Offshore Logistics, Inc., Lafayette, La., reported net income of $3.7 million for the quarter ended Sept. 30, compared with $5 million in the same period a year earlier. Revenue for the most recent quarter was $38.8 million, compared with $26.2 million a year ago. James B. Clement, president and chief executive, said earnings were adversely affected by reduced flight revenues, but added that he expects them to increase during the December quarter.
K-C AVIATION added a Hawker 1000 to its management program. The aircraft, recently purchased by one of K-C Aviation's management clients, will be based in Newark, N.J. and included on K-C Aviation's Part 91 certificate. The newest program addition marks the third Hawker 1000 that K-C Aviation will manage.
AEROSPACE LIGHTING CORP. power units and power supplies (Docket No. 94-ANE-31; Amdt. 39-9408; AD 95-22-01) - supersedes an existing AD that requires an inspection and adjustment or replacement of improperly installed, damaged or improperly configured lamp connectors and fluorescent lamps used in cabin fluorescent lighting systems. This amendment adds an optional replacement of certain power units and power supplies with new technology parts as terminating action to the repetitive inspections.
BARFIELD INC. formed a new Rotables Division, responsible for providing customers with exchanges and sales. Barfield, which has bases in Miami, Fla. and Atlanta, Ga., said the division will provide the components "at a moment's notice every day and anywhere in the world." For more information, call (305) 876-2467.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT'S Beech King Air 350 became the first Western turboprop to receive Russian certification, according to Raytheon Aircraft officials. The aircraft received approval under the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee's new AP23 rules, the equivalent of FAR 23, Amendment 42. "We are delighted to have achieved this milestone in the long history of the King Air," said Steve Hanvey, Raytheon Aircraft vice president-engineering and fight operations.
A Canadair Challenger 601-3A/3R full flight simulator installed at SimuFlite Training International's facility in Texas received Level D initial qualification from both FAA and Transport Canada. SimuFlite said the unit is the first business jet simulator qualified as Level II under the International Qualification Test Guide standards.
A DELEGATION from the National Air Transportation Association made a presentation at the GAMA board meeting on two market tests of its Learn To Fly program, but the NATA effort will apparently remain on hold until GAMA and other industry organizations decide on a specific action plan for a comprehensive, national learn-to-fly program. NATA officials planned to do market tests in four areas of the country (BA, March 6/99), but halted that effort after running a series of ads and tracking responses in the Southern California and Minneapolis-St. Paul markets.
Flight Dynamics said FAA approved lower visibility minimums for takeoffs by 737-300s fitted with its head-up guidance system (HGS). The company said airlines flying HGS-equipped 737s can obtain operational approval to take off with visibility as low as 300 feet runway visual range (RVR) at Cat 2 and 3 runways. Landing operations were approved for 700 feet in 1994 for 737-300s and Flight Dynamics said certification for landing in visibility as low as 300 feet is expected next year.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION issued special certification conditions for the operation of the Gulfstream V at high altitudes. FAA said the aircraft will be capable of operating at a maximum altitude of 51,000 feet, but applicable regulations do not contain appropriate safety standards to cover the protection of the fuselage or passengers and crew from the effects of high altitude operations. The special conditions will establish such standards, the agency said. For more information, contact Gerald Lakin in FAA's Standardization Branch at (206) 227-1187.
AMR COMBS Aircraft Parts International published a Master Parts Price Guide listing all parts in the division's inventory, including a description, suggested price and price after subscriber's discount. The publication, available on a quarterly subscription basis, is the first in a number of customer support products API will introduce, said Peter LaSalle, API vice president and general manager. Subscriptions to the Price Guide, which is personalized to the customer, cost $69 per year. For more information, contact API at (800) 950-0111 or (901) 375-2630.
National Air Transportation Association warned the Federal Aviation Administration that its policy on airport rates and charges may result in a barrage of complaints from industry disputing airport fees. In comments this month on the agency's airport rates and charges policy, NATA called "erroneous" FAA's assumption that complaints from the industry primarily stem from unfair discrimination by airport operators and not excessive fee amounts. "NATA rejects this reasoning.
ROGER FORAND was appointed to the newly created position of director of government programs development for Avsco Aviation Service Corporation. Forand, who spent 26 years with Goodyear, will be responsible for developing opportunities for Avsco in the government sector.
GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION promoted Shelly Snyder to director of communications. Snyder, who served as communications manager for the past three years, joined GAMA in May 1989 following a stint with Federal Express Corporation as a flight operations/fuel coordinator. In addition to leading GAMA's media relations and public affairs programs, Snyder also serves as manager, aviation education. She is a founding member of the National Coalition for Aviation Education, which she currently chairs, as well as Women in Aviation, International.
