JACK HESS was named OEM account manager for BFGoodrich Avionics Systems' Business and General Aviation Group. Hess most recently served as Southeast region account manager for the Business and General Aviation Group. He joined BFGoodrich in 1988 after serving with its sister company Foster Air Data Systems since 1985.
The House Friday approved the fiscal 2000 transportation appropriations conference report providing $10 million for the Federal Aviation Administration with all of the funds coming from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund. Friday's 304-91 vote came after House Transportation Committee Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.) objected to a number of FAA and highway funding provisions in the bill. Shuster charged that House leadership and Appropriations Committee members "pulled a fast one and got away with it."
National Transportation Safety Board officials remained in Hawaii last week continuing their investigation of the Sept. 25 fatal sightseeing flight that crashed at the 10,000-foot level of a volcano.
GENERAL AVIATION AWARDS PROGRAM is soliciting applications for its annual Aviation Maintenance Technician, Avionics Technician and Certified Flight Instructor of the Year Awards. Applications should be submitted to local safety program managers at FAA's Flight Standards District Offices by Dec. 31. For more information, contact Jennifer Banks, with the National Air Transportation Association, at (703) 575-2051.
ROLLS-ROYCE PLC completed the purchase of the rotating products interests of Cooper Energy Services, part of Cooper Cameron Corp., for $180 million. The business, based in Mount Vernon, Ohio, is being renamed Rolls-Royce Energy Systems, Inc. Cooper Energy Services manufactures rotating compression and control equipment for the oil and gas industry.
The planned Dulles Center extension of the Smithsonian's Air and Space Museum got a lot closer to reality last week with word that Hungarian-born Steven F. Udvar-Hazy, the president and chief executive of the International Lease Finance Corp., will contribute $60 million toward the $130 million project.
Just nine months after naming a long-time volunteer to head the Corporate Angel Network (CAN), the organization's board of directors abruptly dismissed Judith Haims as president last month. CAN, based in White Plains, N.Y., arranges flights on corporate aircraft for cancer patients traveling to and from treatment centers.
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT promoted Henry Paulino to general manager of its LaGuardia Airport fixed-base operation. Paulino formerly was operations manager for the facility. He has served at Signature's LGA facility for seven years and, before that, was an operations supervisor at the White Plains, N.Y. facility.
JOHN GOGLIA'S nomination for another term on the National Transportation Safety Board was sent to the Senate just before the August congressional recess began, but it still is pending before the Senate Commerce Committee. Goglia, a pilot and airframe and powerplant mechanic, was the team coordinator of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers accident investigation team and was the IAM's flight safety representative for 21 years before joining NTSB in August 1995. His original term expired Dec.
Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) last week directed FAA Administrator Jane Garvey to submit the names of 1,900 small air carriers and manufacturers who have not responded to the agency's survey on Y2K preparedness. The request came after DOT Inspector General Kenneth Mead reported that all larger carriers have responded but more than 1,900 smaller carriers have not. Garvey indicated that she would deliver the list Tuesday and Dodd said he would print the list in the Congressional Record.
CAROLE SHIFRIN was named the 1999 recipient of the Lauren D. Lyman Award for distinguished, career-long achievements in journalism. The award, sponsored by United Technologies Corp., will be presented Oct. 26 during a luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. Shifrin is being honored for her contributions in aerospace communication during nearly 20 years with The Washington Post and Aviation Week and Space Technology magazine. For more information, contact Kelly Murphy at the Society of Aerospace Communicators at (703) 716-0503.
LANCAIR signed Hanseatische Luftwerft GmbH (HLW) of Bremen, Germany as a Columbia 300 dealer in Europe. In addition to Germany, HLW has offices in The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland and the Czech and Slovak Republics.
ONE IMPORTANT presidential nomination cleared the Senate last week, but another is still pending. Edward W. Stimpson, vice chairman of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, was confirmed by the Senate Wednesday evening as the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.'s International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) (BA, Aug. 2/49). His nomination was cleared by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee without a hearing earlier in the week. Stimpson is expected to be sworn in and report to his new post in Montreal later this month.
