Jet Aviation Basel is completing a Boeing Business Jet for use by Boeing as a customer demonstrator and for travel by company officials. The aircraft, which will be Boeing's second BBJ demonstrator, will incorporate a design concept developed by Donald Thompson Industrial Design of New York in conjunction with a group of leading U.S. interior designers. The cabin will have Internet data ports at each seat and a satellite-based telecommunications system consisting of two phased-array antennas housed in a low-profile enclosure mounted on top of the fuselage.
The Vail Valley Jet Center, located at Eagle County Regional Airport (EGE) in Colorado, has partnered with the White River Executive Center to provide fully equipped executive office suites in Avon, Colo., at the base of Beaver Creek Ski Resort.
An ICAO committee has proposed the adoption of a new aircraft noise standard that is 10 decibels below the current Stage 3 standard by 2006. ICAO's Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection (CAEP), meeting in Montreal in mid-January, issued a series of recommendations aimed at reducing aircraft noise. The group also established a framework to address lowering aircraft emissions.
Miami-Dade County is assembling a list of other possibilities for relieving the increasing strain on its current airport system in the wake of a January U.S. Air Force decision that barred aeronautical use of 700 acres of surplus land at the former Homestead Air Force Base. County officials for years had plans to develop the Homestead site as a commercial airport, but those plans were squashed after the Air Force, at the request of the Department of the Interior, reversed a 1994 Record of Decision to enable aeronautical use there.
Edited by Paul RichfieldDave Benoff, in Anaheim, Calif.
With a downturn in helicopter sales anticipated this year, exhibitors at the 2001 Helicopter Association International (HAI) convention in Anaheim, Calif., vied for the attention of 2,000 fewer attendees than at the 2000 Las Vegas show. As expected, only one manufacturer announced a new product, while others provided updates or revealed new development ideas. Eurocopter unveiled its new FAA/JAA-approved EC130B4 helicopter as expected, with the first delivery going to Blue Hawaiian Helicopters.
Operational errors by air traffic controllers are up 51 percent over the past five years, despite the FAA's ongoing efforts to address the issue. In a recent study, the DOT's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) cited four incidents to illustrate the gravity of the problem: -- A near miss between an airliner and a general aviation aircraft near Atlanta in July 1999 -- collision was avoided when the airliner took evasive action based on a TCAS alert.
Air Botnia of Finland has signed a memorandum of understanding to acquire five Saab 2000 turboprops from the Swedish manufacturer's leasing arm. Delivery of the first aircraft is planned for this month; the 47-seat aircraft will replace 32-seat Saab 340s. Air Botnia President Sveneric Persson says the Saab 2000 is fast enough to fly the same timetable as the carrier's new Avro RJ85 jets, slated to enter the fleet in May.
Dassault Falcon Jet, Teterboro, has named Lloyd Hardwick as its field service representative for the Atlanta area. Hardwick is an FAA licensed A&P mechanic with over 20 years of experience maintaining corporate aircraft.
Spirited industry resistance has led the Bush administration to shelve a proposal to slice up to $568 million from the FAA's fiscal 2002 operations budget. The AOPA and other trade groups said the proposed cuts threatened the budgetary gains made with AIR-21, the FAA reauthorization bill signed into law in April 2000.
Gulfstream Aerospace parent General Dynamics announced formation of General Dynamics Aviation Services, a new aircraft service organization designed to meet the maintenance needs of a broad range of business jet operators. ``The extraordinary growth of business aviation over the past few years has created increased demand for maintenance and refurbishment services,'' said Bill Boisture, executive vice president of GD and head of the company's Aerospace Group.
Jet Aviation, West Palm Beach, Fla., has promoted Michael Gregory to senior vice president of FBO services for operations located in Bedford, Mass.; Dallas; Teterboro; and West Palm Beach, Fla.
Louisville International Airport, Louisville, Ky., has named Robert Slattery as its first full-time airport noise officer. Slattery, who recently retired from the U.S. Navy, has 20 years experience in compliance and enforcement of aviation and OSHA regulations, and has previously held positions that include aircraft maintenance, quality assurance and safety.
