NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION scheduled its next series of Flight Training Business Success Seminars (formerly called Flight School Manager Training Seminars). The seminars will be held Jan. 28 in Minneapolis, Minn.; Feb. 24 in Oshkosh, Wis.; and, April 19 in Phoenix, Ariz. For more information, contact Cindy Aloise at (703) 845-9000.
A CHIEF INDUSTRY CONCERN about FAA's proposal to require terrain awareness and warning systems (TAWS) on most of the nation's turbine aircraft is the disproportionate expense to equip smaller aircraft.
RICHARD SWINGEN joined S-TEC Corporation, Mineral Wells, Texas, as executive vice president and chief operating officer. Swingen formerly held executive positions with Clarostat Sensors and Controls and Philips Broadband and Philips Components.
FOKKER Model F.28 Mark 0070 and Mark 0100 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-202-AD) - proposes to supersede an existing AD that requires a one-time inspection for heat damage of the fuselage skin and stubwing structure; either repetitive tests of certain seals or repair of heat damage, as necessary; and eventual replacement of corrujoint seals with new, improved seals. This action would add a requirement for repetitive inspections for heat damage of the subject area and would provide for a new optional terminating action for the repetitive inspections.
THE THIRD MODEL in Cessna's renewed single-engine line, the Stationair 206, entered service with last week's delivery of 10 of the aircraft to the Uruguayan Air Force (BA, Nov. 23/233). The Uraguayan Air Force sent a delegation of 40 representatives to the U.S. to accept the aircraft, which will replace 206s that have been in their fleet since the 1960s. The new 206s will be used for training, medevac and surveillance missions.
LITTON INDUSTRIES will acquire Denro, Inc., for about $60 million. Denro, a subsidiary of Firan Corp. based in Gaithersburg, Md., makes voice and data electronic switching equipment, and data recorders used in air traffic control. It will become part of the Amecom Division of Litton Systems, Inc.
SAAB renamed its Saab Aircraft Finance Group Saab Aircraft Leasing to better reflect its business activities. "As Saab AB nears the completion of its production of commercial aircraft, it is clear that Saab Aircraft Leasing's future business will no longer involve financing of new aircraft, but will be devoted primarily to managing our existing portfolio of Saab 340 and Saab 2000 aircraft," the company said. Saab Aircraft Leasing will consolidate Saab's aircraft financing activities and maintain a portfolio of more than 310 Saab aircraft.
STANLEY EBNER, senior vice president for Washington, D.C. operations for The Boeing Company, will retire at the end of the year, the company announced last week. Ebner, 65, has served in that position since the merger of Boeing and McDonnell Douglas in August 1997. Before the merger he held a similar position with McDonnell Douglas since 1994 when he joined the company. Following his retirement, Ebner will continue as a full-time consultant to assist the company in government affairs. Christopher W.
ELLIOTT AVIATION completed the second phase of expansion at its Moline, Ill. headquarters and expects to complete the $3 million project in March. The expansion, which will nearly double the space at Moline to 91,000 square feet, includes a new aircraft interior refurbishment center, manufacturing facility for the company's noise reduction system and a 22,000-square-foot hangar. The project also includes a redesign of technical, administrative and passenger arrival/departure areas.
WHOEVER BUYS THE COMBS GATES chain will be buying a growing concern, officials say, commenting that business aviation activity is "very, very good." One indicator is the growing demand for hangar space at the fixed-base chain's locations. AMR Combs has built, or is planning, new hangars at its FBOs in San Francisco, Denver, Indianapolis, Dallas and Ft. Lauderdale and is considering one at another location in the Northeast, projects driven by customer demand and the growing size of the U.S. turbine fleet.
NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD postponed its scheduled discussion last week of the fatal April 15, 1997 crash of a Colgate-Palmolive BK-117 helicopter (BA, Nov. 30/245), but FAA has amended an airworthiness directive that resulted from that accident. See article below.
PERRY FULKERSON was named vice president for institutional advancement for Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Fulkerson previously was chief constituency officer and associate campaign director for Clemson University's $200 million capital campaign and senior development director for the College of Engineering and Science.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Model 4101 airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-131-AD; Amdt. 39-10888; AD 98-24-01) - requires repetitive detailed visual inspections to detect cracking or other damage of certain diaphragm support structures of the forward equipment compartment and repair, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by the issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
FAA will not add the new air traffic controllers it anticipated when it sent its $5.631 billion fiscal 1999 budget request to Congress in February, according to an FAA spokesman. FAA was funded at $5.563 billion, close to the requested level. The spokesman said none of the projected controllers would be added in fiscal 1999 because the agency reached the 15,000-controller staffing level in fiscal 1998. "We reached agreement with the labor union" that 15,000 controllers were needed, he added.
