The Fractional Ownership Aviation Rulemaking Committee (FOARC) completed a grueling 11-hour meeting Thursday in Washington, D.C., but emerged with a consensus regulatory proposal that officials expect to convey to FAA Administrator Jane Garvey by mid-February.
Earl Robinson, a key member of the Fairchild Dornier team developing a family of jets for the regional airline market until he left that company 18 months ago, is heading a newly formed company in New Hampshire that plans to develop its own line of regional transports.
Docket No.: 29644 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 61.57(e)(3) Description of Relief Sought: To permit AFI pilots to meet the night takeoff and landing recent experience requirements of Sec. 61.57(b) for the Cessna Model 525 CitationJet by meeting the night takeoff and landing recent experience requirements for the Cessna Model 550 Citation II.
Docket No.: 29668 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.143(c)(2) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Jet Solutions to operate certain aircraft under Part 135 without a TSO-C112 (Mode S) transponder installed in the aircraft. Grant, Oct. 14, 1999, Exemption No. 7045
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD will convene a public hearing Jan. 26 into the June 1 fatal crash of an American Airlines MD-82 at Little Rock, Ark. The safety board said the hearing, which will be held at the Arkansas Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, is expected to continue through Jan. 29.
PILATUS AIRCRAFT gathered 80 orders and delivered 55 PC-12 single turboprop aircraft in 1999, the company reported. Pilatus noted it had a fleet cancellation on a 1998 order "but increased orders made up the difference in our final numbers." Pilatus in June boosted production from four to five aircraft per month and added staff to its Broomfield, Colo. completion center, enabling the company to keep pace with the increased orders, the company.
Docket No.: 26029 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 121.503(b), 121.505(a), and 121.511(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit ABX's pilots and flight engineers to complete certain transcontinental flight schedules before being provided with at least 16 hours of rest. Grant, Nov. 19, 1999, Exemption No. 5167E
Docket No.: 29816 Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.299(a) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Columbia Air L.L.C. pilots to accomplish a line operational evaluation (LOE) in a Level C or Level D flight simulator in lieu of a line check in an aircraft. Denial, Nov. 19, 1999, Exemption No. 7077
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE COMMITTEE Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) Friday visited Palm Springs, Calif. International Airport, which is operating with a temporary air traffic control system recently set up by the U.S. Marine Corps. The visit is one of several Shuster hopes to make to airports around the country as part of his effort to push for comprehensive FAA reauthorization legislation (AIR 21) that dramatically increases airport funding and takes the Airport and Airway Trust Fund off budget (BA, Jan. 10/13).
LMI AEROSPACE named Tom Baker chief operating officer. Baker, 54, had been executive vice president of North American operations for Allied Automotive Group in Atlanta, Ga. "I've known Tom for more than 20 years, dating to the late 1970s when we were colleagues at Associated Transports," said Ronald S. Saks, president and chief executive of LMI. "I am very pleased to be working with him again." Baker will replace Steven Marcus, who resigned from LMI to pursue other interests, but who is remaining with LMI temporarily to help with the transition.
CESSNA last week rolled out its first production Citation CJ2, Serial Number 003, in preparation for its scheduled spring certification. The CJ1, a derivative of the original CitationJet with new avionics, is expected to receive FAA type approval shortly and enter demonstration service next month. The CJ2 and CJ1 are two of four aircraft announced simultaneously during the 1998 National Business Aviation Association convention in Las Vegas, Nev. (BA Oct. 19, 1998/169).
GMBH Model MBB-BK 117 helicopters (Docket No. 98-SW-77-AD) - proposes to change the retirement life for the tail rotor (output) drive bevel gear. This proposal is prompted by a fatigue analysis of the bevel gear conducted by the manufacturer due to installation of different tail rotor blades. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent fatigue failure of the bevel gear, loss of tail rotor drive, and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter. FAA estimates that 130 helicopters on the U.S.
Swiss regional carrier Crossair suffered its first fatal accident last week, a tragedy that unfolded in the midst of a bitter labor-management dispute between the carrier and its pilots.
