AT THE SAME TIME, members of 24 aviation interest groups are trying to come up with a united position on the ATC corporatization/privatization issue. The groups published a five-point statement in late December that called for a restructuring of FAA that would provide greater autonomy for the agency, putting the Aviation Trust Fund off-budget, continued funding of aviation programs at "an appropriate level" from the General Treasury and industrywide representation on any advisory or governing board that may evolve as a result of ATC restructuring (BA, Jan. 2/6).
MICHAEL P. AGNEW was named a commercial aircraft sales representative for Field Aviation Sales Ltd., by Chris Cooper-Slipper, vice president and general manager of the company. Agnew will be based at Field Aviation's offices in Toronto, Ontario. Agnew has been involved in the sales and leasing of commuter and regional airline aircraft, both in Canada and abroad, for the past eight years.
The Flight Safety Foundation said FAA's decision to modify restrictions on ATR-42 and ATR-72 aircraft "demonstrates the merits of the U.S. regulatory system, which has produced the safest aviation environment in the world."
SEXTANT AVIONIQUE named Willy Moses chief executive officer of Sextant Holdings, Inc., a group subsidiary that includes its satellite communication business in San Antonio, Tex., and product support and marketing activities in Miami. Moses had been head of the Air Transport Avionics Division at AlliedSignal since 1991. He previously worked for Bendix and Cessna Aircraft.
GENERAL AVIATION AIRCRAFT were involved in 1,989 accidents last year, according to preliminary National Transportation Safety Board statistics, the first time the GA accident total has fallen below the 2,000 threshold in decades. As recently as 1982, there were more than 3,200 GA accidents in the U.S. While the reduced accident total - 37.8 percent lower than 1982 - is good news, FAA estimates that GA aircraft flew only 21 million flight hours last year, down 1.4 million hours from 1993 and a decline of nearly 30 percent from the 1982 total of 29.6 million hours.
HUGHES AIRCRAFT COMPANY won a $3.7 million contract for air traffic control equipment from Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS), the organization responsible for flight safety in Germany. Hughes will provide two TracView air traffic control systems for use at air traffic centers in Karlsruhe and Langen, Germany. TracView is an airspace management software package that runs on commercial workstations. The system for Karlsruhe supports 22 controller work stations and the system for Langen supports 28 work stations.
AARON REED is FlightSafety International's new Mid-Atlantic regional marketing manager, based at the company's new Dulles International Airport marketing office. A native of Baltimore, Reed was formerly a regional sales manager for Raytheon Aircraft Company's Hawker Jet group. Reed reports to Scott Fera, FSI's national sales manager based in St. Louis, Mo.
SIMUFLITE TRAINING INTERNATIONAL received two three-year contracts from FAA to provide initial and recurrent training for FAA Citation III and Falcon 20 safety inspectors. All training will be conducted at FSI's Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport headquarters.
ROLLS-ROYCE Spey series turbofan engines (Docket No. 93-ANE-43; Amdt. 39- 9093 ; AD 94-25-09) - requires a one-time inspection for Stage 1 and Stage 2 high pressure turbine (HPT) and low pressure turbine (LPT) disks for cracks and corrosion pitting. This amendment is prompted by a report of a Stage 7 high pressure compressor disk found cracked due to corrosion. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent HPT or LPT disk burst due to cracking attributed to corrosion, which may result in an uncontained engine failure.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., which announced just a week ago that 1994 was the best sales year in the Savannah, Ga. company's history, said it signed an agreement with Executive Jet Aviation covering the sale of up to 22 long-range business jets over the next several years. Gulfstream said if all options are exercised, the EJA deal would be worth more than $500 million, which would be the largest single sale in Gulfstream history.
Insurance industry officials, who say 1994 was an "average year" in terms of airline hull losses and passenger deaths, said the year was marked by skyrocketing costs to insurance underwriters. According to provisional estimates released by London-based Airclaims, airline hull and liability losses totaled nearly $2.2 billion, about $1 billion more than the 1993 estimated cost of airline claims and $900 million more than worldwide airline insurance premiums paid in 1994.
