EDWARD W. STIMPSON, president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, will receive the 1995 Aero Club Trophy for Aviation Excellence tomorrow during an Aero Club of Washington luncheon at the Capital Hilton Hotel. Stimpson is being honored for his "outstanding leadership within the aviation community" and in particular for his successful efforts to win passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994.
Piper Aircraft edged closer to emerging from bankruptcy after the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami this month approved a disclosure statement that outlines a plan of reorganization for the company. Court approval of the disclosure plan brings Piper the closest it's been to leaving bankruptcy since the company first sought Chapter 11 protection in the summer of 1991 (BA, July 8, 1991/11).
Cirrus Design Corp., the Duluth, Minn. company that is developing a family of new aircraft, has completed its work on the ST50 engineering prototype and shipped the single-turboprop aircraft to Israviation, Israel, where it will join two production prototypes under construction for certification flight testing. Cirrus built the ST50 prototype under contract for Israviation, which will manufacture the aircraft at its new 86,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in northern Israel. Cirrus will oversee marketing of the aircraft in North and South America.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Model 146-RJ series airplanes (Docket No. 95-NM-69-AD; Amdt. 39-9208; AD 95-09-05) - requires a revision to the FAA-approved Airplane Flight Manual to alert the flightcrew of the potential for significant delays in the Honeywell Standard Windshear Detection and Recovery Guidance System (WSS) detecting windshear when the flaps of the airplane are in transition. This amendment is prompted by a report of an accident during which an airplane encountered severe windshear during a missed approach.
THE U.S. 14TH AIR FORCE Friday declared that the Global Positioning System satellite constellation has "attained full operational capability" and demonstrated that "it can meet or exceed the levels of service required of this valuable dual military-civilian use national asset," said Col. Owen (Juice) Jensen, vice commander of the 14th Air Force, which is based at Vandenberg AFB, Calif.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION took aim at Signature Flight Support's new handling fees last week, asking that the fees be modified or withdrawn for small general aviation aircraft transiting Signature facilities. AOPA President Phil Boyer, noting that Signature has service monopolies at 19 of its 43 locations, said "pilots feel they are being unjustly charged for using airports where Signature operates. In this time of the general aviation industry's attempt to revitalize itself, such fees have a devastating effect on our members."
Japan's Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries took a roughly 30 percent stake in General Electric's latest version of the CF34 turbofan, the -8C, being designed for Canadair's new, stretched RJ regional jet, the 70- passenger CRJ-X. IHI and GE signed a memorandum of understanding late last month under which the Japanese company will design and manufacture 25-30 percent of the engine. The deal permits IHI to bring other Japanese companies in as partners on IHI's portion of the -8C program.
GALVIN FLYING SERVICE, located on Boeing Field in Seattle, Wash., said the AcroFlyers Aerobatic Team is now based at the company's FBO, adding that AcroFlyers aerobatic training program will be integrated into Galvin's flight training center. Courses offered by AcroFlyers, which operates a fleet of Pitts S-2B aircraft, include basic aerobatics, competition aerobatics and emergency maneuver training.
DANA SKADDAN was named senior vice president, marketing and strategic business development for Grimes Aerospace Company. Skaddan most recently was president of Clarostat Sensors and Controls Unit of BTR Corporations.
The Department of Transportation last week suspended a regulation calling for pre-employment alcohol testing of workers in all transportation modes and asked Congress to repeal the legislative mandate for such testing.
ALLIEDSIGNAL ENGINES LTS101 series turboshaft engines installed on Eurocopter France Model AS-350D and SA-366G1 helicopters (Docket No. 95- ANE-21) - proposes to require incorporation of design modifications to the power turbine rotor. This proposal is prompted by reports of power turbine disk failures after No. 3 bearing failures. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent an uncontained engine failure due to a power turbine disk failure.
UNIVERSAL AVIONICS SYSTEMS CORPORATION received FAA TSO C115b and C129 approval for its UNS-1M navigation management system. The system includes new software, SCN-22, which provides the capability to fly lateral- and vertical-coupled nonprecision GPS and GPS-overlay approaches. UNC is offering upgrade kits to operators of UNS-1M SCN-20 units to incorporate the 12-channel GPS engine and SCN-22 features.
UNITED STATES PILOTS ASSOCIATION joined the National Aeronautic Association as an affiliate member and selected AVEMCO and National, both members of the AVEMCO Group of companies, as the official aviation insurers for USPA.
