THE U.S. BANKRUPTCY COURT in Miami has given a committee representing Piper Aircraft's unsecured creditors until May 4 to file a plan of reorganization for the Vero Beach, Fla. manufacturer. The committee last fall hoped to file a reorganization plan allowing creditors to retain ownership of Piper, but was delayed when Kaiser Aerospace and Teledyne Continental offered a competing bid for the company (BA, Dec. 19/165).
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD reiterated a recommendation that FAA require installation of ground proximity warning systems (GPWS) on all turbojet-powered airplanes equipped with six or more passenger seats within two years.The board first made that recommendation in 1992 as a result of its investigation into the crash of the Bruno's Inc. Beechjet near Rome, Ga. in late 1991 (BA, July 13, 1992/9), but in an Oct.
AMERICAN EAGLE ordered 47 Collins TCAS II units to equip its fleet, including those aircraft with 30 seats or less. Bob Zoller, vice president-operations for American Eagle, said the company decided to install TCAS II units on all its aircraft to ensure fleet commonality. "We fly aircraft that fall into both TCAS categories," Zoller said.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL promoted three employees to new positions. John Sauers, a 19-year FSI veteran, was named assistant director of standards for regulatory compliance. He will continue to be based at the Greater Philadelphia/Wilmington Center. Bonnie Hendrix is the new director of maintenance training at the company's Gulfstream center in Savannah, Ga. She had been a Gulfstream IV/V maintenance training program supervisor. Jack Young is the new director of training at the Wilmington center.
CENTRAL MISSOURI STATE, which operates 40 training aircraft for its 650 students, accepted delivery last month of a Diamond Aircraft DA20 Katana aircraft, S/N 6, the first DA20 to be manufactured and delivered out of the company's London, Ontario manufacturing facility. The Diamond Katana is a two-place trainer powered by a Bombardier Rotax 80-horsepower engine.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT named Ron Lance manager-organizational development and George Mabey manager-subsidiary human resources. Lance, who has more than 20 years' experience at Beech, United Beechcraft and Raytheon Aircraft, will direct support staffing, compensation planning and personnel development. He previously served as vice president-human resources and administration for United Beechcraft. Mabey, previously vice president- human resources at Raytheon Corporate Jets, is responsible for all human resource activities at the company's major subsidiaries.
JETSTREAM AIRCRAFT Models 3101 and 3201 airplanes (Docket No. 92-CE-23-AD) - reopens the comment period and proposes to revise an earlier proposal that calls for inspection of the main passenger/crew door locking mechanism to ensure that a taper pin is installed. Since publication of that proposal, FAA has re-examined various service difficulty reports and determined that a modification to the passenger door warning system also should be included. Since this action adds a modification to the original proposal, FAA is allowing more time for public comment.
READING AEROFEST '95 will be held Aug. 19-20 at Reading, Pa. Regional Airport. The Aerofest will feature the U.S. Navy Blue Angels, aerobatic performers and a static display. For more information, contact the Reading Regional Airport Authority, 2501 Bernville Road, Reading, PA 19605; telephone: (610) 372-4666; fax: (610) 372-4811.
Financially troubled Trans World Airlines signed an agreement under which it will purchase 38 million gallons of fuel from Clark Oil Co. of St. Louis for use at Lambert International Airport. At current prices, the contract is valued at $17.8 million and runs through Feb. 28, 1996. The fuel will be refined at Clark's newly purchased refinery in Port Arthur, Texas and transported to Wood River, Ill. through the Explorer Pipeline. The fuel then will move to Lambert through a newly opened pipeline connecting the Illinois terminal and the airport.
R. FRANK LEFTWICH, 58, executive vice president-marketing for Aviall, was named president of Aviall Asia Ltd., the company's newly formed marketing company in Hong Kong. Dan P. Komnenovich, senior vice president of development, was named to succeed Leftwich as senior vice president- marketing.
BRUCE MCNEELY, a veteran corporate pilot, was named manager of Hawker Product Marketing for Raytheon Aircraft. McNeely spent 14 years with the U.S. Army and is rated in the Hawker 125-800/1000, the Gulfstream IV, the Canadair Challenger and the Falcon 50/900. Most recently, he had been under contract with Raytheon as a captain for Frito-Lay's new Hawker 125- 800s. McNeeley previously held flight department and marketing and sales positions with K-C Aviation, The Southland Corp. and American Agronomics.
In a notice published in Monday's Federal Register, FAA said Administrator David Hinson is "delegating the authority to deny a petition for rulemaking to the Office or Service that has jurisdiction over the specific parts of the Federal Aviation Regulations for which a petition is submitted," but said Hinson will continue to personally review rulemaking petitions the agency approves.
