TEXTRON LYCOMING won certification from Russian aviation authorities for its O-320-E2A, O-320-D2A, O-360-A1P, O-360-J2A, IO-360-L2A, HIO-360-D1A and IO-540-D4B5 engines.
PATRICK MULLANEY was appointed director of communications for Northrop Grumman Corporation's Integrated Systems and Aerostructures sector. Mullaney is a retired U.S. Air Force colonel with more than 23 years of public affairs experience. He most recently was director of public affairs, Air Education and Training Command, at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.
NASA selected a team of industry partners to develop a "Highway in the Sky" (HITS) cockpit under the Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments program, the agency announced Thursday. Avidyne Corp. of Lexington, Mass., and AvroTec, Inc. of Portland, Ore., will lead the seven-member team, which also includes Lancair, Raytheon Aircraft, Rockwell Collins, Seagull Technology and AlliedSignal. Work on the contract will begin immediately with cockpit hardware and software to be completed by 2001.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. reported sharply higher sales and revenues last year, but the company's earnings declined as a result of much higher tax payments. Gulfstream reported revenues of $2.4 billion for the year, up 27.5 percent over the $1.9 billion in 1997. Net income for the year was $225.3 million, a 7.2 percent drop from 1997's $243 million. The company said it recorded an income tax provision of $126.7 million last year, based on an estimated effective tax rate of 36 percent. In 1997, the company recorded an income tax benefit of $33.9 million.
U.S. general aviation manufacturers continued to set new billings records last year, "obliterating" the $5 billion mark by delivering more than 2,200 new aircraft, and last week predicted the market will remain strong. U.S. GA manufacturers reported $5.9 billion in billings in 1998, nearly a 26 percent jump from the previous year and 2,223 units delivered, almost a 42 percent increase from 1997, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association said last week.
The European Parliament last week approved new stringent noise standards that only newer aircraft can meet, drawing a host of protests throughout the U.S. The measure, expected for formal adoption by European Union transport ministers March 29 at the latest, includes a "nonaddition" rule that would ban the addition of hushkitted and re-engined aircraft in Europe. Aerospace Industries Association President John Douglass said the move is "a flimsy excuse to prevent U.S. engine manufacturers access to the European marketplace." Rep.
DAVID WOOLER was named Hawker program manager for Aviation Material and Technical Support (AVMATS). Wooler has 20 years of aviation maintenance experience, working for both British Aerospace and Raytheon Aircraft.
FORMER TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY Sam Skinner, noting that he could speak a little more "freely" now than he could when he led the Transportation Department earlier this decade, last week endorsed taking the Airport and Airway Trust Fund off budget.
JET AVIATION BASEL, selected as a completion center for the Boeing Business Jet, took delivery of the first BBJ to be outfitted in Europe. The aircraft, which will be fitted with an 18-passenger VIP interior, is scheduled for completion in the third quarter. Jet Aviation Basel has completed a number of Boeing aircraft with VIP interiors, including B-737, B-757 and B-767 jets.
FAA Administrator Jane Garvey, who last week faced a stream of questions and concerns over the Clinton Administration's legislative agenda for a user fee-funded air traffic control organization, said the proposal "is not an end in itself" but a vehicle to "frame" the issue and expressed confidence that the Administration will be able to work with Congress and industry to reach a mutually acceptable agreement.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL received FAA Level D certification for its second Gulfstream V full flight simulator based at its Savannah, Ga. learning center. The simulator was designed and built by FlightSafety's Simulation Systems Division in Tulsa, Okla. FlightSafety provides a range of Gulfstream pilot and maintenance training at its facilities in Savannah and Long Beach, Calif. and expects to begin Gulfstream training at its Greater Philadelphia/Wilmington center early next year.
