Bankruptcy filings by Tower Air and cargo carrier Kitty Hawk helped push Mercury Air Group into a loss in the third quarter ended March 31, despite a sharp increase in revenues for the period.
ESTERLINE TECHNOLOGIES, Bellevue, Wash., finalized an agreement to purchase Surftech Finishes, a Kent, Wash., aerospace metal finishing company that specializes in quick-turn aluminum finishing for aerospace applications. Esterline also owns Hytek Finishes of Kent, which specializes in complex parts.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL won FAA Level D certification for Embraer ERJ-145 simulators installed in its St. Louis, Mo. and Wilmington, Del. centers. The simulators are two of six ERJ-145/135 simulators FlightSafety operates, with others based at Tulsa, Okla., Houston, Texas and Paris, France. FlightSafety has eight more on order, with ERJ simulators slated for Manchester, England and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport.
FRASCA INTERNATIONAL received an order from Amaury de la Grange Flying School in Merville, France for a B58 Baron Flight and Navigation Procedures Trainer, Type II. The flight training device will include Bendix/King avionics matching the Baron 58 training aircraft with two-tube EFIS 40 system, flight director/autopilot with altitude preselector and GPS. The device will be jointly certified to JAA standards and the French DGAC. Amaury also operates seven Frasca Model 141 and King Air B200 FTDs.
FAIRCHILD AEROSPACE said it received additional firm orders and options for 15 328JETs and five 428JETs, valued at more than $255 million. Skyway Airlines, the Midwest Express Connection, ordered five additional 328JETs and five 428JETs, and took options for three additional 328JETs. Italy's Gandalf Airlines converted options for five additional 328JETs and Shell Petroleum Development Co. of Nigeria Ltd. ordered two more 328JETs.
The Defense Department turned off the "selective availability" (SA) of the Global Positioning System May 1, immediately improving the accuracy of GPS signals to civilian users. The action, ordered by the White House, was hailed by industry officials as the right thing to do, but a number of organizations hastened to add that the Wide Area Augmentation System still needs to be implemented to give aviation users the accuracy they need to conduct precision GPS approaches.
ROCKWELL COLLINS, as part of a plan to expand its inflight entertainment (IFE) business, reached an agreement to acquire Sony Trans Com, which produces IFE systems for commercial aircraft. Collins passenger systems IFE business, located in Pomona, Calif., supplies IFE systems to domestic and international airlines and aircraft manufacturers. The combined businesses are expected to generate revenues in excess of $500 million annually by 2001. Sony Trans Com is based in Irvine, Calif. and employs approximately 500 people.
AMERICAN MOD&TANK CENTER, the Orlando, Fla. fuel tank and structural modification specialist, expanded its services and changed its name to AMI-American Modification. AMI, which also has a satellite facility in Stuttgart, Ark., is an FAA certified repair station that provides a range of maintenance, repairs and structural modifications for corporate aircraft.
FAA appointed Steven Wallace director of the Office of Accident Investigation, effective next month. Wallace will be responsible for all FAA aircraft accident investigations and coordinate activities pertaining to the National Transportation Safety Board. A 24-year agency veteran, Wallace currently is the senior FAA representative at the U.S. Embassy in Rome. He also has served as manager of the standards staff in FAA's Transport Airplane Directorate in Seattle. He joined the agency in 1976 as an attorney in the Eastern Region counsel's office in New York.
AIRCRAFT SERVICES GROUP, Teterboro, N.J., added a new Falcon 2000 to its fleet of managed and chartered aircraft. The recent addition, delivered new to a corporate customer in February, will be placed on ASG's certificate and available for charter trips by mid-summer. Glenn Garland, formerly with FL Aviation of Morristown, N.J., will head ASG's Falcon 2000 program.
Unison Industries acquired Westport International, Inc., "a leading manufacturer of proprietary hermetically-sealed precision switches, sensors, and bellows for extreme environments." Westport's manufacturing facility is in Orange, Conn. Unison said Westport's products have many applications, from fuel control units for gas turbine engines, to engine-cowl, thrust reverser, and wing-flap position sensors, to pressure control devices on submarines and valves used in processing material for nuclear power.
ONLY A TINY PERCENTAGE of national park visitors complain about being disturbed by aircraft noise, but the issue of park overflights is gaining a higher profile among environmental groups. The latest solicitation by the National Parks and Conservation Association (NPCA) contains a bright yellow "Member Update," proclaiming that the association "just scored a major victory! Thanks to your support...your visit to our national parks will no longer be destroyed by the sound of tourist air flights buzzing overhead.
