AIR-21, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee's 200-plus-page aviation bill, last week drew high marks for its significant increase in general aviation airport funding. The legislation, H.R.1000, the Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century, sailed through the Transportation Committee earlier this month and is being held from floor action while committee leadership tries to build support for it (BA, March 15/119).
SUPERIOR AIR PARTS developed new AA215/216 series vacuum pumps that are direct replacements for the 211 and 212 series Stratus vacuum pumps and the Airborne 215-216 pump. The AA215/216 series weighs less and includes the new finned stator design, which increases cooling surface. The pump also comes with a two-year, or 1,000 hours of operation warranty, whichever comes first.
MOONEY AIRCRAFT CORPORATION is reinstituting its Mooney Factory Service School to provide training for authorized service center technicians. Mooney has planned six, six-day sessions beginning in May on topics including a maintenance refresher course, warranty updates and aircraft systems review. The program also includes seminars on the aircraft and company history, recent aircraft refinements and customer relation policies. For more information, contact Tom Bierschwale at (830) 896-6000.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model AS-365N, N1, and N2 helicopters (Docket No. 97-SW-64-AD; Amdt. 39-11067; AD 99-06-03) - requires inspecting the helicopter to determine if a certain main rotor head frequency adapter is installed and, if so, replacing it with an airworthy frequency adapter. This amendment is prompted by a report of disbonding of the metal center section of a frequency adapter from the elastomer on a main rotor head caused by a lack of adherence during the production process.
TRICIA KIRK was named staff vice president, operations for ARINC Inc. Kirk, who has 25 years of business, management and technical experience, previously was vice president on the US Airways account team for The Sabre Group.
AVIONS PIERRE ROBIN Model R2160 airplanes (Docket No. 98-CE-81-AD) - proposes to require inspections to assure that the fuel filler cap has a 2.5-millimeter-diameter hole drilled through it or that a vinyl piping is connected to the filler neck inside the cabin. If neither of these items exists, the proposed AD would require replacing the fuel filler cap with a fuel filler cap that has a 2.5 mm diameter hole drilled through it. The proposed AD is the result of mandatory continuing airworthiness information issued by the airworthiness authority for France.
Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-Kan.) warned Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater last week to do something about a shortage of funds at FAA that is causing delays in conducting the agency's aircraft certification activities.
Bombardier Aerospace received a contract valued at $250 million (U.S.) from Jersey European Airways of Exeter, United Kingdom for a mix of 15 new de Havilland Dash 8 turboprops and Canadair Regional Jets. The contract includes three 37-seat Dash 8 Q200s, four 50-seat Dash 8 Q300s, four 78-seat Q400s and four 50-seat CRJ Series 200 aircraft. The sale makes Jersey European the United Kingdom launch customer for the Q400, Bombardier noted.
WESTERN AIRCRAFT, an authorized Pilatus center, appointed Mather Aviation in Mather, Calif., as a satellite service center for the PC-12. Mather will support, provide spare parts, and be equipped to handle 100-hour and annual inspections as well as warranty service for the single-engine turboprop.
A SENATE EFFORT to extend the Airport Improvement Program two months beyond the March 31 expiration date will do "very, very little good" for airports, according to the National Association of State Aviation Officials. NASAO President Henry Ogrodzinski, reacting to Senate action last week, said "states are suffering right now... They are canceling projects already." Nearly $500 million in AIP projects at 284 airports in 31 states have been delayed as a direct result of the six-month AIP authorization Congress approved in late October, Ogrodzinski said.
SUPERIOR AIR PARTS split its sales division into two business units - Superior Manufacturing and Superior Distribution - in a move company officials say will streamline its sales, service, support and marketing efforts. Superior Manufacturing will produce replacement products for Lycoming and Continental engines worldwide with 22 international distributors. Superior Distribution will coordinate the regional distribution centers located in Dallas, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., Allentown, Pa., and St. Charles, Ill., along with factory-authorized distributors.
