Platinum Air Charter Executive Ltd. has started an aircraft charter and ground handling operation at RAF Northolt, a military air base just north of London. The new venture -- owned by FR Aviation Ltd. and managed by GoldAir founder John Mason -- shares its new home with the RAF's No. 32 (The Royal) Squadron, which is responsible for transporting the royal family and other VIPs.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University was granted FAA certification to offer type-rating programs for Beech 1900 aircraft under FAR Part 141 regulations.
Raytheon Aircraft (Wichita, KS) has named David C. Yen as president of Raytheon Aircraft Credit Corporation, where he will support OEM sales and manage $3 billion in assets.
The North Runway at Hong Kong International Airport is open for use during peak traffic periods from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and soon will be made available for use throughout the day. By late October, the maximum scheduled aircraft movements per hour should rise to 40 per hour, and the runway will be rated ILS Category III.
Air safety auditor and consulting firm Wyvern Ltd. of Palmyra, N.J., has introduced a new safety audit program targeting air charter companies. The Wyvern Independent Safety Evaluation (WISE) program allows such businesses to commission safety audits of their own operations, which their customers can review. WISE audits examine operations, maintenance, and pilot qualification and training -- and will sell for around $1,000 each.
1. What are the right questions? Each department is unique and you must decide what information is best to put into your questionnaire. 2. What are your company's needs? Internally and externally 3. What is the goal of the flight department? Specific and general Remain status quo. Automate (job function, daily task). Integrate departments (via computer.) Improve efficiency (and become more economic).
Operators, as a group, are enthusiastic about the advanced capabilities of the Citation X's five-tube Primus 2000 avionics system, with many naming it as one of the aircraft's five best features. The dual NZ-2000 FMS boxes, for example, provide virtually the same performance features as the units installed in the Bombardier Global Express and Gulfstream V. The main difference is that the Citation X's FMSes have SmartPerf, a learned performance database, as opposed to tabular cruise planning performance supplied by the airframe manufacturer.
The nation's skeds are purportedly losing hundreds of millions of dollars as the FAA's aging radar systems are being replaced with new equipment that doesn't work much better. The squeaking wheel getting the least grease is United Airlines. Jim Goodwin, chairman of UAL Corp., United's daddy, chirps, ``The chronic air traffic delays we suffer at O'Hare [and elsewhere] are killing us. We will never have the on-time record we want unless the FAA can ensure that their systems keep up with growth.''
JetCorp (St. Louis) -- Tom Bauer was named technical services sales manager for this full-service maintenance, interior refurbishment and avionics company at Spirit of St. Louis Airport.
An Embraer EMB-110 Bandeirante operated by Air Fiji crashed into a mountain while en route from Suva to Nadi on July 24, killing all 17 aboard. The early morning flight was scheduled to last 25 minutes, and typically connected passengers to onward flights to Australia and New Zealand. At the request of Fiji's minister of civil aviation and communications, a team from Australia's Bureau of Air Safety Investigation (BASI) is investigating the accident. BASI says public release of its report will be at the discretion of Fijian aviation officials.
We are all aging. But when are we considered old, elderly, senior -- or a member of the geriatric community? It's all a matter of perspective. Aging has predictable and progressive physiological changes that start when we are in our 20s. From then on our metabolic process drops about two-percent each decade. Yet there are measures you can take now to improve your quality of life, reduce risks and probably increase your longevity.
Maybe it is because we do not have to do it often, but there is ap-parently some confusion about holding, even among experienced aviators. This was highlighted in a recent discussion on an Internet forum populated by career pilots from the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia and Africa. It all began with a simple situation taken from a real clearance.
Cirrus Design has delivered its first SR20, just three months after the company's chief test pilot was killed in the crash of the first production aircraft. Investigation of the accident spurred modifications to the aircraft's flight surfaces and controls. The SR20 incorporates several new technologies for general aviation aircraft, including extensive use of composites and the Cirrus Airframe Parachute System (CAPS), now standard on all aircraft.
By making internal airflow changes to improve cooling, Pratt&Whitney Canada raised the new Raytheon King Air B200's TBO from 3,000 to 3,600 hours for the PT6A-42 engine.
Messier-Dowty (Velizy, France) -- John P. Capellupo and Jacques-Henry Dufour were appointed to the board of directors of this manufacturer of landing gear systems.
Overwhelming opposition from more than 1,500 interested parties has led the FAA to scrap its proposal to create a new FAR Part 66 that would change the certification and training requirements for aircraft mechanics. In the works since 1991, the NPRM would have replaced the current Airframe&Powerplant qualifications with two certificates: Aviation Maintenance Technician (AMT) and AMT (transport).
Executive JetPort (EJP) of Trenton, N.J., a new FBO at Trenton-Mercer Airport located midway between Philadelphia and New York City, is now open to general aviation traffic on a 24-hour basis, seven days a week. The airport has two runways -- 4,500 feet (34/16) and 6/24,which is 6,000 feet and has an ILS. ``We're pumping fuel, signing up hangar tenants and have recently started a flight school,'' said Thomas E. Patterson, president and CEO of EJP. He is the former director of marketing for Ronson Aviation, the rival FBO based at the same airport.
These are the performance data for the recently certified Dornier 328JET. They correct an error contained in the 1999 Purchase Planning Handbook that misrepresented performance of the aircraft on various missions.
Teterboro Airport is adding a new weapon to its anti-bird arsenal this fall -- a Border collie mix. Airport management acquired ``Turbine'' from a local animal shelter after hearing about the success of the dogs in scaring away geese at the International Bird Strike Conference in 1998. Turbine is spending the summer training for his new job and is expected to be at work for the fall migratory season when bird strikes are highest. Southwest Florida International Airport in Fort Myers has employed a Border collie in the same role.
Inadequate passenger loads forced Harbor Air to discontinue service to Olympia, Wash., four years ago, and city officials are hoping to lure the Gig Harbor-based FAR Part 135 operator back. Surveys were given to area residents at the recent South Puget Sound Airshow, as the first step of a comprehensive market analysis. ``We need the community to help us convince the airline that we will support them,'' says Bob Van Schoorl, president of the Olympia Port Commission.
