TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT Thursday issued a temporary ban on the transportation of oxygen generators as cargo on passenger aircraft. Effective until Jan. 1, 1997, the prohibition applies to all foreign and domestic passenger-carrying aircraft entering, leaving or operating in the U.S. Violation of the ban would be "an extremely serious offense," FAA Administrator David Hinson said, with an assessment of up to $25,000 per violation. A willful violation is subject to criminal penalties of up to five years in prison and/or fines.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT, meanwhile, praised FAA last week for taking "a pretty frightening" One Level of Safety proposal and developing a workable rule that is a "non-event, nonruinous." While some analysts say the rule would result in the demise of the 10- to 19-seat category of aircraft, Raytheon Aircraft Vice President-Airline Sales Mike Scheidt eschewed those predictions, noting strong sales for its 19-seat 1900D twin-turboprop. Scheidt said Raytheon Aircraft is "delivering a lot more airline product" than other regional manufacturers.
AlliedSignal Aerospace signed a maintenance service agreement with AMR Eagle, Inc., valued at more than $8.5 million, to maintain the environmental control systems (ECMs) on Eagle's fleet of 79 ATR 72 and ATR 42 regional aircraft. The Eagle system owns four American Eagle carriers: Flagship, Simmons, Wings West and Executive. The contract calls for AlliedSignal to maintain, repair and overhaul the ECMs on the aircraft, including cooling turbines, pneumatic valves and heat exchangers.
Signature Flight Support, which runs the nation's largest chain of fixed-base operations, said it began the process last week of refunding to its customers a 17.5-cent-per-gallon fuel surcharged that had been collected during the first quarter of the year. The 17.5-cent charge was among a schedule of aviation excise taxes that expired at the end of 1995 when Congress and the White House were unable to reach agreement on an overall federal budget (BA, Jan. 1/1).
JETSTREAM HP137 Mk1, Series 200 and Models 3101 and 3201 airplanes (Docket No. 95-CE-27-AD; Amdt. 39-9443; AD 95-24-13) - corrects the AD published in the Dec. 22 Federal Register, which incorrectly references the number of aileron mounting spigot nut assemblies to be replaced on the wings. The AD requires replacement of the securing nut assemblies and split pins with four new special nut assemblies (Part No. SL5022).
ABU DHABI AVIATION will purchase two de Havilland Dash 8 Q Series 200 aircraft to support the offshore oil industry in the United Arab Emirates. Deliveries of the high performance, 27-passenger aircraft are scheduled for February and March. The operator plans to inaugurate service from Bateen Airport, Abu Dhabi to the offshore oil installations on Das Sirku and Arzana islands. The Series 200 Dash 8s will shuttle oilfield workers between those points.
AERO INTERNATIONAL (REGIONAL) received FAA certification this month for its newest ATR 42 model, the ATR 42-500, and made its first delivery to a U.S. customer, Continental Express. The Continental subsidiary has seven more 42-500s on order, all scheduled for delivery this year, plus options on 12 more. The ATR 42-500 won certification last July from France, Italy and the United Kingdom.
BRENDA RAMOS was appointed international program manager for UNC Airwork. Since 1993, Ramos had been supervisor of maintenance planning for Executive Airlines.
Fairchild Aircraft has reached agreement with Daimler-Benz to buy Dornier in a move that will allow Fairchild to bolster its product line and Daimler-Benz to shave off another piece of its money-losing interests in the aerospace business (BA, April 29/191).
PRECISION STANDARD named Col. Raymond J. Hauck general manager of its Pemco Aeroplex facility in Birmingham, Ala., effective mid-June. Hauck is retiring from the U.S. Air Force after a 26-year career. His last assignment was chief-aircraft production at the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center at Tinker Air Force Base, Okla., where he was responsible for depot- level repair, overhaul and maintenance of a variety of military aircraft, including the B-1 and B-52.
GEC-Marconi Systems agreed last week to acquire electronics and communications specialist Hazeltine Corp. from parent ESCO Electronics Corp., GEC-Marconi Systems said, and closing is expected within the next two to three months. GEC-Marconi Systems President and Chief Executive Mark H. Ronald said in a prepared statement that "this new relationship" between the two complementary companies "will facilitate growth opportunities for the benefit of both companies." No projected financial terms were disclosed.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT said Mesa Air Group will take delivery of its 100th Beech 1900D. The launch customer for the model, Mesa took delivery of the first 1900D in December 1991. Mesa initially ordered 58 of the aircraft, later increasing that order to 78 and then again to 118. Mesa, the largest 1900D operator, flies each of the 19-seat twin turboprops an average of 250 hours per month.
