BOTH OCCUPANTS of a Mitsubishi MU-2 were killed Jan. 24 when the aircraft crashed two miles from the runway after taking off from San Antonio Texas. FAA said the 1978 model aircraft, N386TM, was registered to Turbine Aircraft Marketing, Inc., of Addison, Texas.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT COMPANY recorded an operating loss of $38 million on revenues of $632 million in the fourth quarter of 1999. That represents a negative turn of $78 million when compared with the $40 million in operating earnings the company reported a year ago on revenues of $788 million. RAC shipped 10 fewer aircraft in the 1999 fourth quarter than it did in the same period in 1998, and 19 fewer aircraft than forecast due to production and shipment delays. Raytheon said it expects all 19 of those aircraft to be delivered in the first half of this year.
MCKINNEY AEROSPACE named three new employees to its management team. Don Rose was named general manager of production, Karen Cooper is director of design, and Kim Toland is director of human resources. Rose has spent 19 years in the aviation industry, working for Duncan Aviation and Tyler Jet Completions. Cooper has 11 years of aviation design experience, having worked as a senior designer for Gulfstream Aerospace prior to joining McKinney. Toland has held human resources positions with several large companies both in and out of the aviation industry.
CHC HELICOPTER CORPORATION'S Helikopter Service subsidiary in Norway won an agreement with Eurocopter to repair and overhaul dynamic components of the Super Puma MKI and MKII helicopters. The agreement, which covers Super Puma helicopters worldwide, expands Helikopter Service's current authorization to repair and Super Puma MKI helicopters in Scandinavia.
RICK GLASS was named vice president of sales and marketing for Airfoil Technologies International. Glass will oversee global sales and marketing of ATI component repairs for commercial turbine engines. He previously was director of sales-Europe for Aviation Sales Company's distribution services products unit. He also has served as vice president of sales for Interturbine Group of Companies.
HONEYWELL won FAA certification for a new gas turbine engine monitoring and diagnostic system called Intellistart Plus+, a program developed in conjunction with Altair Avionics. Honeywell said the system can identify and help prevent "hot starts" by: monitoring and recording engine temperature and adjusting fuel flow during starts; collecting engine trend samples; recording maximum values and flight times; and logging engine runs and events for post-flight analysis.
Honeywell named Thomas Buckmaster vice president of corporate communications to head the company's global communications programs. Buckmaster, 43, was president of Edelman Public Relations in New York City, where he oversaw the company's more than 400 employees. Before joining Edelman, Buckmaster was the executive vice president and general manager of Hill and Knowlton, USA, and the chairman of Hill and Knowlton Public Affairs Worldwide Co. In that capacity he headed the company's Washington, D.C. office.
MESA AIR GROUP signed a contract for up to 100 Embraer ERJ-145 and ERJ-135 aircraft in a deal that could carry a potential value of nearly $1.4 billion (U.S.) Mesa placed firm orders for 36 50-passenger ERJ-145 regional jets with deliveries to begin in the first quarter of this year and continue through late 2002. The contract also includes options for 64 aircraft that could be either ERJ-145 or the 37-seat ERJ-135 aircraft. Mesa is expanding its regional jet code-sharing agreement with U.S.
EXECUTIVE JET MANAGEMENT'S fleet has grown to 50 aircraft in 27 locations nationwide, and the Cincinnati, Ohio-based charter and management company expects to add 25 more aircraft this year. EJM in particular sees growth in charter demand in the West and recently added a Citation X in San Diego. EJM officials said nearly 25 percent of the company's 1999 fleet growth was in the western U.S.
THE CLINTON ADMINISTRATION once again is expected to propose new user fees to fund FAA when it unveils its fiscal 2001 budget recommendations Feb. 7.House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) last week welcomed the Administration's effort to increase aviation investment, but said he was concerned that "the President has chosen to achieve this worthy goal by increasing fees on air travelers...To ask air travelers to pay even more when we are not investing what they already pay in taxes is unjust." Shuster last week told the U.S.
JEFFREY SHAPIRO was named president and general manager of Edwards&Associates, a Bell helicopter subsidiary based in Bristol, Tenn. Shapiro joined Bell in 1984 and has held a series of financial positions, including manager of government compliance and general accounting and manager of internal audit. Most recently, he was finance director for business and systems development.
