GLENN BROWN was appointed general manager for Lucas Aerospace Customer Support Americas. Brown previously directed Lucas Aerospace's business development and merger and acquisition activities in North America.
Gulfstream Aerospace flight test pilots are continuing to expand the flight envelope for the Gulfstream V long-range business jet and had made 19 flights logging nearly 50 hours before tests were halted briefly last week so technicians could make configuration changes. The No. 1 aircraft, S/N 501, made its first flight just after Thanksgiving (BA, Dec. 4/241) and has flown to 48,000 feet and reached a speed of Mach .85. Gulfstream will use a total of five aircraft, including four flight articles, in a schedule designed to achieve FAA certification by yearend.
TWIN COMMANDER FLIGHT GROUP will hold its Second Annual TCFG Fly-In&Convention April 18-21 at the Hyatt Regency Riverwalk in San Antonio, Texas. For more information, contact Steve McKinley or Colleen Hance at (816) 224-0346.
NATIONAL JET SYSTEMS of Australia took delivery of its first Jetstream 41 turboprop from JSX Capital Corp., a subsidiary of British Aerospace Holdings, Inc. The 29-seat aircraft will be used for contract services by the Adelaide-based carrier. National Jet Systems' fleet includes 13 British Aerospace 146 regional jets.
ZOLTEK COMPANIES, INC., St. Louis, Mo., will build two new carbon fiber production lines this year at its newly acquired facility in Hungary. The two new lines, with combined annual capacity of 2.5 million pounds, are the first part of an expansion program designed to make Zoltek "the world's number one carbon fiber producer over the next five to seven years," said Zsolt Rumy, chairman and chief executive. Zoltek completed the acquisition of Magyar Viscosa Rt. of Hungary in December.
CONSIDERATION of a proposed final draft of minimum operational performance standards for Global Positioning Systems/Wide Area Augmentation System Airborne Equipment is scheduled at this week's meeting of the RTCA Technical Management Committee meeting. The session will begin at 9 a.m. Jan. 16 at RTCA's offices at 1140 Connecticut Ave., N.W., Suite 1020, Washington, D.C. For more information, contact RTCA at (202) 833-9339).
National Transportation Safety Board Member John Goglia moderated a briefing for aviation industry representatives Thursday on the hazards of bird ingestion into aircraft turbine engines. The safety board said it coordinated the briefing because of its "longstanding interest in the issue of the hazards birds present to aircraft." A notice to industry from board Chairman Jim Hall said that despite progress on the issue over the past 20 years, "there does not appear to be a viable solution that will adequately protect an aircraft from all bird ingestion scenarios."
SEQUA CORP. completed the sale of its Kollsman Division and Kollsman Manufacturing Co. Inc. for approximately $50 million. Kollsman designs and builds electronic and electro-optical systems for military use and provides avioncs equipment to the commercial, general aviation and military markets.
DYNAIR TECH, which was acquired by Sabreliner Corp. last summer (BA, July 10/12), is changing its name to reflect the new ownership. Effective Feb. 1, the Phoenix, Ariz.-based large aircraft modification and maintenance company will be known as SabreTech. It will continue to be headed by President Stephen D. Townes, who joined the company late last year (BA, Nov. 27/236). DynAir Tech comprised five units: DynAir Tech of Arizona; DynAir Tech of Florida; DynAir Tech of Texas; and two divisions, DynAir Telecommunications and DynAir Avionics.
BOEING reached tentative agreement on two four-year collective bargaining contracts with the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Association (SPEEA) that represents 22,000 engineers and technical workers. SPEEA began contract negotiations with Boeing 11 months ago. Agreement on benefits was reached some time ago, and recent discussions focused on wages and compensation issues. SPEEA said voting packages were to be mailed by the middle of last week and ballots counted on Jan. 22.
