PAMA's Professional Aviation Maintenance Olympic Committee is looking for volunteers to help plan and promote the 2005 Olympics. Specifically, assistance is needed to coordinate the marketing/advertising of the competition to potential teams, individual TechnAthletes, sponsors and the media. The committee meets once a month via teleconference. If interested, contact committee Chairman Tom Yanus at [email protected] or call (386) 323-5079
Honeywell will supply the Flight Control Electronics package for Boeing's new 7E7 Dreamliner. This is the third major 7E7 system awarded to Honeywell. Boeing previously selected it to provide the navigation package and crew information system/management system (CIS/MS) for the aircraft. Together, the systems represent a potential total program value in excess of $2.5 billion for Honeywell over the life of the 7E7 program. The Flight Control Electronics consist of the fly-by-wire system and the AFCS automatic flight control system that includes autoland.
Cessna has opened a new 155,000-square-foot Citation Service Center on the west side of Orlando International Airport (MCO), replacing the original 47,275-square-foot center that opened there in 1983. Cessna said it will add still another 45,000 square feet to the center to include a humidity-controlled paint room and aircraft detailing area. That addition is expected to be completed in October.
The U.S. House of Representatives has joined the Senate in passing legislation that includes a one-year extension (to Dec. 31, 2005) of bonus-depreciation tax benefits for sales of general aviation aircraft. The provision also applies to major capital improvements to older aircraft. GAMA applauded House passage in mid-June of H.R. 4520, the American Jobs Creation Act, which includes a 12-month extension of the placed-in-service requirement for purchasers of general aviation aircraft wishing to qualify for 50-percent accelerated or bonus depreciation.
The FAA completed flight tests of a fuel inerting system on board the NASA Boeing 747 used as a space shuttle transport. The FAA plans to use test data in its proposed inerting rule, which is set for release this fall. NASA's Glenn Research Center is studying technologies, including advanced gas separation methods, to make inert gas generation cheaper and fuels harder to ignite in the tank.
Delta AirElite Business Jets, Cincinnati, announced two promotions at its corporate headquarters at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG). Cameron Gowans has been promoted to vice president, sales and marketing, and Brandon Greene has been promoted to director of marketing.
In a reaction to the June 9 evacuation of the U.S. Capitol and the scrambling of two NORAD F-15s to intercept a fully identified, fully cleared King Air with a balky transponder that was inbound to DCA carrying the governor of Kentucky (B/CA, July, page 18), the FAA issued a NOTAM, June 18, directing any aircraft that experiences transponder failure in the Washington, D.C., ADIZ to immediately turn to the most direct course to exit the lateral confines of the ADIZ.
Two congressmen want the TSA to ease up on security requirements for business aviation repair stations. Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska), chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, along with Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House Subcommittee on Aviation, sent a letter to TSA Acting Administrator David Stone in June stating that repair stations conducting work on aircraft certificated under FAR Parts 135 and 91 should not be subject to the same security requirements as those performing maintenance on Part 121 aircraft.
ARINC announced it would form another independent business unit focused on providing mission-critical contract management, operations and maintenance services for government and private industry (see ``Annapolis Giant Begins to Stir,'' B/CA, June, page 56). The new company, ARINC Managed Services, will establish its own headquarters and continue to be wholly owned but separately operated. James L. Martin, formerly senior director of ARINC Global Maintenance Services, has been named to head the new company.
Finnair has placed a firm order for 12 Embraer 170, 76-seat feeder airliners and eight options. The value of the firm order is estimated at $306 million with the potential of $510 million if all options are converted. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in September 2005 and will continue until May 2007. Before this latest announcement the Embraer 170/190 family had logged 258 orders and 342 options from nine customers.
General aviation leaders expressed alarm at the news of an impending NPRM to make the ADIZ permanent. ``What's astonishing to me is that if [DCA] were open to general aviation -- as it should be -- then this incident, with all the corresponding communications conundrums, would never have happened,'' said National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne.
