FAA investigates ICAO’s pilot age rules
Study An advisory board has been established by US Federal Aviation Administration administrator Marion Blakey to investigate the viability of increasing the US age limit for commercial pilots. The age 60 aviation rulemaking committee, which comprises people from the airline and medical industries as well as union representatives, has 60 days to issue a recommendation on ICAO’s new age restrictions, which increases the pilot age limit to 65 if the second crew member is under 60. Under current US law, both pilots must be under 60.
Ministers to discuss sky marshals
Security Placing undercover armed guards on board flights throughout Europe will be on the agenda at the 12 October meeting of European transport ministers. The European Parliament in June supported a European Commission proposal to strengthen in-flight security, although it said it would only accept sky marshals under strict conditions. These included authorisation by the state granting the airline operating certificate and by the states of departure and arrival. States which are flown over or in which stops en route are made would also have to approve.
CANSO set to get observer status at ICAO
ATM The Civil Air Navigation Services Organisation (CANSO), representing air navigation service providers (ANSP) worldwide, expects to be granted observer status at the International Civil Aviation Organisation later this year. CANSO, which has more than 40 member ANSPs handling 80% of world traffic, says the move will recognise ICAO’s long-standing policy that service provision should be separate and independent from regulation. Meanwhile, CANSO and the International Air Transport Association have begun trials of a work group that brings ANSPs together with their customer airlines to discuss service issues. The model provides IATA a mechanism to flag up concerns with ANSPs.
Sikorsky shifts Schweizer work to China
Outsourcing Sikorsky is to move production of subsidiary Schweizer’s S300 light single-piston helicopter to China, says a senior company official. Earlier this year, the US manufacturer signed a memorandum of understanding on the development and manufacture of civil helicopters with China’s AVIC II. Production of the S300 will be shifted to China in phases, says the official. A joint venture, Shanghai Sikorsky Aircraft, was established in 2003 to manufacture the S300 and S333 under licence in China. Production of the single-turbine S333 will continue at Schweizer in Emira, New York because the helicopter is the basis of Northrop Grumman’s RQ-8 Fire Scout military unmanned air vehicle. Since its acquisition in 2004, Schweizer has also become the rapid prototype centre for Sikorsky.
Former Boeing chief ‘Tex’ Boullioun dies
Obituary Former Boeing Commercial Airplanes president Ernest “Tex” Boullioun, who also founded aircraft lessor Boullioun Aviation Services, has died at the age of 87. Boullioun was with Boeing for 44 years after joining the manufacturer in 1940, initially on the military side before switching to commercial projects. During his time at the company he established himself as a colourful salesman, gaining a reputation as an opportunist and risk-taker. Having helped nurse Boeing through its crisis in the late 1960s, as the manufacturer struggled to develop and produce the 747, he became president of the commercial aircraft division in 1972. Boullioun’s renowned personal skills combined with his flair as a gambler – his unofficial name “Tex” stuck after a famous high-stakes wager on the result of a Texas-Oregon football game – are credited with having underpinned the success of several Boeing aircraft programmes. These included not only the 737 and 747 models, but the emerging range of economical twinjets, such as the 757 and 767. Boullioun retired in 1984, but went on to set up Boullioun Aviation Services in a joint venture with Japanese banking partners in 1988.
Source: Flight International
