THE CITY AND COUNTY of Alameda, Calif., won conditional designation as a Local Area Military Base Recovery Area (LAMBRA) from the California Trade and Commerce Agency. The designation provides a series of incentives designed to lure private sector investment as part of the process of finding new uses for Alameda Naval Air Station. Businesses locating in a LAMBRA zone are eligible for tax credits, expeditious permit processing and local incentives.
THE WHITE HOUSE wants to submit its entire fiscal 1998 budget proposal to Congress a week late. Budget submission is scheduled for the first Monday in February, Feb. 3, but the White House told Congress it would like to submit the budget Feb. 10 - after the Feb. 5 State of the Union address.
DORNIER Model 328-100 airplanes (Docket No. 96-NM-116-AD) - proposes to require a one-time check of the clearance between certain braces that connect the wings to the fuselage and the frame to which the top fairing is attached; and modification of the frame's Z-profile if the clearance is insufficient to prevent the braces from coming in contact with the frame.
AEROSPACE TECHNOLOGIES OF AUSTRALIA Nomad Models N22S, N22B and N24A airplanes (Docket No. 95-CE-31-AD) - proposes to supersede AD 82-25-09, which requires repetitive inspections of the pilot and co-pilot control wheel sub-assemblies for cracks and modification of cracked parts. The proposal would retain the repetitive inspections, but would include a modification that would terminate the inspections by replacement or reworking the control wheel subassembly with an improved part.
WARREN BOIN, senior vice president of marketing for Signature Flight Support, left the company Jan. 9. Boin, a veteran of the fixed-base business, had been vice president of sales and marketing for Butler Aviation when the Butler and Page Avjet chains were merged to form Signature four years ago (BA, Sept. 28, 1992/125). No successor was immediately named to take over Boin's duties at Signature's Orlando, Fla. headquarters.
FORMER SEN. Sam Nunn is joining the Center for Strategic and International Studies as a counselor and member of the board of trustees. Nunn, a former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will have an office in CSIS/ Washington headquarters.
BELL Model 214B, 214B-1 and 214ST helicopters (Docket No. 94-SW-29-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that establishes a retirement life of 60,000 high-power events for the main rotor trunnion.
AEROSPATIALE Model ATR-72 series airplanes (Docket No. 96-NM-140-AD; Amdt. 39-9836; AD 96-24-12) - requires modification of the pitch uncoupling mechanism of both elevators. This amendment is prompted by reports of fatigue cracking of the pitch uncoupling mechanism and the torque tube of the elevator. Failure of the pitch uncoupling mechanism due to fatigue cracking could result in the uncommanded uncoupling of the elevators. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent such fatigue cracking and subsequent uncommanded uncoupling of the elevators.
ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE completed the purchase of the remaining 17 percent of Societe D'Etudes et de Constructions Aero-Navales (SECAN), Europe's largest supplier of aircraft heat exchangers.
Mercury Air Group, the fixed-base chain headquartered in Los Angeles, continued its expansion plans with the purchase of Wofford Flying Service, Inc., which it described as "the largest fixed-base operator at the Fresno Yosemite International Airport in Fresno, Calif." The Fresno FBO, the 12th location in the Mercury chain, includes one million square feet of ramp space, an executive terminal, 60,000 square feet of hangar space, 108 individual aircraft storage hangars, 40,000 square feet of commercial office space and a fuel farm, all on a 40-acre tract at the airport.
Cessna Chairman and Chief Executive Russ Meyer, whose retirement from the company had been anticipated in July, will continue with Cessna through 1999, he told BA last week. More than a year ago Meyer announced several executive appointments at Cessna - including the promotion of Gary Hay to the new post of vice chairman - in a move that was widely seen as setting the stage for an orderly succession in the top management ranks (BA, Dec. 11, 1995/251).
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-Ariz.), who last week officially was named Senate Commerce Committee chairman, listed product liability reform as well as "cleaning up" waste and duplication at the Transportation and Commerce Departments among his top priorities in this Congress.McCain, former chairman of the aviation subcommittee, also will oversee confirmation hearings for the nomination of Federal Highway Administrator Rodney Slater as Transportation Secretary and tackle the controversial issue of FAA funding reform.
