The Longitude will be the launch platform for the Snecma Silvercrest, a clean-sheet 8,500- to 12,000-lb.-thrust turbofan that promises 15% better specific fuel consumption than current engines in this thrust class, along with a 50% margin to CAEP/6 NOx limits and 20% margin to FAR Part 36 Stage 4 noise limits. It will be rated for takeoff up to 11,000 lb. for the Longitude.
Cessna Aircraft signed a new agreement with the China Aviation Industry General Aircraft Company Ltd., (Caiga) and the Shijiazhuang Municipal Government that the company says is a framework to deliver Wichita-built Cessna Caravan single-engine turboprop utility aircraft to Caiga's Shijiazhuang factory for final assembly, painting, production flight tests and sale within China.
Bell Helicopter announced at EBACE that it completed deliveries of six of its newest aircraft in Europe during the month prior. Three Bell 407GX aircraft, the first of their kind in Europe, are operating in Belgium, Denmark and, most recently, Iceland. Bell also delivered three additional Bell 429 aircraft in Russia and Ukraine.
Helicopter repair and maintenance company, Superior Aviation Services, Inc., has recently expanded by moving from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to a larger facility at the nearby Dallas Executive Airport (KRBD). The company says the move offers capacity for more aircraft and easier access for customers. Since 1983, Superior Aviation has been providing helicopter maintenance services for turbine helicopters.
A new Bombardier Flight Deck iPad app for Challenger and Learjets provides an electronic flight manual that can automatically receive updates from Bombardier. Updates to all Bombardier flight manual revisions, including temporary revisions, are received and implemented at the push of a button. The system uses advanced encryption technology and provides the necessary FAA, EASA and Transport Canada audit trail for paperless operations.
Piper's international aircraft deliveries continue to outpace those in the U.S. led by vigorous sales in Europe. “We are seeing more buyers opt for new, more fuel-efficient aircraft as they downsize from twin-engine aircraft,” said Peter Winters, general manager of Winters Aviation, which has Piper sales responsibility in France and Belgium. Early in 2012, Piper delivered three new Piper Meridian turboprops into France and a Mirage pressurized single in Switzerland.
Garmin will supply the avionics package for the Longitude. If it's similar to the one that will be installed in the Citation Latitude, it will feature three 14-in. screens and four touch-screen controllers quite similar to the system being installed in the new Citation Ten. The displays feature RGB LED backlight lighting that automatically adjusts for correct white balance for the life of the display. The screens have a 10,000:1 dimming ratio that accommodates the brightest daylight and darkest night ambient light conditions.
April 23 — About 1015 PDT, an experimental League Lancair Propjet (N66HL) impacted the terrain about 4 mi. southeast of Sisters, Ore. The private pilot and his flight instructor received fatal injuries, and the airplane, which was owned and operated by the pilot, sustained substantial damage. The local instructional flight, which departed Roberts Field, Redmond, Ore., about 70 min. prior to the accident, was being operated VFR. No flight plan had been filed.
Embraer Executive Jet's entry-level aircraft, the Phenom 100, passed another program milestone when flight hours totaled 100,000, a little over 3 yr. since it entered service in December 2008. The 100,000-hr. mark comes after the company delivered the first U.S. produced Phenom 100 to Executive AirShare in December 2011 and the certification of an optional fifth seat a month earlier.
As aircraft become even more com–plex, we tend to focus on improving aircraft systems knowledge, often at the expense of learning more about other important topics such as fatigue, teamwork and communication. To help busy technicians and managers keep up to speed on the importance of human factors concerns in the hangar, the FAA has a website that has collected information and training ideas with maintainers in mind. It's worth a visit: https://hfskyway.faa.gov/hfskyway/index.aspx
Argus TRAQPak data indicates that April 2012 business aircraft flight activity decreased from March (which is the typical annual trend), finishing the month down 4.4%. The only month-over-month increase came in the fractional turboprop sector, up 4.8%. Reviewing activity year- over-year (April 2012 vs. April 2011) TRAQPak observed a 1.3% increase in overall aircraft activity. April saw increases in most groups, with the exception of large-cabin aircraft, which finished down 4.9%.
