Cessna Aircraft, which has long offered Collins Pro Line radios as standard on its Citation business jet line, is switching to the Honeywell Primus II system as standard equipment, but will continue to offer the Collins product to customers who request it. The Honeywell Primus II system now will be the standard radio installation on the Citation Ultra, Excel, Citation VII and Citation X. The CitationJet and Citation Bravo will continue to be equipped with panel-mounted AlliedSignal radios.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION is seeking applications for the 33rd Annual Flight Instructor and Maintenance Technician of the Year Awards. Applications must be submitted to local FAA Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) by April 25. The awards program, sponsored by FAA and industry, recognizes contributions to the general aviation industry by an active flight instructor and maintenance technician. The awards will be presented during the Experimental Aircraft Association Fly-In Aug. 1-7 in Oshkosh, Wis.
HONEYWELL was selected by Philippines aviation officials to install the Honeywell/Pelorus satellite-based landing system at three national airports, the first one this fall. Honeywell will install its SLS-2000 system, which uses differential GPS technique to compare signals from GPS satellites with true, survey positions of ground receivers to determine possible signal errors. The system is expected to receive FAA Special Category 1 certification this spring in Minneapolis/St. Paul.
MEMRY CORP. received a contract valued at $308,000 from McDonnell Douglas to develop a specialized control surface for helicopter blades. The contract, part of a broader program to develop adaptive control surfaces for commercial and military use, calls for Memry to design and manufacture small microprocessor-controlled tabs for the trailing edges of helicopter blades. The pilot-controlled blades will allow fine tuning of each blade for improved performance and reduced vibration, officials said. A memory alloy actuator will provide the tab motion.
CANADAIR BUSINESS AIRCRAFT DIVISION plans to open a regional sales office in Hong Kong later this year. George Laforme, recently appointed to the newly created position of regional vice-president, Asia-Pacific, will head the office. Laforme will be responsible for sales and marketing of the Global Express, Challenger 604 and corporate variants of the Regional Jet throughout the region, ranging from India to Japan, New Zealand to China.
FINANCIAL PROBLEMS encountered by Fokker Aircraft will not affect production of the empennage for the Gulfstream V long-range business jet, company officials said at last week's Singapore Air Show. Although Fokker is operating under "suspension of payments" status (BA, Jan. 29/44), Chairman Ben Van Schaik said the G-V empennage work is being done by Fokker Aerostructures, which he characterized as a profitable, successful operation that certainly will find a buyer.
More than seven years - and numerous program iterations - since an entry-level business jet designed by aviation veteran Ed Swearingen was announced, the program's current participants plan to hold a groundbreaking ceremony March 29 at the site of a proposed manufacturing facility in Martinsburg, W. Va.
FlightSafety International called 1995 another record year for both profits and revenues, with the company retaining about 25 cents in profits for every dollar of revenues. FSI had net income of $84.5 million, or $2.71 per share, on revenues of $325.8 million. That compares with $74.4 million, or $2.35 per share, on revenues of $301.3 million in 1994. In the fourth quarter, the simulator manufacturer and training company earned $24 million on revenues of $91.1 million, compared with $23.5 million on revenues of $83.5 million in the same period of 1994.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association are expressing concern about what they say is a draft plan by the Federal Aviation Administration to decommission primary long-range radar at many of the nation's air traffic control centers. FAA is making a "fatally flawed" mistake with its plan to deactivate the radars, according to AOPA President Phil Boyer.
KOHLMAN SYSTEMS RESEARCH, INC., Lawrence, Kansas, received a subcontract from SIMTEC, Inc. to instrument, collect and reduce data and provide a training simulation source data package for U.S. Air Force Air Mobility Command KC-10A aircraft. The package will provide data to meet FAA Level D flight simulator requirements.
A strong performance by the company's aerospace division helped propel AlliedSignal to record sales and earnings in 1995. The company said earnings climbed 15 percent to $875 million, or $3.09 per share, in 1995, while revenues rose 12 percent to $14.3 billion. "Double-digit sales growth in all three sectors, as well as continued productivity improvements, led the way to our sixteenth consecutive quarter of double- digit earnings growth and fourth consecutive year of record earnings," said Lawrence A. Bossidy, chairman and chief executive.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE last week played down the loss of a blade tip on a BMW Rolls-Royce BR710 turbofan engine during bird ingestion tests. Fred Breidenbach, president of Gulfstream, told McGraw-Hill's Show News publication in Singapore last week that a fan blade tip came off just a few seconds short of the engine's required 10-minute post-ingestion run after being fed four 1.5-pound birds. He said the blades were not the production-standard solid blades, which would have withstood the test.