KEN ARLEN, 45, vice president and chief financial officer of Stead Aviation, Manchester, N.H., died at his home Jan. 4. Arlen began his aviation career with the U.S. Air Force in 1976, flying KC-135s. After leaving the service he flew as a corporate pilot until joining Stead in 1984, where he had been instrumental in the growth of the company in recent years. He is survived by his wife and one child.
Federal Aviation Administration this month directed owners and operators of Textron Lycoming reciprocating engines to inspect for and remove defective piston pins. The emergency action could apply to up to 7,000 Lycoming engines serviced after Dec. 15, 1995 and requires replacement of the pins before reaching 50 hours time in service since the last engine overhaul or within the next five hours TIS if the engines already have accrued more than 45 hours since overhaul.
UNIVERSAL AVIONICS SYSTEMS CORP. used its corporate jet last month to make the first transoceanic flight using combined Global Positioning System and Glonass satellite navigation technology. An Ashtech GG24 GPS and Glonass receiver board, packaged in a 1MCU sensor feeding into Universal's UNS-1D flight management system, was used on the Bombardier Challenger aircraft in a seven-hour, 10-minute flight from Shannon, Ireland to Teterboro, N.J.
JET AVIATION named Jamie Barrett vice president of sales and marketing. Barrett, who was vice president-sales and marketing for the past 15 years for Corporate Jets, will oversee Jet Aviation's sales and marketing efforts in North and South America. He is a commercial pilot with more than 3,500 flight hours and is rated on the Learjet.
JETSTREAM HP137 Mk1, series 200 and Models 3101 and 3201 airplanes (Docket No. 95-CE-44-AD) - proposes to revise an earlier proposal that would have required repetitive inspection of the main landing gear pintle- to-cylinder interface for cracks and replacement of any cracked cylinder.
The Federal Aviation Administration plans to phase out the vast majority of air tour aircraft currently operating over Grand Canyon National Park with its proposal to allow only the quietest aircraft to provide tours after 2008. FAA, which published the proposal simultaneously with its final rules to severely curtail air tour operations over the Grand Canyon (BA, Jan. 6/1), said the proposal is intended to provide an "incentive" for air tour operators to use quieter technology and reduce noise over the park.
MIKE POTTS, a veteran public relations and communications specialist, will join Sino-Swearingen Aircraft Corp. (SSAC) this month as director of corporate communications. Potts, who joined Beech Aircraft in mid-1979, has handled public relations, internal communications and speech writing assignments for the Wichita manufacturer, which was later acquired by Raytheon. Potts was operations director at Empire Airlines before joining Beech. He is a commercial pilot with more than 2,000 hours who holds multi-engine and instrument ratings.
DREXEL SMITH was promoted to vice president, program development at Wyle Laboratories. Smith is responsible for marketing and communications, strategic planning and new business development. He joined the company 25 years ago at its Norco, Calif. facility overseeing contracts administration and has held positions of increasing responsibility.
FRED B. PARKS resigned as president and chief operating officer of EG&G, Inc., the Wellesley, Mass.-based technology company whose customers include the aerospace industry. Announcement of his pending departure came Thursday, just one day before his resignation became effective. He joined EG&G in 1976 and held several positions in technical and executive management. As executive vice president and later president, he had overall responsibility for the products and services provided by EG&G business segments.
The Federal Aviation Administration issued new restrictions on air tour flights at the Grand Canyon despite a number of issues - including safety considerations - raised by two key House subcommittee chairmen.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION is maintaining its required minimum percentage rate for randomly testing employees in safety-sensitive positions for drugs and alcohol at 25 percent for 1997. The agency, required to annually evaluate the number of violations found through random drug and alcohol testing, has the authority to raise or lower the random testing alcohol test rate and raise the random drug testing rates according to industry results. FAA reported a 1995 violation rate for alcohol at 0.06 percent and .69 percent for drugs.
