CUTTER FLIGHT MANAGEMENT added two Beechjet 400As to its charter fleet and will add a Citation Excel next month. Cutter has aircraft based at Phoenix Sky Harbor International and Albuquerque International Airports.
JEFFERSON COUNTY AIRPORT in Broomfield, Colo. plans to close Runway 29R Sept. 11 through Sept. 16 to apply a fog seal and repaint. The airport plans a second closure, along with several ILS shutdowns, while it constructs Echo Taxiway between Oct. 26 through Nov. 5. "The duration of both closures are very weather dependent," airport officials said. "However, we are working to see if we can shorten the closure times as much as possible."
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD is investigating the Aug. 4 crash of a Piper PA-46-350P Malibu Mirage, N198PM, that killed the pilot and two passengers, including Georgia State Sen. Thomas Allgood. The aircraft struck a utility pole, bus stop and brick wall and burst into flames at 0749 Aug. 4 shortly after taking off from Daniel Field Airport in Augusta, Ga. NTSB said witnesses observed the airplane depart Runway 5, climb 10 feet above ground level, but in a nose-high attitude parallel to the ground - not climbing.
FOUR GENERAL AVIATION associations have drafted a consensus approach to flight and duty time standards for on-demand charter operators that lays out limitations on flight hours with required rest periods, established duty times and a specific definition of reserve time.The associations - the National Air Transportation Association, National Business Aviation Association, Association of Air Medical Services and Helicopter Association International - will present their six-page Concept Paper for Part 135 On-Demand Air Charter today to FAA Flight Standards Director Nick Lacey
Embraer will be the dominating manufacturer of regional jets based on units during the next decade, according to a market study by Forecast International/DMS. The Newtown, Conn.-based research firm sees the company delivering 30.3 percent of all regional jets during that period, followed by Bombardier with 23.1 percent, and Fairchild Dornier, 20.9 percent. (The study was published prior to Fairchild Dornier's Aug. 8 announcement that it will not build the 428JET.)
New Piper Aircraft received an order from Atlanta-based Airline Transport Professionals, Inc. for up to 20 Seminole trainers, the largest fleet order for the twin-piston the Vero Beach, Fla. manufacturer has received to date. ATP is slated to receive the first 10 aircraft by March with options to receive the additional 10 units by the end of 2001. The order will boost ATP's fleet of Seminoles to more than 60.
Slightly more than four decades since delivery of the first business jet, the world's turbine-powered business aviation fleet now exceeds 20,000 aircraft, according to Aviation Data, Inc.
FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION and the National Business Aviation Association issued a call for papers for the 46th Annual Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar scheduled April 24-26 in Orlando, Fla. FSF and NBAA are calling the 2001 event CASS 2001 - A Safety Odyssey (Humans, Machines and Technology).
Barnes Group Inc. plans a $41 million cash acquisition of most of the manufacturing assets of Kratz-Wilde Machine Co. and Apex Manufacturing Inc., makers of aerospace components owned by Aviation Sales Co. The deal is expected to close by the end of the third quarter. Kratz-Wilde and Apex had combined 1999 sales of about $44 million. Their components are used in jet engines and auxiliary power units.
Fairchild Dornier, three years into a program to develop and produce a line of five regional jet models, abruptly changed course last week by terminating work on its 44-seat 428JET model. The decision leaves a hole in the middle of the manufacturer's mid-size regional jet (RJ) product line between the 32-seat 328JET and larger models and casts a cloud on the company's credibility as a viable competitor in the crowded RJ marketplace.
TIM DEWHIRST was promoted to manager, QuickTurn for SimuFlite Training International. Dewhirst previously was a Gulfstream instructor for SimuFlite. He holds an ATP and is type rated in Gulfstream II and III, Cessna CE-500 and Sikorsky SK-76 models.
A U.S. Appeals Court ruled that a person cannot be held liable for a midair collision during an air race if the injured party was aware of the inherent risks of the activities involved. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a District Court judgment for $390,213 against a pilot involved in the midair. The collision occurred June 22, 1997 about 14 seconds after two aircraft crossed the finish line of an air race at Gabreski Airport in Westhampton Beach, N.Y. The pilot of one of the aircraft, Richard Lee Goodlett, died in the collision.
EXECUTIVE JET signed an agreement valued at $103 million for the Rolls-Royce Power By the Hour engine maintenance program for its fleet of Cessna Citation X aircraft. The 10-year contract extends a previous agreement covering all Rolls-Royce AE 3007 aircraft either owned or managed by Executive Jet.
