Four general aviation industry associations were mobilizing their members last week to lobby Congress against proposed user fees included in the fiscal 1996 transportation appropriations bill that they fear will compromise safety and devastate business. House and Senate conferees are set this week to negotiate differences between the transportation appropriations bills they approved in their respective chambers this summer.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL'S board of directors authorized the repurchase of an additional four million shares of common stock, doubling the size of the company's stock buyback program. FSI has repurchased 3.593 million shares of stock since 1993 under an authorization to buy up to four million shares. Funds for additional repurchased shares will come from existing cash, short-term investments and operations. FSI currently has just over 31 million shares outstanding.
Federal Aviation Administration's Chicago Center experienced another major computer failure early last week, causing air traffic controllers to operate on the DARC (direct access radar channel) backup system throughout the day. Technicians conducting routine maintenance on the primary computer system were unable to reactivate it shortly after 3 a.m. local time Sept. 12, so they left operations on the backup system, FAA said.
The U.S. arm of the same company that operates three of London's major airports will take over management of Indianapolis International Airport and five reliever facilities around Indianapolis on Oct. 1. BAA USA, Inc., a unit of the United Kingdom's BAA, signed a 10-year contract with Indianapolis officials last week "for the private overall management" of the six airports that includes a guarantee that BAA USA will be able to operate the facilities at a lower cost than the city.
CAPITAL REGISTRY, INC., Scottsdale, Ariz., will hold a business aircraft auction Nov. 9 at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix, Ariz. The auction will be preceded by a preview of the aircraft consigned for sale on Nov. 7-8 at Desert Aviation-Scottsdale Air Park and a reception on the evening of Nov. 8 at Desert Aviation. For more information, contact Capital Registry at 6991 East Camelback Road, Suite A-300, Scottsdale, Ariz. 85251, telephone (602) 998-1168 ; fax, (602) 945-2605.
FACED WITH A 'QUALITY PROBLEM' - a backlog for its new Model 45 business jet that extends almost to the turn of the century - Learjet is making plans to dramatically ramp up production for the new aircraft that rolled out during ceremonies in Wichita Thursday night.
UNITED BEECHCRAFT has changed its overtime policy from time-and-one-half charges for work performed on overtime to the posted rate plus $10 per hour for piston maintenance and $15 per hour for turbine maintenance. In addition, United Beechcraft added a second maintenance shift at its service centers in Wichita, Kan., Little Rock, Ark., Fulton County (Atlanta), Van Nuys, Calif., Tampa, Fla. and Birmingham, Ala.
Governance: -- Establishes the FAA as an independent agency. Two hundred employee positions in DOT that were responsible for overseeing FAA will be terminated. -- Creates a new Federal Aviation Board comprising three voting members appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The President appoints the Chairman. Board members serve seven-year, staggered terms. DOT and DOD Secretaries are non-voting members.
AL JACKSON, former lobbyist for the General Aviation Manufacturers Association and the American Tort Reform Association, has joined McDonnell Douglas as manager, legislative affairs. While with GAMA, Jackson was instrumental in behind-the-scenes negotiations for passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act. Jackson, an Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University graduate, left GAMA earlier this year to join ATRA as director of federal affairs.
FAA has decided it will conduct comprehensive regulatory reviews every three years, beginning in July 1997, and has requested comments on the proposal. The agency reviewed its rules last year, and said in the Aug. 24 Federal Register regulatory reviews in the Clinton and Bush Administrations have shown "that there is great value in obtaining public input to the agency's regulatory agenda and priorities regardless of whether such input is an affirmation of the direction the agency is going or an indication of a need to alter course."
TELFORD AVIATION of Bangor, Maine added a Model 55 Learjet to its air charter fleet, bringing to 22 the number of aircraft the company operates nationwide.
ACKNOWLEDGING the controversy surrounding his proposal for a user-fee funded national air transportation system, Senate aviation subcommittee Chairman John McCain (R-Ariz.) last week said the proposed FAA reform bill was "not engraved in any tablet." But he added that Administration predictions of a cash shortfall motivated the proposal and said the user- fee funded system concept was the best solution identified to solve funding problems.
