General Aviation Manufacturers Association named Sherry Ruffing, who served as legislative director for former Rep. Dan Glickman (D-Kan.), as director of government affairs. Ruffing succeeds Al Jackson, who left GAMA this month to join the American Tort Reform Association (BA, March 6/102). Along with working behind the scenes for Glickman, Ruffing was active with the Congressional Aviation Forum, which comprises a bipartisan group of congressmen interested in aviation issues. "We are delighted to have Sherry join our team.
RAPHAEL NZOMO was appointed sales coordinator for Southern Air Transport's recently opened regional sales office in Nairobi, Kenya. Nzomo, who will be responsible for all existing African operations and development of new programs in eastern Africa, previously served as general manager for Western Airways, a Nairobi-based air charter company.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION published Special Federal Aviation Regulation (SFAR) No. 73 pertaining to Robinson helicopters in the March 1 Federal Register. The rules, which are effective March 27, call for new training and experience requirements for Model R-22 and R-44 helicopter operators (BA, Feb. 27/90).
MERCURY AIR GROUP'S board of directors declared a regular quarterly dividend on its common stock of one cent per share, payable May 1 to shareholders of record on April 10.
AIR METHODS CORP., Denver, Colo., won a new contract for installation of six additional passenger oxygen systems by Mesa Air Group for its fleet of de Havilland Dash 8 aircraft.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION has released its 1995 edition of AOPA's Aviation USA, a directory of public-use landing facilities, fixed- base operations and nearby services. The 1995 edition adds information on FBO fax numbers, computerized weather services and self-service fueling. The guide details airport data including runway length, non-standard traffic patterns and communications frequencies. Additionally, the publication lists 1,964 private-use airports.
MIKE CROITORU was promoted to manager of business development for FlightSafety International's Learjet learning centers in Wichita. Croitoru, an eight-year employee with FlightSafety, most recently was a regional marketing manager based in Minneapolis, Minn.
KOLL, a commercial real estate company based in Newport Beach, Calif., is tripling its facilities management services for Delta Air Lines to 5.7 million square feet. Koll has been providing facilities management services at Delta's Atlanta, Ga., headquarters and now will operate a three million-square-foot technical operations center in Atlanta and a 1.5 million-square-foot international and domestic terminal and argo faility at JFK International Airport in New York.
CAROL HALLETT, an experienced pilot and former Customs Service Commissioner in the Bush Administration, was named president of the airline industry's principal lobbying group, the Air Transport Association. Hallett's selection ends a lengthy search for a successor to James Landry, the veteran ATA attorney who has served as president since 1992. During her public career, Hallett has served as Ambassador to the Bahamas, western representative for the U.S. Interior Department and Republican leader of the California Assembly.
STEC -CORPORATION, Mineral Wells, Texas, received FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) approval of its new panel-mounted System 55 autopilot for 26 models of general aviation aircraft, including several Beech, Britten- Norman, Cessna, Commander, Lake, Mooney, Piper and Socata models. S-TEC said the System 55 is the company's first autopilot designed specificially to be integrated into the aircraft radio stack with other avionics. Options include flight director, HSI and altitude selector/alerter.
KAISER ALUMINUM&CHEMICAL CORP. and the United Steelworkers of America announced that striking union members have ratified a new 47-month master labor contract by a majority vote. The contract covers approximately 3,000 employees at five U.S. locations: aluminum smelters in Mead and Tacoma, Wash., a sheet and plate rolling mill in Trendwood, Wash., an alumina refinery in Gramercy, La., and a rod and bar plant in Newark, Ohio. The new contract runs is retroactive to Nov. 1, 1994 and runs through Sept. 30, 1998.
National Air Transportation Association urged the Federal Aviation Administration to extend the compliance deadline for installing TCAS 1 (traffic alert and collision avoidance systems) to March 31, 1997. FAA originally proposed extending the deadline to March 31, 1997 to accommodate delays developing and testing the system, but in a surprise move last December, shortened the compliance date to Dec. 31, 1995 (BA, Jan. 2/3). The original TCAS 1 deadline was Feb. 9.
FAA has proposed special conditions for the Saab 2000. FAA said the aircraft's electronic flight control system will have "novel and unusual design features" that are not accounted for in Part 25. The special conditions contain additional safety standards to cover the system, the agency said. For more information, contact Mark Quam in FAA's Standardization Branch at (206) 227-2145.
