BOARD OF DIRECTORS of cargo carrier Kitty Hawk ousted Tom Christopher, the chairman and chief executive, following last month's announcement of the company's financial difficulties (BA, April 24/193). Tilmon Reeves, president of the company, was named interim chairman and CEO until the board elects a permanent successor.
PARTICIPANTS in the Fractional Ownership Aviation Rulemaking Committee (FOARC) termed last week's two-day session with FAA officials "a really good meeting" that included "working through" nearly all of the potentially controversial issues raised earlier by FAA (BA, April 24/189).Peggy Gilligan, FAA deputy associate administrator for certification and regulation, sat in on Tuesday's session and reiterated FAA's desire to complete the FOARC process and get the new rules for fractional aircraft providers published.
REP. JAMES HANSEN (R-Utah) told the director of the National Park Service he "read with keen interest" the recently released Director's Order 47 detailing soundscapes and natural quiet in national parks (BA, April 24/189). Hansen, chairman of the House subcommittee on national parks and public lands, has been critical of past government efforts to restrict the use of aircraft in and around national parks.
FAA continues to suffer from a shortfall in fiscal 2000 funding and the agency once again is looking for places to cut since the possibility of finding near-term relief from Congress appears slim. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.) remains opposed to a short-term supplemental appropriations bill despite the urging of senior appropriations members in the House.
ED THOMPSON was promoted to vice president of member assistance for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association. Thompson will manage a staff of 27 that handles member inquiries on membership and member benefits. Thompson joined the association in 1996.
The Internal Revenue Service devised a certificate procedure to track the aviation exemption from the 24.4-cent-per-gallon highway tax imposed on kerosene.
U.S. general aviation manufacturers marked a 22 percent increase in deliveries and a 12 percent gain in billings during the first quarter of the year, setting the stage for another strong year, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported last week. U.S. GA manufacturers shipped 613 aircraft in the first three months of the year, compared with 502 in first quarter 1999. GAMA called the $2.1 billion in billings from January through March 2000 a record for the first quarter.
TEN AVIATION ASSOCIATIONS Friday urged Congress to fully fund the Aviation Safety Reporting System in fiscal 2001, saying that further cuts or even "flat" funding of the program next year would be unacceptable.
A J WALTER was selected to represent MacCarthy Aviation, a designer, manufacturer and repair facility for aircraft interiors. MacCarthy, based near London's Gatwick Airport, specializes in galley and bar areas for aircraft.
L.J. AVIATION officially opened its new fixed-base operation facility at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pa. last month. The new facility increases main hangar capacity by 4,800 square feet and includes a terminal with a private passenger lounge, crew lounge with fireplace, conference room, weather center, computer connections, snooze rooms and showers. L.J. Aviation, which has provided charter services in the Pittsburgh area for 20 years, also provides maintenance for Gulfstream, Hawker, Citation, Westwind, Learjet and King Air aircraft.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE is attempting to interest the U.S. government in using the Gulfstream V as a platform for a variety of military missions. Company officials say the EC-37SM (a special mission G-V) could replace existing and aging militarized airline transports such as the Boeing 707 for communications relay, reconnaissance, signals intelligence and electronic warfare missions. Preliminary studies by the company indicate the robust G-V airframe could carry a variety of mix-and-match electronic payloads in up to six under-wing pods.
BARNES AEROSPACE Advanced Fabrications unit in Bristol Conn. incorporated a Lean Manufacturing Program including Kaizen, Process Improvement Teams, Set-Up Reduction Teams, Flow Production, 6-Sigma and AQS Quality Systems. The unit began to incorporate Lean Manufacturing in 1999 with the goal of reducing manufacturing space by 50 percent to open up capacity for more workload.
PETE WHITAKER was named territory sales manager for North Texas for Superior Air Parts. Whitaker, who will oversee Dallas, Fort Worth and East and West Texas, has served with Superior since 1998 in the Dallas Regional Distribution Center. He also worked at Aviall and AAR Cooper Aviation.
Federal Aviation Administration last week expanded the definition of public aircraft operations to cover familiarization training for government aircraft crews. Familiarization training formerly was not considered a government function and therefore did not qualify under the less stringent guidelines for public use aircraft.
