Dassault Falcon Jet has scheduled its maintenance and operations seminar for June 13 to 15 at the Boca Raton Resort & Club in Boca Raton, Fla. Dassault is offering online registration through the CEVENT service at www.cvent.com. Operators who have not received an invitation with an event code for registration should contact Toni Busuttil at [email protected].
Lufthansa Technik AG has named Dr. Thomas Stuger chief executive of product and services within the executive board of the organization, effective Nov. 1. He will take over the post from Dr. Gerald Gallus, who retires after 25 years at Lufthansa.
All pilots remember their first flight instructor. In most cases, students appreciate how their teacher's patient, steady hand and wise counsel helped them develop the skills that transformed them from wide-eyed novices to confident, competent masters of a sophisticated machine. However, after a private pilot course has been completed, teachers and students usually part ways.
With 7,000 controllers expected to leave the U.S. air traffic control system within the next decade, the National Association of Air Traffic Controllers (NATCA) continues to lobby Congress for improved staffing. The controllers union wants the FAA to hire 1,000 new controllers each year, but the agency has not requested any. Problems at some facilities, such as en route centers and large TRACONs, are worsening as more controllers reach retirement eligibility, said NATCA spokesman Doug Church.
Some things in this world just seem incongruous. Like steering your car into a skid on an icy road, or asking the IRS for help with your taxes. When it comes to a jet aircraft, it's hard to understand exactly how we can make cool the stifling interior of a metal tube that's been baking for hours on a hot, sunny ramp. Yet we know that by lighting a fire in an engine or an APU, we can open a wondrous and welcome flood of clean, cool air into the cockpit and cabin.
The day before ACA announced the end of its Delta Connection, it revealed a transition plan to phase out as a United Express operator. The transition is scheduled to begin June 4 and continue through Aug. 5 subject to bankruptcy court approval. This agreement cleared a significant hurdle in the ongoing transition of Atlantic Coast Airlines from a fee-per-departure carrier to its new identity as Independence Air -- a low-fare airline based at Washington Dulles Airport with over 300 daily departures to destinations across the United States.
SevenBar Enterprises, Dallas, Texas, has appointed Steve Pitt as general manager of SevenBar Aviation in Albuquerque, N.M. Pitt recently served as vice president and chief of operations for Swift Aviation and has held several FBO management positions over the course of his career.
A power surge in the area around Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on April 12 caused a blackout for as long as 90 seconds, affecting the airport and control tower and ultimately delaying as many as 100 arriving flights, the FAA said.
G.E. (Jerry) Schlesinger, is teaming up once again with Bill Boisture -- this time at NetJets. Schlesinger resigned as president and CEO of Aerospace Products International (API) to accept the position of senior vice president and chief financial officer at NetJets, reporting to Boisture, who was named president in fall 2003. Schlesinger is based at NetJets operational headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and assumed his new duties on April 19. He and Boisture worked together at Butler Aviation, where they served as executive vice president and president, respectively.
Thumbtacked to the wall of Denise R. Jones' office at the NASA Langley Research Center is a single sheet of paper with five bullets, one of which reads: ``Stop Runway Incursions/Ground Collisions of Aircraft.'' That lofty goal is one of the most enduring aviation safety upgrades on the NTSB's to-do list, and one that NASA mobilized Jones and others to take on four years ago.
Max-Viz, Inc. announced that it has won FAA STC approval for its EVS-1000 Enhanced Vision System on the Bombardier Global Express. Transport Canada issued its STC for the system earlier this year. The EVS-1000 uses single- or dual-panel mounted displays instead of a HUD. Max-Viz says either it or one of its dealers holds FAA STCs for the Bell 212/412; Challenger 600, 601 and 604; Global Express; Falcon 50/50EX; and Falcon 900A, B, C and EX.
Mercury Air Centers opened its 20th FBO at the Newport News/Williamsburg, Va., International Airport (PHF) and unveiled plans for a new terminal facility there. According to John Enticknap, Mercury vice president and chief executive officer, the new terminal is designed as an upscale facility providing first-class amenities for flight crews and passengers.
Global Jet Services, Inc., West Simsbury, Conn., a provider of on-site aviation maintenance training, has appointed Dave Benoff as vice president. Dave is B/CA's former maintenance editor. In addition, Arthur J. Risco has been hired as head of Falcon training.
Manufacturers love it. They say it has been the most helpful tool of the general aviation industry since Congress passed production liability protections in the General Aviation Revitalization Act of 1994. But they also say its usefulness is all but depleted, and they need more time. The ``it'' is bonus depreciation, a tax incentive designed as a short-term device to spur sales and help pick up the sagging economy.
Triumph also announced that several of its operations in the Phoenix area, including Triumph Components-Arizona, Triumph Thermal Processing, Advanced Materials Technologies, and Special Processes of Arizona, will be combined to form a new company, Triumph Engineered Solutions, Inc., which will be part of the Aftermarket Services Group. Richard Wisniewski, formerly president of Triumph Air Repair, will become president of Triumph Engineered Solutions, Inc.
Global Jet Shares, Inc., Dallas, Texas, has named Mark Ozenick chief operating officer. Ozenick has 27 years of aviation industry experience and is founder of HeliFlite Shares.
Bombardier Aerospace, So Paulo, Brazil, has named Humberto (Bert) Moas sales director for South America, with responsibility for all new and preowned business aircraft sales involving Bombardier's three business jet families: Bombardier Learjet, Challenger and Global.
A LOT OF KING AIRS find their way into Cause & Circumstance. A part of the reason for that, of course, is the Beechcraft turboprop's popularity -- it has become business aviation's workhorse. But beyond that it seems to me that far too many King Air flights come to grief because of a failure in basic airmanship on the part of their crews. Perhaps this is happening because the King Air is generally so forgiving of abuse and ineptitude that pilots forget that it -- like any other airplane -- is subject to unforgiving laws of aerodynamics.
At 0150 on Aug. 6, 1997, Korean Air-lines Flight 801 slammed into a hill 3.5 nm short of Runway 06L at Agana, Guam. The crash, which occurred while the crew was conducting a nonprecision localizer DME approach in darkness and rain, claimed 229 lives.
NASA, industry and academia are preparing for a flight test this summer that will pit the latest and greatest in synthetic vision systems for business and commercial aviation against the forces of nature and the folly of man.
Six years ago, one of the hottest arguments in aircraft resales was whether the Bluebook and Vref value reference guides should carry two sets of valuation tables, one for aircraft that followed the traditional utilization model, i.e., 300-500 hours per year, and one for high-time aircraft formerly used in fractional ownership.
Experimental Aircraft Association, Oshkosh, Wis., has named Rick Larsen vice president of marketing. Larsen has 25 years of aviation industry experience.
The GAMA Board of Directors unanimously approved Argo-Tech Corp. and Diamond Aircraft Industries as new members of the international trade association. Argo-Tech will be represented on GAMA's board by the company's chairman, president and CEO, Michael Lipscomb. Diamond Aircraft will be represented on by its president, Peter Maurer.