TWIN COMMANDER Models 690C and 695 airplanes (Docket No. 94-CE-29-AD) - proposes to require an initial inspection of the wing structure for cracks, modification of any cracked structure, and if not cracked, either repetitive inspections or modification. This proposal is prompted by full- scale fatigue testing indicating areas in the wing that are subject to fatigue cracks. The actions specified by the proposal are intended to prevent wing damage and subsequent structural failure.
FAA'S NEW ENFORCEMENT POLICY regarding production of unapproved aircraft parts was published in the Feb. 27 Federal Register (BA, Feb. 27/91). FAA said it published the new policy "to ensure industry-wide awareness of the agency's intent to enforce the regulations governing all persons who produce modification or replacement parts for sale for installation on type certificated products." The agency said persons who manufacture parts "must submit at least a preliminary application for PMA no later than May 30."
THE UNITED STATES PILOTS ASSOCIATION has joined the growing opposition to proposed changes in FAA's airmen medical standards. USPA's board of directors said many of the proposed changes "are onerous, do not demonstrably improve safety and would substantially increase the cost to the applicant pilot." USPA President Al Ebsen wrote to FAA's General Counsel, complaining that "this 162-page NPRM unnecessarily adds complexity and expense and is a great disappointment to our board of directors and our members.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE continues to lure top sales executives from other aircraft manufacturers, announcing last week that it hired Joseph Kent (Joe) Walker from Cessna Aircraft. Walker, who was vice president- worldwide sales for the Wichita manufacturer, moves to Gulfstream headquarters in Savannah as vice president-North Ameri-can sales where he will oversee sales activities in the southern half of the U.S. Just six weeks ago, Gulfstream hired Gene Rainville from Dassault Falcon Jet to serve as executive vice president of international sales (BA, Jan. 23/35).
McDonnell Douglas and Israel Aircraft Industries signed a memorandum of understanding this month to seek a U.S. Air Force contract for the T-38 Avionics Upgrade Program. McDonnell Douglas will serve as the prime contractor with the LAHAV division of IAI as the major subcontractor. The T-38 Upgrade Program calls for modifying 425 aircraft and procuring 16 new aircrew training devices. A request for proposals is expected in September, with a contract award in January 1996.
THE U.S., CANADA AND RUSSIA will conduct an exercise March 19-24 to test their ability to deploy, coordinate and assist each other during search and rescue operations in arctic conditions following an airline crash. The operation, SABEX '95, will be the second of three involving the three nations in arctic inland search and rescue operations in the Northern Pacific. The exercise will simulate the crash of a civil air transport in a mountainous, remote arctic region of Canada. Members of the U.S.
Avions de Transport Regional last week successfully completed a round of tests to evaluate an improved de-icing system that will be installed on all ATR aircraft over the next few months. The tests, which took place at Edwards Air Force Base in California, were similar to tests conducted in December in which an ATR-72 flew in simulated freezing rain/drizzle droplets of more than 200 microns - several times the size required for FAA certification.
FAA is training controllers in a new procedure issued this month that forbids departing aircraft to wait for takeoff clearance on runways being used for arrivals. The new procedure is in effect between sunset and sunrise. The effectiveness of the new restriction, as well as the effectiveness of the training in preventing runway collisions, will be evaluated over the next two weeks, according to Bill Jeffers, FAA manager of air traffic.
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FRIDAY approved product liability reform legislation that would limit punitive damages to three times the economic loss or $250,000, whichever was larger, and exempt companies from punitive damages if the product in question was approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The bill, The Common Sense Product Liability and Legal Reform Act, is the third legal reform measure passed by the House.
Morrison Knudsen Corp., in the midst of a management upheaval and reeling from disappointing financial results, has put a number of its divisions up for sale, including Western Aircraft Maintenance Corp., the company's fixed-base operation in Boise, Idaho.
British engine maker Rolls-Royce said it earned more money last year than in 1993, despite a decline in overall sales. The company reported before- tax profits of 101 million pounds, compared with 76 million pounds a year earlier. Sales fell from 3.5 billion pounds to 3.2 billion, and estimated value of Rolls' orderbook slipped from 6.2 billion pounds to 5.9 billion. The company said that conditions in the aerospace and industrial power sectors "remain depressed and we expect little improvement before 1996 at the earliest.
AN ICAO PANEL also wants to see broader use of GPWS on turbine-powered aircraft. ICAO's Air Navigation Commission (ANC) last month issued a working paper to the ICAO Council recommending adoption of Amendment 16 to Annex 6, Part II regarding general aviation.
