RAYTHEON CHARTER AND MANAGEMENT HAS ENLARGED its charter fleet of business jets to include a Gulfstream IV-SP based near Miami; a Cessna Citation SII at Grand Junction, Colo.; a Mitsubishi Diamond Jet at Montgomery, Ala.; and a Beechjet 400A in Nashua, N.H. Company president Gary Hart said it is ``aggressively looking for and adding heavy jets with international capabilities'' for long-distance missions. Raytheon Aircraft Charter bases its fleet chiefly on the East and West coasts and near the cities of Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta.
Air travel in the U.K. and Middle East was severely disrupted in the wake of the terrorist attacks in the U.S., with industry officials here uncertain what the long-term effect will be. However, airline officials believe that once the FAA allows regular operations, they should be able to resume normal service almost immediately. Because outbound flights from the U.S. were canceled, there are aircraft in both the U.S. and U.K. standing ready to reinitiate service.
Richard A. Dandurand has been appointed chairman of the EDAC Technologies Corp., Farmington, Conn. He was CEO and succeeds John J. DiFrancesco, who has resigned. Dominick Pagano, Ronald Popolizio and Joseph Lebel have been named to the board of directors.
More than 1,000 people employed by the former McDonnell Douglas Corp. may be entitled to back wages and pension payments, as well as restoration of lost health benefits, following a ruling in their favor recently by a federal district court in Tulsa, Okla. The judge determined that the company closed a Tulsa plant that produced F-15 tail components in 1993 to avoid paying millions of dollars in benefits. The company argued that business considerations were behind the decision.
September 11, 2001. It was a day of unbelievable sorrow for all Americans, a day of high alert for the entire U.S. military and darkest day in the history of commercial aviation. Airlines had long been targets of terrorists, but now they became weapons of mass destruction.
On Sept. 11, 2001, the day terrorists turned commercial transport aircraft into weapons of destruction and America turned itself into a no-fly zone, U.S. airlines put their economic problems aside and focused their efforts on getting back in the air again. But resuming operations is a much taller order than suspending them.
Europort Vatry, which initially intended to remain an all-cargo hub, is now attempting to become Paris' third airport. Although Vatry is located 100 mi. east of Paris, its candidacy could change the course of events in the French government's long-overdue decision to forge additional runway capacity to complement Paris-Orly and Charles de Gaulle. The matter is expected to be resolved next month.
Security at U.S. airports is destined to become significantly tighter in the aftermath of last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, but experts maintain that key improvements can be implemented now to reinforce detection throughout the security architecture.
Bill Tanis has been named general manager of sales and marketing for Million Air Charter Teterboro (N.J.). He was president of the U.S. division of ALG Aero leasing.
John D. Lawrence has been named director of international trade policy and William Primosch director of international business policy for the Washington-based International Assn. of Manufacturers. Lawrence was president of the Hudson Group Inc., while Primosch was an international government affairs consultant.
Link Simulation and Training has been chosen by the U.S. Air Force to provide training and support for its C-141 Total Training System. The program will rotate C-141 pilots, navigators, flight engineers, loadmasters and maintenance personnel through the course at six different bases for initial qualification as well as upgrade and proficiency training. Aircrews will use four Weapon System Trainers at Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio; March AFB, Calif.; Memphis Air National Guard Base, Tenn., and East Coast Training Location at McGuire AFB, N.J.
Japan Air Commuter Co. has selected the Bombardier Q400 turboprop regional aircraft for its YS-11 fleet replacement program. The (U.S.) $105-million order for five aircraft includes an option for an additional plane.
Aero Twin introduced folding utility passenger seats for the Cessna 206H. STC approval was obtained for installation for commercial operators and for floor structure modification. The utility floor modifications involve removal of the foot-wells and installation of standard seat/cargo rails throughout the passenger/cargo area, providing ample tie-down provisions and flat-floor convenience. Seats can be installed in minutes. Up to four individual seats, in a variety of configurations, can be used.
The Canadian government is about to release a request for proposal for a new maritime helicopter. Two tenders are planned--one for the helicopter itself, the other for the mission suite it would contain. Although the government will make separate decisions, Ottawa has already determined the provider of the mission equipment, not the helicopter, will serve as prime contractor for the entire project. Program cost is pegged at $3 billion, to be allocated equally among the aircraft, mission suite and support systems.
The threat of suicide air attack against key elements of the U.S. space launch infrastructure and the lack of funding for security measures have been growing concerns at the NASA Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Singapore Airlines and Brierley Investments Ltd. have both increased their investments in Air New Zealand with equity injections of NZ$150 million ($63.5 million) each at NZ$0.67 per share. This raises SIA's stake to 34% from 25%, and this could soon rise to 40%. In addition to allowing SIA to take a larger stake than 25%, the New Zealand government also extended a $233-million credit facility plus a two-year revolving credit facility of $85 million for working capital.
Leo M. Geballa has become vice president-specialty products for AirNet Express, Columbus, Ohio. He was a global account manager for protective services for BAX Global.
Glen Kassan and Josh Schechter have been appointed to the board of directors of Puroflow Inc., Van Nuys, Calif. Kassan is executive vice president and Schechter an associate of Steel Partners Services Ltd.
Last week's terrorist attack on New York directly affected countless numbers of people and businesses in many different ways, and The McGraw-Hill Companies--the parent of Aviation Week&Space Technology--was among them. Its Standard&Poor's business unit, which is headquarterd practically in the shadows of the World Trade Center in lower Manhattan, was forced to suspend some of its operations. That includes the electronic data feed from S&P to Aviation Week for its weekly market performance listing and the AW Aerospace 25 and AW Airline 25 stock market indexes.
Ross Burnett has been appointed managing director of Mexican operations for BAX Global Inc., Irvine, Calif. He was general manager for Mexico for Yellow Freight Lines.
The all-in-one Dynamics 4290 accelerometer/microphone and differential amplifier has both constant current operation and DC/AC amplification, automatic calibration and a low pass filter. It lets test engineers interface sensors requiring both constant voltage and high-bias voltage excitation. With a frequency response of 100 KHz., the signal can either bypass the module or be routed through a user programmable four-pole Butterworth low-pass filter. Price per channel installed in a 32-channel system (chassis included) starts at $480. R.C.
Randall W. Chapman has been named director of the Systems Technology Center of the Syracuse (N.Y.) Research Corp. He was both deputy commander of the 607th Air Support Operations Group and commander of the U.S. Air Force's South Korea Air Liaison Office at Osan AB.
Sabena Belgian World Airlines' flight crews take strong issue with management's new recovery plan, scheduled to be implemented soon. It involves massive job cuts, including an estimated 600 flight attendants, in a desperate attempt to save the virtually bankrupt carrier. Leaders of the Belgian Cockpit Assn., the pilots' union, claimed that Sabena Chief Executive Christoph Mueller's ``management by conflict'' is further weakening hopes to restore profitability.
NASA's Deep Space 1 probe, running on fumes after a three-year mission to test 12 advanced technologies with an asteroid flyby, will try for a last hurrah Sept. 22 with a very close approach to the comet Borelly. The 820-lb. spacecraft is targeted to plunge into the comet's coma and attempt to pass within about 1,200 mi. of the nucleus to image the comet's hard core with its camera. However, the same camera that must take the image is also used as a backstop for the probe's star tracker, which failed in 1999.
NASA Johnson Space Center has awarded Evergreen Air Center a multiyear contract to provide maintenance support of two Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft. They are used to ferry space shuttles to Cape Kennedy from overhaul facilities or off-Cape landing sites.
