FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL won FAA Level D certification for its new Raytheon Beechjet 400A flight simulator. The simulator, the second Beechjet simulator at FlightSafety's learning center in Wichita, Kan., is equipped with the Collins AMS 5000 flight management system. FlightSafety has received 17 FAA simulator certifications so far in 1998, including 16 built by FlightSafety Simulation in Tulsa, Okla.
RAYTHEON AIRCRAFT received an order for a Beech 1900D from Danish Air Transport, a regional airline based in Vamdrup, Jutland in Denmark. The order, placed through Beechcraft Scandinavia A/S, also included options for two more 1900Ds. The aircraft will join Danish Air Transport's fleet of two Beech King Air 90s, one King Air 200 and a 1900C. Raytheon will deliver the aircraft in November. The aircraft will be operated throughout Scandinavia and Northern Europe.
HOUSE TRANSPORTATION COMMITTEE Chairman Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), who in a major political coup engineered a measure to ensure that highway trust fund revenues are used for highway projects, is beginning the groundwork to do the same for the Airport and Airway Trust Fund (BA, June 22/271). He attended a meeting this month of the Alliance for Truth In Transportation Budgeting, a coalition of 50 or 60 transportation associations that lobbied for the highway trust fund measure, in an effort to generate support for similar action on the aviation fund.
CESSNA AIRCRAFT, which plans to deliver 200 new business jets this year, expects to boost production by 10-12 percent next year and deliver 220 to 225 new Citations in 1999.
PHILIP PANZER joined Hawker Pacific Aerospace as vice president of corporate development. He will oversee corporate strategic planning and merger and acquisition efforts. He previously served as president of Botanical Science, Inc. and Camera Platforms International.
FOKKER Model F.28 Mark 1000, 2000, 3000 and 4000 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-287-AD; Amdt. 39-10710; AD 98-17-08) - requires repetitive inspections for any discrepancy in the seal-wire of the fireguards of the engine fire shutoff system and repair, if necessary. This amendment is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
MICHAEL GRABBE was appointed director of maintenance training at FlightSafety International's learning center in Bethany, Okla. Grabbe, who previously taught airframe and powerplant subjects at a technical college, has turbine aircraft engineering and maintenance experience with Lycoming, Gulfstream and Commander.
In a pre-emptive move, the Federal Aviation Administration this month removed restrictions on foreign flight training schools, allowing certified schools to not only train U.S. pilots but issue pilot and medical certificates.
ANOTHER MEMBER of what insiders refer to as "Mineta's mafia" has joined the senior ranks at FAA. FAA Administrator Jane Garvey named Suzanne Sullivan assistant administrator for government and industry affairs. She succeeds A. Bradley Mims, who was selected earlier to become deputy assistant secretary for aviation and international affairs at the Transportation Department. Sullivan, who will be FAA's chief congressional liaison, began her government career in 1986 in the office of Rep.
PIERRE BAYLE was appointed director of media relations for Aerospatiale. Bayle, most recently press adviser to the French defense minister, began his career as a journalist in 1972, working for the Information Bureau of the European Community and Agence France Presse before becoming technical adviser to the French defense minister in 1991.
INDUSTRY LEADERS will provide a briefing for pilots on planned ETOPS restrictions by the European Joint Aviation Authorities that could limit transatlantic flights by twin-engine business jets (BA, Oct. 5/149). NBAA President Jack Olcott, GAMA President Ed Bolen and Brian Humphries, chairman of the European Business Aviation Association, will discuss the latest European initiative. The briefing is scheduled for 9:15 a.m. in Rooms 221N-222N at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT plans to build a $5.5 million terminal and hangar facility at Miami International Airport. The company's announcement last week followed the renewal of its lease at the airport. Construction is expected to be completed in late 1999. Signature currently is operating out of temporary facilities near the new building site.
BOMBARDIER Model DHC-7 and DHC-8 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-237-AD) - proposes to require a one-time visual inspection to determine the serial number of the brake shuttle valves of the main landing gear and replacement of the filter fittings with new filter fittings, if necessary. 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 ensure that proper filter fittings are installed.