DESPITE what NPCA officials may wish, the Aviation Investment and Reform Act (AIR-21) signed into law in April states that FAA "has sole authority to control airspace over the United States" and also has authority to "enhance the environment by minimizing, mitigating or preventing the adverse effects of aircraft overflights on public and tribal lands." Title VIII of the legislation, which addresses National Parks Air Tour Management, says the FAA Administrator, in cooperation with the director of the National Park Service, shall establish air tour management plans for nat
TAG AVIATION USA signed an agreement with Flight Safety Foundation to participate in its Q-STAR Charter Provider Verification Program. The program includes detailed safety and operational audits and posts the results on the Internet. "The Flight Safety Foundation brings a unique focus and extraordinary credentials to this concept," said Chuck McLeran, TAG vice president, flight operations and standards.
ATLANTIC SOUTHEAST AIRLINES expects to pick a location for a new regional jet maintenance facility within 30 to 45 days. ASA is looking at sites in Lubbock and Amarillo, Texas and Baton Rouge, La. ASA President Skip Barnette said the carrier has no plans to close its Texarkana, Ark. facility, where it services its Brasilia fleet. The new maintenance base will have about 100,000 square feet of space and employ 200 mechanics.
Model EMB-120 series airplanes (Docket No. 99-NM-356-AD) - proposes to require revising the Airplane Flight Manual and either installing hydraulic tube assemblies incorporating a check valve, or visually inspecting the check valve if already installed and corrective action, if necessary. This proposal is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT delivered the first four Harvard II primary training aircraft to the NATO Flying Training in Canada (NFTC) program. The Harvard II is a variant of the Beech/Pilatus PC-9 MkII aircraft, which won the U.S. Air Force and Navy Joint Primary Aircraft Training System contract. The NFTC program will receive 24 of the trainers this year.
Honeywell is committed to bringing glass cockpits to all levels of general aviation aircraft, and has a developmental project, code-named Echo, to explore applications for aircraft ranging from single-engine piston aircraft through entry-level jets, a segment currently dominated by Rockwell Collins. Honeywell displayed a conceptual rendering of a piston twin cockpit with two large displays for the pilot, one for primary flight instruments and a multi-function display with engine instruments and navigation data.
FAA has become increasingly concerned about its ability to secure access to a protected frequency band after the Department of Navy last month declared that the spectrum is "vital to our national defense." The Navy early last month wrote the National Telecommunications and Information Administration that its Joint Tactical Information Distribution System/Multifunctional Information System (JTIDS/MIDS) - part of its Link-16 system - should be "properly designated for operation in the 960-1215 MHz band," a spectrum that FAA says is protected for aeronautical purposes.
FLIGHT OPTIONS signed on the 350th customer for its fractional ownership program, more than doubling the company's customer base in the past six months. Flight Options, based at Cuyahoga County Airport in Cleveland, Ohio, has increased its fleet to 76 aircraft including the Citation II, Beechjet 400A, Hawker 800, Falcon 50 and Challenger 601. Flight Options also expects to begin operating the Citation III in September and has Fairchild Dornier Envoy 7s on order with delivery expected in 2003.
Gulfstream Aerospace officials are in the midst of a comprehensive program to broaden the company's contact with the marketplace by offering a range of new lease and purchase options and expanding its maintenance and refurbishment services for existing Gulfstream business aircraft owners. The emphasis on finding new ways to reach the customer comes as Gulfstream has dramatically increased the efficiency of its aircraft manufacturing and completion business.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE signed an agreement with Rolls-Royce under which the engine manufacturer will provide upgraded Tay turbofans to power the next generation of Gulfstream IV-SP business jets. The $1.4 billion order calls for Rolls-Royce to supply 300 of the new version Tays, with an option for another 300 over the next 10 years. The upgraded engines will includes a full authority digital engine control (FADEC) system and technology upgrades to improve efficiency and reduce fuel burn.
BFGoodrich could have $1 billion or more to invest in its Aerospace and Engineered Industrial Products segments later this year from the planned sale of its Performance Material segment. The company announced plans to divest Performance Materials, a global supplier of specialty polymer systems and chemical additives that had revenues of $1.2 billion and operation income of $150 million in 1999.
