The Regional Airline Association Friday named Deborah McElroy, the organization's long-time vice president, to succeed Walt Coleman as president. Coleman announced a week ago that he planned to resign effective March 31 (BA, Jan. 31/48). McElroy has been with RAA since August 1987, where she has been involved in policy and regulatory issues and dealing with members of Congress. Before joining RAA, McElroy was the senior aerospace industry analyst at the U.S. International Trade Commission. "Debby is the ideal person for the job," said RAA Chairman Jerry Atkin.
GREG HAIRSTON was named sales representative for Professional Aviation Associates. Hairston, who will be based in PAA's South Carolina office, formerly spent nearly 20 years with Stevens Aviation in Greenville, S.C.
GALAXY AEROSPACE handed over the first Galaxy business jet to a customer last month and delivered the first Astra SPX to be completed from the company's completion center at Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas. TTI Incorporated, also of Fort Worth, is the first customer to operate the Galaxy. "This is an important milestone for Galaxy Aerospace and an impressive accomplishment considering that we opened our new facilities and launched completion center operations in June 1999," Galaxy President and CEO Brian Barents said.
FROM THE "MODEST GOALS" DEPARTMENT, Yves Lambert, director general of Eurocontrol is "determined to bring delays in the summer of 2000 back to their level of 1997." Eurocontrol said it plans to reduce congestion through "an improvement of air traffic flows" to increase capacity by 5.3 percent. The European Union earlier said it plans to form a high-level committee to study the effectiveness of Eurocontrol (BA, Jan.31/47).
GENERAL AVIATION MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION is expected to announce Wednesday that its members re-corded the highest-value aircraft shipment year in history during 1999, surpassing 1998's record of $5.9 billion (BA, Feb. 15/71).
ALTHOUGH RUMORS tend to circulate every couple of months of Garvey's "imminent departure" from FAA, the administrator last week emphasized she plans to fulfill her commitment. Garvey noted that she reached the mid-point of her five-year term, and "I plan to see it through." Garvey continues to receive high marks, with Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) noting how well-received she has been within the agency, within industry and on Capitol Hill.
BFGOODRICH COMPANY, in a joint project with NASA, said it successfully demonstrated that fabricating aircraft parts from an advanced alloy - titanium aluminide - can be done in a production environment and not just in a laboratory. The company said titanium aluminide weighs less than half as much as steel, but has superior strength properties.
MERCURY AIR GROUP'S Maytag Aircraft Corp. subsidiary received a contract to provide base operating support services at Westover Air Reserve Base in Springfield, Mass. The contract, which has a potential value of $7.25 million, is for one year with four one-year options. The agreement calls for Maytag to provide full support services including fueling, traffic management, airfield management, transient aircraft and meteorological services for the Air Reserve Station.
LOUIS LE PORTZ, 60, was named chairman and chief executive officer of Messier-Dowty, a Snecma Group company that designs, develops and manufactures landing gear systems. Le Portz had been vice president of industrial and customer services for Thomson-CSF since 1998. Le Portz succeeds Dominique Paris, who was appointed chairman and CEO of Snecma Motors last month.
IATA DIRECTOR GENERAL Pierre Jeanniot, alarmed by the telecommunication industry's "voracious economic interest," last week called for a "battle" to retain aviation radio frequencies when the World Radio Conference meets in May in Istanbul, Turkey. "We must win the battle of radio frequency spectrum during the next four months," he said. Aviation increasingly relies on satellites and uses specific bands in the spectrum. They fall within what is classified as a "safety of life" spectrum.
The company that operates the Sporty's catalogue business won a victory last week from a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which ruled that the Batavia, Ohio firm is entitled to use the domain name sporty's.com on the Internet.
