UNC INTERNATIONAL opened a Hot Section Shop in Sorocaba, Brazil. Don DaCosta will oversee the shop, which primarily will repair and maintain Pratt&Whitney Canada engines, including PT6A, JT15D and PT6T.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION is soliciting proposals for grants and cooperative agreements that address short- and long-term technical needs of the national airspace system. For more information or application materials, contact Grants Officer, AAR-201, Office of Research and Technology Applications, FAA Technical Center, Building 270, Room B115, Atlantic City International Airport, N.J. 08405; telephone (609) 487-8410; fax (609) 485-6509.
AMERICAN AIRLINES will spend $44 million to install Honeywell-Trimble HT- 9100 Global Positioning System (GPS) navigational systems on 360 of its Boeing 727 and McDonnell Douglas DC-10 and MD-80 series aircraft. The GPS units will replace OMEGA ground-based navigational systems used on about half of American's 650-aircraft fleet. American noted that the Transportation Department has announced plans to eliminate funding for the OMEGA system as of Sept. 30, 1997.
Learjet President Jim Robinson, who replaced Brian Barents as head of the Wichita manufacturer earlier this year (BA, Jan. 29/41), abruptly replaced the company's top marketing executive 10 days ago. In response to a question from BA, Learjet spokesman Jeff Miller confirmed that Ted Farid, vice president of marketing and sales for the past five years, was no longer with the company. Farid's replacement is Roger D. Sperry, who joined Learjet in 1992. Miller said the change was effective April 5.
FAA will prepare an Environmental Impact Statement for a proposed extension of Runway 9L-27R to 10,000 feet at Palm Beach, Fla. International Airport. The runway, currently 7,989 feet long, accommodates all aircraft at the airport, FAA said, but added that a runway extension is needed to allow the existing commercial fleet to serve long-stage domestic and international markets. Plans also call for extension of the existing parallel and connecting taxiways. For more information, contact Bart Varnace in FAA's Orlando Airports District Office at (407) 648-6583.
THIOKOL CORP. will move its Huck International subsidiary headquarters from Irvine, Calif., to existing manufacturing facilities in Tucson, Ariz. Forty-eight employees, including those working in the company's research and development functions, will be affected by the relocation, slated to be complete by July 31. The R&D functions at Irvine represent about one-third of the total work force. Those positions will be transferred to Huck's Carson, Calif., plant.
Connecticut transportation officials are seeking proposals for construction and operation of a second fixed-base operation, a corporate hangar and/or T-hangars at Waterbury-Oxford Airport. The request for proposals also calls for construction of taxi lanes and automobile parking with associated roadways. The airport currently is served by Keystone Aviation Services. State officials said the RFP is part of an effort to expand services at the airport. Proposals should be sent to: Connecticut DOT, Bureau of Aviation and Ports, Leasing Unit, Room 2222, P.O.
RUDI LENZ was appointed finance excellence leader for AlliedSignal Aerospace. Lenz will be responsible for process improvements in financial reporting and will share responsibility for the company's financial systems strategy.
MILLION AIR TETERBORO received FAA approval as a certified repair station for maintenance on Cessna 500 and 600 series, Gulfstream 1159 series and Learjet 20, 30, 50 and 60 series aircraft.
THOMAS GLENN was named director, inventory/total quality/systems for AlliedSignal Aerospace. Glenn will be responsible for improving inventory management processes.
BFGOODRICH AEROSPACE acquired a 140,000-square-foot building next to its Pueblo, Colo. carbon brake disk production facility, enabling the company to nearly double its floor space. BFGoodrich plans to expand its manufacturing, R&D and quality control departments with the additional space. The Carbon Products operation manufactures carbon brake materials for business, regional, commercial and military aircraft.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION proposed special conditions for Cessna Model 750 (Citation X) airplanes. FAA, noting the aircraft will incorporate "novel and unusual design features" including its electronic rudder flight control system, said the proposed special conditions will provide additional safety standards to "establish a level of safety equivalent to that provided by the airworthiness standards of Part 25." For more information, contact Mark Quam at (206) 227-2145.
JET SUPPORT CORPORATION, General Aviation Technologies and Universal Asset Management have acquired a Boeing 727 inventory from USAir. The inventory, which includes more than 9,000 line items, was valued at $40 million. Jet Support Corp. of Seattle, Wash., will stock, m8aintain and market the inventory.
