Aero International (Regional), the European aircraft manufacturing consortium whose shareholders are Aerospatiale, Alenia Aerospazio/Finmeccanica and British Aerospace, signed an agreement with the Korean Commercial Aircraft Development Consortium "in order to define the principles which could eventually lead to a future industrial partnership in the AI(R) jet project.
Federal Aviation Administration this month issued a comprehensive rewrite of pilot certification and training requirements that, for the most part, won praise from industry leaders. The rewrite updates certification requirements for pilots, flight instructors, ground instructors and pilot schools under Federal Aviation Regulations Parts 61, 141 and 143. FAA, which issued the notice of proposed rulemaking for the new training standards in August of 1995 (BA, Aug.
NATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION REVIEW COMMISSION is slated to hold its initial meetings April 28 and 29. David Traynham, senior Democratic staff member of the House aviation subcommittee, was named staff director of the commission. Traynham will take a leave of absence from his congressional duties to work on the commission, which is chaired by his previous boss, former Rep. Norman Mineta.
DASSAULT FALCON JET is offering its computer-assisted troubleshooting system (CATS) on CD-ROM for personal computers. CATS, initially developed by Dassault to enable its Help Desk to quickly review the symptoms of a malfunction, contains a database of more than 10,000 field technical reports on most Falcon models, integrating case-based reasoning and probability of failure rates to develop a list of suspected components. The database is divided into categories listed alphabetically. Dassault will offer revisions to the CD-ROM to Falcon operators every June and January.
IF ALL GOES AS PLANNED, the arrival in the New York area of the G-V nonstop flight from the Orient will cap a recent roll for the high-profile Forstmann. Gulfstream announced an order for 11 more Gulfstream IV-SPs early in the month (BA, April 7/151), Forstmann's "Wild Ride at Gulfstream" was the cover story in last week's Business Week magazine, and an FAA type certification board was scheduled to meet Friday at Gulfstream to consider certification of the G-V.
ROBERT R. ROPELEWSKI, 54, a former Marine pilot and veteran aviation journalist, died April 4 after a heart attack at his home in McLean, Va. Ropelewski, who flew helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft while serving in the Marine Corps from 1965 to 1970, including service in Vietnam, flew more than 150 types of aircraft during his military and reporting careers. Those included the SR-71 Blackbird supersonic high-altitude reconnaissance plane, the Concorde supersonic airliner and a number of high-performance fighters.
Summary: Pursuant to FAA's rulemaking provisions governing the application, processing, and disposition of petitions for exemption (14 CFR Part 11), this notice contains a summary of certain petitions seeking relief from specified requirements of the Federal Aviation Regulations (14 CFR Chapter I), dispositions of certain petitions previously received, and corrections. The purpose of this notice is to improve the public's awareness of, and participation in, this aspect of FAA's regulatory activities.
GULFSTREAM AMERICAN Model G-73 (Mallard) series airplanes modified in accordance with Supplemental Type Certificate SA2323WE (Docket No. 96-NM- 282-AD) - proposes to require revising the airplane flight manual to prohibit positioning the power levers below the flight idle stop and to provide a statement of consequences of positioning the power levers below the flight idle stop. The proposed AD is prompted by incidents and accidents involving airplanes equipped with turboprop engines in which the propeller beta was used improperly during flight.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT received an order from Regional Air Lines of Morocco for four Beech 1900Ds. The contract was valued at $20 million, including training, spares and publications. Regional Air Lines, based in Casablanca, was established last year to provide commuter air services to Casablanca, Marrakech, Agadir, Fes, Rabat and Tangier. In addition, Raytheon delivered the 500th Beech 1900 to Impulse Airlines. The Sydney, Australia operator now has nine 1900s in service.
Michael L. Meshay, a veteran AlliedSignal Engines executive who has been general manager of the former Textron Lycoming Turbine Engine plant in Stratford, Conn., has been selected to run day-to-day operations at Dornier Luftfahrt, the German company that is developing the 32-passenger 328JET for the regional airline market.
NATIONAL AIRCRAFT SALES ASSOCIATION has been established to represent aircraft dealers and brokers. The new association will provide aircraft sellers "a unified platform for legislative matters as well as being able to participate in seminars, conventions, etc. as a group," said John Forehand, president. The group plans to announce the formation of an advisory board comprising aircraft dealers and brokers that will develop the agenda for the association. The association also will develop a code of ethics for its membership.
