DOWTY AEROSPACE PROPELLERS of the United Kingdom said its selection by Bombardier Regional Aircraft to provide the propeller system for the de Havilland Dash 8 Series 400 aircraft will mean $200 million in business over the next 15 years. David Davis, Dowty Propellers' managing director, said "This is Dowty's first contract to supply propellers to Bombardier and we are absolutely delighted to have been selected.
NORMAN LEVY ASSOCIATES, INC., Southfield, Mich., was selected by General Dynamics Convair Division to conduct a six-day sale of GD's aircraft manufacturing facility and equipment in San Diego, Calif. Dates of the sale will be announced shortly, but Levy said "certain major items will be liquidated immediately through privately negotiated sales." Equipment to be sold includes machining centers, turning machines, profilers and grinders, toolroom, fabricating, heat-treat, finishing and presses and vehicles.
THE U.S. AIR FORCE gave a half billion dollar contract to Sverdrup Technology, Inc., of Tullahoma, Tenn., to provide test support services at its Arnold Engineering Development Center (AEDC) in central Tennessee. The contract, valued at $529 million for a five-year base period, includes a three-year option. Work covered under the pact involves operating and maintaining the center's aerospace flight dynamics and propulsion test facilities.
Following are excerpts from some of the more than 1,400 comments submitted in response to FAA's notice of proposed rulemaking that would require most scheduled operations with 10- to 19-seat aircraft to meet Part 121 standards.
PRATT&WHITNEY CANADA Model PT6A-67D turboprop engines (Docket No. 95-ANE- 33 ; Amdt. 39-9288; AD 95-13-08) - supersedes AD 94-10-02 requiring visual and fluorescent penetrant inspections of the compressor turbine (CT) disk and blades for cracking and other irregularities. The AD also requires an amendment to the Beech 1900D Airplane Flight Manual and installation of a placard that alerts the pilot of a requirement to restrict continuous engine operation above 94 percent and below 97.1 percent N1 (gas generator RPM).
ROBERT MARINACE was appointed director of technical services for KC Aviation Transportation Services. Marinace, a former aircraft mechanic in the U.S. Air Force, has served with Brookfield Aviation, World Jet Corporation and Executive Jet Corporation.
A team of Gulfstream V test pilots has commenced training at FlightSafety International's Savannah, Ga., training facility in preparation for the anticipated November first flight of the new very-long- range business jet. FSI's Simulation Systems Division in Tulsa, Okla., is designing and building a G-V simulator in Tulsa, Okla., and officials said the training device "will be in operation" in Savannah "at the time of aircraft certification," planned for late 1996.
BOMBARDIER BUSINESS AIRCRAFT DIVISION appointed John Race director of flight operations for Canadair Challenger, Inc. Race, who will be based at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn., will be responsible for all corporate and customer flight demonstrations and related marketing activities. Race has 24 years of airline and corporate aviation flying experience, including nine years of service as a demonstration captain for Canadair.
Reps. John Duncan (R-Tenn.) and Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa), who have introduced separate bills to reform the Federal Aviation Administration, have combined their efforts to establish FAA as an independent agency and plan to introduce new legislation that contains elements of the previous bills, the two congressmen announced last week.
GARY FENDER was appointed to head sales for the Mid-Atlantic territory for Atlantic Aviation. Fender, who has worked for Atlantic's maintenance division for more than 17 years, will oversee sales of all maintenance, refurbishment, paint, avionics and related services.
HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL is offering a free time-savings parts inventory module that interfaces automatically with its maintenance information reporting system. The inventory module, programmed in Microsoft FoxPro for Windows, maintains a "complete computerized record of an operation's parts inventory," HAI said. The module provides tracking, issue, cost and receipt of parts and materials and standard inventory reports; identifies substitute and related parts numbers; and tracks multiple vendor and locations with associated costs and quantities.
The acting head of NASA's Office of Aeronautics was appointed a full- fledged associate administrator at space agency headquarters, NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin announced last week. Robert E. Whitehead was named associate administrator for aeronautics. He had taken over the Office of Aeronautics as acting chief in March after Wesley L. Harris was reassigned to Goldin's office. He continued as acting associate administrator when Harris was named deputy chief engineer for aeronautics.
