PARKER AEROSPACE plans to open an office in the United Kingdom and is evaluating sites including Filton or Bristol. The facility, expected to be operational this coming winter, will be staffed with regional managers and, potentially, field engineering and fuel management teams. Parker Aerospace designs and manufactures hydraulic, fuel and pneumatic components, systems and related electronic controls for the aerospace and other high-technology markets.
NATIONAL BUSINESS AVIATION ASSOCIATION, unable to convince all providers of Aircraft Situational Display Information (ASDI) to follow a voluntary code of conduct that protects the information for certain operators, has turned to Capitol Hill for help (BA, Aug. 24/81). The association is asking legislators to include language in FAA reauthorization legislation to require flight tracking software providers to block aircraft registration numbers at the aircraft owner's/operator's request or face loss of the flight information from FAA.
AIRBUS INDUSTRIE said that after discussions with Aviation Industries of China (AVIC), Alenia of Italy and Singapore Technologies about cooperation on a new 100-seat aircraft, "the four partners have made an in-depth viability assessment of such a new aircraft and have jointly concluded that no solid common basis was found for further developing this new aircraft."
ECHO FLIGHT selected DTN Kavouras Weather Services as the provide of weather information for its Strato-CHEETAH Flight Manager II - a GPS navigational moving map and two-way satellite. The StratoCHEETAH Flight Manager, which Echo Flight introduced at this summer's EAA Oshkosh Fly-In, will provide information on radar returns, echo intensities, airport ceilings, visibility, temperature/dew point spreads and winds throughout the U.S.
The Teal Group, which last year predicted a robust market for 3,789 new business jets from 1997-2006 (BA, Nov. 24/219), last week predicted an even stronger market, estimating that 4,100 business aircraft worth $53 billion will be produced in the next 10 years.
BFGOODRICH AEROSPACE received an order from the U.S. Army Special Forces for its GH-3000 electronic standby instrument system with night vision capability to replace current gyro standby instrumentation on MH-47E and MH-60K helicopters. The GH-3000 has received FAA TSO approval and is STC-approved for installation on the Raytheon Hawker 800XP, Dassault Falcon 50 and Gulfstream IV and V. It also has been selected as standard equipment for the Ayres Loadmaster and Bell Boeing 609 Tiltrotor.
A 12-YEAR EFFORT? FAA, which began to rewrite Part 145 regulations governing repair stations some eight years ago, set Sept. 30, 2002 as its goal for completing the rulemaking. The agency also hopes to complete its regulations for mechanic certification under a new Part 66 by Sept. 30, 2000. It published the proposal for that rulemaking, which began 10 years ago, in July (BA, July 13/15). The goals are included in the agency's recently released fiscal 1999 Regulation and Certification Performance Plan.
SAAB Model 340B series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-49-AD; Amdt. 39-10449; AD 98-15-23) - requires adjustment of the cargo baggage net, replacement of baggage net placards and installation of new baggage net placards. This amendment is prompted by the issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority. The actions specified in this AD are intended to prevent failure of the cargo bulkhead floor attachments, which could damage the airplane structure and possibly injure passengers and crewmembers.
LEARJET delivered its first Model 45 business jet to a European customer, one of 22 Model 45s sold to European operators. Eifel Holdings, Ltd., an international investment firm based in Jersey in the Channel Islands, will use the aircraft to serve existing markets and investigate new opportunities across Europe.
FAIRCHILD SA226 and SA227 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-CE-65-AD) - proposes to require repetitively inspecting the wing spar center web cutout on both wings for cracks between Wing Station 8 and 17.5 and immediately repairing any cracked area. This repair would eliminate the need for repetitive inspections on that particular wing spar. The proposal is prompted by reports of cracks in the wing spar center web cutout caused by fatigue due to airplane maneuvering and wind gusts.
EMBRY-RIDDLE AERONAUTICAL UNIVERSITY received a grant valued at $550,000 from Guidant Corp. to create a new research program to develop software for medical devices. The donation will help fund a new medical devices software laboratory as well as two Guidant student fellowships at the university's Daytona Beach, Fla. campus. The program will provide software research for Guidant's products that treat cardiovascular and vascular disease.
CONAIR AVIATION LTD., Abbotsford, British Columbia, refurbished and provided heavy maintenance on three de Havilland Dash 8 Series 100 aircraft that Bombardier Aerospace's Aircraft Trading Unit delivered to Southern Winds of Argentina. The Dash 8s join a fleet of five Canadair Regional Jets. Southern Winds plans to take delivery of three additional Dash 8s.
