MEDAIRE, Phoenix, Ariz., will conduct worldwide training for United Airlines' 25,500 flight attendants on the use of automated external defibrillator and CPR procedures.
Ogden Corp. retained Goldman, Sachs&Co. to help it "explore ways to split its existing businesses into two separate public companies." Ogden, which has interests in the energy, aviation and entertainment markets, said its current intention "is that one company would consist of its energy business, while the other would comprise the entertainment and aviation businesses." Ogden said it anticipates completing the necessary analysis and finalizing separation plans by mid-summer.
LITTON INDUSTRIES acquired the stock of Denro, Inc., a subsidiary of the Firan Corp., a publicly traded Canadian company. Denro, of Gaithersburg, Md., manufactures voice and data communications control systems and digital voice recording systems used in air traffic control and air defense applications. Denro has about 250 employees and had sales of approximately $35 million for the fiscal year ended Nov. 30.
FlightSafety Boeing Training International is reorganizing into four business units focusing on the specific types of training solutions sought by airlines and other large-jet customers. The four product/service lines offered by FlightSafety Boeing today are Boeing Business Jet training; flight training; maintenance training; and training development.
GERALD MOLINA joined World Fuel Services Corp. as vice president of strategic planning. Molina formerly was president of Commercial Finance of America and has held senior financial positions with CSF Holdings Inc., Southeast Banking Corp. and Financial Capital of America, Inc.
Federal Aviation Administration is soliciting comments on a draft environmental impact statement (DEIS) it prepared for its plans to consolidate four existing terminal radar approach controls (TRACONS) in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. area into a single facility near Warrenton, Va. (BA, Jan. 25/37). The new TRACON at Vint Hill Farms and Station will replace stand-alone TRACONs at Baltimore-Washington International Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, Dulles International Airport and Andrews Air Force Base.
CURTISS-WRIGHT CORP. acquired a 53,000-square-foot building in North Carolina that will become the new home for part of its commercial aircraft component overhaul and repair operations. Curtiss-Wright said operations at Gastonia, N.C. are expected to begin as early as the end of April. The overhaul and repair operations, currently housed in the same facility as C-W's original equipment manufacturing business in Shelby, N.C., will be shifted to the new building in nearby Gastonia.
SAAB Model SF340A and 340B series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-220-AD) - proposes to require repetitive inspections for cracking around certain fastener holes and adjacent areas of the front spar of the horizontal stabilizers; and corrective actions, if necessary. This proposal also would require cold working of certain fastener holes of the front spar of the horizontal stabilizers, and follow-on actions; and installation of new fasteners, which would constitute a terminating action for the repetitive inspections proposed by this AD.
ALITALIA signed a contract with ATR to acquire three ATR 72-500 turboprops that will be operated by Alitalia Express. Deliveries will begin in July and conclude by yearend.
AUGSBURG AIRWAYS, Augsburg, Germany, ordered three de Havilland Dash 8-Q400 turboprops from Bombardier Aerospace and took options on two more. The value of the firm orders is estimated at $65 million (U.S.). Augsburg, a Team Lufthansa affiliate and long-time Bombardier turboprop customer, is the fifth European buyer of the 70-seat Q400 model.
PRATT&WHITNEY is converting a used Boeing 720 aircraft into a flying test bed for its new PW6000 engine for the Airbus Industrie A318 and hopes to have the job completed in time to begin flight tests in about a year.
SAAB Model SAAB SF340A and SAAB 340B series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-236-AD; Amdt. 39-11042; AD 99-04-17) - requires inspections to detect discrepancies of the support straps of the flaps and adjacent areas, and corrective action, if necessary. This amendment also requires replacement of the support straps with new straps made of steel. This amendment is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
J. LELAND (LEE) ATWOOD, former president and chief executive of Rockwell International Corp., died March 5 of natural causes in St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 94. Atwood, who began his career as a junior airplane designer with the Army Air Corps at Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio in 1928, moved to Douglas Aircraft in 1930 where he met another aviation pioneer, James H. (Dutch) Kindelberger. Both men moved to North American Aviation in 1934 and by 1948 Atwood was elected president of NAA.
