JACK ELLIOTT, veteran aviation correspondent and columnist of The Newark Star-Ledger, received the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association's Max Karant Journalism Award for Lifetime Achievement. Elliott has written a column on general aviation for the Sunday Star-Ledger for 36 years. "Jack fearlessly 'tells it like it is'" AOPA said, noting that he has been an outspoken critic of weak state aviation policies, mayors who sell out their community airport and new home buyers who attack long-established airports.
B/E Aerospace, which has garnered an increasing share of the new aircraft seating market, significantly downgraded its earnings forecasts for the next 15 months because of a series of production problems.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.251, 135.255, 135.353, and Appendices I&J of Part 121 Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To allow the Society to conduct local sightseeing flights at Hazleton Municipal Airport, for an aviation festival on August 22, 1999, for compensation or hire, without complying with certain anti-drug and alcohol misuse prevention requirements of Part 135. Grant, Aug. 19, 1999, Exemption No. 6949.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 121.344(b)(3) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Air Wisconsin to operate its BAe-146 airplanes subject to heavy maintenance checks before parts are available without installing the required DFDR until the next heavy maintenance check after April 30, 2000. Partial Grant, Aug. 18, 1999, Exemption No. 6939
BOMBARDIER signed a contract valued at $145 million with its distributor ExecuJet Aviation Group for 12 business jets. The deal includes five Learjet 45s, two Learjet 60s, four Continentals and one Special Edition (a corporate Regional Jet variant) with deliveries beginning in 2000. ExecuJet provides management, charter, leasing, sales and support of Bombardier aircraft in Africa, the Middle East and Europe. It has identified customers in southern Africa and Scandinavia for the aircraft.
series turbofan engines (Docket No. 99-NE-49-AD) - proposes to require revisions to the Time Limits Section (TLS) of the Engine Manual to include required enhanced inspection of selected critical life-limited parts at each piece-part exposure. This action would add additional critical life-limited parts at each piece-part exposure. This proposal also would require an air carrier's approved continuous airworthiness maintenance program to incorporate these inspection procedures.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.143(c)(2) Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To permit Blatti to operate certain aircraft under Part 135 without a TSO-C112 (Mode S) transponder installed in each aircraft. Grant, Aug. 31, 1999, Exemption No. 6957
Model PC-12 and PC-12/45 airplanes (Docket No. 99-CE-36-AD) - proposes to require revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to include requirements for activation of the airframe pneumatic deicing boots. The proposed AD is the result of reports of in-flight incidents and an accident that occurred in icing conditions in which the airframe pneumatic deicing boots were not activated. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to assure that flightcrews activate the pneumatic wing and tail deicing boots at the first signs of ice accumulation.
Model Mitsubishi MU-300 airplanes (Docket No. 96-NM-210-AD; Amdt. 39-11376; AD 99-21-30) - requires revising the Airplane Flight Manual (AFM) to provide pilots with certain operating procedures during icing conditions, and to limit the maximum flaps position for flight in icing conditions or landing after an icing encounter. The amendment also requires installing an ice detector, and accomplishing a corresponding AFM revision to address its operation.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION was warning its members last week to check for special flight restrictions in the Seattle, Wash. area this week because of the special meeting of the World Trade Organization being held there. The restrictions will be in effect from Nov. 29-Dec. 3.
NOT ONLY was FAA's Airport Safety and Standards Office budget cut to $45 million, but, for the first time, Congress decided to pay for the program out of the agency's Airport Improvement Program rather than its operations budget (BA, Nov. 8/209). AIP is usually reserved for airport grants rather than the salaries and administrative expenses of FAA's airports office. This "accounting" shift has become significant since AIP is not authorized and FAA cannot take money out of the program.
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 91.319(a)(2) Description of Relief Sought: To allow the owner of a special airworthiness category aircraft to be compensated for allowing his/her aircraft to be used for transition training and flight reviews under Part 61 by authorized flight instructors.
In efforts to cut costs and improve efficiency, prime contractors are finding that direct contact with suppliers is key, executives said at a conference this month. Optimizing the supply chain involves better supplier integration and better use of e-commerce, Al Mulvey, vice president-UTC Aerospace Supply Management, Pratt&Whitney Canada said in Long Beach, Calif. at Aviation Week's Aerospace Expo '99. If suppliers typically account for 70 percent of product costs, he said, "we're ignoring more than half our costs" if the link isn't improved."
Section of the FAR Affected: 14 CFR 135.251, 135.255, 135.353, and Appendices I&J of Part 121 Description of Relief Sought/Disposition: To allow the Society to conduct local sightseeing flights at the Lunken Airport, for an airshow on Aug. 27, 28, and 29, 1999, for compensation or hire, without complying with certain anti-drug and alcohol misuse prevention requirements of Part 135. Grant, Aug. 26, 1999, Exemption No. 6955
NATIONAL BUSINESS TRAVEL ASSOCIATION and the Canadian Business Travel Association created a strategic partnership. "Many of the issues we address have application across our shared border," said Cyndi Perper, president of NBTA. The new alliance permits members of CBTA to join NBTA under a special introductory offer for one year.
BOB FIELDS AEROCESSORIES inflatable door seals (Docket No. 98-CE-88-AD) - proposes to revise AD 98-21-21, which currently requires de-activating the electric door seal inflation system for all aircraft equipped with Bob Fields inflatable door seals. Since issuance of that AD, the manufacturer has developed a modification that would allow these electric door seal inflation systems to remain in service, and FAA has approved this modification.
GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE is claiming two speed records for a G-V flight from White Plains, N.Y. to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The company said the aircraft, carrying nine people including crew members, made the flight in 12 hours, 48 minutes and set speed records in both the unlimited and C-1.L weight classes. The aircraft flew at altitudes up to 47,000 feet and speeds of Mach .80 during most of the flight, increasing to Mach .88 during the last three hours.
PRATT&WHITNEY named Ellen B. Smith senior vice president-commercial business to oversee the company's large commercial aircraft engine programs, advanced engine programs and its industrial gas turbine business. Her duties also will include working with Pratt&Whitney Canada "to expand the company's overall penetration of the regional jet market." Smith joins P&W from General Electric where she was most recently vice president of sales for GE Energy Services in Atlanta, Ga.
FIELDS AIRCRAFT SPARES and its four subdivisions filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code. The Simi Valley, Calif. firm provides aftermarket support for airline transport equipment and distributes a range of parts and components. The bankruptcy filing was in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Central District of California.
DASSAULT FALCON JET appointed Eugene Hembrook field service representative, covering North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Chicago metropolitan area. Hembrook has more than 25 years of aircraft maintenance experience, serving as a maintenance supervisor for a corporate flight department in Washington, D.C. and an aircraft technician for corporate flight departments in Illinois.
PACE OF PILOT HIRING continued to be strong in October as airlines added 1,469 pilots, according to AIR, Inc., which said the major carriers hired 369, the national carriers added 566, other jet operators took 194 and non-jet operators hired 279, with much smaller numbers hired by helicopter operators and new entrants. AIR said more than 25 airlines plan to attend AIR's Jan. 29 Airline Pilot Career Seminar, Airline Forum and Job Fair, scheduled for the Sheraton Grand Hotel at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport. For more information, contact AIR at (800) 247-2777.
L. David Caplan, 59, the head of Pratt&Whitney Canada for the past 15 years, will step down as chief executive next spring, to be succeeded by the company's long-time president, Gilles P. Ouimet.