EDWARD W. STIMPSON, vice chairman and former president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, was selected as the 1998 recipient of the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy, the National Aeronautic Association announced.
JIM LANE was named director of operations for Million Air Dallas at Addison Airport. Lane formerly served as director of flight operations and chief pilot for the Dallas Mavericks basket- ball team. He held similar positions with the French Oil Company, Dal Briar Corp., James Wikert and Associates and Jet East.
TIM KEISER was appointed safety supervisor of Downtown Airpark. Keiser, a long-time United Airlines employee, holds an A&P license and was a flight engineer in the U.S. Air Force.
DE HAVILLAND Model DHC-8-102, -103, -106, -201, -202, -301, -311 and -315 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-172-AD) - proposes to require a one-time inspection to detect chafing of electrical wires in the cable trough below the cabin floor; repair, if necessary; installation of additional tie mounts and tie-wraps; and application of sealant to rivet heads. This proposal is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
BOMBARDIER AEROSPACE expanded the roles of two executives in its Business Aircraft division. Matt Harnett was appointed vice president, used aircraft with responsibility for all used jet aircraft sales. Harnett, who joined Bombardier in 1983, has 27 years of experience. Jess Munro was named vice president, contracts, responsible for narrow-body jet contracts. Munro has served with Bombardier for 34 years. In addition, Bombardier broadened its Washington, D.C. activities, naming Bob Lyle director, business aircraft programs. Lyle will work with U.S.
SIGNATURE FLIGHT SUPPORT received a long-term lease renewal from the Maryland Board of Public Works, clearing the fixed-base operator to begin a $12.4 million construction project involving new terminal and hangar facilities at Baltimore/Washington International Airport. The project includes a new terminal building, two 20,000-square-foot hangars and a fuel farm for the mid-field cargo complex.
THE U.S. COURT OF APPEALS upheld FAA's Dec. 31, 1996 rulemaking establishing a broad range of restrictions on commercial air tour overflights of the Grand Canyon National Park. The unanimous decision by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit was an expensive loss for air tour operators who spent nearly $500,000 to battle the regulations (BA, Jan. 6/5). The case was argued in early November (BA, Nov. 10/199) and the long delay in issuing a decision gave air tour interests hope the court would rule in their favor.
PAIGE HALL was named regional maintenance marketing manager for FlightSafety International. Hall will be based at FSI's national sales headquarters at the Spirit of St. Louis Airport and cover a 10-state territory. She spent the past four years with Marketing Alternatives.
THE APPEALS COURT upheld the FAA rule, "not because we necessarily believe the rule is 'just right,' but because we defer to the agency's reasonable exercise of its judgment and technical expertise, and because many of the petitioners' attacks are not yet ripe in light of the phased nature of the FAA's proposed solution to the problem of aircraft noise." Those "unripe challenges," the court said, are those that "specifically arise out of the interrelationship between the final rule's flight free zones, and the still-uncertain flight corridors and routes.
AlliedSignal, which has been engaged in component testing of a new engine family for months, officially launched full-scale development of its AS900 program last week at the Farnborough Air Show. The Phoenix-based engine manufacturer did not identify a specific customer or program for the new 4,000- to 9,000-pound-thrust turbofan, but last week's confirmation that the AS900 is a "go" program could presage an application announcement next month at the NBAA convention in Las Vegas where airframers are expected to announced a number of new aircraft development programs.
AIR METHODS CORP., Denver, Colo., added an eighth twin-engine helicopter, a BK117-B2, to subsidiary Mercy Air Service's operations in southern California. The new aircraft will be based in the San Diego area in El Cajon, Calif. Air Methods said that with the new helicopter, Mercy Air is now "the only air medical service provider in southern California certified to respond to an emergency request under instrument meteorological conditions," as the BK117-B2 is equipped for single-pilot operations in instrument meteorological conditions.
ARAPAHOE, COLO. COUNTY PUBLIC AIRPORT AUTHORITY last week decided to request a hearing on FAA's decision under a Part 16 complaint to withhold Airport Improvement Program grants from Centennial Airport unless a ban on scheduled service is reversed (BA, Aug. 31/94). FAA gave the airport authority until Thursday to either request a hearing, appeal the decision or submit a plan that would permit scheduled service. The airport authority, however, is under significant pressure by some local residents to maintain its position.