CASA, the Spanish aircraft manufacturer, selected Sextant Avionique's Topdeck avionics suite for its new C-295 military transport as well as the CN-235-300 transport. Sextant also will be prime contractor for overall system integration, including all equipment associated with the Topdeck suite: radios, weather radar, TCAS and GPWS.
NASA'S AMES RESEARCH CENTER at Moffett Field, Calif. is conducting wind tunnel tests of a full-scale replica of the 1903 Wright Flyer to learn more about its stability, control and handling characteristics. Test results will be used to compile a historically accurate aerodymanic database for the Wright Flyer. A team of volunteers from the Los Angeles section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics will use the wind-tunnel data to build a second Wright Flyer. That replica will be flown on Dec.
As a condition of its approval of Signature Flight Support's acquisition of the AMR Combs chain of fixed-base operations, the Justice Department is requiring Signature to sell FBO assets at three airports: Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., (BDL); Palm Springs, Calif. Regional Airport (PSP); and Centennial Airport (APA) in Englewood, Colo. just outside Denver (BA, March 8/113).
CARL JONES, director of quality assurance at JetCorp, was selected as the 1999 St. Louis District and FAA Central Region Aviation Maintenance Technician of the Year. Jones has 21 years of aviation experience. He has spent the past six years with JetCorp, and serves as an aviation safety counselor for FAA's St. Louis Flight Standards District Office.
ATLANTIC AVIATION signed a five-year maintenance training contract with FlightSafety International. FSI will train Atlantic technicians on a number of corporate aircraft, including Falcon 2000/900/50/20/10, Gulfstream II/III/IV/V, Challenger 601/604, Galaxy 1125/1124 and Raytheon Hawker 1000/800/700/600.
The AOPA Air Safety Foundation named a veteran Maryland flight instructor vice president of training for the foundation. Richard Hiner, 60, will be responsible for the approximately 100 ASF Flight Instructor Clinics and 200 safety seminars presented by the foundation each year in the U.S. The association said he plans to expand the number of topics covered in the clinics and seminars. With more than 2,100 hours of instruction given, Hiner remains an active flight instructor. He is the owner of a 1961 Piper Colt.
BELL Model 214ST helicopters (Docket No. 98-SW-27-AD; Amdt. 39-11037; AD 99-04-13) - requires a reduction of the never-exceed velocity (Vne) limitation until an inspection of the tail rotor yoke assembly for fatigue damage and installation of a redesigned yoke flapping stop are accomplished. Recurring periodic and special inspections to detect occurrences of yoke overload are also required. This amendment is prompted by reports of inflight failures of yokes installed on civilian and military helicopters of similar type design.
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY is spearheading a national initiative to promote aviation maintenance as a career. The university held a conference last month to discuss concerns of aviation maintenance technician shortages and will hold the next meeting June 8 in Daytona Beach, Fla.
SUPERIOR AIR PARTS created a technical support team in its Manufacturing Business Unit to provide service for customers. The team is managed by Tim Archer, vice president of sales and marketing, and includes Gary Greenwood, national sales and marketing manager; John Lauer, Eastern technical support manager; and, Darrell Ingle, Western technical support manager.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT sold a Beechjet 400A and Hawker 800XP to Hainan Airlines Company Limited for use in charter operations. The Beechjet is Raytheon's first jet to enter service in the People's Republic of China.
THE BOEING COMPANY rolled out the first two next-generation 737s built at the increased rate of 24 airplanes per month, which Boeing said "is the highest ever for a single commercial airplane model." One of the 737s was a Boeing Business Jet and the other a 737-800. "This efficient rate increase allows us to deliver more quality airplanes on time, to better meet our customer expectations and to focus on earning a better return for our shareholders," according to John Hayhurst, vice president and general manager of 737 Programs.
Crosswinds Commercial, Inc., plans to build "fly-in commerce centers" at two airports in Michigan: Willow Run, outside Detroit; and Bishop International, near Flint. The centers would be business parks with direct runway access. A company official said Crosswinds is trying to introduce manufacturing companies to a new concept in the Midwest that is popular in the southwest U.S.