Aero Parts&Services, a Dallas, Texas-based distributor of reconditioned flexible fuel cells, sealants and various electromechanical rotable components, agreed to acquire Flight Components, Inc., another Dallas firm. Flight Components, founded in 1976, is an FAA certificated repair station, with Class I, II and III ratings for aircraft accessories. Aero Parts also announced appointment of Brian J. Webster as vice president. He will be responsible for overseeing the operations and marketing of the combined companies.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model SA. 315B, SA.316B, SA. 316C, SA. 319B, and SE. 3160 helicopters (Docket No. 97-SW-14-AD; Amdt. 39-11062; AD 99-05-14) - requires inspecting the main rotor blade cuff attachment fitting in the area of the main rotor blade attachment bolts for cracks and replacing the blade if a crack is found. This amendment is prompted by a report of a crack in a blade cuff attachment fitting/spar assembly that was discovered during fatigue testing by the manufacturer.
THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY will hold its 10th International Symposium on Aviation Psychology May 3-6 in Columbus, Ohio. Co-sponsored by the U.S. Association of Aviation Psychologists and The International Journal of Aviation Psychology, the symposium is expected to draw more than 700 scientists, engineers, pilots and administrators from 35 countries. For more information, call (614) 292-2405.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE named Michael Eddy regional vice president of engineering for its Business Aviation Services network. Eddy will direct engineering projects for Bombardier's seven business aviation service centers as well as its business aircraft completion centers in Montreal, Canada, and Tucson, Ariz. Eddy joined Learjet in Tucson in 1990 as a senior engineering staff specialist and in 1991 was designated an FAA engineering representative. He most recently served as director of business aviation services engineering for Bombardier.
The chairman of the House subcommittee on National Parks and Public Lands postponed a planned hearing on new National Park Service restrictions on aircraft noise at Grand Canyon National Park, but he asked NPS for a two-month extension of the March 20 comment deadline on the controversial proposal. In a "public notice" published earlier this year, NPS proposed dividing GCNP into two zones for aircraft noise purposes. Over Zone 2, which covers the majority of the park, NPS would establish a noise threshold of ambient sound, minus 8 dB.
The Defense Department is hosting a meeting in Chicago this week seeking participation from companies that are developing commercial technologies that could be used in military applications.
Raytheon Aircraft named seven men to new posts in its sales and marketing organization last week, an effort to "more closely align each department with the company's commercial aircraft products," Raytheon said.
SHELL CANADA PRODUCTS LTD. said it received responses from 12 prospective purchasers to its solicitation for buyers of three Canadian fixed-base operations at Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver. Responses were due earlier this month and Shell officials are now evaluating the proposals.
The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) says record-high business fares are leading U.S. corporations to continue scaling back business travel and find lower-cost alternatives, such as booking on low-fare carriers, buying advance-purchase leisure fares and conducting more meetings with video and telecommunications technology.
BELL HELICOPTER TEXTRON Model 206L-4 helicopters (Docket No. 98-SW-62-AD) - proposes to require replacing certain hydraulic relief valves. This proposal is prompted by a pilot's report of intermittent hydraulic pressure in the flight controls that was caused by a defective hydraulic relief valve. The actions specified by the proposed AD are intended to prevent intermittent hydraulic pressure to the flight controls and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter. FAA estimates that 78 helicopters of U.S.
Texas Instruments broke ground last week for its new flight department facility at the McKinney, Texas Airport (TKI), a move that developers hope other flight departments in the Dallas area will make.
ATLANTIC AVIATION FLIGHT SERVICES added a third Gulfstream III to its charter fleet. In addition to the three G-IIIs, Atlantic Aviation operates a G-IV and two G-IIs in charter service.
WILLIAM PERKINS joined Edwards and Kelcey, a global transportation and communications consulting firm, to head the aviation consulting practice in the Southwest U.S. Perkins, who has 25 years of aviation experience, most recently was a senior program manager for the Federal Aviation Administration in Fort Worth, Texas.
FOKKER Model F.28 Mark 0070 and 0100 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-328-AD) - proposes to require modification of the electrical wiring of the flight warning computer (FWC), and installation of upgraded computer software into 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.
