FORMER FAA ADMINISTRATOR Don Engen has resigned as chairman of the Board of Visitors of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation to accept the Dewitt Ramsey Chair for Naval Aviation History at the National Air and Space Museum. Engen joined the Air Safety Foundation in 1987 as president. He will hold the museum position for a year.
IN WHAT'S BELIEVED TO BE AN UNPRECEDENTED TECHNIQUE to spur early compliance with the TCAS I requirement, FAA said it "will advise the traveling public of air carriers that have complied with this rule significantly earlier than the required compliance date."
SENIOR AIRLINE and air taxi executives and chief pilots "invited" to a day and one-half meeting with top Transportation Department and FAA officials this month are being asked to pay a $50 "registration fee" in addition to the cost of rooms at the Washington, D.C. Renaissance Hotel where the meeting will be held. The program for the Jan.
THE EH101, the civilian/military utility helicopter developed jointly by Agusta of Italy and Westland Helicopters of the United Kingdom, has received U.K, Italian and U.S. certification. Officials, forecasting a world market for more than 700 of the tri-engine helicopters, said the venture has received orders from the Royal Navy for 44 units, as well as interest from the Italian Navy, Royal Air Force and a number of offshore oil industry operators.
An ATR-72 under scrutiny during icing tests at Edwards AFB, Calif., has successfully completed the entire test series, flying in icing conditions nearly twice as severe as the certification requirement, an official with the U.S. arm of the French-Italian ATR consortium said last month.
INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVES believe the current political climate in Washington is largely responsible for FAA's decision to cut 15 months from the previously proposed schedule for installation of TCAS I units in aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats operating under Part 135 of the FARs.See article below. They suspect that the one-year compliance schedule, which will cause problems for both operators and equipment manufacturers, was adopted more to impress members of congressional oversight committees than because of a pressing safety need.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT has finalized a deal for the first aircraft it will deliver in 2000. Taxi Aereo Marialia, a Brazilian airline, agreed to buy six Citation Excels during the National Business Aircraft Association Annual Meeting and Convention in October in New Orleans. That order calls for deliveries to begin in late 1998 and finish in the first quarter of 2000. Cessna expects certification and initial deliveries of the Excel to begin in 1997.
