RAYTHEON COMPANY, attempting to restore confidence in the firm's battered stock (BA, Jan. 24/36) brought its top executive team and division presidents to New York last week for a four-hour meeting with security analysts. Officials outlined a five-year program to boost revenues and profits. Raytheon Aircraft President Hansel Tookes presented a series of charts, including one that showed RAC's Travel Air fractional aircraft program has grown from a startup less than three years ago to account for 12 percent of RAC revenues in 1999.
HEICO CORPORATION unit Trielectron acquired selected assets of aircraft ground air conditioning specialist Air-A-Plane. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The acquisition included the trademark, intellectual property, limited inventory, customer contracts and a manufacturing facility in Suffolk, Va. Trilectron, which manufactures aircraft ground air conditioning systems, ground power and air start units, will continue to use its own name as well as Air-A-Plane. Air-A-Plane's facility in Norfolk, Va.
SA226 and SA227 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-CE-84-AD; Amdt. 39-11507; AD 98-19-15 R1) - revises AD 98-19-15, which currently requires incorporating information into the Limitations Section of the airplane flight manual (AFM) that imposes a speed restriction and a minimum pilot requirement for SA226 and SA227 series airplanes equipped with Barber-Colman pitch trim actuators, part number (P/N) 27-19008-001/-004 or P/N 27-19008-002/-005.
JOHN LAWSON, president of sales for Bombardier Business Aircraft, is retiring from full-time service, effective March 1. Lawson will continue to work with Bombardier Business Aircraft Division in a senior advisory capacity and remain part of the group's management committee. Bombardier promoted Peter Edwards, currently senior vice president international sales for all business aircraft, to succeed Lawson as executive vice president-sales.
MOONEY AIRCRAFT officials expect it will cost $850,000 to $1 million to cover the expenses related to rivet hole problems with some 48 aircraft produced by the Kerrville, Texas manufacturer last year. Only about 30 of the affected aircraft are in the hands of retail customers; the rest reside with dealers. Officials emphasize that FAA has determined the aircraft are airworthy and flyable. Mooney is developing a schedule to fly the affected planes back to Kerrville for inspections and required rework.
RAYTHEON SYSTEMS CANADA, LTD., received a certificate of acceptance from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) following approval of Raytheon's air traffic control radar system at Kunming International Airport. Kunming is a major city in southwest China and is the first center in the region to have a modernized ATC system, the company said.
PROFESSIONAL AIRWAYS SYSTEMS SPECIALISTS also noted how FAA's budget woes have hampered the activities of airworthiness inspectors. Thomas Brantley, vice president for PASS, testified that with FAA's travel cuts, inspectors are forced to perform inspections primarily by telephone and through paperwork. He asked that Congress specifically designate money for inspector staffing or training because otherwise, those funds "will be diverted to pay for the agency's latest crisis."
(Beech) Model 400A and 400T Series Airplanes (Docket No. 99-NM-372-AD) - proposes to require replacement of temperature switch assemblies of the wing ice protection system with new, improved parts. This proposal is prompted by reports of electrical continuity problems with solder joints on the temperature switches of the wing ice protection system. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent detachment or breakage of wires in the temperature switch assemblies of the wing ice protection system.
Landmark Communications, Inc., which owns a variety of broadcasting enterprises including The Weather Channel, signed an agreement to buy WSI Corp. from Litton Industries, Inc. WSI (Weather Services International), is a leading provider of weather presentation systems and weather data that provides flight planning information and weather briefing systems for pilots, broadcast outlets and other markets. The purchase price is $120 million in cash, subject to adjustment at closing.
Model A109C and A109K2 helicopters (Docket No. 99-SW-28-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that currently requires removing the main rotor pitch control link assemblies, measuring the radial play of each upper and lower spherical rod-end bearing, and replacing any unairworthy bearing. This action would require replacing the pitch control link assembly with an assembly that has increased durability and wear resistance. This proposal is prompted by reports of increased helicopter vibration caused by wear of bearings on certain pitch control link assemblies.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT leased seven Beech 1900C regional turboprops to Gulfstream International Airlines in Dania, Fla. Gulfstream operates 32 1900B/C airliners and will use the additions for regional service with its code-share partners Continental Airlines, United Airlines and Trans World Airlines out of San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association last week celebrated the unprecedented fifth consecutive year of industry growth with billings soaring to $7.9 billion and predictions that the industry will enjoy similar success this year. U.S. general aviation billings for 1999 increased 35.1 percent from 1998's $5.9 billion and shipments jumped 13.7 percent to 2,525 total units, GAMA reported at its Annual Industry Review and Outlook Briefing Wednesday.