ALLIEDSIGNAL TPE331 series turboprop engines (Docket No. 95-ANE-09) - proposes to establish cyclic retirement lives for certain compressor components. This proposal is prompted by the manufacturer's testing and analysis indicating that if these compressor components continue in service without an established retirement life, accumulative cyclic effects may result in a fatigue failure. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent fatigue failure of the engine compressor components and an inflight engine shutdown.
HUNDREDS OF RESPONSES in Docket No. 28154 read almost exactly as follows: "As an American Airlines pilot, I am writing in support of maintaining mandatory retirement at age 60 for airline pilots. In a survey of American Airline pilots, fully 83 percent agree that the rule protects the safety of the traveling public. Let's keep the skies as safe as we can by keeping the rule intact. Raising the retirement age would be an experiment we can't afford to take."
LUCAS AEROSPACE POWER SYSTEMS, Aurora, Ohio, will provide DC starter- generator systems for both the Astra SP and Astra Galaxy business jets under a contract awarded by Israel Aircraft Industries.
The 1994 Federal Radionavigation Plan (FRP), more than a year late, apparently includes a cutoff in Coast Guard funding for the Loran-C navigation program in 2000 despite protests from the aviation and maritime communitities, sources told BA sister publication Aviation Daily.
TWIN COMMANDER Models 690C and 695 airplanes (Docket No. 94-CE-29-AD; Amdt. 39-9275; AD 95-12-32) - requires an initial inspection of the wing structure for cracks, modification of any cracked wing structure, and, if not cracked, either repetitive inspection or modification of the wing structure. This action is prompted by results of full-scale fatigue testing that indicated areas in the wing that are subject to fatigue cracks. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent wing damage and structural failure that stems from fatigue cracks.
A new auxiliary power unit designed for installation in small and medium-size business jets has been developed by AlliedSignal Aerospace. The new APU weighs less than 75 pounds, is rated at 135 equivalent shaft horsepower and can be started and operated at altitudes above 35,000 feet. Tom Johnson, vice president of commercial APU programs, noted that several major business aircraft manufacturers helped define their small aircraft requirements, adding that "we're excited about the large number of possibilities for the RE100.
TELEDYNE CONTINENTAL MOTORS and Rolls-Royce O-200 series reciprocating engines (Docket No. 94-ANE-53) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires resetting engine timing to 24 degrees before top center (BTC). This action would return the 28 degree BTC engine timing for those engines equipped with improved cylinders that have strengthened heads. This action also would add license-built Rolls-Royce O-200 series engines to the applicability of the AD and drops the TCM O-200C model, which never went into production.
THE 70-SEAT JETSTREAM 61 turboprop received type certification from the United Kingdom's Civil Aviation Authority last month, Jetstream Aircraft Ltd. said. The Jetstream 61 is a derivative of the ATP airliner that was originally certificated in March 1988.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL said its new Learjet Model 60 flight simulator received FAA Level D certification last week. The simulator, located at FSI's Tucson, Ariz., training center, provides more audio, visual and motion features than Level C units, along with a self-diagnostic system capable of providing hard copy proof of the simulator's compliance with Level D standards. The Tucson center also houses a Model 31A Learjet simulator that meets Level D standards.
Regional Airline Association has notified associate members that it will establish an Associate Members Council, effective Aug. 1. The RAA board decided at the organization's spring meeting in San Antonio to form such a council to improve communications between RAA member airlines and the associate members (BA, May 22/217).
DERLAN, INC. of Santa Ana, Calif. received a "multi-year" agreement valued at $7 million from Cessna Aircraft to be the exclusive seat supplier for the Citation Bravo business jet. The agreement calls for Derlan to design and develop the seats for the seven-passenger Citation II replacement. Seat certification is scheduled for second quarter of 1996 with the introduction of the Bravo expected in mid-1996.
FAIRCHILD SA226 and SA227 series airplanes (Docket No. 95-CE-01-AD) - proposes to require installation of foreign object damage barriers in the floorboards of the cockpit between the pedestal and floors from fuselage station (FS) 79.38 to FS 88.06 and on the outboard forward edge of the left-hand and right-hand cockpit forward floorboards at FS 79.38. This proposal is prompted by two incidents of objects falling through the openings of the cockpit floor and jamming the elevator controls and the yoke.
