and flight attendants.
VISIONAIRE CORP. began high-speed, high-altitude flight testing of its Vantage composite, single-jet aircraft. The aircraft, slated for certification in second quarter 1999, will be certified for altitudes up to 41,000 feet and 350 knots true airspeed. The proof-of-concept article first flew in November and completed more than 15 hours of low-altitude, low-speed testing. The company activated the landing gear retraction system in March, and the proof-of-concept aircraft since has reached altitudes of 35,000 feet and speeds in excess of 350 KTAS.
TWO AVIATION CONSULTING FIRMS, Morten Beyer and Associates and Agnew&Associates, have merged to form Morten Beyer&Agnew (MBA). Beyer will be chairman and chief executive and Robert Agnew will be president. The company will have its headquarters in McLean, Va., with offices in Miami, Fla., Tucson, Ariz., and Berlin, Germany. Beyer said the companies are talking further about growing their merged businesses, and an additional announcement is expected in the next several weeks.
