The Regional Airline Association (RAA) has selected Deborah McElroy to succeed Walt Coleman as president of the organization. Since 1991 McElroy has served as the RAA's vice president. Coleman is retiring from the RAA at the end of this month. (See page 44.) McElroy has been with the trade association since 1987, working on RAA policy and regulatory matters as well as the group's educational seminars and annual report.
Atlantic Coast Airlines will use Teledyne TeleLink on its current fleet of Canadair Regional Jets and its proposed fleet of Fairchild 328JETs and Fairchild 428JETs.
Citing fewer new-engine deliveries planned for the next two to three years, Pratt&Whitney said it will eliminate as many as 1,700 more jobs, mainly at the company's Connecticut factories. Hourly workers account for most of the cuts, while about 200 salaried jobs also are being phased out. The engine giant began cutting 3,500 jobs in a reorganization that began in 1999. Pratt says the cuts would have been deeper if employees hadn't taken advantage of an early retirement program offered to the hourly workers last year.
Mesa Air Group has placed a firm order for 36 new Embraer ERJ-145 regional jets, plus 64 options convertible into the smaller (37-seat) ERJ-135. At least 28 of the new aircraft will fly under US Airways Express colors, under an expanded code-share agreement signed in late 1999. Mesa also is expected to fly some of the 50-seat jets under its America West Express code-share. ERJ-145 deliveries are slated to begin over the next several months and continue through late 2002.
GAMA reported that 1999 was the fifth consecutive year of increases in new aircraft deliveries and predicted continued growth this year. Turbofan deliveries grew 23.9 percent, followed by a 14.3-percent increase in multiengine pistons and a nearly 14-percent rise in single-engine pistons. Turboprop deliveries were down 2.6 percent -- the only segment to experience a decrease. In all, more than 2,500 new aircraft were delivered in 1999.
DB Aviation at Waukegan Regional Airport (UGN) near Chicago is seeking new tenants for its sizeable ``corporate development area.'' The FBO says the $3 million construction project includes room for up to 20 ``corporate facilities'' of up to 90,000 square feet each, with hangar and office complexes built to suit each flight department. DB Aviation recently acquired four new fuel trucks to support its AvFuel operation, while adding a Cessna Citation S/II to its fleet of managed charter aircraft.
Within days of the Meridian mishap, the fourth production Cirrus SR-20 landed in a cornfield near Chicago after an apparent engine malfunction. Palwaukee-based Windy City Flyers Club, which bills itself as the ``home of the world's only rentable Cirrus SR-20'' operates the aircraft. Both the pilot and passenger were uninjured and the aircraft sustained only minor damage. Cirrus officials say engine manufacturer Teledyne Continental will examine the engine to help determine the cause of the crash.
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Capable of using ACARS, an air-to-ground radiotelephone link, satcom telephone and/or ARINC 741 satcom ACARS, UniLink will provide Super FMS with Controller to Pilot Data-Link Communications (CPDLC) for the 21st century CNS ATM system. UASC recently achieved Inmarsat approval for the Thrane and Thrane $40,000 Aero-M and $110,000 Aero-I satcom systems, the latter being capable of CPDLC. Either system can be used to uplink weather text and graphics, as well.
Global Express operators will have the option of installing a BAe Systems (formerly GEC-Marconi) HUD2020 Visual Guidance System by September, according to Kevin Hoffman, chairman of Aerospace Concepts, a completion weight-reduction and consulting firm based in Montreal. The BAe Systems Head-Up Display (HUD) is offered as an alternative to the Sextant Avionique Head-up Flight Display System (HFDS), now Bombardier's factory-standard HUD option for the Global Express.
Saying the deal probably ``wouldn't have gotten done'' if Gulfstream pushed him to do it ``the old-fashioned way,'' billionaire Mark Cuban purchased a Gulfstream V on the Internet. The broadcast.com founder says he researched on the manufacturer's Web site and then arranged a demo flight and negotiated the purchase via e-mail. It is believed to be the largest purchase made on the Internet.
Imagine a flight where a controller issues an altitude clearance, you read back what you thought you heard, and the controller does not correct your readback. A few minutes later, the controller angrily restates the altitude clearance, gives a turn to your traffic, and gives you a phone number to call on the ground.
Edited by Paul RichfieldBy Paul Richfield Aboard American 1099/1435
Photograph: FAA Administrator Jane Garvey aboard an American Airlines MD-80 on New Year's Eve. Fireworks at the Golden Gate Bridge welcomed FAA Administrator Jane Garvey to San Francisco just after midnight on January 1, concluding her high-profile ``Y2K flight'' across America on board an American Airlines aircraft.
Sales of civilian helicopters are expected to remain flat or decrease slightly over the next decade, according to a study by the Washington, D.C.-based Transportation Research Board. Turbine helicopter deliveries may match the 1998 levels again in 2005, although the market for pistons probably will remain flat, the group says. Although new helicopter deliveries will be stagnant, the civil helicopter fleet is expected to increase somewhat, due to older helicopters remaining in service.
Flight-testing of a new, graphical real-time weather information service began aboard a Federal Express MD-11 en route from Newark to Memphis. NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia is spearheading the research project -- known as Aviation Weather Information (AWIN) -- with assistance from Rockwell Collins, Honeywell, Litton/WSI, the FAA, U.S. Air Force, component-maker Penny and Giles and other organizations. AWIN relies on proven technology including Microsoft Windows NT software, a laptop computer and a network server using standard communications protocols.
While claiming aviation contributes a small proportion of man-made CO2 emissions, the Association of European Airlines (AEA) and the European Association of Aerospace Industries (AECMA) have agreed to joint efforts at reducing CO2 emission from aircraft. Among the methods the groups will pursue: improving fuel efficiency, researching technologies for new generation aircraft and pursuit of a ``global plan'' for reducing the toxic emissions through ICAO.
Priester Aviation is adding three aircraft to its charter fleet: a Cessna Citation VII and a Raytheon Hawker 700 and 400-731. The Hawkers are scheduled to replace Priester's two Dassault Falcon 20s.
Keystone Helicopter and Turbomecca Engine ended negotiations for the sale of Keystone's engine division in West Chester, Pa. Keystone continues to be a Turbomecca Service Center.
Although unrelated to the 60-day trial issue, an FAA decision in early January to boost certification requirements for some WAAS software means the system will initially only be capable of providing approaches down to 400 feet and three-quarters of a mile visibility, short of the CAT I capability that has been promised.
Corporate aviation has always had an image problem. Especially in the early days of business flying, the man on the street found it difficult to identify with travelers who were zipping around the country ensconced in the spacious, luxurious cabins of private aircraft. But what if a popular figure, a seemingly regular guy whom the masses trusted implicitly, urged everyone to fly and regularly reminded the public that aviation was the best thing since sliced bread?
