AMERICAN PROPELLER SERVICE, Redding, Calif., which has more than 20 years' experience with propeller and governor maintenance, is now offering turbine governor overhaul and sales. For more information, contact Bob Honig at (800) 292-7767.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AIRCRAFT ASSOCIATION has asked U.S. Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale for help in improving airport and airspace access for business aviation in Japan. "It is ironic that at a time when Japan and the U.S. have been endeavoring to ease strained trade relations, there continue to be very restrictive airport and airspace policies in Japan with regard to business aircraft, resulting in significant barriers to trade," NBAA President John Olcott said.
Organization -- Re-establishes FAA as an independent agency. Governance&Management -- Provides for appointment of an FAA administrator with a fixed term in office of seven years. -- Establishes a Management Advisory Committee within FAA. Committee meets quarterly to advise the administrator on management, policy, spending and regulatory matters under the jurisdiction of the agency.
RAISBECK ENGINEERING won FAA certification for a storage locker on the aft underside of Learjet 35/36 Series aircraft designed to hold long items such as skis and golf clubs. The locker is contained in an aft fuselage fairing that begins as a rearward extension of the horizontal fuselage keel beam. It then rolls into a 17-inch deep ventral fin, replacing the aircraft original fin. Contained within the 18-foot fairing is an eight-foot-long drawer that slides out to the side for loading and unloading.
Raytheon, which last week unveiled plans to buy E-Systems for about $2.3 billion in cash, will still have room for other purchases, Raytheon Chairman Dennis J. Picard told BA sister publication Aerospace Daily last week. E-Systems, which enjoys double-digit earnings growth, will start paying for itself right away, and while much of Raytheon's current capital structure is built around short-term debt, Raytheon expects to put much of the acquisition debt in intermediate-to-long term instruments.
Organization -- Not-for-profit Federal Government Corporation. Has about 40,000 employees. -- Responsible for operation, maintenance and development of the ATC system. -- Supports national defense activities. -- Responsible for compliance with applicable environmental laws and regulations. Governance&Management -- Eleven-member Board of Directors, all appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION has grounded another wave of general aviation aircraft, officials said Friday. FAA issued an airworthiness directive requiring, before further flight, the replacement of incorrectly assembled turbocharger oil outlet check valves installed or repaired after Aug. 1 on 12 engine models manufactured by Teledyne Continental Motors. The AD, which is estimated to cover about 500 engines, is prompted by three reported cases of check valve failures, two of which resulted in loss of engine power, officials said.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION last week reported that more than 20 percent of the 2,473 potentially faulty connecting rod bolts shipped by Superior Air Parts since February 1994 have been recovered.FAA last month grounded some 6,000 aircraft powered by certain Lycoming piston engines until they were inspected for connecting rod bolts that may have been manufactured with inferior material (BA, March 27/132). Since the grounding, 537 of the bolts were recovered. Of those, 243 were unapproved parts, an FAA spokesman said.
AIR ZIMBABWE ordered two Fokker 50 aircraft for its domestic services with deliveries to be completed this month. The carrier is the third African airline to select the Fokker 50, following earlier orders by Kenya Airways and Sudan Airways. Fokker said it now has more than 200 firm orders and 15 options for the twin-engine turboprop.
DANIEL ADAMS was appointed regional manager for AvReps International. Adams, who has more than 30 years of aviation industry experience, will be based in Annapolis, Md. and responsible for the mid-Atlantic states, including Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Delaware.
KC AVIATION is claiming a "first" in its history of avionics installations. KC said its Dallas facility completed installation of a Collins SAT-906 SATCOM combined with a RACAL MCA-6010 mechanically steered antenna. The units went into a Gulfstream IV business jet and will provide passengers with two voice communication channels and a third data-transfer channel. "This record-breaking configuration was installed in a three-week period," said Manager of Avionics Sales Chuck Swartz.
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT, which this month instituted handling charges for aircraft that do not purchase a minimum amount of fuel (BA, March 27/131), joins a small but growing number of fixed-base operations with similar practices. Flightcraft, the West Coast FBO chain, has been experimenting with a similar, limited program that was designed with help from a corporate flight department manager. Showalter Flying Service also implemented such fees in December.