Raytheon will sell its flight simulation and training business to L-3 Communications for $160 million as part of a strategy to focus on core businesses, the company said last week. The Training Devices and Training Services (TDTS) unit employs 2,600 and provides integrated simulator-training products. L-3 Communications President and CEO Frank Lanza noted the unit has a strong reputation in the flight simulation business, designing simulators for nearly every U.S. military aircraft program.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE said the Gulfstream V business jet won Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) approval from the FAA under the auspices of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The company said the G-V is now the "only aircraft in its class that can fly without altitude restrictions across the North Atlantic." Only aircraft granted RVSM approval may operate at altitudes of 31,000-39,000 feet in the North Atlantic track system. Gulfstream said the Gulfstream IV previously received RVSM approval.
MILLION AIR VAN NUYS moved into a newly remodeled facility with a 3,000-square-foot lobby area and a 20,000-square-foot hangar. The remodeling effort began after the Jan. 17, 1994 Northridge earthquake, which measured 6.7 on the Richter Scale, destroyed the FBO terminal. "It was a long haul, but we finally were able to cut through all the government red tape and remodel," said Harold Lee, president and owner of Million Air Van Nuys. Plans also call for the FBO to build at least nine new 15,000-square-foot hangars by 2000.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD issued a warning Friday about the dangers of using over-the-counter medications and prescription drugs when piloting an aircraft or operating other types of transportation equipment. See article below.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL received FAA Level D certification for its Raytheon Beech King Air C90B turboprop simulator. The simulator is installed at FlightSafety's Raytheon Wichita training center. The simulator also is the 15th King Air simulator that FlightSafety operates and the second C90. FlightSafety Simulation in Tulsa, Okla. built the C90B simulator, which features a ChromaView Plus visual system with advanced motion capabilities and cockpit audio and panoramic vision.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION and the General Aviation Manufacturers Association are asking Congress to include corporate operators in the visa waiver program under which commercial carriers participate with the Immigration and Naturalization Service to reduce red tape.The program allows commercial carriers to bring citizens of some 23 different countries into the U.S. without a visa.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION said the computer problem at the FAA's Leesburg, Va. air route traffic control center (ARTCC) that snarled East Coast air traffic Jan. 6 was due to a "software data buffer overflow problem with the software that assigns beacon codes for filed flight plans." NBAA said the computer database is "emptied" once the beacon code is no longer needed - once the flight lands or the IFR flight plan is canceled.
The Transportation Department's Office of Inspector General is reviewing the Federal Aviation Administration's aircraft safety research and development program at the request of Congress, the OIG said. FAA spends about $45 million a year on the program, which includes safety research in areas such as advanced materials, fire safety and crashworthiness. About half of the budget, $22 million, is devoted to aging aircraft.
Used Retail Deliveries Used Retail Deliveries DEC. '96 DEC. '97 DEC. '98 DEC. '99 L M H L M H L M H L M H Jet North 77 37 19 61 56 30 72 54 21 44 30 21 America Jet Outside 12 4 1 7 5 1 12 1 0 2 3 0 N. America Prop North 0 91 0 0 109 1 3 101 2 3 76 0 America
FAA PLANS to publish shortly its airworthiness directive requiring extensive exhaust system inspections and possible replacements on some 6,500 Cessna 300 and 400 series aircraft. The agency proposed the inspections in July (BA, July 5/1) and received more than 350 comments in response to the proposed AD. As proposed, the AD would have required removal of the exhaust system for detailed inspections and prohibited patch-type repairs.
FAA issued an airworthiness directive last week requiring "removal of certain unapproved parts before further flight on some General Electric CJ610 and CF700 engines." FAA said the AD resulted from findings that "life-limited parts, with forged and inaccurate records, have been introduced into the field and might be installed on the affected engines." An FAA spokesman told BA Friday that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the DOT Inspector General were investigating a Texas parts distributor, but said he could not identify the firm.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION promoted industry veteran Cassandra Bosco to director-public relations. Bosco, formerly senior manager-public relations, joined NBAA in January 1988. She is responsible for working with the national and trade press on business aviation issues and coordinates all press activities at the association's annual meeting and convention. She also helped implement NBAA's Professional Development Program and oversees the new AVKids program to promote business aviation to elementary school students.
