In 1998, U.S. makers of general aviation aircraft set a new record for industry billings and delivered more than 40 percent more airplanes than they did in 1997. GAMA member companies shipped 2,200 units worth $5.9 billion last year. Aircraft exports, industry employment and student-pilot starts all registered double-digit percentage increases. Perhaps most important, general aviation recorded its lowest accident rate since records started being kept in 1938.
Corporate Rotable&Supply has expanded its stock of Eros oxygen masks to include inventory for Learjet, Gulfstream, Challenger, Hawker and Citation aircraft
Bombardier Aerospace has extended its Flexjet fractional ownership plan to Europe. The program expands on Bombardier's other European activities, specifically its maintenance hangar at Berlin's Schoenfeld Airport, spares depot at London Heathrow and sales offices in Bonn, Geneva and London. Flexjet currently has a fleet of 65 aircraft, including Challenger 604s and Learjet 31As and 60s, and is serving approximately 350 fractional owners.
Air Routing's new Flight Manager system will be a boon to any flight department with a need to keep close tabs on the status of the flight planning and handling details that go into international trips, as well as the flight itself once it is underway.
Vee Neal Aviation of Latrobe, Pa., a corporate aviation services company that started a corporate air-shuttle service in January, has set its sights on acquiring a fleet of 12 shuttle aircraft. Based at Westmoreland County Airport, Vee Neal launched the service with three corporate-configured Jetstream 31 turboprops to fill the niche for airline-style missions. ``For us, it was an evolutionary process from using our Jetstreams for charter to offering them for corporate shuttle services,'' said Stephen Saxton, director of business development.
A January Intelligence item (page 24) improperly noted that the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden and Greece have started to phase in use of the Euro. At press time, those countries were not among the European nations converting to the new currency.
LP Aero Plastics now offers FAA-PMA multi-ply cockpit and cabin side windows for the Beechcraft King Air 200 and 300 series aircraft. The windows are manufactured multi-ply stretched acrylic. Price: $850 to $2,200 each LP Aero Plastics 1086 Boquet Rd. Jeannette, Pa. 15644 Phone: (724) 744-4448; Fax: (724) 744-7372
AlliedSignal has realigned its European environmental control systems operations into one organization called Environmental Control Systems-Europe (ECS-Europe). The new company comprises manufacturing as well as repair and overhaul facilities from both Normalair-Garrett Ltd., which AlliedSignal acquired in 1998, and SECAN, a French supplier of aircraft heat exchangers. The new entity will offer products from its manufacturing site in Yeovil, England and Gennevilliers, France.
Mercury Air Group has opened an FBO at Charleston International Airport (CHS). The all-new, six-acre facility features a 9,500-square-foot terminal, which includes a flight planning room, pilots' lounge and conference room, and a 35,000-square-foot hangar that can accommodate aircraft as large as a Gulfstream V or Global Express. Dan Maddox, who previously ran the Mercury Air Center at Atlanta's Peachtree-DeKalb Airport, manages the new Charleston FBO, which has been designated a Phillips 66 Aviation Performance Center. Phone: (843) 746-7600.
J. Mesinger Corporate Jet Sales of Boulder, Colo., has developed a fractional partnership package that is designed to help clients determine the best solution to their air travel needs. For a flat fee, J. Mesinger, a broker with 25 years experience, will conduct on-site client visits and analyze whether fractional ownership, shared ownership, block-time charter or a combination of one or more of these options is best suited for a customer.
B/CA polled international flight planning specialists from three major handling services about happenings in the Pacific region. Here's what they said:
The Aeronautical Repair Station Association (ARSA) has developed a training program called ``Regulation 101: Law for the Aviation Professional.'' The course is designed ``to provide top management, purchasing agents, quality control and assurance personnel, mechanics, inspectors and supervisors with a comprehensive understanding of the regulations that govern activities in the civil aviation industry.''