Model BAC 1-11 200 and 400 series airplanes (Docket No. 99-NM-31-AD) - proposes to require replacing the thrust reverser control unit selector valve with a new or modified valve and inspecting for proper rigging of the thrust reverser cable drums and thrust reverser control unit selector valve detent, and corrective actions, if necessary. This proposal also would require revising the Airplane Flight Manual to provide the flight crew with procedures to address uncontrolled operation of the thrust reverser system.
Galaxy Aerospace formally inaugurated its new headquarters and production facility on Alliance Airport in Fort Worth, Texas and officials now are focusing on efforts to pick up the pace of completions at the new $15 million, 165,000-square-foot facility.
BRITISH AEROSPACE'S Avro RJX family, the successor to the Avro RJ/BAe 146 regional jets, is on track to enter service in July 2001. The first of the new family, the RJX-85, is slated for final assembly in April. Low- and high-speed wind tunnel testing is under way and will continue through this month. British Aerospace plans to prepare a systems integration rig for testing in February with pylon structural testing in June.
THE GOVERNMENT'S new fiscal year began Friday, but Congress has not yet completed work on the Transportation Department's FY2000 appropriations legislation. That means most government agencies, including FAA, are operating under the provisions of a three-week "continuing resolution" and are funded at FY 1999 levels until the appropriations measures are passed. At FAA that translates into continuing to be "very cautious about spending and very cautious about travel," according to a spokeswoman. See article on Page 153.
The Dornier Luftfahrt unit of Fairchild Aerospace signed an agreement with Israel Aircraft Industries under which IAI will design and build the fuselage for the Dornier 428JET regional airliner and also perform final assembly of the aircraft in Israel.
THE SENATE this week is expected to take up action on S.82, Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) comprehensive reauthori-zation legislation, after months of delay. Sen. Chuck Robb (D-Va.) apparently had placed a hold on the legislation and now indicates a willingness to work out his concerns about the bill on the floor or in a House/Senate conference on reauthorization. Industry observers say an amendment may surface during debate on S.82 to establish a chief operating officer of FAA's air traffic control system.
Embraer, which already offers a 37-seat and 50-seat jet, plans to split the difference with its newest product - a 44-seat regional jet that will have a "high level of commonality" with the Brazilian manufacturer's popular ERJ-145 and ERJ-135 airliners. The new jet, the ERJ-140, was launched during last week's European Regions Airline Association Meeting in Paris without firm orders in hand, but President and CEO Maurice Botelho said American Eagle and Continental Express have expressed interest.
BE A PILOT board members last week elected Russell W. Meyer, Jr., current chairman and chief executive of Cessna Aircraft, to succeed co-founder Ed Stimpson as chairman of the industry-wide program aimed at recruiting new pilots. Meyer, who plans to step down as Cessna's chief executive at the end of the year (BA, April 19/177), assumed his new role last week as Stimpson was confirmed as ambassador to the International Civil Aviation Organization.
As the funding deadline for Loran-C approaches, supporters of the navigation aid are accusing the Office of Management and Budget of delaying tactics. They also say OMB is establishing itself in policy-making, which is not in its charter. The Transportation Department's 1994 and 1996 Federal Radionavigation Plans call for termination of Loran at yearend. But DOT had a change of heart and recommends continued funding of Loran in the yet-to-be issued 1998 FRP, which is being held up by OMB. OMB officials declined comment.
Eight industry associations representing the nation's air carriers, pilots and airports called on FAA to develop a national standard to comply with airport security regulations. In joint comments to FAA last month, the associations asked the agency to form a working group within 30 days to establish security compliance program standards. That request comes in response to a notice of proposed rulemaking, which questioned the feasibility of requiring airports and air carriers to establish their own compliance enforcement programs.
DeCrane Aircraft Holdings, Inc., which has been busily acquiring a range of aircraft component manufacturers over the past few years (BA, Jan. 4/2), reorganized its holdings into three business groups to "create greater synergies among its 10 subsidiary companies and provide complete systems solutions for its customers," said R. Jack DeCrane, chief executive of the company.
