QUALIFIED TECHNICIANS also are becoming increasingly difficult for aviation manufacturers to find. Officials at avionics manufacturer Garmin International, headquartered in Olathe, Kan., told BA last week that "it's a real struggle to find personnel." The company is located in Johnson County, where the unemployment rate is 2.6 percent, making it difficult to find laborers, managers and engineers.
HAWKER PACIFIC AEROSPACE won a landing gear service agreement for Continental Express Embraer 120 Brasilias. Hawker Pacific, which will service the landing gear at its Sun Valley, Calif. facility, valued the contract at $2.5 million for the next overhaul cycle. Hawker Pacific has been servicing the Continental Express Brasilia fleet since 1993.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL won a contract from Northwest Airlines to train crews for the airline's fleet of Canadair Regional Jet Series 200LR. Northwest ordered 54 CRJs with options for 70 more. Deliveries of the aircraft are slated to begin in April 2000 and continue through mid-2004. The FlightSafety contract, which is for 10 years with options extending to 15 years, covers on-delivery training, initial and recurrent training for Northwest code-sharing partners.
An outstanding performance by the company's Aerospace operations helped propel Bombardier, Inc. to its best financial year ever in fiscal 1999, the company announced last week, despite substantial losses in the Canadian manufacturer's Recreational Products sector. Revenues jumped 35 percent to $11.5 billion in the year ended Jan. 31, 1999 and net income shot up 32 percent to $554 million (all monetary figures are in Canadian dollars). During the previous year the company earned $420.2 million on revenues of $8.5 billion.
AlliedSignal Inc. announced another restructuring last week, realigning its aerospace business into three segments in a move the company said will bring savings of up to $50 million, or less than one percent of revenues, annually.
PILATUS Models PC-12 and PC-12/45 airplanes (Docket No. 99-CE-03-AD; Amdt. 39-11081; AD 99-06-17) - requires installing a support bracket and a cut-out relay for the second generator control unit. This AD also requires making all the wiring additions and adjustments necessary for the installations. This AD is the result of mandatory continuing airworthiness information issued by the airworthiness authority for Switzerland.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION, which late last year announced it would implement a new administrative action program June 1, appears to have put the "Streamlined Administrative Action Process" on hold (BA, Jan. 4/1).Senior FAA officials told industry representatives recently during a General Aviation Action Plan Coalition meeting that they have not finalized the program yet because they first want to streamline their internal processes for handling administrative actions. That effort, however, has been delayed by FAA's funding shortage, sources said (BA, March 1/95).
The National Transportation Safety Board and the International Transportation Safety Association are hosting an international symposium on transportation recorders May 3-5 in Arlington, Va. NTSB said the meeting will bring together for the first time "international professionals from all modes of transportation to share information and experiences gained from the use of recorded information to investigate transportation accidents and to improve transportation safety and efficiency."
DORNIER Model 328-100 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-198-AD; Amendment 39-11078; AD 99-06-14) - requires a one-time visual inspection of the elevator trim system for paint contamination on the actuator pistons and to determine the moisture level of the moisture indicator; verification of the installation and condition of the gasket of the flex drive; and corrective actions, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
PORSCHE 3200N01, N02, and N03 reciprocating engines (Docket No. 99-ANE-09-AD; Amdt. 39-11089; AD 99-04-15) - publishes an AD that was sent previously to all known U.S. owners and operators of Porsche PFM3200N01, N02, and N03 reciprocating engines by individual letters. This AD requires replacement of valve springs prior to further flight on PFM3200N01, N02, and NO3 engines. This amendment is prompted by reports of six cases of undetected fatigue failures of valve springs, with one valve spring failure causing an in-flight engine failure that ended in an emergency landing.
Airshow, Inc., which specializes in passenger flight information systems, expanded into the light business aircraft market with the acquisition of inflight entertainment manufacturer Flight TECH of Hillsboro, Ore. Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. "The acquisition of Flight TECH immediately strengthens our general aviation offerings to small- and medium-sized corporate jets while providing a technical platform for developing future integrated cabin systems," said Airshow President Dennis Ferguson.
