TRACY EASOM was named vice president of aircraft sales for Banner Aerospace Aircraft Services. Easom has more than 15 years of aircraft sales and maintenance experience and has a commercial pilot's license and A&P license.
NEW PIPER RECEIVES FAA CERTIFICATE FOR MERIDIAN SINGLE-TURBOPROP -- New Piper Aircraft this week hopes to deliver the first Malibu Meridian PA46-500TP to a customer following last week's receipt of a type certificate from the Federal Aviation Administration. The Meridian, the first new turbine product that the company has built since emerging from bankruptcy protection in 1995, won certification just about on the schedule that New Piper announced when it unveiled the aircraft three years ago (BA, Sept. 29, 1997/135).
THE RELATIVELY HIGH anticipated price of an SSBJ makes it an ideal candidate for operation in a fractional aircraft program, Boisture said, and means that it will probably be developed by a multinational consortium as a way "to share the economic risk." Political considerations, such as the tendency of European authorities to put roadblocks in the way of certificating U.S.-built aircraft, also dictate the need for a multinational development team to make sure a new supersonic aircraft is not limited by operating or certification restrictions.
MICKEY MOMAN was promoted to vice president of training for Mesa Air Group. Moman joined Mesa in 1987 as a Beech 1900 first officer and has since held a number of positions, including chief pilot and director of operations. Most recently, he was senior director of training.
THE SENATE also Thursday approved a continuing resolution to allow government agencies to continue operating until Oct. 6 even if fiscal 2001 appropriations acts to fund those agencies have not been passed. The 2001 fiscal year began Oct. 1 and Congress has yet to pass funding bills for most agencies, including the Department of Transportation. The DOT spending bill is expected to receive consideration this week -- conferees met last week to iron out differences between the House and Senate versions.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION named David Kennedy government affairs specialist. Kennedy formerly served as director of legislative affairs for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association and director of government affairs for the Air Transport Association.
NBAA DEVELOPING B.A.S.I.C.S. PROGRAM TO REACH OUT TO SMALLER FLIGHT DEPARTMENTS -- National Business Aviation Association officials, convinced that the organization has a number of services that would benefit single-airplane flight departments, is launching a formal program to reach out to those smaller business aviation operators.
Model EC135 P1 and T1 helicopters (Docket No. 2000-SW-19-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that currently requires visual and dye-penetrant inspections for a cracked stator blade of the fenestron tail rotor. That AD also requires either stop-drilling a cracked blade or, as necessary, replacing an unairworthy stator blade with an airworthy stator blade.
BLAKE FISH, a 30-year veteran of the aviation industry, has rejoined Signature Flight Support as senior vice president of marketing and business development. Fish was with Signature from 1990 to 1998 in a variety of capacities, including serving as operations vice president for Signature with responsibility for the eastern half of the U.S. Most recently he was senior vice president of Atlantic Aviation's Flight Support Division.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION'S Board of Directors will vote next month on a proposed change to NBAA's bylaws that would give voting rights to two associate member advisers to the board. Currently, NBAA's board is composed entirely of regular members -- representatives of companies that own and operate business and corporate aircraft. In addition to regular board members, the chairman and vice chairman of NBAA's Associate Membership Advisory Council, which represents aircraft manufacturers and suppliers, also attend and participate in NBAA board meetings.
PEAK-HOUR PRICING is one solution offered to help solve growing airport congestion and delay problems. At a House aviation subcommittee hearing on delays last week, FedEx Chairman, President and CEO Frederick Smith noted that even cargo carriers, which do a lot of night flying, suffer from delays. FedEx incurred 102,177 minutes of air traffic control delays in June 2000, compared with 72,570 delay minutes a year earlier, Smith said. He suggested peak-hour pricing as one way to alleviate such delays.
NBAA PRESIDENT JACK OLCOTT has an answer for the grizzled industry veterans looking over their shoulders for the next downturn and asking how long the current run of prosperity can last: "Our industry will continue to enjoy these good times," Olcott told reporters last week. "It's truly a new era," Olcott said, marked by an "almost a contagious acceptance of business aircraft use" because of its obvious benefit to productivity and efficiency.
FAA last week "strongly recommended" that the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) suspend certain airport rules and regulations restricting operations by charter air carriers at Boston Logan International Airport. FAA Sept. 25 notified Massport that it would investigate its policies involving air charters, including a ban on overnight parking and a restriction on operations between 0700-1100 and 2000-2300.
AIR PARTNER SEES CHARTER OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH TRAVEL AGENCIES --International charter broker Air Partner already has begun to see success with its travel agency pilot program to get agents to book charter time, Mike Guina, president of Air Partner USA, told BA last week. The pilot program, including six of the larger travel agencies on the East Coast, includes an educational program about the benefits of charter service and provides commissions to agents who provide leads for the sale of charter time brokered through Air Partner (BA, Aug. 21/89).
HIRING AND FIRING, Two Critical Skills for 2001, is the title of a seminar the National Air Transportation Association will present Nov. 16. The association said the one-day seminar will cover a wide range of topics and tips designed to guide managers through the potentially difficult areas of selecting new employees and terminating current personnel. The seminar will be held from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Doubletree O-Hare-Rosemont, 10 minutes from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Price to attend is $185 for NATA members and $225 for non-members.
NATA ASKS IRS TO ASSESS UNIFORM SEGMENT FEES FOR CHARTER OPERATORS -- National Air Transportation Association, continuing to work with the Internal Revenue Service to clear up confusion surrounding the collection of air transportation segment fees, argued that the fee should be assessed on a per flight basis rather than per passenger basis. Congress, in the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, phased in flight segment fees that would add up to $3 per flight leg to the price of an airline ticket, but reduced the airline ticket tax from 10 percent to 7.5 percent.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE OFFICIALS "think there is a solid business case" for 200 supersonic business jets, Gulfstream President Bill Boisture told the Aero Club of Washington last week, citing customer survey responses to various "price points."Development of an SSBJ remains "a 10- to 15-year gleam in our eye," however, because of the obstacles that must be overcome.
Model EMB-120 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-125-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that currently requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to include requirements for activation of the ice protection systems and to add information regarding operation in icing conditions; installing an ice detector system; and revising the AFM to include procedures for testing system integrity. This action would require installing the ice detector system in accordance with revised procedures.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD released a series of factual reports last week from its investigation of the Oct. 25, 1999 Model 35 Learjet accident that claimed golfer Payne Stewart and five others. NTSB said maintenance documents show numerous instances of problems, checks and repairs to the pressurization and oxygen system on the aircraft over its 23-year service life. In June 1986, maintenance logs report an in-flight loss of cabin pressurization, which resulted in replacement of an outflow valve and correction of a leak at the Frame 5 bulkhead bundle.
GE OFFERING PER HOUR MAINTENANCE PROGRAM FOR CHALLENGER OPERATORS -- GE Engine Services joined the list of engine manufacturers offering fixed-cost engine maintenance programs to corporate operators, announcing a GE CF34 Maintenance Cost Per Hour (MCPH) program for CF34 turbofans on Canadair Challenger 601 and 604 business jets.
GOVERNMENT WATCHDOGS CITE VULNERABILITIES WITH FAA COMPUTER SECURITY -- Federal Aviation Administration's personnel and administrative computer systems are vulnerable to outside tampering and the agency should do a better job at overall management of the security of its information technologies, two government watchdog groups reported last week.
EUGENE CROMARTIE was promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety International's facility in Houston, Texas. Cromartie most recently was ATR 42/72 program manager at the center. He joined FlightSafety three years ago after serving as flight operations officer-in-charge for the U.S. Army.