PREMIER TURBINES, based at St. Louis, Mo. Downtown-Parks Airport, has increased its capabilities to provide manufacturer-authorized TFE731 engine maintenance, including major periodic inspections. Premier Turbines is the sister company of Midcoast Aviation under parent Sabreliner Corp.
ROBERT P. STEINBACH was promoted to executive vice president of Raisbeck Engineering, and vice president of manufacturing and production control for subsidiary company Raisbeck Commercial Air Group. Steinbach has been with Raisbeck since 1977, serving in various sales, service and technical capacities.
MERCURY AIR CENTER (MAC) acquired the assets of Jackson Air Center of Jackson, Miss., a fixed-base operation that provides fueling, airline into-plane services, avionics and maintenance. MAC, part of Mercury Air Group of Los Angeles, bought the FBO from William E. (Will) Walker III who will retain his aircraft charter operation, Jackson Air Charter. The new acquisition, which includes a new terminal building and pilots' lounge on a seven-acre site that includes 48,000 square feet of hangar space and 200,000 square feet of ramp, is Mercury's 15th FBO.
AIRCRAFT OWNERS AND PILOTS ASSOCIATION, now a year into its Airport Support Network program to slow the loss of general aviation airports (BA, Dec. 15, 1997/259), is launching the biggest one-time public relations push in association history over the holiday season with the purchase of daily advertising segments on The Weather Channel.AOPA, which is investing close to $100,000 on the campaign, purchased five segments daily Dec. 24 through Jan. 2 promoting the benefits of local airports.
Officials at Bombardier Aerospace's Learjet unit in Wichita have delivered only six Model 45 business jets to customers since the aircraft cleared final certification hurdles this spring, but they say the slow pace of shipments is due to the volume of rework to be done rather than emergence of any new problems.
Textron, Inc. said an earlier succession schedule for the company's top management has been revised to elevate Lewis B. Campbell to the top posts early next year. The Providence, R.I.-based conglomerate, which is the parent company of Cessna Aircraft and Bell Helicopter, said early this year that Campbell would become chief executive officer on July 1, but that Chairman James Hardymon would remain chairman until his retirement at the end of 1999 (BA, March 16/118).
UNIVERSAL AVIONICS relocated its Midwest operations in Wichita, Kan. to a new 8,500-square-foot facility. The facility, which houses the Midwest marketing and product support staff, an FAA certified repair station and a training center, is located between Cessna and Learjet at the southwest corner of Mid-Continent Airport. The address is 3815 Midco St., Wichita, Kan. 67215; phone, (316) 524-9500 or (800) 255-0282; fax: (316) 524-9700.
Executive Jet, one of the fastest growing companies in aviation, has almost doubled its Executive Jet Management business this year, adding an average of 2.5 aircraft per month to its managed fleet. The company last week added a Gulfstream III, a Hawker 700 and a Hawker 400/731 to its Part 135 charter certificate, bringing the number of aircraft in its fleet to 40. The company has won 18 new aircraft management contracts since the beginning of the year and hopes to add 25 more aircraft in 1999.
Hamilton Standard reached a tentative agreement to sell its UTMC Microelectronic Systems, Inc. (UTMC) integrated circuit business unit, located in Colorado Springs, Colo., to Aeroflex Inc. of Plainview, N.Y. for $46 million in cash. The transaction is subject to negotiation of a final, binding agreement and government approvals, and is expected to close early in 1999.
Fairchild Corp. last week bid to acquire the remaining 15 percent of outstanding common and preferred stock in Banner Aerospace that Fairchild would not receive in a merger of Banner with a new Fairchild subsidiary. Under the proposed merger, shareholders would receive about $9.75 per share of Banner stock, paid in Fairchild Class A Common stock. The deal would leave Banner as a wholly owned subsidiary of Fairchild.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model SE.3160, SA.316B, SA.316C and SA.319B helicopters (Docket No. 98-SW-17-AD; Amdt. 39-10909; AD 98-24-23) - requires inspecting certain horizontal stabilizer spar tubes and replacing them if cracks are found or repairing them if crazing, corrosion, fretting marks or scratches are found and are repairable. This amendment is prompted by service reports of spar tube corrosion and fatigue cracks discovered during normal maintenance inspections, which could cause loss of the horizontal stabilizer and subsequent loss of control of the helicopter.