ALLIEDSIGNAL AEROSPACE'S RE220 auxiliary power unit (APU) won technical standard order authorization from FAA, the company said. The RE220 was selected as standard equipment on the Bombardier Global Express and Gulfstream G-V business jets. The new APUs have accumulated more than 3,150 hours of testing and 6,200 starts, including 30 at temperatures below 40 degrees F.
THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION, a prominent proponent of Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) user-fee funded FAA reform legislation, now appears willing to compromise since the McCain bill seems to have stalled - at least for this year. Assistant DOT Secretary for Governmental Affairs Steve Palmer said last week the administration is hoping to find a middle ground acceptable to various users while FAA financing is studied.
WIRE AND CABLE MANUFACTURER A.E. Petsche Company signed a long-term agreement as an exclusive supplier to Gulfstream Aerospace. The company, headquartered in Arlington, Texas, said its "Zero-Base" inventory program, which it described as an expanded Just-In-Time system, will permit Gulfstream to reduce in-house inventories and assure consistent material flow to production areas.
SOCATA AIRCRAFT, the North American subsidiary of Socata Group Aerospatiale, appointed Scott Straus sales director. Straus, most recently an aviation sales and marketing consultant, formerly served on the TBM North America sales team. In his new position, Straus will be responsible for developing markets for the TBM 700 as well as the Socata piston-engine line of aircraft.
GLOBAL HELICOPTER TECHNOLOGY was selected by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) of India to head a consulting study on HAL's Advanced Light Helicopter. Global will survey and establish market demand for military and civil versions of the helicopter over the next 15 years, conduct a production readiness review and develop financial models addressing costs, production alliances, joint ventures and return on investment. Global will team with A.T. Kearney and Coopers&Lybrand in its study.
DE HAVILLAND Model DHC-3 airplanes (Docket No. 95-CE-47-AD; Amdt. 39- 9578; AD 96-09-04) - supersedes AD 90-12-08, which requires repetitive dye penetrant inspections of the tailplane main rib forward flanges and the main rib forward lower flanges at the tailplane front attachment fitting for cracks and repair of any cracked flange. This AD action will retain the repetitive inspections and will allow a certain modification as terminating action for the inspections.
EXECUTIVE JET AVIATION confirmed that it expects to take delivery of seven more Cessna Citation V Ultra business jets for the company's NetJets fractional ownership program before the end of the year (BA, May 13/215). "The aircraft has been all we have imagined it would be," said Richard Santulli, EJA's owner. "As our NetJets Citation S/II owners have been exposed to the aircraft, more and more owners have opted to upgrade to the Citation V Ultra. At the same time, the demand for the Citation S/II continues to be strong."
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, which received flexibility from Congress last month for exempting Alaskan operators from certain regulations, will "certainly consider it" as the agency writes the final flight and duty time rule, FAA's Kathy Hakala said last week. While the congressional language was written in response to concerns about FAA's One Level of Safety Rule for Part 135/121 operators (BA, April 29/191), Hakala added that the provision is not a blanket exemption from the rule.
TWO FIRMS engaged in producing computational fluid dynamics software are joining forces. Aavid Thermal Technologies said its subsidiary, Fluent, Inc., purchased Fluid Dynamics International, Inc. of Evanston, Ill. Fluent, which describes itself as the "world's leading developer of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) software," said FDI "is the second largest CFD software vendor in the world." Fluent is headquartered in Lebanon, N.H., and its European operations are based in Sheffield, England. FDI was established in 1983 and has operations in France and Germany.
BASSETT COMMUNICATIONS, Ellicott City, Md., won a 1996 Telly Award for a video showcasing the Grand Canyon and federal regulations governing Grand Canyon air tour flights. The video, produced for the United States Air Tour Association, was designed to show that current flight regulations - SFAR 50-2 - over the Grand Canyon are effective and have reduced the noise impact on park visitors. The Tellys were founded in 1980 by a Cincinnati, Ohio organization to showcase and give recognition to non-network television, cable TV, film and video productions.
Pampas Air is the South American launch customer for the Canadair Regional Jet, placing an order for four of the 50-passenger airliners. The airline, based in Cordoba, Argentina, plans to serve a number of domestic locations with the new aircraft, including Mendoza, Salta, Neu-quen and Jujuy. Canadair said the order is valued at approximately $80 million (U.S.).
THE AVIATION DIVISION of the Texas Department of Transportation presented its 1996 Career Contribution to Aviation Award to Ed Swearingen, chairman of Sino Swearingen Aircraft Company. Swearingen was cited for his many design and manufacturing initiatives, including developing the Merlin and Metro turboprops and the SJ-30 business jet.