RICHARD DEUVE was named assistant manager of the FlightSafety International Paris learning center at Le Bourget Airport. Deuve has served with FlightSafety for five years, teaching ground school, simulator and flight instruction. He also has flight department and corporate flight experience with ratings in Citation and Falcon 50 and 900 aircraft.
ELLIOTT AVIATION, which recently received a supplemental type certificate to install a Collins TCAS-94 traffic alert and collision avoidance system (TCAS II) in a Beechjet 400 (BA, Sept. 28/144), also has won approval to install AlliedSignal's Mark VII enhanced ground proximity warning system in the business jet. Elliott's STC includes special provision for the EGPWS's optional windshear detection function as well as enhanced terrain audio and video display capabilities. Elliott used a 1985 Beechjet 400 based at Love Field in Dallas as the certification aircraft.
BRITISH AEROSPACE and Germany's Daimler-Benz Aerospace confirmed last week they are having ongoing talks about the possibility of a merger, but officials said it was too early to tell where those discussions may lead. In separate statements responding to press speculation about a BAe-DASA merger, the companies said talks of this nature have been under way for several years as part of the effort to restructure the European aerospace business.
MAULE M-4, M-5, M-6, M-7, MX-7 and MXT-7 series airplanes and Models MT-7-235 and M-8-235 airplanes (Docket No. 98-CE-01-AD; Amdt. 39-10669; AD 98-15-18) - corrects an AD that incorrectly references the applicable service bulletin. The AD requires repetitively inspecting certain wing lift struts for internal corrosion and replacing any wing lift strut where corrosion is found. This action corrects the applicable references.
RAYTHEON Model BAe.125, DH.125, BH.125 and HS.125 series airplanes (Docket No. 97-NM-305-AD) - proposes to revise an existing AD, which requires inspection of the elevator mass balance side plate for assembly and spigot for corrosion and repair if necessary; application of corrosion protection treatment and installation of corrosion-resistant Monel rivets in the elevator balance weight structure. That AD was prompted by reports of corrosion on the elevator mass balance side plate assembly and the balance weight spigot.
EUROCOPTER Model SA.315B, SA.316B, SA.316C, SA.319B and SE.3160 helicopters (Docket No. 98-SW-23-AD; Amdt. 39-10725; AD 98-10-09) - publishes an AD previously sent to all known U.S. owners and operators of the affected helicopters by individual letter. The AD requires initial and recurring inspections of the blade spar for cracks. This amendment is prompted by an accident in which a Model SA.315B helicopter lost a main rotor blade. The cause of the blade failure was fatigue cracking.
Cessna Aircraft, moving aggressively to expand its business jet market share, will announce four new or improved Citation business jet models at this week's NBAA convention, including an all new mid-size model and the long-awaited stretch of the popular entry-level CitationJet.
DENNIS BIETY joined Hawker Pacific Aerospace as managing director of the company's facilities in the United Kingdom and The Netherlands. Biety, who has more than 20 years of aerospace experience, most recently served as president of Messier Services America. He also has served as managing director of the Dowty Aerospace landing gear and hydro-mechanical overhaul facility in Gloucester, U.K.
BOEING COMPANY and Israel Aircraft Industries formed a strategic relationship to jointly pursue business opportunities, the companies said last week. Moshe Keret, president of IAI, and Harry Stonecipher, president and chief operating officer of Boeing, will sign the agreement Thursday. It will lead to creation of a 14-member steering committee co-chaired by the two senior executives, with an equal number of representatives from each company. The two firms said they are working on an agreement to compete for military fighter and transport aircraft upgrade programs.
Century Aerospace Corp., which had been developing a single-engine, entry-level business jet, has reconfigured the aircraft to a twin-engine design to take advantage of new Williams International turbofans.
A/C FLYER is launching a new electronic product, aircraftbuyer.com, at this week's NBAA convention in Las Vegas. The automated, electronic service, reachable at www.aircraftbuyer.com or by calling 1 (877) ACBUYER, is designed to provide a quick connection between buyers and sellers of aircraft.