COOPER AVIATION INDUSTRIES has signed a service agreement with Aviation Service International, BV in the Netherlands. Under the agreement, ASI will offer sales assistance and representation for a new Cooper Express International service, which will cover Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Spain. Cooper Express International will provide direct delivery of parts from Cooper's main warehouse in Chicago.
Allison Engine Co.'s AE 3007C turbofan won its FAA certification last week, the company's first commercial turbofan certificate. Developed at 7,500 pounds' thrust, the engine is rated at 6,400 pounds' thrust for Cessna's new Mach 0.90 Citation X business jet and 7,200 pounds' thrust for the Embraer EMB-145 50-passenger regional jet.
ROBERT HOGAN has joined AAR Aircraft Turbine Center as general manager, Pratt&Whitney Large Commercial Engines. Hogan previously was manager of the high-thrust product lines in Pratt&Whitney's aftermarket surplus sales organization.
Tom Bell, who left Burson-Marsteller in March 1994 to become vice chairman of Gulfstream Aerospace (BA, March 28/136), will rejoin the marketing and public relations company as president and chief executive officer, effective April 1. Bill Boisture, Gulfstream executive vice president, will assume Bell's operational responsibilities. Bell will remain on the Gulfstream board of directors and his responsibilities at Burson-Marsteller will include Gulfstream marketing strategy.
A federal court jury last week found the owner of a former air taxi company guilty of conspiracy and making false statements to the FAA after two other defendants in the case - both of whom are former FAA employees - pleaded guilty to conspiracy. Seth Weber, an attorney in the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadelphia, said Earl M. Holtz, 50, of Bethlehem, Pa., the former owner and president of Northeast Jet Co., Allentown- Bethlehem-Easton Airport, was found guilty of conspiracy and seven counts of making false statements.
ROBERT TURICH was appointed manager of aircraft finance for Green Tree's Commercial Finance Division, which recently was formed to finance general aviation aircraft. Turich formerly was an aircraft loan officer with Bank of Boston.
C. MARTIN WEBBER was named director of international operations for Apogee Research, the Bethesda, Md. consulting firm. Webber previously served with Louis Berger Group.
DENVER INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT finally opened Tuesday and officials said a Model 35 Learjet, N10BD, made the first landing at 12:01 a.m., approximately one minute after the airport was commissioned. At 6:01 a.m., about one minute after the airport officially opened, a Westwind, N98TS landed. Both aircraft were serviced at the AMR Combs fixed-base operation.
REP. JAMES LIGHTFOOT (R-Iowa), who earlier said he planned to introduce legislation to make the Federal Aviation Administration an independent agency (BA, Feb. 27/89), now expects to introduce the bill either this week or next. Lightfoot last week was still working out the details of the legislation, which will reestablish FAA as an independent agency and create a panel to recommend funding mechanisms.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION has published the airworthiness directive requiring modifications and/or operating restrictions for ATR-42 and -72 aircraft (BA, Jan. 16/25). The well-publicized requirements stem from the fatal crash of a Simmons Airlines ATR-72 on Oct. 31. The AD was published in the Feb. 21 Federal Register. For details, contact Sam Grober or Gary Lium in the FAA Standardization Branch at (206) 227-1187.
Al Jackson, who has served as the General Aviation Manufacturers Association's chief lobbyist since June 1992, has left GAMA to join the American Tort Reform Association. Jackson, who held the title of manager, government affairs while at GAMA, was instrumental in behind-the-scenes negotiations for passage of the General Aviation Revitalization Act, which establishes an 18-year statute of repose for manufacturers of general aviation aircraft and components.
JETSTREAM AIRCRAFT HP137 Mk1, Jetstream Series 200 and Models 3101 and 3201 airplanes (Docket No. 94-CE-13-AD; Amdt. 39-9137; AD 95-02-19) - requires repetitive inspections of the left and right pilot windscreens for poly vinyl butyrate (PVB) interlayer cracks and replacement of any windscreen that has a crack exceeding certain limits. This action is prompted by several reports of PVB interlayer cracking of pilot windscreens. The actions specified in this AD are intended to prevent such cracking, which could result in decompression.
