IN CASE YOU HAD ANY DOUBT, the price for Cessna Aircraft's new production piston-powered aircraft will be in excess of $100,000. Cessna Chairman Russ Meyer told BA Wednesday that detailed pricing information will be announced "soon," but in response to a question about whether the price will be five or six digits, he said it would definitely be the latter. We're good, Meyer added, "but we can't walk on water."
BEECH Model 400, 400A, MU-300-10 and 2000 airplanes and Model 200, B200, 300 and B300 series airplanes (Docket No. 95-NM-255-AD) - proposes to require replacement of outflow/safety valves with serviceable valves. This proposal is prompted by a report of cracking and subsequent failure of outflow safety valves in the pressurization system. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent such cracking and subsequent failure of the outflow/safety valves, which could result in rapid decompression of the airplane.
TXI AVIATION, INC., Dallas, Texas, made a number of changes to expand its customer and sales service organization. The company appointed J. Philip Jordan, who has 10 years of general aviation industry experience, national director of sales and marketing. In addition, TXI named Vahan Khoyan managing director for the Eastern U.S. and Europe and Jeremy Cox sales and marketing coordinator for the Western U.S. Steve Hall was named director of maintenance and Ron Kershner director of technical services.
RICHARD FRAZITA was appointed vice president-engineering, command systems for Telephonics Corp. Frazita previously was program manager and engineering director for Hazeltine Corp. and vice president-engineering for General Microwave Corp.
AERODYNAMICS INC., based at Oakland County International Airport in Waterford, Mich., purchased its fifth 25,000-square-foot corporate hangar. ADI manages nine corporate airplanes on Part 135 certificates in addition to providing new interiors and maintenance on Gulfstreams.
WADE WALLACE was promoted to airline division account manager for the Central U.S. for AVSCO. Wallace previously served as branch manager for AVSCO's Dallas customer service center.
Textron named David G. Assard, president and chief operating officer of Cessna Aircraft since late last year, to head Textron Lycoming, its Williamsport, Pa.-based piston engine manufacturer. In moving to Williamsport, Assard, 62, will succeed Phil Boob, the veteran general aviation executive who has headed the company since the mid-1980s. Textron said Boob will become a consultant to the company, reporting to Terry D. Stinson, president of Textron Aerospace Systems and Components.
FLIGHT VISIONS, INC., Sugar Grove, Ill., said FAA is in the final stages of certifying the company's FV-2000 head-up display for use in a Canadair Challenger 601-3A. The installation was completed in November by K-C Aviation in Dallas, Texas. FAA certification is expected next month.
ATLANTIC AVIATION is phasing out major aircraft maintenance activities at its Hobby Airport base in Houston, Texas, and said it will consolidate such work at its Wilmington, Del. headquarters.
GARRETT AVIATION SERVICES will hold its 1996 Total Aircraft Service Workshops June 20-22 at five locations - Destin, Fla., Rye Brook, N.Y., Lake Geneva, Wis., Corpus Christi, Texas and San Diego, Calif. The workshops will provide information about turbine-engine repair and overhaul, turbine-powered airframe maintenance, avionics service and installation, interior refurbishing and exterior paint, aircraft modifications and engine retrofit and engine and aircraft spare parts. AlliedSignal and other OEM executives will participate in the workshop discussions.
SHORT BROTHERS PLC, the Belfast, Northern Ireland-based aerospace manufacturer owned by Bombardier, decided to retain its ownership of Belfast City Airport and invest in the development of the facility. The company had tried unsuccessfully for a number of months to sell the airport, Belfast's secondary airport.
TELEPHONICS CORP. was awarded a contract to manufacture and install an air traffic control system for an air route traffic control center in southeastern China. The ATC center, located in Guangzhou, will be the first fully automated civil ATC area control system in China. The system will include Telephonics' multi-radar fusion tracking system and an integrated flight data processing system. The system will interface with air traffic control displays that can track up to 1,000 aircraft within a 1,000-square-mile area.
SRINIVASAN SHANKAR joined Sermatech International as vice president of turbine services marketing. Shankar, former business center manager at Turbine Components Corp., will be responsible for marketing Sermatech's protective coatings and repairs used in hot sections.