Reflectone, Inc., the Tampa, Fla.-based provider of simulators and simulator training, reported significantly improved financial results for the three- and nine-month periods ended Sept. 29. Third-quarter revenues were up 64 percent, from $15.5 million a year ago to $25.3 million in the most recent period. Operating income of $2.4 million compared with an operating loss of $1.7 million in last year's third quarter. Net income after preferred stock dividends was $1.3 million, compared with a net loss of just under $2 million in the 1994 period.
ARTAIS WEATHER CHECK sold three automated weather observing systems (AWOS) to the provinces of Heilongjiang, Shanxi and Guizhou in China. AWOS 2000 systems will be installed at the Longdongbao airport in the city of Guyang and at the Harbin airport in Harbin, China. In addition, an AWOS 2000 and low-level wind-shear alert system will be installed at the Wusu airport in Taiyuan. Artais will provide four weeks of training to representatives from the Chinese provinces at its facility in Columbus, Ohio.
BRITISH AEROSPACE'S Asset Management Organization completed lease transactions with three U.K. regional carriers. AMO leased Air U.K. a BAe 146-300 formerly operated by Mistral Air of Italy to replace a BAe 146-200; extended for five years the lease by charter operator Flightline of its single BAe 146-300; extended for six years a Manx Airlines lease for one of its BAe 146-200s, and sold an additional -200 aircraft to Manx.
ZIMEX AVIATION signed a joint venture agreement of mutual cooperation with Saudi Arabian fixed-base operator Arabasco. Under the agreement, Zimex will assist Arabasco with technical expertise, procurement and marketing. Zimex officials said the agreement will benefit both companies from the opening up of markets in the Middle East and Europe. Arabasco operates FBOs in Jeddah and Riyadh.
BELL Model 214ST helicopters (Docket No. 95-SW-26-AD) - proposes to require, for helicopters with certain tailboom assemblies and emergency float kits installed, repetitive inspections of the tail-boom for cracks until modifications of the tailboom are accomplished. This proposal is prompted by several reports of cracks in the lower aft skin of the tailboom assembly.
The decision to terminate the Loran-C navigation system was wrong and could cost the government hundreds of millions of dollars and compromise safety, Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Phil Boyer told the International Radionavigation Users Conference this month. Boyer, noting the 1994 Federal Radionavigation Plan calls for the termination of Loran-C in 2000 (BA, July 3/3), said Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Transportation officials "just aren't listening" to the users of the system.
EMBRAER rolled out the second EMB-145 test aircraft. The latest unit aircraft will be one of four aircraft used in the flight test program. The original prototype has logged more than 35 flights and 70 flight hours. The other two test aircraft are slated for completion in January and March 1996 with certification expected by the end of 1996. Embraer, which launched the EMB-145 regional aircraft in August after exploring the project for a number of years, said it has 18 firm orders, 16 options and 127 letters of intent for the aircraft.
FLIGHT SERVICES GROUP is opening new facilities at Teterboro Airport, N.J. to provide aircraft services for both charter and management clients. It is the ninth base FSG has opened in the past three years.
THE PISTON-ENGINE AIRCRAFT REVITALIZATION COMMITTEE (PERC) concluded that the industry needs to mount a national program to encourage more student pilots, but details of how that program will be implemented remain to be worked out (BA, Aug. 21/77). PERC members presented their final report to the General Aviation Manufacturers Association board of directors this month and the board assigned a number of student-start-related safety and regulatory tasks to GAMA committees.
Lockheed Martin is consolidating its aircraft modification and maintenance operation in Ontario, Calif., with its famed Skunk Works, eliminating 140 overhead and administrative jobs in a bid to become more competitive. Effective immediately, Lockheed Martin Aircraft Services Co., or LMAS, becomes a division of the Palmdale, Calif.-based Skunk Works, under Aircraft Services Vice President Art Schuetz, who will report to Skunk Works President Jack Gordon.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION revised an airworthiness directive to clarify registration numbers of certain aircraft that may have received contaminated fuel in the spring of 1994. FAA issued priority AD 94-14-12 ordering a teardown and inspection of certain reciprocating engines (mostly Teledyne Continental Motors engines) after it received reports that aviation gasoline, contaminated with jet fuel, had been distributed at six Northern California airports in late May and early June 1994 (BA, July 18, 1994/22).