RICHARD SMITH was promoted to staff vice president, government affairs of Textron, Inc. Smith, who joined the Washington office of Avco Corp. before it was acquired by Textron in 1985, formerly was director, government affairs.
ATLANTIC AVIATION FLIGHT SERVICES, Teterboro, N.J., added a Hawker 800 to its charter fleet. The company's aircraft charter business has safely flown more than 146,000 consecutive flight hours since it began operations 21 years ago.
LEARJET Model 24, 25, 31, 35, 36 and 55 series airplanes and Model 28 and 29 airplanes (Docket No. 94-NM-211-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires a revision to the limitations section of the FAA-approved Airplane Flight Manual to prohibit flight above 41,000 feet. The actions specified by that AD are intended to prevent cracking and subsequent failure of the out-flow/safety vales, which could result in rapid decompression of the airplane.
TEXTRON LYCOMING ALF502R series turbofan engines (Docket No. 92-ANE-11; Amdt. 39-9151; AD 95-03-15) - reduces the service life for the No. 2 stage turbine disk and No. 1 and No. 3 through No. 7 stage compressor rotor disks, and requires a scheduled removal of these disks from service. This amendment is prompted by reports of cracks in disks returned from the field and in disks tested by the manufacturer. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent disk failure and possible uncontained engine failure.
JACK KEMMERLY, who represented the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association in a four-state area of the western U.S., will now concentrate on aviation matters in California exclusively. "Many significant issues confronting general aviation come up first in California, so it is important to all our members to increase our emphasis there," said AOPA President Phil Boyer.
Two veteran fixed-base operators, John T. Tucker and J. Robert (Bob) Duncan, are among those who will be honored with award presentations during the National Air Transportation Association's annual convention next month in New Orleans.
The Federal Aviation Administration has made a "down-select" decision to negotiate only with a Wilcox-led team for the $500 million contract to develop the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS). Competing teams were notified late last month not to continue to spend effort and money pursuing the contract, sources told BA sister publication Aviation Daily.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Model BAe 146-100A, -200A and -300A series airplanes (Docket No. 94-NM-126-AD; Amdt. 39-9168; AD 95-05-01) - requires closed loop tests to determine the setting of the underfrequency trip level on suspect generator control units and either correction of discrepancies or replacement, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by several malfunctions of in-service generator control units because the underfrequency trip level was set too high.
BOMBARDIER and Mesa Air Group last week announced signing a definitive agreement for 25 Dash 8-200 aircraft plus 25 options. The airline has announced its selection of the newest version of the de Havilland-built aircraft in late February (BA, Feb. 27/92). Deliveries on the C$317 million order are to begin next February at the rate of two a month.
Phillips 66 has developed a new 82 octane unleaded fuel that could replace 80/87 octane aviation gasoline for aircraft with low-compression engines, Phillips officials announced Saturday. The new fuel, developed under a joint program with Cessna and the Federal Aviation Administration, is part of an industry-wide effort to develop alternative fuels to leaded avgas.
REP. BART STUPAK (D-Mich.) has introduced legislation, H.R.963, to exempt non-commercial aircraft and marine radios from Federal Communications Commission registration and fee requirements. Aircraft owners currently must register their radios with the FCC and pay a fee of $115 every 10 years.
JETSTREAM Model 4101 airplanes (Docket No. 95-NM-17-AD) - proposes to require replacement of a certain pressure switch with a certain new pressure switch in the fuel system for the engines. This proposal is prompted by a report indicating that a certain pressure switch in the fuel system for the engine does not meet current fire resistant properties and could fail during a fire in the engine compartment. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent failure of the existing pressure switch.
The Department of Transportation late last month finalized its proposal to reform the Federal Aviation Administration, but an alternate proposal, introduced last week by Rep. Jim Lightfoot (R-Iowa), received the plaudits from the industry. DOT drew the fire of many congressional and general aviation industry leaders in February when it detailed its plans to create the U.S. Air Traffic Services Corp. (USATS) to run the nation's air traffic control system (BA, Feb. 20/79).