Although there is great promise that satellite communications will one day be as common as today's VHF airborne telephone systems, the satcom users club is still comparatively exclusive. As of early this year, about 1,850 airborne satcom systems were in operation. Of those, approximately two-thirds are installed in air transport aircraft, and one- third are in business jets.
The numbers are up in every category except one, and even that's good news. Whether looking at billings, the number of aircraft shipped, industry employment figures, GA activity at controlled airports, IFR operations or the number of student starts, every measure of the general aviation market marched upward in 1998. The only figure to drop during the year was the general aviation accident rate, which declined to 7.12 accidents per 100,000 flight hours, the lowest recorded since tracking began in 1938, according to Ed Bolen, president of GAMA.
Honeywell has selected Jouve Data Management (phone: (949) 474-4200) to provide digital data products and services to support its AMOSS (Aircraft Maintenance and Operations Support System) product. Honeywell now will offer its customers the Jouve AirGTI shop floor and line troubleshooting product and associated services as a component of AMOSS to address the digital needs of aircraft service providers and airlines
Operators of aircraft with advanced cockpits or upgraded avionics -- such as FMS, GPS, HUD, TCAS or EGPWS -- should develop standard operating procedures to assist crews in coping with automation, according to the NBAA's FMS/Charting Subcommittee. The group recommends, among other things, that flight departments should have a statement of automation philosophy in their operations manual, develop policies for use of automation during each phase of flight, and stipulate individual crewmember responsibilities when automation is in use.
B/E Aerospace is selling 51 percent of its inflight entertainment business to a wholly owned subsidiary of France's Sextant Avionique. The new company will be named Sextant In-Flight Systems and will be headquartered in B/E Aerospace's existing 120,000-square-foot facility in Irvine, Calif. B/E will continue selling its other aerospace-related products, primarily cabin interior products, and also will take an approximately $70 million charge to restructure its operations, including consolidation of some facilities and a ``substantial'' reduction in employment.
The FAA's proposal to update maintenance technician requirements under a new Part 66 is not timely, could impose significant new costs and adds a layer of bureaucracy that is confusing, according to several industry associations. The NPRM would establish new certificate programs and training requirements for technicians and modify the privileges of and place limits on current certificate holders.
NBAA has petitioned the FAA for an exemption from FAR Part 61.57(b)(1)(ii) night currency requirements. Regulations currently require type-specific night currency (three night takeoffs and landings to a full stop within the preceding 90 days). The NBAA is seeking two alternate means for maintaining currency that combine recent flight experience, total flight time and Part 142-approved training.
By the end of the first quarter, Rockwell Collins expects to complete its acquisition of Flight Dynamics, the Portland, Ore.-based maker of head-up guidance systems. The company previously was operated as a joint venture of Rockwell and Kaiser Aerospace Electronics of Foster City, Calif.
In our January ``Hawker 800XP'' Operator Survey (page 54), we incorrectly stated that Executive Jet International operates six 800XPs. Executive Jet Aviation operates the aircraft.
Edited By Robert A. SearlesArnold Lewis SkyWest Places Large Jet Order
Delta Connection/United Express carrier SkyWest has placed an order for 50 Canadair Regional Jets plus 25 options. Deliveries will begin in June 2000 and continue through December 2002 for the first 25. The deal is valued at approximately $560 million.
Arizona Rotorcraft Inc.'s Quality Management System has been registered under ISO-9002. ARI is an authorized maintenance center for Rolls-Royce Allison 250 series turbine engines
Despite all the partisan hoopla and rancor in Washington in the wake of President Clinton's impeachment trial, 1999 could become known as the year Congress put aside its political differences to ensure that aviation programs are adequately funded. Rep. Bud Shuster, the Pennsylvania Republican who heads the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, has pledged to achieve what nearly everyone in aviation has wanted for the past 30 years -- a tamper-proof guarantee that dedicated, federal aviation taxes be spent only for aviation programs.
