briefs

This AD requires owners of many Air Tractor ag planes to repetitively inspect the vertical fin front spar fitting for cracks and to install a doubler. The AD was issued because one of these fittings has failed. Owners of Stemme S10 and S10-V sailplanes have to modify the engine compartment fuel and oil system and […]

The FAA is closing a loophole that could affect some would-be airplane manufacturers who thought they’d found a cheap way to certificate their creations. The agency has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that will eliminate portions of Sec. 21.183(d), an obscure clause that allows companies to apply for an airworthiness certificate without first having […]

Air Canada, which ended 2002 with a $295 million loss and some $8.8 billion in debt, filed for bankruptcy last Tuesday as it threw in the towel on a losing battle against a generally poor economy, the war in Iraq and a mysterious illness called severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The airline, Canada’s only major […]

Bombardier Inc., the Canadian company that makes Challenger and Lear business jets as well as commuter aircraft and railway products, will sell its Ski-Doo snowmobile business (which founded the company in 1942) and other recreational products lines to help raise $1.5 billion in capital to prop up the other divisions. The drastic action came three […]

Activists in Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, Wash., want Portland International Airport moved. Members of the Airport Issues Roundtable (AIR) say they’re literally losing sleep (from 24-hour operations) and being showered with carcinogens from passing aircraft, and they’d like residents elsewhere to absorb the punishment. The AIR is suggesting that the presumably more resilient folks of […]

While it may be hard times for aircraft manufacturers, some suppliers are enjoying an increase in business, thanks to the major manufacturers’ cost-cutting efforts. Some manufacturers are beginning to outsource their production work to suppliers. Cessna already contracts some subassembly work and may increase that. “We’re still looking at what’s the best thing for our […]

Lycoming has completed one of the largest engine recalls ever ahead of schedule. The company announced that all 797 TIO-540 engines returned under Service Bulletin 552 have been fixed and shipped back to their owners. All engines identified by that Service Bulletin were required to have new crankshafts because the original parts were improperly forged […]

Certain Hartzell propellers on some Socata aircraft must have their de-icing boots removed and replaced and the prop inspected and reworked to prevent corrosion. A Notice of Proposed Rulemaking would supercede an AD on 175,000 Lycoming direct-drive engines on action taken after a prop strike. Instead of just applying to aircraft with significant prop damage, […]

A picture is sometimes worth thousands and thousands of words. Alphabet groups and others have drained a few ink barrels in their quest to make the FAA supply graphical TFRs and it looks like the FAA has finally listened. The most recent batch of TFRs around military installations now comes with graphics on the FAA […]