CONTINUING SHORTAGE of qualified commercial pilots could get worse quickly. The Pentagon is expected to call up thousands of Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve pilots for duty in the NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia. Many of those pilots are employed by air carriers, charter operators and corporate flight departments. AIR, Inc., of Atlanta, Ga. said pilot hiring continued strong in March with 1,245 pilots added to payrolls during the month as 168 of 214 airlines/operators reporting were hiring.
EDMOND SCHNEIDER was named international sales representative for BFGoodrich Avionics. Schneider will oversee BFGoodrich Avionics sales in Spain and Portugal.
NEW PIPER Models PA-46-310P and PA-46-350P airplanes (Docket No. 98-CE-112-AD) - proposes to require calibrating the turbine inlet temperature system to assure the accuracy of the existing turbine inlet temperature indicator and wiring for all of the applicable airplanes, and repairing or replacing any turbine inlet temperature system that fails the calibration test.
House and Senate budget negotiators last week agreed to drop a Senate resolution in the budget agreement that opposed certain FAA funding provisions in House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Bud Shuster's (R-Pa.) comprehensive aviation package, AIR-21 (BA, April 5/155). The resolution, backed by the Senate leadership, expressed a "sense of the Senate" that no additional budget "firewalls" could be enacted for transportation activities.
Honeywell Airport Systems signed an agreement with the FAA to jointly develop the technology and operational standards for GPS-based precision approach and landing through the Local Area Augmentation System (LAAS) program. The Government Industry Partnership (GIP) agreement sets up a formal program relationship between the company and the government agency.
The Federal Aviation Administration has warned operators of potential wear problems with piston pin plugs in Textron Lycoming engines manufactured beginning in 1994. In a Special Airworthiness Information Bulletin (SAIB) issued April 9, FAA encouraged operators to change engine oil at specific intervals (between 10 and 50 hours) and monitor the oil and filter for evidence of piston pin plug wear, including the presence of aluminum or iron particles. If such evidence is detected, the agency said the piston pin plugs need to be replaced.
FOKKER Model F.28 Mark 0070 and 0100 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-328-AD) - would require modification of the electrical wiring of the flight warning computer (FWC) and upgrading software in the FWC. This proposal is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent certain nuisance alerts generated by the FWC and to ensure annunciation of certain flight alerts by the FWC during initial climb.
LOS ANGELES BOARD OF AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS adopted an "alternative-fuels vehicle program" (AFVP) at all four airports the commission controls: Los Angeles International (LAX), Ontario International (ONT), Palmdale Regional (PMD) and Van Nuys (VNY). The AFVP effort will include converting 50 percent of traditional fossil-fuel-powered fleet vehicles and equipment to models using natural gas or electricity by 2003 and developing an alternative-fueling infrastructure that will include a natural gas fueling station and additional electric vehicle charging stations.
MILLION AIR LONG ISLAND, N.Y., opened a new facility on 22 acres at Republic Airport. The facility includes a 12,000-square-foot terminal lobby located at the southwest corner of Runway 1-19.
GALAXY AEROSPACE promoted David Brant to senior vice president of operations. Brant, formerly vice president of operations, will continue to oversee program management and coordination with Israel Aircraft Industries, strategic planning, new product development, completions, facilities development planning and other operational support functions. In addition, he will assume responsibility for all product support.
THE DOT INSPECTOR GENERAL, noting that the "inherent nature of air tour operations can create hazardous conditions," later this year plans to issue a report on FAA's oversight of the air tour industry. Air tours are an area where FAA "can continue to enhance its safety surveillance and be more proactive" but the agency does not have "sufficient information on air tour operations to focus its oversight efforts," the IG said.
FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION'S "weaknesses" in accounting for its property and other transactions are only part of DOT's difficulty in preparing its financial statements.DOT's own accounting system is so riddled with problems that the agency made more than 2,200 closing and adjusting entries, totaling $220 billion - nearly five times the department's annual budget - in its fiscal 1998 consolidated financial statement, according to the DOT Office of the Inspector General.
The costs of complying with a new FAA proposal requiring comprehensive inspections of aging aircraft used in scheduled service will be so prohibitive that many of the affected aircraft will be forced out of scheduled operations, a veteran regional airline executive told BA last week, adding, the rule "will put airlines out of business," particularly smaller operators who cannot afford to upgrade their fleets.
