THE REGIONAL AIRLINE fleet will undergo some dramatic changes over the next few years, according to Michael Boyd of Aviation Systems Research Corporation of Golden, Colo. Boyd's annual Airports: USA forecast predicts that "almost half of all 19-seat turboprops in operation in 1997 will be retired by 2001, and the percentage of small jets (50-125 seats) in U.S.
ALTHOUGH the aviation excise taxes expired last week, some fixed-base operators may continue to collect both aviation gasoline and jet fuel taxes over the next few weeks until they exhaust the fuel in their inventories that was purchased before Jan. 1 and on which taxes were prepaid. At least one FBO chain - AMR Combs - already has discontinued collection of the tax at most locations and reduced its fuel prices accordingly.
The Federal Aviation Administration chose Comsat Mobile Communications to provide satellite communications services for the Wide Area Augmentation System, which is expected to begin operations in December 1998. The contract, worth as much as $100 million if all options are exercised, provides for satellite and uplink services to the National Satellite Test Bed (NSTB) as well as WAAS. It also includes two uplinks for the Functional Verification System, a "mini-WAAS" of five stations for testing purposes, and four uplinks for the operational WAAS.
NEW PIPER PA-31, PA-31P, and PA-31T series airplanes (Docket No. 95- CE-55-AD; Amdt. 39-9837; AD 96-24-13) - supersedes AD 75-26-18, which requires modification of the landing gear selector cable forward attachment pin assembly by installing a safety lock wire. This action corrects an error in the applicability section, which incorrectly designates Model PA- 31 airplanes as PA-31-310 airplanes.
LEDDY GREEVER, 83, a former Beech Aircraft executive who had been active in several industry trade groups, died Dec. 31 in Wichita. Greever spent 37 years at Beech before retiring at the end of 1978. He spent most of his career in sales, and was named vice president-commercial sales in 1956.
ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE appointed Gjon Nivica vice president and general counsel of AlliedSignal Engines and Robert Hibbard vice president and general counsel for marketing, sales and service (MS&S). Nivica previously served as senior counsel for MS&S, while Hibbard was general counsel for the Engines division. They will oversee legal affairs of their new units.
FOKKER Model F27 Mark 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600 and 700 series airplanes (Docket No. 96-NM-80-AD; Amdt. 39-9827; AD 96-24-01) - requires replacement of certain rudder horn assemblies with a new assembly. For certain airplanes, the amendment also requires replacement of certain rudder control rods with a new rod. This amendment is prompted by reports of cracked rudder horns and a cracked rudder control rod, caused by impact overload.
BOEING selected PATS, Inc., Columbia, Md., to design and fabricate the first auxiliary fuel system to be installed in a Boeing 767 aircraft. The system was installed and completed testing in a corporate-configured 767- 200ER at Jet Aviation's Basel, Switzerland facility. The PATS system provides 4,000 (U.S.) additional gallons of fuel that gives the aircraft the ability to fly nonstop from Saudi Arabia to California. PATS President Jack Frost said the system also is suitable for government-operated 767s configured as aerial refueling tankers or for AWACS missions.
Aviation career company AIR, Inc., has purchased the assets of the defunct aviation career company Future Aviation Professionals of America (FAPA), including its toll-free JET-JOBS number and membership list. FAPA was forced out of business Sept. 4 in a dispute with the Internal Revenue Service over back taxes, which led to a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing (BA, Sept. 16/123). The bankruptcy filing was later thrown out in favor of the IRS claim, which exceeded the value of the assets, AIR, Inc. said.
LADS CORPORATION LTD., Adelaide, Australia, will take delivery of a Bombardier de Havilland Dash 8 Series 200B in June and use the aircraft as an airborne platform for a "revolutionary hydrographic survey of shallow coastal waters," according to the manufacturer. The aircraft will be outfitted with Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) specialized shallow- water survey equipment and will be available for service in mid-1998.
BELL/BOEING team developing the V-22 tiltrotor aircraft failed to meet its self-imposed goal of flying the first production-representative Osprey before the end of 1996, and now hopes to begin flight testing this month. "In the build-up process we ran into a few items that we had to fix," said a spokesman for the team. The delay was attributed to several "fairly minor" hardware problems.
KEYSTONE HELICOPTER delivered a Sikorsky S-76A++ to Proveedora de Instrumentos y Equipos, S.A. C.V., of Mexico. Keystone originally purchased the helicopter for its Keystone Medallion refurbishment program. Keystone designed the cabin as a combination corporate/utility interior.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT delivered four Grand Caravans to TACA Group of El Salvador. TACA, the parent group of five airlines operating in Central America, will use the Caravans to replace older turboprop aircraft in its LACSA Airlines subsidiary. Lacsa carrier SANSA, which handles air passengers within Costa Rico, will operate the Caravans. The order brings Lasca's fleet of aircraft to 14.
SINO SWEARINGEN AIRCRAFT COMPANY named Paul D. Bartles vice president of manufacturing. Bartles had been president and general manager of Morrison Knudsen Rail Systems of Argentina, but he previously held senior management posts at Fairchild Aircraft, Shaw Aero Devices and Mooney Aircraft Corp.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION promoted Steven Lofgren to manager, communications. Lofgren joined NATA in December 1994 as specialist, communications and publications. Lofgren is responsible for focusing on the association's national media exposure in addition to NATA's newsletters, NATAnews, Inside Air Charter and Inside Maintenance.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL late last month completed its merger with Berkshire Hathaway (BA, Oct. 21/179). Under the agreement, FlightSafety became a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire and each FlightSafety share was converted into the right to receive either $50 in cash, .001449275 of a share of Berkshire Class A common stock, or 0.043478261 of a share of Berkshire Class B common stock.
A coalition of Grand Canyon air tour operators has retained the services of a Washington, D.C. law firm and expects to seek relief in court this month from new restrictions on Grand Canyon flights announced by Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt.
Despite aviation industry concerns about the potential safety consequences and economic impact, the federal government published regulations Dec. 31 that will double the area around the Grand Canyon where commercial air tour operators will be prohibited from flying, effective May 1. Air tour operators, who have repeatedly complained that the new regulations are overreaching and unnecessary, said they expect to file suit in federal court in Washington before the end of the month to block implementation of the new restrictions. See related article below.
The Department of Transportation Friday temporarily banned air tour operations over Rocky Mountain National Park even though no such activity exists at the park. The final rule comes just three days after the Department of Interior announced new rules to severely curtail air tours over Grand Canyon National Park. The Rocky Mountain rule bans air tours "while the agency works on addressing noise in the national parks system as a whole," DOT said.
MOONEY AIRCRAFT last month rolled out its 100th Ovation single-engine aircraft. The aircraft, powered by a 280-horsepower Continental 550 engine with a cruise speed of 190 knots true air speed, was first delivered in summer of 1994 (BA, Aug. 22, 1994/84). "The Ovation has been one of the most successful new aircraft introductions in our company's history," said Mooney President and CEO Bing Lantis.
LUCAS VARITY said John Grant, group finance director, resigned as a director of the company. Grant was previously group finance director of Lucas Industries. The responsibilities previously assigned to Grant will now be handled by Neil Arnold, who was previously in charge of corporate development, and before that, was chief financial officer of Varity Corp. for six years.
COLTEC INDUSTRIES completed the sale of its Farnam Sealing Systems business, which produces engine, transmission and fuel gaskets, to a subsidiary of Meillor S.A. The Farnam unit had sales of $47 million in 1995. "This transaction completes our exit from the production of systems and components for the automotive original equipment market," said John W.
