EUROPEAN REGULATORS are facing two key meetings in the next few weeks to discuss the future of Europe's aviation systems. The first, Dec. 10, will include the European transport ministers, who will debate whether to move forward with plans to create an independent European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA) to supplant the Joint Aviation Authorities. Loyola de Palacio, the new vice president and transport commissioner for the European Commission, is rethinking this move and instead favors an "empowered" EC agency.
National Transportation Safety Board is urging several government agencies to come together on a task force aimed at reducing potential hazards from aircraft bird strikes. The safety board, citing concerns that the incidence of bird strikes remains steady despite past intervention efforts, issued nine recommendations to FAA and wrote to four other government agencies - the Departments of Interior, Defense and Agriculture, and U.S.
ONE POTENTIAL FLY IN THE OINTMENT is the absence of representatives from FAA's Office of the General Counsel in the committee deliberations. There is concern among some committee members that the group's work could be torpedoed later by the GC's office if agency attorneys do not participate in the discussions and remain disengaged from the committee's deliberations.
PRIESTER AVIATION added three aircraft to its on-demand charter fleet at the company's headquarters at Pal-Waukee Municipal Airport in Wheeling, Ill. Priester added a Hawker 700 and Hawker 400-731, both of which will replace Falcon 20s, and a Citation VII.
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY established a new center to offer customized non-degree programs for corporations, governments and individuals. The Center for Aviation Training at Embry-Riddle (CATER) will provide training in flight, flight dispatch, aircraft maintenance, aviation English, and air traffic control. The training will cover certification for private and commercial pilots, aircraft dispatchers, airframe and powerplant mechanics and avionics technicians. Embry-Riddle will provide the training at its campuses in Daytona Beach, Fla., Prescott, Ariz.
AlliedSignal, Inc., and a manufacturer of de-icing trucks have developed a new de-icing system for aircraft that can dramatically reduce the amount of glycol needed to remove ice from a plane, AlliedSignal said. While glycol has long been an effective de-icing agent, growing restrictions on storm water runoff have forced airports and fixed-base operators to invest in expensive containment and treatment systems to treat glycol and other ramp contaminants.
Darrell Richardson, the former vice president-operations and chief operating officer at Mesaba Airlines, will join Piedmont Hawthorne to oversee the fixed-base operator's airline maintenance business. Richardson was named executive vice president at Piedmont Hawthorne, where he will have a range of marketing and operations responsibilities, but initially he will focus on the company's Aircraft Maintenance and Overhaul Group. That division includes airline maintenance and component overhaul services.
BOMBARDIER AND RAYTHEON have their own "in-house" fractional aircraft ownership programs and Cessna Aircraft may be the next original equipment manufacturer to both build and operate business jets for fractional customers. Cessna Chairman Russ Meyer told Business&Commercial Aviation magazine that Cessna is definitely looking at that possibility. Cessna was the initial provider of aircraft for Executive Jet's NetJets program, which now operates more than 100 Citations and has orders for another 130, plus options on additional units.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD Friday was investigating the midair collision of two Piper trainers--a Piper Cadet operated by Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and a Piper Seminole operated by another flight school, Phoenix East Aviation - near the Deland, Fla. Airport. Embry-Riddle officials confirmed that its Piper Cadet took off from the Daytona Beach, Fla. campus Friday and collided with the Phoenix East Seminole near Deland shortly after 10 a.m. The wreckage of both aircraft was located in a swampy area east of Deland Airport.
CHRISTIANSEN declined to detail the substance of the group's discussions, but sources say the committee has identified about a half dozen areas of pertinent, significant differences between Part 91 and Part 135 of the FARs. Members are focusing on writing a set of requirements, based on what they believe is in the best interests of safety, that would then be applied to both fractional operators and Part 135 on-demand charter operators.
FRED KOENIG was promoted to executive marketing director, U.S. and Canada for Bell Helicopter. Koenig has 24 years of experience with Bell, where he has held a number of marketing and sales management positions. Most recently he was director of marketing-Eastern U.S. A U.S. naval aviator with two tours in Vietnam, Koenig flew more than 5,500 hours in jets, multi-engine fixed and rotary-wing aircraft.
THE OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY AND HEALTH ADMINISTRATION ranked "transportation by air" as the leading industry of 15 industry categories in incidences of work-related musculoskeletal disorders. Air transportation is one of several industries covered under OSHA's new sweeping proposal calling for companies to develop "ergonomics protection standards" and programs. See article on Page 257.
