Alliance Coatings' QuikMix urethane touch-up kits are ready to mix and are available in all JetGlo and AcryGlo colors. The customer specifies aircraft make and model, and can choose from over 6,000 formulated colors. QuikMix kits include one four-ounce can each of urethane exterior paint and interior paint, as well as a catalyst. Price range: $72 and up, depending on colors and quantities. Alliance Coatings, Inc., 1662 N. Magnolia Ave., Ste. 2, El Cajon, Calif. 92020. (619) 596-9191; fax: (619) 596-9190.
Dassault Falcon Jet recently finished a three-year expansion of its completion and service center at Little Rock, Ark. As part of ongoing improvements, 22 additional CATIA workstations will be installed in 1999. Together with the physical expansion, Dassault is using its CATIA computer design software to help drive aircraft completion times down to three months while increasing capacity to 60 aircraft per year, according to a company spokesman.
Michael S. Graff, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, often has been quoted as saying that the firm's new program is the ``worst-kept secret'' in the industry. No wonder. For three years, Bombardier has probed, poked and palpated the business aircraft industry with the goal of deriving a precise diagnosis of conditions and opportunities in the rapidly emerging, super-midsize business aircraft market. An executive physical at the Mayo Clinic hardly could have been more thorough.
The number of business jets with RVSM approvals was about 890 in late October, according to a report by the AOPA U.K. The report lists the following aircraft models (with the number of aircraft approved shown in parentheses): Astras (3), Challengers (237), Citations (14), Falcons (298), Gulfstreams (247), Hawkers (27) and Learjet 60s (21). In addition, the AOPA U.K. reports 43 business jet airliners with RVSM approval. Further information on RVSM and GA can be found at www.arinc.com/Ind_Govt_Srv/RVSM/rvsm.html.
One of the first industrial tenants for the just-opened Northwest Arkansas Airport (XNA) is Ozark Aircraft Systems, a two-year-old aircraft modification and maintenance center that has been operating out of nearby Springdale Airport. The company, established by four former employees of Raytheon/E-Systems of Waco, Texas, is scheduled to open its hangar at XNA later this month and receive ISO 9001 certification in early 1999. Dave Otterson, Ozark's president, said the hangar will be large enough to accommodate a Boeing 747.
Edited By Gordon A. GilbertEdited By Gordon A. Gilbert
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey said that if the Clinton administration makes another attempt to woo Congress to adopt user fees, then general aviation--including business aviation--would be excluded from those paying such a fee. Speaking at AOPA Expo '98, Garvey also noted that the FAA first must finalize implementation of a cost-accounting system before it can determine and allocate costs in a user-fee system.
An AlliedSignal -3C upgrade for its TFE731-3 series engines in Learjet 55s promises to improve reliability and reduce operating costs. The upgrade increases ITT limits by 25 degrees in climb and 20 degrees in cruise. The upgrade also allows operators who are not enrolled in the company's maintenance service plan to sign up at no additional costs when the upgrade is performed. Finally, the upgrade extends major periodic inspection intervals to 2,100 hours. Separately, the FAA has approved an extension of MPI intervals for the TFE731-5B from 2,100 hours to 2,500 hours.
An FAR Part 150 noise-compatibility program for Hawaii's Kona International Airport has been sent to the FAA for consideration. The agency is scheduled to approve or disapprove the submission by March 24, 1999. For further information, contact the FAA in Honolulu at: (808) 541-1243.
The Honeywell/Racal Aero-I satcom has gained its first European certification, on board the U.K. Ministry of Agriculture's Fisheries Patrol Cessna 406. This latest certification--granted by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority--underlines the applicability of Aero-I to smaller aircraft types that haven't been installing satcom, primarily due to the large size of the existing Aero-H antenna.
Another revised schedule pushes the target date for certification of the Sino Swearingen SJ30-2 business jet to mid-2000, about six months later than the previously revised date.
Agusta's single-engine turbine helicopter, the P&WC PT6B-powered A119 Koala, won't make its originally scheduled year-end certification (May, page 104). An Agusta spokesperson in Italy told B/CA that the aircraft's ``configuration has been reviewed'' following customer comments and that tests are in progress to ``enlarge the total flight envelope,'' including increasing the maximum cruise speed to 150 knots--10 knots faster than previously targeted. Italian certification is now expected in the first half of 1999 with FAA approval to follow.
General Signal's flight department, based at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, N.Y. for 26 years, was closed on October 6 after the company's purchase this spring by SPX Corp. of Muskegon, Mich. SPX operates its own flight department in Michigan with a Citation II, and also has a Hawker 800XP on order. General Signal had sold its Hawker in June and was leasing a Beechjet. At press time, General Signal's two pilots and a mechanic had not yet found new employment.
Allison has approved the following test-cell facilities for all Model 250 engine models: ACRO Aerospace in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Dallas Airmotive in Dallas; H&S Aviation in Portsmouth, England; Keystone Engine Services in West Chester, Pa.; National Airmotive in Oakland, Calif.; and Standard Aero in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. A September item (page 31) mis-characterized Standard Aero's approval.
Engine development always has been one of the biggest drivers of aircraft development. Come up with an engine that opens a new niche, and an aircraft to go with it is sure to follow. That was true with the Williams FJ-44 and the Cessna CitationJet. And now the FJ-33--a smaller, less expensive offering from Williams--may open another new market for light jets.
To the relief of many FBOs, the National Air Transportation Association has convinced 20 states to exempt aviation fuel trucks from a requirement that compels truck owners to install ticket printers by January 1, 1999. The intent of the requirement, set forth by the National Institute of Standards and Technology, is to prevent defrauding the customer, particularly in the delivery of home heating oil. NATA members feel such fraud is nonexistent in aviation.
Dallas Airmotive (Dallas)--Lisa Cheyne was promoted to program manager for the AlliedSignal TPE331 and TFE731 product lines of this engine overhaul and repair facility.
In December, the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) will bestow one of aviation's highest awards--the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy--on Edward W. Stimpson, an energetic proponent of general aviation who arguably has been the industry's most effective and respected advocate in Washington, D.C. during the past 30 years.
San Francisco International Airport authorities have notified the FAA of its intention to expand by four hours the time when FAR Part 36, Stage 2 aircraft are restricted from operating at the airport. The airport wants the restricted period to be between 1900 and 0700, starting March 5, 1999. The current period is between 2300 and 0700. Comments on the proposal can be submitted to the FAA. For more details, phone the agency at (650) 794-5000.
With Boeing struggling to increase its production rate to 51 airliners a month, of which only two are Boeing Business Jets, adding winglets is a low priority. However, without winglets, the BBJ's 10th and aft-most, under-floor supplemental fuel tank will have to remain, or the aircraft will fall at least 300-nm short of its range goal of 6,200 nm. In any case, the winglets wouldn't be approved before mid 1999 (October, page 78).
Fractional ownership programs and the retirement of a significant number of first generation business jets will drive the worldwide market for new corporate aircraft sales over the next 20 years, with fractional programs alone accounting for about 36 percent of that growth, according to a Rolls-Royce forecast released during the NBAA convention.
In response to the current upsurge in business aircraft sales, Cessna Finance Corp. is realigning to facilitate expansion and to speed up the credit approval process for domestic and international activities.
Gary Schandl, manager of quality assurance for Midcoast Aviation, of Cahokia, Ill., is this year's recipient of the general aviation Aviation Technician of the Year award bestowed by the aviation industry and the FAA. A news item in the October issue (Briefing, page 54) erroneously indicated that this was a PAMA award.