Lockheed Martin Information Systems (LMIS), with years of experience in the military aircraft training market and a desire to find new revenue streams for its parent company, is launching a new simulator training business in Orlando, Fla. aimed at operators of commercial aircraft.
OGDEN CORP. won a 20-year concession contract to design, finance and construct $400 million in improvements and operate four international airports in the Dominican Republic. Ogden expects the contract to generate total revenues of approximately $2 billion for Aeropuertos Domincanos Siglo XXI (AERODOM), a consortium that is 35 percent owned by Odgen. The firm's partners in AERODOM are Operadora de Aeropuertos Del Caribe S.A. of the Dominican Republic, YVR (Vancouver) Airport Services, and Impregilo, S.p.A., a construction company headquartered in Milan, Italy.
OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION delayed until March 2 the deadline on its controversial proposed ergonomic protection standard (BA, Dec. 6/257).
ASKED WHAT IT WILL TAKE to break the impasse in the Senate over FAA reauthorization legislation, one former Senate staffer and veteran lobbyist responded, "It will take [Senate Majority Leader Trent] Lott knocking heads."Other lobbyists agree. They said opponents of Rep. Bud Shuster's (R-Pa.) AIR-21 proposal - including Sens. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) and Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) - are so set in their views that it will require a major effort by Senate leadership to break the impasse. See article below.
THE BAD NEWS is that the Forty Three RJ Co. flight department, which based a Gulfstream G-IIB at Mercer County Airport in Trenton, N.J., has turned the aircraft back to the leasing company and plans to shutter the flight operation. The good news, according to Chief Pilot Ron Overholt, is the high level of interest expressed by other operators in hiring Forty Three RJ's two veteran pilots and its maintenance chief.
NEW ORLEANS, LA. LAKEFRONT AIRPORT, which has nearly 200,000 annual operations, plans to seek proposals from private developers/operators for long-term privatization of the airport. The GA facility is owned by the Orleans Levee District. A request for offers will be released Feb. 28. A pre-bid meeting will be held March 6. For more information, contact the Levee District's adviser, Infrastructure Management Group (Steve Steckler or Jorge Gonzalez) at (301) 907-2900.
AVIATION GROUP, INC. is selling its Casper, Wyoming Air Service, Inc. fixed-based operation and also is in discussions with other parties "regarding the sale of other segments of its operations." Aviation Group, a publicly traded firm headquartered in Dallas, Texas, operates aircraft painting facilities through its Aviation Exteriors subsidiaries in New Iberia, La., Greenville, Miss. and Portland, Ore.
Continuing a theme it has unsuccessfully championed for years, the Clinton Administration last week proposed a considerably higher budget for FAA, but said all of those funds should come from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and new user charges, rather than general fund revenues that have traditionally made up 30 percent of the agency's annual budget.
FAA last week approved the National Air Transportation Association's petition to provide relief from drug and alcohol testing requirements for NATA members who conduct local sightseeing flights at charity or community-oriented events. NATA petitioned for relief after FAA's Drug Abatement Division deemed that those operators should be included (BA, July 5/2). FAA has granted several individual exemptions, but last week's action provides blanket protection for future charitable flights.
DUNCAN AVIATION, Battle Creek, Mich., was awarded one of the first supplemental type certificates for installation of a Honeywell (AlliedSignal) Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System with display in a Falcon 900EX. The aircraft returned to service late last month.
BRITTEN-NORMAN said it has been working with Hartzell Propeller, Inc. on installation of an experimental three-bladed propeller on the BN2B Islander aircraft to reduce noise. The manufacturer said the propeller has a swept, "scimitar" profile and is specifically designed to reduce noise on piston-powered aircraft. Initial tests show a noise reduction of between 5 and 7 dB(A), exceeding estimates made during the development program.
Lynn Nichols, a successful businessman who learned to fly 18 years ago at Yingling Aviation in Wichita, purchased the Yingling operation this month and outlined an ambitious expansion program.