Banner Aerospace, Inc., in the process of selling off certain operating units, has completed the sale of the assets of Austin Jet Corp. and AJ Aerospace Services, Inc., to Rene Charvillat, identified only as a private investor. Terms of the transaction were not given.
FRED HENSLEY, JR., was named manager of design services for Duncan Aviation. He is responsible for management of the paint and interior designers as well as systems designers and his duties include project planning for modification work. Before joining Duncan, Hensley spent eight years with Page Avjet and for the past three years had been director of maintenance at Page's Ft. Worth, Tex., location.
TERRA CORPORATION TRT 250 series transponders (Docket No. 94-SW-03-AD; Amdt. 39-9112; AD 94-01-01) - requires removal of the transponder from the aircraft, inspection to determine if the AD applies and replacement of affected transponder with a modified Terra Corp. transponder or another transponder that responds properly to Mode S interrogations from both an air traffic control radio beacon system/Mode S ground station and traffic collision avoidance system (TCAS II) airborne equipment.
HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION INTERNATIONAL is now offereing a 401(k) savings plan and a profit sharing plan as benefits for association members. The new program, being offered in cooperation with Dean Witter Reynolds, Inc. and Mazurek&Associates, will permit HAI member companies an opportunity "to contract for a retirement and profit-sharing program with significant reduction in fees and forms. This new membership benefit should be of significant value in terms of reduction of paperwork and legal fees," said HAI President Frank Jensen.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL has installed a Cessna Citation I/II simulator at the company's Miami, Fla., training center, the first business aircraft simulator at that facility and FSI's fifth Citation training location. FSI said the Citation simulator was installed in Miami to serve the needs of Citation operators in Central and South America.
Brit Air, a regional airline headquartered in Morlaix, France, has purchased three additional Canadair Regional Jets from Bombardier Regional Aircraft Division. Brit's initial order for three RJs was announced in October and the additional aircraft will bring its fleet to six. Deliveries of the new order will begin in June and be completed in late 1996.
TERRANCE J. BACOLA was appointed vice president and general manager of Midway Aircraft Instrument Corp., Little Ferry, N.J. Bacola has over 20 years' experience in jet operations and airline technical functions. Most recently he had been vice president-technical service of Worldwide Airline Services, Inc., director of maintenance and engineering at DHL Airways and vice president operations of The Trump Shuttle. Located on the perimeter of Teterboro Airport, Midway repairs and overhauls instruments and accessories for corporate and airline aircraft.
THE TRANSPORTATION DEPARTMENT'S DOCKET SECTION relocated Friday from Room 4107 to Room PL-401 on the ground floor of the DOT headquarters building at 400 Seventh St. S.W., Washington, D.C. 20590. The docket room is located in the northeast corner of the DOT complex.
THE DIRECTOR OF THE AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM, Martin Harwit, is coming under increasing fire from Congress and the media about the museum's handling of an exhibit on the use of air power in World War II and its plans to display the fuselage of the Enola Gay, the aircraft that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan. Veterans groups, particularly the Air Force Association, have been highly critical of the way the museum was organizing the exhibit, claiming that the museum was engaging in revisionist history, failing to properly document Japan's actions that led up to the U.S.
ATLANTIC AVIATION received supplemental type certification last month for installation of Whelen anti-collision lights on Westwind 1124/1124A business jets. Steven Horah, vice president of Atlantic's Aircraft Support Group, said "Westwind operators will finally be able to enjoy not only an attractive cost savings for the initial purchase and installation of the Whelen Anti-Collision Lights, but will most certainly benefit when it comes to future maintenance cost as well."
Teledyne sold its Electronic Systems business to Litton Industries in an all-cash deal, Litton reported, but terms weren't disclosed. Three Teledyne units in Northridge, Newbury Park and San Diego, Calif., are involved in the transaction, which has been in the works since last summer. Electronic Systems' Lewisburg, Tenn., operations were excluded, as was any real estate.