Most regional airlines met the March 20 "Commuter Rule" deadline for operating aircraft seating 10 or more passengers under the same rules as the major airlines, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. FAA said 33 of 39 successfully made the transition and the other six carriers, which have a total of 13 aircraft, are continuing to work with FAA to meet the upgraded standards.
KAMAN AEROSPACE delivered a K-Max aerial truck helicopter to Rainier Helicopter Logging, Inc. of Kirkland, Wash. Rainier will use the helicopter for its logging operations in Washington, Oregon, California, Montana and Idaho. The K-Max helicopter first entered service in 1994 and the fleet has since accumulated more than 23,000 hours of operation. The helicopter, designed specifically for repetitive external lift operations, combines intermeshing, counter-rotating main rotors with servo-flap rotor control, eliminating the need for a tail rotor.
SOUTHERN AVIATION TECHNOLOGIES, INC. received FAA repair station certification that covers work on 500 and 600 Series Cessna Citations, Israeli Aircraft Industries 1124 Westwinds and Piper Cheyenne PA-31Ts. The company, based in Orlando, Fla., said it also is one of only three companies in Florida to win certification status from Venezuelan airworthiness authorities, covering work on a wide range of aircraft.
ELLIOT EPSTEIN was promoted to director of system ground services for Eagle Canyon Airlines. Epstein will be responsible for ground and surface transportation for Eagle Canyon Airlines and Eagle Jet Charter.
ADRIA AIRWAYS, the Slovenian carrier, signed an agreement to purchase two Canadair Regional Jet Series 200LR aircraft, plus options for two additional aircraft.
DANIEL MORRIS was appointed division manager for Keystone Helicopter's engineering services/product division, KeyTech. Morris joined the company in 1973 as mechanics assistant and has held positions of increasing responsibility, including his most recent title of manager of engineering.
MIKE BRODERICK was named helicopter program business support manager for Airwork. Broderick, formerly of NAC Helicopter Support Group, will provide sales and technical support to Allison 250 and Pratt&Whitney Canada PT6T Twin Pac operators, owners and service centers.
DASSAULT FALCON JET CORP. appointed Garrett Aviation Services of Augusta, Ga., an authorized Falcon Service Center. The facility is authorized to provide after-sale service and support on all Falcon business jet models, including maintenance and inspection work on the Falcon 20/200, Falcon 50, Falcon 900 and Falcon 2000. Garrett also is authorized to perform heavy maintenance on the Falcon 10/100. The addition of the Augusta facility brings the number of worldwide Falcon authorized service centers to 31.
SIDNEY HURST was named vice president of maintenance for the Eagle Aviation Group. Hurst, who has 24 years of aircraft maintenance experience, will oversee all aspects of aircraft maintenance for Eagle's fleet of Fokker F27, Cessna 207 and Cessna 402 aircraft.
First Equity Corp., Stamford, Conn., said it completed a public offering of First Aviation Services, Inc., which includes National Airmotive Corp. (NAC), of Oakland, Calif., and Aircraft Parts International (API Combs), a Memphis, Tenn., company that had been part of AMR Services.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION and the Professional Aviation Maintenance Association will combine the trade show (exhibit floor) portion of their respective conventions beginning with the 1998 event in Kansas City, Mo. Each organization will have separate educational programs, technical sessions and social functions, independent of one another. Dates for the 1998 event in Kansas City will be announced later.
AERO INTERNATIONAL (REGIONAL) delivered the first two of three ATR 42-320s to Dutch regional Air Exel Commuter. The aircraft will be operated on Air Exel's Maastricht-Amsterdam, Eindhoven-London Heathrow, and Eindhoven- Charles de Gaulle routes.
National Air Transportation Association warned Texas officials that proposals to tax aviation fuel and sales of aircraft parts and repair equipment "would spell the end to many small businesses in Texas that sell fuel, provide maintenance services and operate on-demand air charter services." The state legislature is considering proposals to impose a 10-cents-per-gallon fuel tax and subject parts used in commercial aviation to a sales tax (BA, March 31/142). NATA last week appealed to state officials to "support any effort to block or kill" the new tax proposals.
General Aviation Manufacturers Association urged the Joint Aviation Authorities to adopt a 180-minute extended-range, twin-engine operations (ETOPS) threshold for business jets flown commercially, saying JAA's current proposal for a 120-minute threshold will decrease the margin of safety and be prohibitively costly.