AIR EXPRESS, the regional carrier based in Norrkoping, Sweden, recently added a Beech 1900D to its fleet. The carrier, which also operates Beech King Air 200s and 300s, flies on routes extending from Norrkoping, Visby and Stockholm-Arlanda in Sweden to Riga in Latvia and Tallinn in Estonia. Air Express holds an option for a second 1900D.
FOKKER Model F27 Mark 050 and F28 Mark 0100 series airplanes (Docket No. 95-NM-70-AD; Amdt. 39-9553; AD 96-07-04) - requires an inspection to verify that adequate clearance exists between the insulation screen and the two adjacent terminal bolts, and replacement of the circuit breaker terminal bolts with new bolts, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by a report that circuit breaker terminal bolts that were too long were discovered installed in the circuit breaker panels.
MILLION AIR DALLAS added a Hawker 800 and two Gulfstream III aircraft to its charter operations, increasing its fleet to 13 aircraft. The company now operates five Gulfstreams, two Falcon 20s, the Hawker 800, four Learjets and a King Air. The majority of the aircraft are based at Addison Airport in Texas, with a Gulfstream operating out of Houston and a Falcon out of Chicago.
GTE won a new $20 million contract from FAA to continue operating the Direct User Access Terminal Service, which gives pilots around-the-clock computer access to weather and flight planning information.
Flight Center, which acquired the former Flightcraft fixed-base operation at Seattle's Boeing Field a year ago (BA, April 24/172), is nearing completion of a series of renovations at the facility and is forming an aircraft sales operation.
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING AND MATERIALS issued a call for papers for its Eighth International Symposium on Flammability and Sensitivity of Materials in Oxygen-Enriched Atmospheres. The symposium will be held Nov. 13-14, 1997, in San Diego, Calif. ASTM said prospective authors must submit three copies of a 250-300 word abstract and paper submittal form by June 28. For more information, contact William Royals, Pratt&Whitney, MS 717-40, P.O. Box 109600, West Palm Beach, Fla. 33410-9600; telephone (407) 796-1732; fax: (407) 796-1273.
Charter and jet management firm DB Aviation, which six months ago entered the fixed-base operation business with the purchase of Waukegan Airport-based Trans-Air FBO and Byrne Avionics, has completed yet another acquisition of an FBO at the airport, Waukegan Aero. The latest acquisition makes DB Aviation the only remaining FBO facility at Waukegan Airport and one of the largest in the Chicago area, officials said.
SECURAPLANE received FAA parts manufacturer approval (PMA) for the installation of its XL246-A Emergency Battery System aboard Canadair Challenger 601-3A and 601-3R aircraft. Canadair issued an optional service bulletin for the installation of the XL246-A sealed lead acid dry cell batteries as a direct replacement for the existing emergency battery systems, Securaplane said. Securaplane also is in the process of obtaining PMAs for the system on Gulfstream III and Falcon 50 aircraft.
CANADIAN AIRLINE INVESTMENT 96, a major aircraft and airline finance conference, will be held June 10-11 in Toronto, Ontario. Topics scheduled for discussion include: How the Canadian aircraft finance market is changing; How "Open Skies" is affecting the market; specific operator needs for fleet planning and replacement; and, key issues affecting the value of aircraft. For more information, call (416) 777-1242.
FLIGHT DYNAMICS, Portland, Ore., won an order for 60 Head-Up Guidance Systems from United Parcel Service for its fleet of Boeing 727 aircraft. The HGS will permit UPS pilots to land in visibility as low as 700 feet and to take off when visibility is as low as 300 feet. The UPS order pushes total Flight Dynamics HGS sales to more than 700 units to a wide range of customers including package carriers, major airlines, corporate and regional operators and military transport commands.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL named Harry Houckes assistant manager of its Savannah, Ga., learning center and Gaylon Chamberlain director of standards at its Cessna Citation center in Wichita. Houckes previously spent 20 years with Mobil Oil Corp. in various flight-group management and piloting positions, including chief pilot and aviation manager of the Dallas-based Mobil fleet. Most recently he was manager of worldwide flight operations for the Mobil air fleet from its Fairfax, Va., base.