WE WERE MONITORING THE TV in the newsroom on June 9 as the nation waited for an Air Force 747 to bring former President Reagan's body to Washington for his state funeral. After landing at Andrews Air Force Base east of D.C., the body was to be carried in a motorcade to the Capitol. Security was tight, particularly so at the Capitol, where most members of Congress planned to honor Reagan by being in attendance when his body arrived to lie in state in the Rotunda.
Pratt & Whitney, in partnership with the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center, Tinker Air Force Base, earned the Aviation Week Charles B. Ryan Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Award for innovative partnering providing cost-effective readiness to the U.S. Air Force.
FlightSafety International, Flushing, N.Y., has announced three promotions. Craig Newell is promoted to manager of the company's Wichita Learjet Learning Center; Tony Ossipov is promoted to assistant manager for the company's Teterboro Learning Center; and Barbara Taylor is promoted to corporate director -- customer support for FlightSafety International.
New Piper Aircraft has signed Senate Aviation Limited in Dorset, England, to sell and service the manufacturer's aircraft in the United Kingdom and Spain. Senate Aviation is replacing Meridian Aviation Ltd. as the authorized New Piper dealership in these territories. Senate Aviation is led by brothers Christian and Matthew Lawrence, who serve as the dealership's managing director and chairman, respectively. Bob Berry is Senate Aviation's director of aircraft sales, and Stuart Metcalf is an aircraft salesman for the company.
The National Air Transportation Association (NATA), Alexandria, Va., has named Stephen A. Beaulieu IV manager of legislative affairs. Beaulieu comes to NATA from the U.S. House of Representatives' Subcommittee on Aviation, where he was a legislative staff assistant.
Business aircraft operators won't be landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) anytime soon, but the NBAA and certain of its member companies are making inroads with the TSA toward earning the same DCA and special use airspace access privileges as certificated air carriers have.
Like most career fields, the business aviation job market works in cycles. In tough times there are layoffs, pay cuts, whole flight departments close down. The last few years have been tough, but the economy seems to be getting its legs and things are starting to look up. If you are in the process of expanding your maintenance operation, you may be surprised to find it hard to find qualified technicians.
Deborah Hersman has been sworn in at the NTSB to fill the slot vacated by John Goglia, who had served on the board since 1995 but was not reappointed to a third term. This brings the board to its full complement of members. Hersman's term runs through the end of December 2008. She joined the NTSB from the Senate Commerce Committee, where she was a professional staff member for five years with responsibility for its legislative agenda, as well as oversight and policy initiatives on rail, truck, bus, pipeline and hazardous materials transportation safety.
Flight department pilot staffing levels are on the increase and compensation is moving up as well, both indicators of an improved economic outlook. It seems operators have more reasons to fly. According to the Aviation Research Group/U.S. (ARG/US) Salary and Benefit Report database, the average number of crewmembers per aircraft increased from 1.87 in the 2002 to 2003 period to 2.03 for 2003 to 2004 -- an increase of 9 percent. Notably, one measure of flight department productivity -- flight hours vs.
GE Commercial Finance, the business-to-business financial services unit of General Electric, has purchased approximately $2 billion in assets from Boeing Capital Corp. The acquisition of the former Boeing assets by GE involves secured loans as well as financing and operating leases on various kinds of equipment, including corporate aircraft.
AvQuotes.com, announced the addition of Atlantic Aero, Inc. to its list of service providers. Located at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, N.C., Atlantic Aero offers a full range of services including aircraft sales, management, line service, maintenance, avionics and charter. The company holds numerous STCs and PMAs, is certified as an FAA Designated Alteration Station, and is certified with the Joint Aviation Authority (JAA).
Trajen FBO Network has opened its new terminal and hangar complex at Tucson International Airport (TUS) located at the north intersection of the Delta and Alpha taxiways. Trajen reports that the new facility is the benchmark for future facility upgrades at its other operations. Trajen is headquartered in Bryan, Texas, and operates 15 FBOs in Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, Colorado, Wyoming, California, Alaska and Virginia. For more information go to www.trajen.com.