Swiss-based Jet Aviation last month began operating two Beechjet 400As for a European version of a shared ownership program. Raytheon Aircraft said last month it recently delivered the aircraft to Jet Aviation for the Corpavia Club - which was formed by a group of European and Middle Eastern investors and is operated by Jet Aviation (BA, Oct. 16/164). Unlike the fractional ownership program of U.S. entrepreneur Executive Jet Aviation, the Corpavia Club concept calls for customers to pay a one-time entrance fee, an annual subscription fee, and a charge for flight hours.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION will hold its International Operators Conference Feb. 26-March 1 in Orlando, Fla. NBAA expects the event to draw more than 300 aviation professionals from around the world to review issues involving the safety and efficiency of international flight operations. For more information, contact Jeff Lund at (202) 783-9269 or Sandy Wirtz at (202) 783-9366.
SAAB Model SF340A and 340B (Docket No 95-NM-121-AD) - proposes to require visual and dye penetrant inspection(s) for cracks of the nose rib of the rudder, and stop drilling and blending of minor cracks. The proposal also would require replacement of the nose rib with a new nose rib and reinforcement of the nose rib, if extensive cracking is detected or if an operator elects to terminate the repetitive inspections. This proposal is prompted by the result of an inspection that revealed a cracked nose rib on the front spar of the rudder due to vibration-related stress.
AAR appointed William Bailey president of AAR Manufacturing Group, Inc. In his new position, Bailey will oversee the operations of the group, including AAR Cadillac Manufacturing, AAR Advanced Structures and AAR Skydyne. In addition, Bailey will retain his previous responsibilities for the Corporate Information Systems Department and the operating units of AAR PowerBoss and AAR Oklahoma. Bailey joined AAR in August after a 24-year career with General Electric.
ALLIEDSIGNAL COMMERCIAL AVIONICS SYSTEMS CAS-81 traffic alert and collision avoidance systems (TCAS) as installed in, but not limited to, various transport category airplanes (Docket No. 95-NM-270-AD; Amdt. 39- 9495; AD 95-26-15) - publishes an AD that was previously sent to all known U.S. owners and operators of various transport category airplanes equipped with CAS-81 TCAS. This amendment is prompted by reports of failure of the audio output of the CAS-81 TCAS.
KENNETH WAYNE was named senior vice president and managing director of aviation systems for Simat, Helliesen&Eichner, Inc. Wayne, who is based at SH&E's Boston office, will develop and customize information systems for airline operations, ground services, scheduling and resource management.
K-C AVIATION appointed James Holcombe vice president of marketing and sales. Holcombe, who has more than 20 years marketing and strategic planning experience, most recently was president of JLH Associates, a marketing consulting company he owned. He also served as director of research and planning for Federal Express Corp. In his new position, Holcombe will oversee business development, strategic planning, marketing communications management, customer service and sales for K-C Aviation.
LAURENT BEAUDOIN, the chairman of Canadian conglomerate Bombardier who has assembled an impressive string of aerospace manufacturing assets by "bottom-fishing" in financially troubled waters, is among those trolling for Fokker Aircraft, despite early claims that Bombardier was not interested in the Dutch manufacturer.See article on Page 69.Over the past decade, Bombardier has acquired Canadair, Learjet, Shorts and de Havilland for bargain-basement prices from governments or private interests and has developed those assets into a profitable, integrated aerospace manufacturi
TEXTRON LYCOMING O-235 series reciprocating engines (Docket No. 94- ANE-63; Amdt. 39-9458; AD 95-03-10) - publishes an AD that was previously sent to all known U.S. owners and operators by individual letters. The AD requires a one-time inspection within the next five hours time in service to determine the part number (P/N) and revision letter of the push rod installed on the engine. All push rods with P/N 73806 and revision letters "V" or "W" must be replaced with serviceable parts. This amendment is prompted by reports of several failures of push rods.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION, noting that telecommunications legislation enacted this month allows the Federal Communications Commission to lift requirements for aircraft registration fees, said it would petition FCC for such a repeal. "AOPA Legislative Action worked for years to have FCC registration and registration fees waived for the radio transmitters in aircraft," AOPA President Phil Boyer said.
PATRICK AHERNE has joined AAR Engine Group International as vice president, European operations. Aherne, who will be based in London, will oversee AAR's engine sales and leasing, engine parts supply and engine overhaul business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
NEARLY FOUR YEARS after a groundbreaking ceremony in Delaware for a factory that was never built, a group of Taiwanese investors and other principals in Sino Swearingen Aircraft Company are scheduled to hold a similar ceremony next month in Martinsburg, W. Va. for an assembly facility for the SJ30 entry-level jet. See article below.
