AVFUEL reached an agreement to add Spokane Airways to its chain of Avnet aviation fuel dealers. Spokane Airways, a fixed-base operation located at Spokane, Wash. International Airport, provides fueling, maintenance flight training, charter and cargo services.
CESSNA promoted Ellis Brady and Paul Kalberer to vice president, product engineering. Brady, formerly director of technical engineering and flight operations, will continue to oversee new and derivative aircraft produced at Cessna's Wichita Mid-Continent Airport facility. He has served with the company for 32 years. Kalberer, who has been with Cessna for 34 years, most recently was director of engineering products, including the Citation X, Ultra Bravo, CitationJet and Caravan. He will lead design of all present and future models.
PILATUS BRITTEN-NORMAN LTD. BN-2, BN-2A, BN-2B and BN-2T series airplanes (Docket No. 97-CE-112-AD) - The AD requires replacing the attachment bolts, nuts and washers of the lower fitting of the main landing gear and adjusting the torque values of the nuts. The AD is the result of mandatory continuing airworthiness information issued by the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority.
SIMUFLITE TRAINING INTERNATIONAL won FAA Part 142 certification for all 20 of its training programs. The training center first received Part 142 certification in April 1997 and since has added each training program to its certificate. SimuFlite, based at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, provides training on Challenger, Citation, Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker, King Air, Learjet and Westwind aircraft.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Model ATP airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-113-AD; Amdt. 39-10640; AD 98-14-06) - requires repetitive inspections for discrepancies of the spring strut assembly of the main landing gear forward door and replacement of the assembly, if necessary. The also requires eventual replacement as a terminating action for the repetitive inspections. This amendment is prompted by mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority.
NATIONAL AIR TRANSPORTATION ASSOCIATION this week will hold its first committee meeting to discuss the issues surrounding fractional ownership operations under Part 91 (BA, Aug. 10/61). The committee specifically will consider the FAA definition of operational control and interchange. The Aug. 25 meeting will include representatives of Wayfarer Aviation, The Air Charter Guide, Raytheon Travel Air, Shoreline Aviation, Premier Jets, Marc Fruchter and Executive Jet.
AlliedSignal broadened its aerospace services with the acquisition of aerospace consultant The Canaan Group Ltd., the company announced last week. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. "Consulting services is a fast-growing, attractive component of the aerospace services market," said Joe Leonard, president of AlliedSignal marketing, sales and services.
In a move that will strengthen its position in the fastener distribution business, Pentacon Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire ASI Aerospace Group Inc. The transaction is expected to close in September. ASI, which has annual sales of about $73 million, supplies fasteners and other related components to the aerospace industry with facilities in San Diego, Torrance and Pasadena, Calif. and Arlington, Texas. Pentacon, based in Houston, distributes fasteners and other small parts and provides inventory management services.
RONALD WILKINSON was appointed vice president of engineering and quality for Electrosystems, Inc. Wilkinson has 30 years of experience in piston and turbine engine design, development and research with Teledyne Continental Motors and Pratt&Whitney.
ROBERT BLAIR was appointed flight test operations pilot for Advanced Aerodynamics&Structures, Inc. Blair is a graduate of the U.S. Navy Test Pilot School and served as an F-14 fighter pilot. He will act as operations pilot on both the Jetcruzer 500 turboprop and the Stratocruzer 1250 twin jet.
RAYTHEON TRAVEL AIR, the fractional ownership program Raytheon Aircraft launched last summer (BA, June 9/253), is sharing in the growth of the fractional market with more than 100 customers and 40 airplanes in the program to date. Raytheon Chairman and Chief Executive Art Wegner said the program will add about 25 aircraft this year.
Federal Aviation Administration needs a "more realistic schedule" for implementation of the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) and "should formally acknowledge that its current schedule for the operation of the final phase of WAAS, December 2001, will not be met," Transportation Inspector General Kenneth Mead told the agency this month. FAA also should delay commitments for additional communications satellites until it gains operating experience with the initial phase of WAAS, Mead said in a memo to FAA Administrator Jane Garvey.
PILATUS AIRCRAFT LTD. Model PC-7 airplanes (Docket No. 98-CE-30-AD) - adopts a new AD that requires replacing the seal unit on both main landing gear (MLG) legs and the nose landing gear (NLG) leg. This AD is the result of mandatory continuing airworthiness information issued by the Swiss airworthiness authority. The actions specified by the AD are intended to prevent MLG or NLG failure caused by deterioration of a MLG or NLG leg seal unit, which could result in damage to the airplane or airplane control problems during takeoff, landing or taxi.
