Business & Commercial Aviation

How to master automation, communications, navigation, systems and the rest when you are a crew of one.

As winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, pilots turn their thoughts to braking action performance and procedures.

Selected accidents and incidents in September/October 2016. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

Flight departments must walk a narrow path to satisfy all regulatory requirements.

News of promotions, appointments and honors involving professionals within the business aviation community.

The first prototype of the $2 million Gulfstream II business jet took off Oct. 2 from Grumman's Bethpage, New York, airfield. It flew for 52 min. at 200 kt. and landed at the company's Peconic River Airport in Calverton, New York. Learn what else was news in November 1966.

If you are interested in stepping up to a long-range, large-cabin G500, it could be a real bargain.

R. A. “Bob” Hoover, called the “greatest stick-and-rudder pilot who ever lived” by Lt. Gen. James Doolittle, USAF (Ret.), died peacefully of heart and kidney failure early Oct. 25, 2016, at Torrance Hospital, near his home in Palos Verdes, Calif. He was a favorite performer at air shows around the world, thrilling his audiences with his precision aerobatic maneuvers in the North American Aircraft P-51 Mustang and Aero Commander Shrike.

Jet-A And Avgas Per-Gallon Fuel Prices October 2016

BCA readers share their opinions on articles we published.

Questions for Boeing Business Jets President David Longridge.

Daher recently completed its 800th TBM single-engine turboprop, a TMB 930 that rolled off the assembly line at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport in France.

Gulfstream says it will cease production of the G150, the smallest aircraft in its lineup, after a 10-year run; the last G150 will be delivered in mid-2017.

The number of general aviation aircraft in China will total 10,000 in 2020, according to a new research report called "Development and Market of General Aviation in China 2015-2020." The figure comprises 7,500 fixed-wing aircraft, 2,000 helicopters and 500 other aircraft. The industry compound growth rate will total 30%, and the market size will hit $225 billion, the report predicts.

Blackhawk Modifications has announced details of its new engine upgrade for the King Air 350. Blackhawk is developing the STC to permit installation and operation of the Pratt & Whitney 1,200-shp PT6A-67A to replace the 1,050-shp PT6A-60A.

West Star Aviation and Aviation Fabricators are nearing completion of a cooperative effort to develop an STC for a belted lavatory modification for the Hawker 800 and XP series aircraft.

The Citation Longitude, Cessna Aircraft's entrant into the super-midsize business jet category, flew for the first time Oct. 8. The flight from Beech Field on Wichita’s east side where the aircraft was assembled occurred less than a year after the jet was publically detailed. “Today’s successful first flight of the Citation Longitude was performed exactly as we anticipated,” said Scott Ernest, president and CEO, Textron Aviation.

Citing slower business jet engine aftermarket shipments and defense and space business declines, Honeywell International said early last month it expected to report up to 2% lower core organic sales for the third quarter of 2016.

Embraer is cutting 1,463 employees from its workforce in Brazil as it moves to reduce costs in the midst of a challenging market. The departing workers represent 99.5% of those who applied for a Voluntary Dismissal Program, the company reported.

The Sterling Group, a middle-market private equity firm based in Houston, has acquired Destin Jet and formed a new fixed-base operator network.

Offshore helicopter operator CHC has secured $450 million from investors to rebuild the company once it emerges from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Robert Sumwalt from the National Transportation Safety Board has won Bombardier's 2016 Safety Standdown Award, which was presented at the event held Sept. 27-29 in Wichita.

Nextant Aerospace, which builds the 400XTi, and Constant Aviation, which offers MRO services, have partnered with Rockwell Collins to offer a Next Gen flight deck package for Beechcraft 400X/XP aircraft.

Bombardier WAVE (Wireless Access Virtually Everywhere) Ka-band high-speed internet is now available for Global business aircraft at all Bombardier Service Centers, the company said. Bombardier was awarded a supplemental type certificate for installation on all Bombardier Global 5000 and Global 600 aircraft and previous Global aircraft as a retrofit, the company said. A Global 5000 aircraft was the first customer aircraft to feature a retrofit installation of the Bombardier WAVE at Bombardier's Singapore Service Center.

The long-running fight over Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) entered a new phase recently when the FAA initiated an investigation requiring the California city to explain its rationale for issuing eviction notices to two FBOs at the key business and general aviation facility after the municipality declared its policy included closing the place.