The Senate bill to reauthorize and fund the FAA for the next four years was once again stalled on the tarmac last month because of procedural infighting between Republicans and Democrats.
Aviation International News » June 2008
May 29, 2008 - 10:57am
The Swiss federal court last month acquitted Crossair chairman Moritz Suter, CEO André Dosé and four other former airline employees of homicide by neglect in connection with the crash of an Avro RJ100 during approach to Zurich Airport on Nov. 24, 2001. The trial began on May 5 at Bellinzona in southern Switzerland. The “not guilty” verdict was read May 16, much earlier than expected.
May 29, 2008 - 5:10am
Dubai-based JetEx Flight Support plans to open a new FBO at Paris Le Bourget Airport in October, providing full ground handling services and a large VIP lounge, as well as in-flight catering and ground transportation. The new facility will be located in Le Bourget’s Terminal d’Aviation d’Affaires building.
May 29, 2008 - 5:08am
Eclipse Aviation received permission from the U.S. and Canada to export the Eclipse 500 and its Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F engines to Russia. “This is the next step in establishing an assembly facility in Ulyanovsk, Russia,” the company said at EBACE.
May 29, 2008 - 5:02am
EADS Socata at EBACE outlined what its product launch might be next year–a twin-engine business aircraft that is bigger than its TBM 850 turboprop single. “The future product will have two more seats than the [six-seat] TBM,” said Socata CEO Jean-Michel Léonard. Socata expects to make a launch decision early next year. “Before that, four criteria have to be met,” he said.
May 29, 2008 - 4:58am
Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft flew the new Superjet 100 for the first time on May 19 from the company’s main assembly site in Komsomolsk-on-Amur. The milestone came some six months after the company had originally hoped to stage the maiden voyage of the 95-seat regional jet, scheduled now for delivery to launch customer Aeroflot next spring.
May 28, 2008 - 11:19am
Zurich, Switzerland-based Jet Aviation signed a letter of intent with Ogden, Utah-based Kemp Development to open a Midcoast Aviation maintenance facility and Jet Aviation FBO at Ogden-Hinckley Airport. The Swiss company plans to assume the existing FBO operations of Kemp Jet Services. The new Midcoast facility would allow the company to offer coast-to-coast MRO coverage for the U.S.
May 28, 2008 - 11:04am
Sikorsky continues to inch toward flying its X2 technology demonstrator coaxial compound helicopter for the first time at its R&D and test facility in Horseheads, N.Y. At press time, the X2 had made three separate “blades-on” ground runs, with a cumulative engine run time of 30 minutes. Data analyzed during the ground run includes the performance of the X2’s belly-mounted active vibration control system.
May 28, 2008 - 10:55am
L-3 Avionics received TSO and STC approval from the FAA for its SmartDeck integrated avionics system. The STC was awarded for the Cirrus Design SR22 G2, and L-3 Avionics will offer the STC through authorized dealers for retrofit. According to L-3, SmartDeck includes a display dedicated to flight plan management and communication information, as well as multifunction and primary flight displays.
May 28, 2008 - 10:12am
There are signs that Washington has acquired a sense of urgency (long past due, some would say) about the disarray that has thus far stalled progress on ATC modernization. Last month’s appointment of former FAA ATO v-p of operations planning Vicki Cox to the new position of senior v-p for NextGen and operations planning raised some questions about the agency’s desire to be more involved in planning the future airspace system.