BOEING'S engineers and technical workers narrowly rejected a second set of contract offers from the company, but in response to a request from the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, agreed not to call a strike immediately and to attend another meeting today (Feb. 7). The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) said professional workers rejected the new contract by a vote of 3,308 to 3,173, while technical workers voted down the proposal by a vote of 3,373 to 2,039.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL won Transport Canada Level D certification for its Beech 1900D full flight simulator installed at its Toronto center. FlightSafety expects FAA certification to follow in April. FlightSafety offers 1900D training at its facilities at LaGuardia Airport in New York, Daytona Beach, Fla., and Wichita, Kan.
PAN AM INTERNATIONAL FLIGHT ACADEMY acquired the assets of Flight Review, Inc., a Beechcraft training provider in Scottsdale, Ariz. Flight Review was founded by Tom Clements in 1979 and has provided on-site pilot ground and flight training to more than 2,000 pilots. Flight Review was merged with SimCom International's existing operations in Scottsdale and Clements joined SimCom's staff to teach ground, simulator and flight training. SimCom is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pan Am International Flight Academy.
A COUPLE OF KEY SENATORS, including senior Budget Committee member Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Appropriations Committee member and aviation subcommittee Chairman Slade Gorton (R-Wash.), apparently are supporting the Administration's push for more money.
variant of Model Canadair CL-600-2B16 series airplanes modified in accordance with STC SA8060NM-D, SA8072NM-D, or SA8086NM-D (Docket No. 2000-NM-05-AD; Amdt. 39-11519; AD 2000-01-51) - publishes AD 2000-01-51 that was sent previously by individual notices to all known U.S. owners and operators of Model CL-604 aircraft modified in accordance with Supplemental Type Certificate SA8060NM-D, SA8072NM-D, or SA8086NM-D. This AD requires that the fuel service panel maintenance light be disconnected.
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MICHELLE BAUMAN was appointed director of customer service for Atlantic Coast Jet, the Delta Connection jet operation for Atlantic Coast Airlines Holdings, Inc. Bauman previously served as director of customer service systems for ACA's United Express operations.
Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and House and Senate leaders last week continued their negotiations over the future of comprehensive reauthorization legislation, but progress remains slow. House proposals to guarantee a general fund contribution to FAA and take the Airport and Airway Trust Fund off budget remain the sticking points in the House/Senate reauthorization conference negotiations.
FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION and National Business Aviation Association are jointly hosting the 45th Annual Corporate Aviation Safety Seminar April 25-27 at the Adams Mark Hotel in San Antonio, Texas. The seminar provides a forum to discuss safety issues that affect the business aviation community. The event also will include company exhibits. For more information about the safety seminar, contact Carole Pammer or Ann Hill at (703) 739-6700 or Jeff Lund at (202) 783-9269.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey last week reiterated the Administration's annual call for user fees, telling two Senate committees that the air traffic control system needs to become a cost-based enterprise that operates more like a business and is funded by users. The Transportation Department's own Inspector General, at the same time, cautioned against immediately jumping on proposals for restructuring "of what already is a very safe system, but a system also in need of improvement."
JAMES MASON was promoted to vice president-public and community affairs for Eaton Corporation. Mason joined Eaton in 1976 as manager of public affairs in the company's former government relations office in Washington, D.C. He moved to the company's headquarters in Cleveland in 1996 as director of public and community affairs.
PARKER HANNIFIN CORP. elected Donald E. Washkewicz, 49, president and chief operating officer. He will have overall responsibility for all company operations and will report to Duane Collins, the company's chairman and chief executive officer. Washkewicz has been with Parker Hannifin for 27 years. Most recently he served as president of Parker's Hydraulics Group.
MARK LARSEN was appointed engine program sales manager for Garrett Aviation Services in Springfield, Ill. Larsen has 17 years of experience with business aviation repair and overhaul. Most recently he was director of customer service and manager of original equipment manufacturer relations and Midwest sales for Allison. He also has held sales and customer support positions with Duncan Aviation and Burlington Northern Airmotive.
THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION today is expected to propose more than $1 billion in spending increases for FAA in fiscal 2001, funded at least in part through user fees.