BOMBARDIER received an order valued at nearly $45 million from Augsburg Airways of Augsburg, Germany for three Dash 8 Q300 aircraft. The order, which converts three existing options, calls for deliveries in January, February and March 2000. Augsburg Airways, a Team Lufthansa member, began flying Dash 8s in 1990 when its predecessor company, Interot Airways, operated three Dash 8 Series 100s on routes from Augsburg to Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf, Leipzig, Dresden and Cologne. Augsburg since has added a Dash 8 Series 300, four Q300s and two Q200 aircraft.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. signed an agreement to buy Danbury, Conn.-based Associated Aircraft Group "with an eye on developing a helicopter fractional ownership market," the company announced last week. The deal, subject to due diligence, is expected to be completed in the next 60 days. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Although Sikorsky indicated AAG will be used as a platform to enter the fractional ownership market, the company did not reveal its plans for selling helicopter shares.
Teams led by Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Raytheon submitted responses this month to a request for tender for Australia's Project Wedgetail, an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) system. Source selection is expected in mid-1999. A contract is expected to be awarded by the end of the year.
DORNIER Model 328-100 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-140-AD; Amendment 39-11003; AD 99-02-11) - requires repetitive tests to detect internal hydraulic fluid leaks within the hydraulic components of the ground spoiler system and to detect a buildup of pressure in the return line of the bypass valve, and corrective action, if necessary; installation of additional hydraulic lines and an additional hydraulic shutoff valve in the ground spoiler system; and replacement of the valve block of the ground spoiler system with a new part.
Honeywell's Space and Aviation Control unit will consolidate its two commercial aviation businesses into a single entity to be known as Commercial Aviation Systems (CAS), the Phoenix-based operation announced Wednesday. The move is not expected to result in any staff reductions, a spokesman told BA.
A FEDERAL GRAND JURY in Tampa, Fla. indicted Westcoast Aircraft Engineering President Scott Evaschuk for making false statements to certify that critical work was completed on certain aircraft components, the Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General announced last week. Evaschuk also was indicted for mail fraud. DOT IG said Evaschuk falsely claimed repairs were done on safety-critical components on passenger and air ambulance charter jets owned by Dolphin Aviation, when the maintenance was not completed.
ROSANNE O'BRIEN was appointed vice president-corporate communications for Northrop Grumman Corp. O'Brien, who reports to Northrop Grumman Chairman Kent Kresa, will oversee media relations, executive communications, employee communications and corporate advertising. She previously served as vice president-corporate relations for Teledyne.
Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) introduced legislation to require aircraft to maintain certain minimum altitudes when flying over the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT awarded a just-in-time supply agreement to Dallas-based TriStar Aerospace to support Cessna's aircraft manufacturing operations and repair and maintenance facilities in Wichita and Independence, Kan. TriStar will help manage inventory, including planning, procurement, warehousing, delivery and floor stocking of Cessna's hardware requirements. The initial agreement is for five years, with an option to extend the deal through Dec. 31, 2018. The agreement represents 25 percent of Cessna's total "Purchase Parts" requirements.
ROBIN BEARD, president and chief executive of Raytheon's Washington corporate operations and president of Raytheon International in Brussels, Belgium, was named chairman of Aerospace Industries Association's International Council. Beard directs Raytheon's congressional liaison efforts in Washington as well as oversees the company's commercial and government marketing efforts in Europe, Israel and the Commonwealth of Independent States.
WEST STAR AVIATION won supplemental type certification for the installation of the Puritan-Bennett Sweep-On 2000 crew oxygen masks on Learjet 31, 35 and 36 series aircraft. The system, which is standard equipment on the Learjet 45, is designed to replace earlier Puritan-Bennett masks installed on Learjets. The masks, which come with optional smoke goggles, can be operational in less than five seconds, West Star said. The crew mask system can be installed for $7,854.
A Johns Hopkins study released late last month concludes that the Global Positioning System can, with some improvements and augmentations, "satisfy the performance requirements to be the only navigation system installed in an aircraft and the only service provided by the FAA for operations anywhere in the National Airspace System" (BA, Feb. 1/53).