A group of Swiss investors has agreed to acquire Pilatus Aircraft, the Stans, Switzerland-based manufacturer of high-performance single-engine aircraft. Pilatus had been for sale for some time, but officials at parent company Unaxis said they were seeking a buyer committed to existing Pilatus programs, most significant among them the PC-12 turboprop and the proposed PC-21 military trainer.
Mesa Air Group has sold its approximately $2 million stake in Mesaba Airlines, and acquired around one million shares of America West Holdings at $10.50 per share. Mesa also plans to repurchase up to one million additional shares of its own stock, and opened a $35 million line of credit with Fleet Capital.
Florida's Panama City-Bay County International Airport Authority has submitted plans to the FAA for a new regional airport. The St. Joe company donated the 4,000 acres selected for the site, which will be located in Bay County, Fla. In December 2000, the airport authority approved the location; results from the FAA are expected this month. ``We are confident of a prompt FAA approval of the site,'' said Randy Curtis, executive director of the airport authority.
The avionics subsidiary of freight giant United Parcel Service (UPS) expects to offer precision instrument approach capability using the FAA's Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) before the end of the year. The onboard equipment is expected to provide continuous horizontal and vertical guidance to 250-feet agl (50 feet above Category I ILS minimums), even at airports with no published precision approach procedure.
Pratt&Whitney Canada's Service Centre Network recently completed work on its 50,000th engine. P&WC's Bridge-port, W.Va., facility refurbished a PW305B for use on a Raytheon Hawker 1000.
Skyway Airlines parent Astral Aviation has named James P. Rankin as its new president and chief executive officer, roles he has held on an interim basis since June 2000. Rankin, 37, has worked at Midwest Express Airlines since 1995, most recently as assistant chief pilot and MD-80 captain.
Following an assessment of the country's civil aviation authority, the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (IASA) has determined that the Bahamas now falls into Category 2 -- meaning it no longer complies with ICAO safety standards. Although Bahamian carriers serving the United States can maintain their current levels of service under what the agency terms ``increased surveillance,'' they can only expand service if the Bahamas returns to Category 1 status -- signifying ICAO compliance -- or if the carriers wet lease aircraft from U.S.
Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah), the new chairman of the House Resources Committee, is seeking help from the new administration to roll back some of the land use policies promulgated by the Clinton administration. Hansen reportedly wrote a letter to President-elect George W. Bush in late December 2000, seeking the incoming administration's support in overturning some initiatives, including a series of restrictions on air tour operators flying near national parks.
In the wake of Al Gore's presidential election defeat, James Hall resigned as chairman of the NTSB. Hall reportedly hoped to be named transportation secretary in a Gore administration. Years earlier, he had been on the staff of Gore's father, Sen. Al Gore, Sr. Hall's departure leaves unclear who will lead the agency. Any nominee as NTSB chairman would have to be confirmed by the Senate, with federal law stipulating that no more than three members of the NTSB can be members of the same political party.
The Florida Community College at Jacksonville (FCCJ) and the Duval County School Board are planning to create a new airframe and powerplant program for high school students. The school system is surveying eighth grade students and their parents to measure interest in aviation maintenance. The school board said the students would take their academic courses at the Frank H. Peterson Academies of Technology, and then later in the day they would be bussed to the new, Cecil Field, Aerospace Center of Excellence that FCCJ plans to complete in November.
A Samaritan's Purse Sabreliner 65, piloted by Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Dr. Billy Graham, became the first authorized business jet to visit North Korea. Graham flew two doctors to Pyongyang, Sunan Airport, North Korea to meet with North Korean officials regarding diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. Samaritan's Purse is based in Boone, N.C.
Safety Board investigators are examining taped Boston Center radar returns to establish the final path of a King Air B200 that crashed December 22, 2000 while maneuvering for a landing at Rangely (Maine) Municipal Airport. Deutche Bank senior executive Edwin Mitchell, 48, was killed along with pilot Stephen Bean, 58. Mitchell owned the airplane and Bean operated it under an FAR Part 135 certificate. Mitchell, the lone passenger, boarded the King Air at Portland for the final leg of Bean's Rangely-Boston-Portland-Rangely itinerary.