Model EMB-120 series airplanes (Docket No. 2000-NM-121-AD) - proposes to require replacement of the existing wire between certain circuit breakers with an improved wire. This action is necessary to prevent overheating of the wire between certain circuit breakers, which could result in smoke emissions in the cockpit. FAA estimates that 240 airplanes on the U.S. Registry would be affected by this proposed AD at a cost of $30,720, or $128 per airplane. Send comments in triplicate by Aug. 30 to FAA, Transport Airplane Directorate, ANM-114, Attn.: Rules Docket No.
PA-31 series airplanes (Docket No. 96-CE-69-AD) - proposes to revise an earlier proposed AD that would have superseded AD 80-26-05. AD 80-26-05 requires repetitive inspections of the main landing gear (MLG) inboard door hinges and attachment angles for cracks on the affected airplanes and replacement of any cracked MLG inboard door hinge or attachment angle.
Docket No.: 25177 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 91.117(b) and (c), 91.119(c), 91.159(a) and 91.209(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit USCG to conduct air operations in support of drug law enforcement and drug traffic interdiction without meeting Part 91 provisions governing: (1) aircraft speed, (2) minimum safe altitudes, (3) cruising operations for flights conducted under visual flight rules, and (4) use of aircraft lights. Grant, May 19, 2000, Exemption No. 5231E
Docket No.: 29411 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.225(g) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Spirit Aviation to conduct takeoffs in single-pilot, turbine-powered airplanes where takeoff visibility is one-half of a mile down to 1,800 feet runway visual range, subject to certain conditions and limitations. Denial, April 23,2000, Exemption No. 7186
BOMBARDIER received orders from Tyrolean Airways of Innsbruck, Austria for a Q400 high-speed turboprop and Uni Air of Taipei, Taiwan for a Dash 8 Q300 turboprop. The latest Tyrolean Airways contract brings the total number of Q400 aircraft it has ordered to six with an additional six options. Tyrolean currently operates two of the aircraft in addition to 12 Q300s and three Q100s and a fleet of 16 jets. Uni Air operates 12 Dash 8 Series 300 and one Dash 8 Series 200 aircraft. It will use its new Q300 to supplement service on existing routes.
SimCom International Training Center, which currently houses its business jet training business at parent company Pan Am International Flight Academy in Miami, Fla., broke ground on a new 50,000-square-foot JetCenter adjacent to Orlando International Airport, the company announced last week. The JetCenter Orlando, expected to open in second quarter 2001, will have eight business jet simulator bays and classrooms for multi-media instructional programs.
AIRCRAFT that cannot meet FAR Part 36 Stage 3 noise standards would be prohibited from operating at Minneapolis Flying Cloud Airport (FCM) during certain hours under a proposal by the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Airports Commission. The MAC proposal would ban non-Stage 3 aircraft from using FCM between 2200 and 0600 local time and restrict nighttime maintenance engine runups during the same hours. A public hearing on the proposed restrictions is scheduled for 1900 Aug.
Jeppesen, Denver, Colo., is working with NASA under a three-year cooperative agreement to develop synthetic vision (SVS) databases to help reduce aviation accidents stemming from hazardous weather, difficult terrain and spatial disorientation. Under the agreement, which began last month and runs through July 2003, Jeppesen will create SVS databases for a number of mountainous locations in the U.S. and one in South America.
Docket No.: 29861 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 91.315, 91.319(a), 119.5(g), and 119.21(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit CAF to operate its fleet of former military airplanes that hold either a limited airworthiness certificate or an experimental airworthiness certificate for the carriage of passengers on local educational flights for compensation or hire. Grant, June 27, 2000, Exemption No. 6802A
Dart 511, 511-7E, 514-7, 528, 528-7E, 529-7E, 532-7, 532-7L, 532-7N, 532-7P, 532-7R, 535-7R, 551-7R, and 552-7R turboprop engines (Docket No. 99-NE-50-AD; Amendment 39-11796; AD 2000-12-18) - requires the installation of a feathering probe and a steel retaining ring in the reduction gear housing (RGH) and replacement of a transfer bobbin installed in the torquemeter.
CINCINNATI MACHINE delivered two more Viper FPS-3000 CNC Fiber Placement Systems to Raytheon Aircraft, which has two more on order for shipment in 2001. Raytheon uses the Viper to produce the composite fuselages for its Premier I and Hawker Horizon business jets. The fuselages "are the largest CNC fiber-placed structures in the world with over 80 miles of composite fiber in each fuselage," Cincinnati Machine said. The Viper order, valued at $20 million, will bring the total number of Viper FPS units at Raytheon's Wichita facility to five.
Docket No.: 29940 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 145.45(f) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Parker to make its Inspection Procedures Manual (IPM) available electronically to its supervisory and inspection personnel rather than give a copy to each. Grant, April 16, 2000, Exemption No. 7185