Cessna Aircraft appointed Tom Zimmerman, Donald Perry and Michael Kolman to executive sales positions. Zimmerman, who will be based in San Diego, Calif., was appointed regional sales manager for the company's line of Citation business jets. Zimmerman, who most recently sold Learjets in the Western U.S., sold Citations in the Southwest from 1990-92 and various Cessna turboprop and propeller aircraft from 1977-86. He also held a sales post with Mooney Aircraft from 1986-90.
AERO INSURANCE, Dallas, Texas, and AirSure Ltd., Denver, Colo. and Philadelphia, Pa., acquired Berlow Aviation Insurance of Hasbrouck Heights, N.J. from Atlantic Aviation. An Atlantic Aviation spokesman said the company originally entered the insurance business to support its aircraft distribution activities, but decided to sell its stake in Berlow since it is no longer engaged in aircraft distribution. Under the agreement, Aero Insurance bought the Berlow stock from Atlantic Aviation and AirSure acquired certain policy owners.
The National Business Aircraft Association dropped plans to hold the association's 51st annual convention in Anaheim, Calif. in 1998 and now plans to stage the event in Las Vegas, Nev., the site of the 1995 convention. The association said the decision to drop Anaheim in favor of Las Vegas resulted from construction work scheduled for the Orange County Convention Center in Anaheim during the fall of 1998. The change in venue also forced a change in dates for the 1998 event. The show is now scheduled for Oct. 19-21 instead of Oct.
THE NEW PIPER AIRCRAFT CORP., "reconfirming its commitment to its European customers," will hold its first international distributors meeting in six years in Berlin in conjunction with this week's ILA-Berlin airshow and exhibition. The Vero Beach, Fla.-based manufacturer said its executive and senior staff will attend the German show where Piper and its German distributor, Piper Generalvertretung Deutschland, will have both an aircraft static display and an indoor exhibition.
MILLER AVIATION was selected to provided its Fixed-Base Operator Management Information System (FBO.MIS) for Des Moines Flying Service. DMFS will use the system to support its aircraft sales and management, avionics and instrument repair and sales and Part 145 repair station services. Miller Aviation's FBO.MIS performs financial accounting functions, automated point of sale invoicing, inventory and maintenance management, along with a range of other FBO-specific functions.
AMR CORP. management is "quite enthusiastic" about the potential to change the funding mechanism of the nation's air traffic control system to a user fee system and "a potentially large cut in costs may lie over the horizon," predicts Donaldson, Lufkin&Jenrette Securities Corp. of New York in an analysis it prepared about American.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION is preparing an environmental impact statement for a proposed extension for Runway 9R-27L at Ft. Lauderdale- Hollywood, Fla. International Airport. The extension would lengthen the 5,276-foot runway to 9,000 feet. For more information, contact Bart Vernace at (407) 648-6583.
EXECUTIVE JET, INC., which took delivery of 33 business jets in the past 12 months, plans to add 13 more to its fleet by the end of 1996, and "that's not enough" to satisfy demand, said a spokesman. The company, which recently reached the 400-customer mark with the addition of 170 new NetJets fractional share owners in the past year, added 21 Cessna Citation V Ultras, six Gulfstream IVs and six Raytheon Hawker 1000s since April 1995.
Mercury Air Group, Inc. reported net income for the nine months ended March 31 was up nine percent to $3.5 million while revenues jumped 22 percent to a record $164.5 million. For the most recent quarter, Mercury reported net earnings of $877,000, compared with income of just over $1 million for the same period last year. Third-quarter revenues were up 15 percent to $57.2 million.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL installed a full-scale cabin fuselage training environment in its Atlanta, Ga., training center to train flight attendant and flight personnel to manage emergency evacuations and other onboard contingencies in flight and on the ground. FSI said the cabin and door/hatch trainer is 40 feet long and the proper height to simulate a variety of training scenarios, from smoke-filled cabin to emergency exit operation in darkness and cabin depressurization.
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS CORP. named Andrew W. Quinn regional vice president for product support for MDC China. Quinn, who will be stationed in Beijing, will be responsible for all aspects of product support and field service for McDonnell Douglas' commercial aircraft in China.
A veteran fixed-base operator is marketing a new customer gift certificate program designed to increase fuel sales by independent FBOs. Larry Ulrich, who founded the Denver JetCenter and remains associated with the company, said the Jet Service Associated FBO Network (JetServ) program is designed for independent FBOs who want to compete effectively against other FBOs on the same airport-including facilities operated by FBO chains that lure customers by offering systemwide fuel discount plans.