California Microwave Systems (CMS), a unit of Northrop Grumman's Electronic Sensors and Systems Sector (ES3), won a $33 million contract from the U.S. Coast Guard to modify 15 of the service's HU-25A/C aircraft. The aircraft, also known as the Falcon 20G, is powered by twin Garrett ATF-3 engines. Falcon Jet Corp. won a contract in January 1977 to supply 41 of the modified business jets to the Coast Guard for medium-range surveillance missions. Deliveries to the service began in early 1982.
KAMAN AEROSPACE promoted Carl Summers vice president of its Jacksonville, Fla. operations. Summers, who joined Kaman in 1982, started Kaman's Jacksonville operations and has overseen them as a director. He manages facilities that assemble aircraft structures for Boeing 767 and C-17 aircraft and MD 500 and MD 600 helicopters (BA, April 17/178).
TRACY CASSIL was promoted to senior vice president of international finance for Cessna Finance Corp. Cassil has served with CFC since 1982 and most recently was vice president of international sales.
The National Transportation Safety Board asked FAA to review its procedures for ensuring that air traffic controllers report operational errors. The recommendation stems from a near collision between a Piper Navajo and a Navy Grumman E-2 on June 23, 1998, near Bradford, Pa., under control of the Cleveland Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). But NTSB suspects the non-reporting problem to be more widespread. The two airplanes passed within two miles horizontally and 100 feet vertically.
CONKLIN&DE DECKER scheduled three seminars to cover cost, financial and tax issues. Chaired by Nel Sanders, former National Business Aviation Association tax expert and now a member of Conklin&de Decker, the seminars will cover federal and state taxes; the Federal Aviation Regulations; and cost, financial and tax planning. Speakers will include TAG Aviation Chief Financial Officer Dave Weil, GKMG Consulting's Michael Fleming and aviation attorneys Phil Crowther and Eileen Gleimer. The seminars are scheduled June 8-9 in Washington, D.C.; Sept.
TITLE V-SAFETY Section 508. Permits criminal history records check for security screeners -- Exempts the military from the requirement to provide pilot records. Limits the records that must be provided to those that involve the individual's performance as a pilot. Allows an airline to hire a pilot even if it has not received records from a foreign entity if it has made a good faith effort to obtain them. Allows electronic access to pilot record database, but provides privacy controls
GENERAL DYNAMICS reported net earnings of $184 million on sales of $2.55 billion for the first quarter ended April 2, increases of 16.4 percent and 27.5 percent, respectively over the same 1999 period, not including a one-time gain in the 1999 first quarter from a tax refund that boosted net earnings to $323 million. "We started 2000 on a strong note, and expect solid results to continue throughout the year," said GD Chairman and CEO Nicholas Chabraja.
Federal Aviation Administration recently cleared the Pilatus PC-12 and Beechcraft BE-2000 Starship turboprops for single-pilot Part 135 instrument flight rules operations and is expected shortly to give similar approval to Cessna 501, 525 and 551 business jets. The approval became necessary after FAA's Flight Standards Service in December issued a memorandum highlighting a requirement under Part 135 calling for an alternative static source for aircraft used in single-pilot operations.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION said FAA's San Diego, Calif. Flight Standards District Office is the 2000 winner of its FAA Customer Service Excellence Award. In a letter to Jerome Pendzick, acting manager of the San Diego FSDO, NATA President James Coyne said the San Diego office was selected from 16 FAA offices nominated because of "superior communications, consistent enforcement and a willingness to educate the public."
Stock in cargo carrier Kitty Hawk made it back above the $1 per share mark last week, but the price was still down 84 percent from its 52-week high of more than $14 per share, and the outlook for the company remains guarded following release of some troubling financing information earlier in the month.
AIR WILGA, a Quebec based DHC-3 leasing company, last month put into service the first certified Orenda-powered aircraft. Air Wilga received type certification for a DHC-3 floatplane powered by the OE600 liquid-cooled V-8 engine. Johnny May's Air Charter of Kuujiuaq, Quebec is operating the aircraft. Air Wilga, working with Orenda, will complete three additional Otter conversions slated for commercial service this summer.
