Forgotten over the past 40 years is that the Boeing 707, the world's first commercially successful civil jet transport, actually started life as a private-venture follow-on military jet tanker/transport to the U.S. Air Force's Boeing C-97/KC-97.
Kellstrom Industries, Inc. named William Lyon to its board of directors. Lyon, a retired USAF general, is chairman, president and CEO of William Lyon Homes, Inc.
Cessna began construction of an engineering static test facility in Wichita, Kan., to help in projecting service life of components, systems, airframe structures and other parts. Center, to cover 74,000 sq. ft., will be complete by year-end.
Bombardier will expand its Aviation Services facility in Tucson, Ariz., to carry out completions on its Global Express business jet. New facility will total 193,000 sq. ft. and open in second-quarter 1999.
Triumph Group has agreed to acquire Chase Aerospace (U.K.) Ltd. Chase, based in Lasham Alton Hampshire, England, repairs and overhauls APUs, constant speed drives and integrated drive generators for commercial transport carriers and commuters.
FR Aviation named Marc Bailey base maintenance manager for its Bournemouth, U.K., Airport facility; and David Shaw head of design there. Bailey previously was manager of work content reduction for British Airways Engineering; Shaw was head of cabin product design and development at Virgin Atlantic.
Growth of the commercial aircraft fleet has created a burgeoning market for carbon brake disks and launched five brake manufacturers into a global capacity-building drive.
Mechanics' most prized possessions are their tools. And one of the most important tools in any mechanic's collection is the rolling tool cart that enables the mecha-nic to have a full complement of tools readily at hand for any job.
Associated Aviation Underwriters and Specialty Underwriters entered a joint agreement to offer AV-TEC, an insurance program ``designed to control the expense of avionics maintenance.'' Launch customer is Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls, which operates a Challenger, two Hawker 800s and a Dornier 328.
Zimex Aviation was named a Dassault Aviation Authorized Service Center. Located at Zurich International Airport, Zimex now can perform all necessary maintenance and repair of Falcon business jets.
Welcome to 1999 and what promises to be an important year for the aftermarket and the aviation/aerospace industry as a whole. Decisions that are made, technologies that are advanced, regulations that are promulgated and deals that are closed this year will affect the aftermarket for decades to come.
Europe is breaking ranks with the rest of the worldwide aviation community and moving unilaterally to impose stricter noise standards on airlines operating to and within its borders. Until recently, operators of Chapter 2 aircraft had until April 1, 2002, to comply with Chapter 3 noise rules.
Northrop Grumman won an $8.5 million U.S. Navy contract to continue development of 9,000-hr. time compliance requirements (TCR) for USN F-14B/D Tomcat fighters. This is the fourth of these contracts, totalling nearly $24 million, received by Northrop Grumman since 1995 involving fatigue-life enhancements to keep the USN Tomcats in service through 2008. The new contract covers continuation of this program through the end of 1998, and kit manufacturing work into 1999.
Bizjet International began construction of a 50,000-sq. ft. painting facility at Tulsa International Airport, Okla. Facility will accommodate aircraft as large as the Boeing Business Jet. Shop will have two independent 150 X 150-ft. hangars: one for paint stripping and aircraft preparation, the other dedicated to painting.
The four-engine Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8 were both among the first jet-powered commercial transports ever built, and the later models of both are Stage 3 hushkit candidates. A few dozen DC-8-50/60 series aircraft already have been hushkitted [the later -70s were equipped with quieter CFM International CFM56 engines], but bringing the 707 into Stage 3 compliance is a relatively new field of endeavor.
Major upgrades of 48 Turkish air force (THK) Northrop F-5A/Bs for use as lead-in fighter trainers are beginning by a team led by Israeli Aircraft Industries, following its receipt on Sept. 24 of a $70 million three-year contract from the Ankara government. In conjunction with Elbit Systems and Singapore Technologies Aerospace, IAI will produce a prototype installation and production kits for the THK F-5 program, for completion entirely within Turkey. Also included will be structural upgrades and replacements, where necessary, by Turkish Aerospace Industries.
Stevens Aviation opened a 175,000-sq. ft. maintenance and modification facility at Greenville, S.C. Facility includes 123,000-sq. ft. complex for aircraft repair and modification, and 52,000-sq. ft. paint, refurbishment and completion center.
Avantext signed an agreement with Bell Helicopter Textron to produce and distribute the helicopter maker's technical publications, including maintenance manuals, parts catalogs and service bulletins, on CD-ROM.
Honeywell's TCAS 2000 and Mode S transponder equipment will be retrofit into Australian domestic carrier Flight West Airlines' 12 Fokker 100s and F28s, and Embraer EMB-120s.
Rolls-Royce will supply upgrade kits to convert 108 engines on British Airways Boeing 747-400s to RB211-524 standard. Work is worth more than $200 million, and involves engines for 25 aircraft plus eight spares.
DRS Flight Safety and Communications received a $2 million contract from Canadian Department of National Defense to provide its Emergency Avionics Systems 3000F to upgrade Canada's CP-140 long-range maritime patrol aircraft.
Boeing is fine-tuning an Intelligent Graphics module for its maintenance manuals to increase troubleshooting and repair efficiency while helping eliminate potential errors. The effort, underway since 1992, essentially seeks to ``add context'' to computer-referenced maintenance documents by adding color, notations, color-coded text and web-like ``connectivity,'' according to John H. Boose, Boeing technical fellow for applied research and technology.
International Federation of Airworthiness (IFA) named Robert Davis president. Davis is vice president of engineering and product development for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.
The proposed new Part 66 of the Federal Aviation Regulations (FAR) governing mechanics and repair technicians may run counter to FAA's own announced safety goals, NATA said. NATA President James Coyne said that while the association agrees with the FAA rationale for the rule, the result does not meet the objective.