BEECH AIRCRAFT shipped a 1900D to Ashanti Goldfields Company Ltd. of Ghana. Ashanti will use the aircraft to transport personnel, equipment and supplies throughout Africa. The turboprop aircraft was delivered with an unfinished interior, but will be fitted as a dual function executive transport. The aircraft will replace a Beech King Air B200.
Raytheon Aircraft has promoted three executives to newly created vice president positions that will report to James Link, vice president- international sales. Trevor Esling, former director-commercial contracts, was named vice president-international sales, Latin America/Far East. Esling has worked in the aircraft industry for 10 years, joining British Aerospace in 1985. Bradley Hatt was appointed vice president-special mission aircraft sales.
A CHARTERED GULFSTREAM II crashed in mountainous terrain near Quito, Ecuador early Thursday, killing all seven people on board. Initial reports said the victims included Jose Estenssoro, head of Argentina's largest oil company, Yacimientos Petroliferos Fiscales (YPF), and Juan Pedral, an executive of the Chilean national oil company, Empresa Nacional de Petroleos. Officials said the accident happened shortly after midnight on May 4. The aircraft, S/N 83, which was manufactured in 1970, was leased to American Jet S.A. of Buenos Aires, Argentina.
ROWAN COMPANIES, a major provider of aviation services to offshore oil platforms, has committed to the design and construction of what it described as "the world's largest bottom support mobile offshore drilling unit (MODU). The new rig, to be named Gorilla V, is an improved version of the successful Gorilla Class and will be capable of operating in the North Sea in water depths of up to 400 feet." Rowan estimates the new rig, which will be built at LeTourneau's Vicksburg, Miss., facility, will cost $135 million. Delivery is anticipated in the second quarter of 1998.
Socata, the subsidiary of Aerospatiale that produces the single-engine line of aircraft, has acquired Mooney's interest in the TBM 700 single-turboprop aircraft program. The acquisition, which was completed late last month, calls for the dissolution of the joint-venture holding company TBM S.A. and the North American subsidiary TBM N.A. The joint venture originated in 1987, but Mooney and Socata officials expressed a desire to restructure the TBM 700 program in late 1991. Socata held a 70 percent share and Mooney a 30 percent interest in the joint venture company.
GERRY CZARNECKI, president and chief operating officer of UNC Incorporated, was elected to the company's board of directors. Czarnecki, named president and COO of UNC in 1994, previously was senior vice president of administration and human resources for IBM.
IN THE SENATE, Max Baucus (D-Mont.) recently introduced legislation (S.729) to provide for off-budget treatment of transportation trust funds - aviation, highway, inland waterways and harbor maintenance. The bill, co- sponsored by Senate Majority Whip Trent Lott (R-Miss.), is similar to Rep. Shuster's H.R.842.
Martin Harwit, beleaguered director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air&Space Museum, resigned last week, citing what he termed the "controversy and divisiveness" that resulted from the museum's botched plans to display the Enola Gay, the B-29 that dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan. "There is no choice but to resign," Harwit said in his letter of resignation, which had been sought by 81 members of the House of Representatives. "The museum's welfare and future are too important."
CESSNA AIRCRAFT is planning coast-to-coast trips with a Citation X Thursday with stops in California and New York. The aircraft will depart at 6:45 a.m. EDT May 11 from Atlantic Aviation at the Teterboro, N.J. Airport for Petersen Aviation in Van Nuys, Calif. The Citation X, which is designed to cruise at Mach .92, is scheduled to arrive at Van Nuys for a 9 a.m. breakfast briefing. The aircraft will then depart at 10:15 a.m. PDT for an eastbound speed run to the Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y., where it is scheduled to arrive at 5 p.m. local time.
GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONIES for Cessna Aircraft's new piston-engine aircraft plant in Independence, Kan. are set for May 19 and Cessna Chairman Russ Meyer already is hinting about expanding the single-engine product line. Officially, Cessna has committed to returning the Models 172, 182 and 206 to production and expects to build2,000 aircraft per year by 1997. But Meyer told last week's Society of Automotive Engineers meeting in Wichita that initial market studies indicate strong potential demand for retractable gear versions of both the 172 and 182.
WILLIAM PAUL, senior vice president of government affairs for United Technologies Corp., was elected executive vice president of the corporation and will be a member of its management executive committee. He will continue to be responsible for the corporation's government affairs function in UTC's Washington, D.C. office and will have the additional title of chairman of United Technologies International Operations.