THE AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE at Pease, N.H., is seeking air traffic control services. A one-year contract with four one-year options is expected. The contract includes a small-business set-aside. Solicitation number is DAHA90-95-R-004. Contact Maj. Larry Field, the contracting officer, at (703) 681-0643; fax, (703) 681-0666.
LORAL'S Training&Technical Services received an $18 million contract from the Naval Air Forces U.S. Pacific Fleet to supply advanced aviation flight simulator training service through 2000. The five-year contract calls for Loral to provide simulator-based and academic instruction in aircraft systems operation, navigation and instrumentation for pilots and crews in a variety of helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.
JET AVIATION has acquired DHP Aviation Pte Ltd. in Singapore, giving the Basel, Switzerland company a foothold in the Far East. DHP, a fixed-base operation located at Seletar Airport, has a 33,760-square-foot hangar and more than 19,000 square feet of office space and workshops. The facility has maintenance capabilities, an avionics shop and library, component overhaul shop, structural repair facilities, upholstery shop and paint shop. Jet Aviation Basel will support the maintenance activities at the Singapore location.
PRECISION AIRMOTIVE CORP., Everett, Wash., introduced an atomizer fuel nozzle for Continental O-200 and O-300 engines equipped with Marvel Schebler/Facet/Precision Airmotive float carburetors. The company said the new nozzle improves fuel atomization in the carburetor throat, alleviating a rough running condition experienced by some O-200 and O-300 operators after installation of one-piece venturis in the carburetors. Precision is marketing a kit containing the one-piece venturi specified in AD 93-18-03 and the atomizer nozzle.
ONE FIXED-BASE OPERATOR who called his senator's office in Washington to protest the proposal for new fees on business jets endeavored to make his point with the following analogy: "If last year's product liability bill [the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1995] was the light at the end of the tunnel, this year's bill attaches that light to the front of a train."
Italy has confirmed the privatization of its airports with a notice in the country's Office Journal allowing private operators to manage airports for up to 40 years. The final version of the text differs slightly from an earlier government decree, as the state holding company IRI no longer will retain a stake in the airports. In addition, the government also pledged to provide state aid for a maximum of five years to ensure the viability of airports processing fewer than 600,000 passengers a year.
BEECH Model 400, 400A and 400T (Military T-1A) airplanes (Docket No. 95-NM-76-AD) - proposes to require modification of the stand-by instrument lighting system. This proposal is prompted by a report that, due to the design of the standby instrument lighting system, the lighting for the standby instruments dimmed to an unacceptable level when the main electrical power was turned off.
The Japan Business Aircraft Association, which has been negotiating with Tokyo International Airport officials for landing slots at Haneda airport, apparently has secured approval for general aviation aircraft to use the airport beginning in late 1996, according to Rust Deming, of the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo. In response to a letter from Sen. Larry Pressler (R-S.D.) to U.S. Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale regarding access to Japanese airports (BA, Aug. 21/78), Deming said the agreement is "a very significant first step," adding JBAA continues its negotiations.
JAMES ORUMGOOL was appointed vice president, international marketing and president, Raytheon International. Orumgool, previously vice president of international marketing for Martin Marietta Corp., will be responsible for strategic direction of Raytheon's international marketing efforts and manage Raytheon International's worldwide offices and personnel.
D. SCOTT KALISTER was named vice president, international sales, Latin America/Far East for Raytheon Aircraft. Kalister, a 17-year company veteran, most recently was director, commercial contracts for Raytheon Aircraft.
An unidentified caller phoned in a bomb threat Wednesday to the Indianapolis ATC center but FAA management officials outside the facility decided not to evacuate it without telling workers inside the center of the threat or consulting with them, Tom Demske, vice president of the Professional Airways Systems Specialists local at the center, said Thursday. Demske said the caller phoned in a bomb threat to an unlisted number at the guard house at 4:10 p.m. and again at 5:22 p.m., saying a bomb would detonate in one hour and 30 minutes.
BDM INTERNATIONAL and International Air Safety Corp. signed a memorandum of understanding to create a new company, BDM Air Safety Management Corp., which will provide advanced, automated air traffic control and airspace management systems. The joint venture enables the two companies to focus resources on key business opportunities, particularly on FAA's upcoming STARS procurement, which involves the upgrading of more than 240 terminal radar approach control installations, said BDM President and CEO Philip Odeen.