Now that it has issued its proposal to cover structural inspections on the aging regional fleet, the Federal Aviation Administration is beginning to consider structural integrity questions surrounding a general aviation fleet that currently averages 34 years in age. FAA scheduled a "General Aviation Summit" Jan. 11-12 in Kansas City to discuss "technical issues and related problems associated with the increasing average age of the general aviation fleet."
CESSNA'S MEYER, 67, will have more time to assess ventures like fractional ownership for Cessna after the end of the year. He will formally hand over the title of Cessna chief executive to Vice Chairman Gary Hay on Dec. 31 (BA, April 19/177), but he definitely plans to remain active in the company. One of his mandates will be developing new businesses in related areas to help grow the company's revenue base.
FAIRCHILD AEROSPACE officials say negotiations are still on track to get the external financing needed to proceed with development of the 428JET and 728JET programs (BA, Nov. 8/209).The next milestone is getting the European Union to sign off on a package of $350 million in German bank loans, a process that could be completed as early as this week. Fairchild officials still hope to have the entire financing arrangement in place before the end of the year.
The European Commission last week unveiled a set of 23 technical, operational and institutional proposals aiming at relieving the current air traffic chaos in Europe. "The situation is very serious and even catastrophic in some cases," said EU Transport Commissioner Loyola de Palacio. Every third flight in Europe is delayed. The average waiting time for a flight is 20 minutes, but it can rise to several hours at peak time, the EC said. Half of the delays are due to ATC problems.
ONLY FOUR PEOPLE took advantage of the opportunity to make brief presentations before the Fractional Ownership Aviation Rulemaking Committee's only public session Tuesday, somewhat of a surprise given the emotion and acrimony the fractional ownership issue has generated over the past year (BA, Nov. 29/243). The remainder of last week's three days of meetings was apparently well spent.
JET AVIATION WEST PALM BEACH integrated a wide-body interior originally designed for the Gulfstream IV into the fuselage of a G-III. The conversion, designed to reduce noise and provide more thermal insulation, provides a weight savings and creates greater interior space with more headroom and a wider appearance, Jet Aviation said. AAR Corporation produced the all-composite interior Linear Suspension System shell.
Shortly before approving the $81 billion merger, federal regulators last week ordered Exxon and Mobil to sell off Exxon's Jet Turbine Oil business and a refinery in Benecia, Calif. that bid on U.S. Navy aviation fuel services. "Exxon and Mobil dominate the sales of jet turbine oil," the Federal Trade Commission said, adding they accounted for 75 percent of the worldwide market. FTC permitted the combined entity to retain Mobil's turbine oil operation, but barred it from going after Exxon customers.
James E. Turner, Jr. will retire next month as president and chief operating officer of General Dynamics, the corporation announced last week. Turner, 65, joined GD in 1988 as vice president and general manager of Electric Boat, the company's nuclear submarine division. A veteran of 25 years with Newport News Shipbuilding Co. where he served as executive vice president, Turner has headed GD Marine Systems Group since October 1995. He will retire Jan. 15.
ALL 10 PEOPLE aboard a Bell 212 helicopter were killed Dec. 3 when the aircraft crashed during takeoff from Rangali Island, Maldives, according to FAA. The air taxi helicopter crashed under unknown circumstances and sank in the ocean. The occupants included three crewmembers and seven passengers.
Model 222, 222B, and 222U helicopters (Docket No. 98-SW-51-AD; Amdt. 39-11400; AD 99-23-04) - requires verifying the torque on each vertical fin attachment bolt; inspecting the vertical fin and tailboom fittings for cracks, elongation of bolt holes, distortion and corrosion; and re-verifying the torque on the bolts after inspecting the fittings. This amendment is prompted by a report of a loose vertical fin, which was discovered during a post-flight inspection.
Cessna Aircraft last month reached another milestone ahead of schedule -the mating of the wing - in the development of its CitationJet follow-on, the Citation CJ2. Wing-mating on the first production aircraft, serial number 003, occurred as the flight test program approached 400 flight hours with the CJ2 prototype and a pre-production conformal model. The prototype first flew in April and the pre-production aircraft, S/N 001, flew Oct. 15. The pre-production aircraft is dedicated to autopilot certification.
UPS Aviation Technologies last month won FAA approval and began installation of avionics equipment in 21 different aircraft models participating in the Alaska Capstone program. Capstone, which will include 132 air taxi and charter aircraft in the Yukon-Kukokwim Delta area of Alaska, will allow FAA to assess how advanced technologies can improve aircraft safety in remote areas.
