SOCATA AIRCRAFT is establishing a TBM Owners Association for owners and operators of the TBM 700 single-turboprop utility aircraft. Socata plans to hold the first meeting of the association next spring.
MERCURY AIR GROUP, Los Angeles, Calif., said its board of directors authorized management to repurchase $2 million of the company's Common Stock on the open market. Mercury is traded on the American Stock Exchange.
RANDALL WOOD was appointed chief pilot of air carrier operations for Atlantic Aviation Flight Services. Wood has 15 years of charter experience and has served as the director of flight operations for two New Jersey- based charter operators.
BRENDA BONNELLY was named account executive for Aero Insurance, Inc. Bonnelly, who served with several international companies in Panama and the Dominican Republic, has more than 15 years of aviation insurance underwriting experience.
Boeing agreed to buy Rockwell International's defense and aerospace operations for about $3 billion in what it hopes will be a tax-free deal closing in November. Rockwell will spin off the businesses and their 21,000-strong workforce into a new company, which Boeing will then acquire and rename Boeing North American Inc., operating as a wholly owned subsidiary that reports to Boeing Defense & Space Group President Jerry King. Boeing will pay for the deal by issuing stock and assuming the Rockwell units' debt.
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.
The Federal Aviation Administration's proposal to nearly double the amount of restricted airspace over the Grand Canyon for sightseeing flights "spells air disaster," according to air tour operators, who urged the administration to abandon the "ill-advised" proposal.
SECURAPLANE, Tucson, Ariz., received FAA parts manufacturer approval for the XL246-A emergency battery system aboard Gulfstream III aircraft. The system includes sealed lead acid dry cell batteries, which require no maintenance. Securaplane said it also is in the process of obtaining PMA approval for the system on Dassault Falcon 50 aircraft.
ARTAIS WEATHER CHECK, Plain City, Ohio, and Vaisala Inc., Woburn, Mass., merged to form the Artais Division of Vaisala, based in Plain City. Artais uses Vaisala sensors in its FAA-certified Automated Weather Observing Systems, which have been installed at more than 300 airports. Artais President Charles Shankin will be director of the new Artais division.
FAA has found no significant environmental impact with the proposed construction and operation of the Wide Area Augmentation System. WAAS will augment existing Department of Defense Global Positioning System navigational information for civil aviation use. It will encompass a nationwide system of hardware and software and four transmitting antenna sites known as ground earth stations. FAA published the findings of its environmental assessment of the system in the July 18 Federal Register.
"NEVER AGAIN" should the secretary of transportation or the FAA administrator speak for the federal government at an accident site, Anthony Broderick, the former FAA associate administrator for regulation and certification, said last week. Broderick called that one of the lessons learned from the May 11 ValuJet accident. "It is inappropriate for the secretary of transportation to be the spokesperson...There is an entire federal agency there for that [the National Transportation Safety Board]," he said. See article below.
COLLINS AIR TRANSPORT DIVISION opened a field service office in Dubai to service customers in the Middle East. The office is located in the Dubai World Trade Centre, P.O. Box 9204, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Customers can contact Dubai center Manager Mark Gibbins at 971-4-313712.
INVENTORY LOCATOR SERVICE (ILS) is offering access through the Internet to its data base of stolen aircraft parts information. ILS, estimating that the value of stolen parts reaches $500 million annually, created the data base in 1989. The data base contains nearly 7,000 items that can be searched using part and serial numbers. The data base can be accessed through the ILS Internet server at http://www.goils.com.
ERA AVIATION, Anchorage, Alaska, added a 50-seat Convair 580 and an 18-seat de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter to its fleet. The aircraft, based in Anchorage, will be used for Era's charter and scheduled service. The aircraft bring Era's fleet of Convairs to five and Twin Otters to 10. Era also operates two de Havilland Dash 8s in scheduled service.
RAISBECK ENGINEERING added Aerodynamics Inc., based at Oakland/Pontiac International Airport in Southeast Michigan, to its dealer network. Aerodynamics will sell, install and service Raisbeck Performance Improvement Systems for the Beech King Air product line.
AIRPORT GROUP INTERNATIONAL, the former Lockheed Air Terminal, added three new strategic investors - DFS Group Limited, SunAmerica Inc. and United Infrastructure Company - and named Patrick Cowell president and chief executive officer. Cowell most recently was president and CEO of Sun International-Americas and Caribbean, a Bahamas-based resort company. Lockheed Martin and Soros Capital, which previously owned AGI jointly, each gave up 7.5 percent of the company.
AL KRUSZ was appointed director of Gulfstream maintenance training worldwide for FlightSafety International. Krusz, who previously managed FlightSafety's Savannah center, also has served with Atlantic Aviation, AMR/Combs and Tenneco.
LITTON INDUSTRIES appointed Timothy Westover president of its Litton Systems Canada Limited subsidiary in Etobicoke, Ontario. Westover succeeds Thomas McGuigan, who resigned to pursue other interests. He joined Litton in 1990 after serving in the U.S. Air Force for 26 years and most recently was vice president of business management at Litton Laser Systems division in Apopka, Fla.
SHORT BROTHERS Model SD3-60 SHERPA series airplanes (Docket No. 96-NM- 122-AD) - proposes to require revising the airplane flight manual to provide the flight crew with recognition cues for, and procedures for exiting from, severe icing conditions and to limit or prohibit the use of various flight control devices. This proposal is prompted by a review of the requirements for certification of the airplane in icing conditions, new information on the icing environment and icing data provided currently to the flight crews.
ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE received FAA certification and began delivery of its new Bendix/King KLN 900 global positioning system for business aircraft. The unit interfaces with many analog and digital electronic systems found on business jets and turboprops, AlliedSignal said, making it "an ideal solution" for a company flight department that does not want to invest in a flight management system. The KLN 900 is certified for use under instrument flight rules, including en route and terminal navigation and non-precision GPS instrument approaches.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION issued special conditions for Cessna Model 500, 550 and S550 airplanes modified by Columbia Avionics, Inc. FAA said the modifications involve new avionics/electronic systems such as an electronic flight information system and applicable regulations are not adequate to cover the protection of the systems from the effects of high- intensity radiated fields. For more information, contact Mark Quam in FAA's Standardization Branch at (206) 227-2145.
CORNELIUS VAN DEN HANDEL was named treasurer and director of planning for Aviall. Van Den Handel, previously director of financial planning and analysis for Aviall, will be responsible for treasury, investor relations, risk management, credit, financial planning and financial analysis.
AIR MALTA ordered three RJ85 airliners for its new Italian airline operation, AZZURRAair. Aero International (Regional) said AZZURRAair will take delivery of the first two aircraft in November and December and provide service from Bergamo Airport in Milan to Cologne, Geneva, Rome and Zurich. The third aircraft will be delivered by April.
The Federal Aviation Administration will hold an on-line computer "discussion" early next month about its concept for a Global Analysis and Information Network (GAIN) to collect and analyze safety data. The agency published a request for comments about GAIN in May and received some 60 comments before the comment period closed July 19.