An FAA investment analysis of the Wide Area Augmentation System raises the question of why the agency is pouring more than $2 billion into the troubled air traffic program when the report concludes that airlines are "much less enthusiastic" about WAAS than they are about the Local Area Augmentation System and that elements of general aviation "will resist a phase-down of navaids to the BBN [basic backup network] level, and resent Loran-C discontinuance." The report says that for airline aircraft equipped with flight management systems, WAAS "will not provide substantia
FREDERICK SINE joined Boeing Airplane Services as vice president. Sine formerly served as vice president of line maintenance for U.S. Airways. He will be responsible for developing and implementing support programs for large-scale customer requirements, such as airline fleet maintenance and engineering support.
Mobil Oil Australia, faced with mounting criticism from aircraft owners and at least two lawsuits, said Friday it will offer compensation to owners of piston-powered aircraft whose planes have been grounded because of fuel contamination problems.
WASHINGTON AVIATION GROUP (WAG) negotiated agreements to represent the Airline Suppliers Association (ASA) and the Aircraft Electronics Association before government agencies, including FAA. Jason Dickstein, president of WAG, formerly served as vice president and general counsel of ASA.
Model 750 Citation X series airplanes (Docket No. 99-NM-229-AD) - proposes to rescind an existing AD that currently requires repetitive in-flight functional tests to verify proper operation of the secondary horizontal stabilizer pitch trim system, and repair, if necessary. The actions specified by that AD are intended to detect and correct such contamination and damage, which could result in simultaneous failure of both primary and secondary pitch trim systems, and consequent reduced controllability of the airplane.
Engine makers Rolls-Royce and Honeywell anticipate relatively little fleet growth but steady deliveries of turbine-powered helicopters over the next 10 years.
WITH AIR TRAFFIC CONCERNS continuing to mount in Europe, European Union Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio is establishing a "high-level" group to study the effectiveness of Eurocontrol. That committee is slated to make recommendations by June on the future of Eurocontrol.
RUSSIA'S TUPOLEV, as part of the government's plan to restructure the aerospace industry, is creating the Tupolev Joint Stock Company. The entity will combine ANTK Tupolev, better known as Tupolev Design Bureau or Tupolev Aviation Scientific Technical Complex, and Ulianovsk-based aircraft plant Aviastar. The government paid 51 percent of the 7.9 billion-ruble ($277 million) fund to establish the new holding company, gaining intellectual rights of Tupolev's existing products and projects development for the government.
KIMBERLY MILLER joined AirLiance Materials as regional sales and support director. Miller will be responsible for key clients, such as United Airlines and Air Canada. Previously, she was vice president of sales and marketing at AAR Corp. in Wood Dale, Ill.
DESPITE PROBLEMS on the production side of the house, business at Raytheon's fractional aircraft ownership program appears to be booming. The company said Raytheon Travel Air "had a record fourth quarter with revenue of $82 million, bringing 1999 revenue to $230 million. Both revenue and fractional share ownership grew in excess of 75 percent during 1999," the company said.
Textron, Inc. reported sharply higher earnings and revenues for the three- and 12-month periods ended Jan. 1, including a fourth-quarter earnings per share from continuing operations of $1.12 - exactly the consensus number that financial analysts had predicted and up 51 percent from the 74 cents per share posted during the same period a year earlier. Concern about Textron's ability to meet the analysts' target had led to a decline in the company's stock price since the beginning of the year (BA, Jan. 24/36).
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE sold two 50-passenger CRJ200 series regional jets to J-Air, Japan Airlines' domestic route carrier. J-Air took options on three additional aircraft. The carrier is based in Hiroshima and provides service in southwest Japan. J-Air currently operates five 19-seat turboprops.
GULFSTREAM GATX LEASING COMPANY delivered the first aircraft, a Gulfstream IV-SP, into operational service with a large North American corporation. Gulfstream Lease, a joint venture between the leasing company and the business jet manufacturer, is described as "the world's first short-term operating lease program for long-range, large cabin business aircraft." The G-IV-SP is the first of six aircraft - the remainder will be Gulfstream Vs - being placed into the short-term operating lease fleet.
Docket No.: 29773 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 119.5(g), 119.21(a), 135.251, and 135.255, and Appendixes I and J to Part 121 Description of Relief Sought: To permit the Foundation to operate its Douglas DC-3, Ford Tri-Motor, and various single-engine aircraft, which are certificated in the standard category, for the purpose of carrying passengers for compensation or hire.