Fokker Aircraft received orders for 63 aircraft in 1995, over 25 percent more than the 50 orders taken in 1994, the Dutch manufacturer reported last week. Fokker sold 16 Fokker 100s and 31 of the smaller F70 regional jet aircraft. In addition, the manufacturer booked orders for 16 of its F50 regional turboprop. Fokker said the orders came from repeat customers Air UK, British Midland, Formosa Airlines, Nakanihon, Rio Sul, TAM and Tyrolean Airways.
THOMAS STELTER was promoted to senior manager of engineering and technical operations for SimuFlite Training International. Stelter, who has been with SimuFlite for the past four years, previously served as manager of engineering. In his new position, he will be responsible for simulator support, engineering and inventory control.
DORNIER Model 328-100 series airplanes (Docket No. 95-NM-136-AD) - proposes to require installation of a reinforcement doubler on the rudder skin. This proposal is prompted by the results of a design review of this airplane model that revealed inadequate structural strength of the attachment fitting of the rudder damper and of the adjacent structure. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent failure of the attachment structure of the rudder damper in the event of aerodynamic gust loads, as the result of inadequate structural strength.
THE PENDING RETIREMENT of Dave Sheehan, the longtime head of Mobil Corporation's flight operations department, may mean that Sheehan, currently vice chairman of NBAA's board of directors, will not become chairman of the organization's board at this fall's annual convention as had been anticipated. Retirements and career shifts have disrupted the order of succession at NBAA in recent years. Current Chairman Allan Lane of Amoco moved up in 1994 when former chairman E.
MARYNOELE BENSON was named manager of media relations for TRW Systems Integration Group's East Coast divisions. Benson, who has worked in aerospace and defense communications for more than 11 years, previously was an account supervisor in the Washington, D.C. office of the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller.
JOHN SWEET was appointed manager of business development for FFV Aerotech. Sweet has 30 years experience in all facets of aviation, including business aviation, regional airline and transport segments.
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.
AS PART OF THAT EFFORT, the two associations are soliciting letters from top executives of major companies with substantial business interests in Japan. They want first-hand reports detailing difficulties resulting from the restrictions and the business advantages of permitting easier access to that nation's landing facilities.
East Coast airports, many of which had to shut down for several days following a blizzard on Jan. 6-8, were facing the prospect of more bad weather during the past weekend even while struggling to recover from the effects of the first storm. A band of precipitation was scheduled to begin moving up the East Coast Thursday night and forecasters were predicting significant snowfall accumulations, possibly followed by sleet and freezing rain.
LATEST DEVELOPMENT in the effort to secure increased access to Japanese airports for long-range business jets was a luncheon in Washington, D.C. last week attended by government officials from Japan and the U.S. along with industry representatives. A 10-member delegation of Japanese officials, headed by Masahiko Kurono, director general of Japan's Civil Aviation Bureau, met with FAA Administrator David Hinson, about a dozen FAA executives and representatives of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the National Business Aircraft Association. U.S.
Teledyne, Inc. purchased the European tooling maker Stellram Group for an undisclosed sum. Stellram, based in Nyon, Switzerland, manufactures high precision milling, boring and drilling systems, including carbide cutting tool inserts for the European machine tool market. The company employs nearly 450 people at its plant sites in Switzerland, Great Britain, France, Germany and Italy. Teledyne will add Stellram to its Cutting Tools business unit of Teledyne Advanced Materials.
MERCURY AIR GROUP, Los Angeles, Calif., said its board of directors declared the regular quarterly cash dividend of one cent per share, to be paid Feb. 1 to shareholders of record on Jan. 16.
JETSTREAM Model 3201 airplanes (Docket No. 95-CE-26-AD; Amdt. 39-9442; AD 95-24-12) - requires repetitive inspection of the main landing gear bay forward lower edge wing skin structure for cracks, replacement of any cracked doubler with an improved joggled doubler to reinforce the area and prevent future cracking, and eventual incorporation of these doublers on all the affected airplanes. This action is prompted by cracking found at the main landing gear bay forward lower edge wing skin structure during fatigue testing of the Model 3201.