Nav Canada, the corporation charged with running the Canadian air traffic control system, last week detailed a revised proposal for small aircraft user fees, including delayed implementation, but the proposal continued to draw concerns from operators. Implementation of the small aircraft fees (eight tonnes or less) under Phase II, originally set for Nov. 1, 1998, is now planned for March 1, 1999. Nav Canada said the decision to delay the fees stems from an over-collection of revenue in the fiscal year ending Aug. 31, 1998.
DON STEINHAGEN joined Elliott Aviation as flight department manager of the company's Moline, Ill. location. Steinhagen will oversee the facility's aircraft charter sales, administration and operations. He has 29 years of aviation experience, serving as a fixed-base operation manager, a chief pilot/aviation manager and a Part 135 charter pilot.
ALLIEDSIGNAL KT 76A air traffic control transponders (Docket No. 97-CE-30-AD; Amdt. 39-10637; AD 98-14-03) - requires replacement of two resistor network modules with glass-coated modules on affected transponders. This AD stems from reports of the transponders transmitting misleading encoding altimeter information to ground-based ATC radar sites and nearby aircraft equipped with Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance Systems.
BOEING won type certification for its next-generation 737-600, the company said last week. Deliveries of the aircraft are scheduled to begin in September.
Less than a month after announcing plans to buy completions specialist K-C Aviation from Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Gulfstream Aerospace Wednesday completed the purchase for $250 million in cash (BA, July 27/38). The acquisition includes the addition of 1,200 employees and facilities in Dallas, Texas, Appleton, Wis. and Westfield, Mass. K-C Aviation will operate under the Gulfstream Aerospace name and John Rahilly, formerly K-C president, will be vice president and general manager for the Dallas and Appleton facilities.
BRITISH AEROSPACE Model 4101 airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-152-AD) - proposes to supersede an AD that requires inspections of the label of certain hose assemblies and replacement of all hose assemblies from any discrepant batch. The AD was prompted by a report that a hose assembly in the engine nacelle fire extinguisher system failed due to cracks in the saged ferrule that attaches the hose to the end fitting. The cracks were caused during manufacture. The actions specified by that AD are intended to ensure that such discrepant hose assemblies are replaced.
DORNIER Model 328-100 series airplanes (Docket No. 98-NM-133-AD; Amdt. 39-10662; AD 98-15-11) - requires replacement of the roll spoiler control rods with improved parts. This amendment is prompted by issuance of mandatory continuing airworthiness information by a foreign civil airworthiness authority. The actions specified by this AD are intended to prevent bending stress to the fork end of the roll spoiler, which could result in roll spoiler failure and reduced airplane controllability.
FLIGHTSAFETY INTERNATIONAL received FAA Level D certification for its new Cessna Citation Bravo flight simulator and Dassault Falcon 2000 flight simulator. The Bravo simulator, the first of its type to receive Level D approval, is based at the FlightSafety Citation learning center in Wichita, Kan. The Falcon simulator, based at Le Bourget Airport in Paris, is the second 2000 simulator to receive certification. The first is based at the Falcon learning center in Teterboro, N.J.
FORTIS AVIATION GROUP'S jet remarketing division sold a corporate- configured BAC 1-11 400 to The Jet Place of Tulsa, Okla. The aircraft, first delivered to a corporate operator in 1965, has flown 10,000 hours. It previously was operated by The Air Group on behalf of Yucaipa Management Company. Yucaipa recently acquired a VIP executive Boeing 757-200ER through Fortis Aviation.
Raytheon Aircraft last week rolled out its first business jet designed in-house, the six-passenger entry-level Premier I, which company officials say incorporates some of the most advanced technology available in aircraft manufacturing. The Premier I, expected to make its first flight next month, marks the first new aircraft Raytheon has developed since it launched the Starship turboprop in the early 1980s. "Future business jet programs will be judged by the standards set with Premier I," said Raytheon Aircraft Chairman and Chief Executive Art Wegner.
ELLIOTT AVIATION received supplemental type certificate approval to install AlliedSignal's Mark VII enhanced ground proximity warning system in a number of Beech King Airs. The STC covers King Air 200 and 300 series as well as Beech 1900Cs and 1900Ds. Elliott further expects FAA approval to install EGPWS in the Beechjet 400 and 400A.