Conventional wisdom is that new aircraft sales will lag until the used inventory shrinks, but business aviation consultant Brian Foley disagrees. “There is no cause-and-effect relationship because, generally speaking, new and pre-owned buyers are totally different groups,” Foley says.
The GAMA Board of Directors approved Air Tractor as its newest member, bringing the association's membership to 77. Air Tractor got its start as the Snow Aeronautical Company in 1951. In 1958, Leland Snow moved the production facilities to Olney, Texas, where Air Tractor is headquartered today. With over 2,700 aircraft flying, Air Tractor manufactures an extensive line of agriculture aircraft powered by Pratt & Whitney piston or turbine engines. Air Tractor aircraft can be found working over fields and forests across the U.S.
Transmitter frequency stability regulation, commonly called the “.005” rule, has been withheld from the body of ITU rules just recently put into force by the FCC. Designed to protect air-ground communications from wider band use by transmitters meeting only the present “.01” frequency stability limit, this rule has been vigorously opposed by the AOPA. Objections centered on unnecessary re-equipment of aircraft with new closer tolerance transmitters, which would be required on many light aircraft.
The FAA has granted TSO approval for Universal Avionics' third generation Airborne Datalink System, UniLink UL-800/801 Communications Management Unit (CMU). UniLink UL-800/801 Airborne Datalink features: FANS 1/A+ Compliance, Controller Pilot Data Link Communications Capability (CPDLC), multiple media routing, full ACARS/CMU functionality, ADS-C Auto-Position Reporting and hi-res weather graphics. The UL-800/801 interfaces with Universal Avionics' current FMS product line with either 4-in. or 5-in. Control Display Units.
The feature “Shanghai Bound” (February 2012, page 44 ) states, “According to Jeppesen, Shanghai falls within the territory that has been surveyed, so operators using synthetic vision systems, the databases of which are WGS 84-referenced, as approach aids at Pudong will now break out aligned with the assigned runway instead of displaced 100 meters to one side as has been the case.”
Satcom Direct, of Satellite Beach, Fla., a provider of satellite voice, fax, datalink and Internet communications solutions, announced the opening of an international office located in Hangar 2 at TAG Farnborough Airport Farnborough, U.K. The new office will provide European customers with physical access to Satcom Direct's avionics and testing lab, training facility, and support services for pilots, flight operations and maintenance staff. Satcom Direct will also extend their wireless service to customer aircraft flying in to TAG Farnborough Airport.
Peoria, Ill.-based OSF Aviation, a division of OSF HealthCare, has received the first of four Eurocopter EC 145s outfitted with an aftermarket wide area augmentation system (WAAS) from United Rotorcraft.
Business jet makers are closely following Hawker Beechcraft's financial situation, and at least a few of them are saying they would be interested in picking up some or all of the company should it become available at the right terms. “We are evaluating how this thing is going to unfold,” Embraer CEO Frederico Curado told analysts during the release of the company's first-quarter results on April 27. “Maybe some of the assets could be of interest to Embraer. We just have to see how that develops.
Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support has appointed Gama Support Services at Farnborough Airport, U.K., to its worldwide network of limited service centers to support its Beechcraft King Air 200, 250, 300 and 350 aircraft and Beechcraft Premier business jets. In addition, Gama Support Services will support the Beechcraft Baron and Bonanza products as a fully authorized service center.
Nextant Aerospace announced a new manufacturing facility for the Nextant 400XT, FAA-certified remanufactured business jet. The newly acquired facility at Cleveland's Cuyahoga County Airport will accommodate an annual production rate of 48 aircraft, and will quadruple Nextant's production area and office space footprint. The facility features a large production hangar which can handle six aircraft simultaneously, a second hangar for aircraft delivery and completions and a third that will house an advanced aircraft painting operation.
GE Aviation has finalized the architectural design of its Passport engine for the Bombardier Global 7000 and Global 8000 aircraft. The “Tollgate 6” review, part of GE's New Product Introduction Process, was held on April 27. With the design frozen, GE now begins the detailed design phase. Component fabrication will begin soon, leading to the start of assembly of the first full engine by year-end. The first engine is scheduled to begin testing in 2013.
Touted as “the world's first integrated intelligent aircraft cabin shading and noise reduction system,” the iShade iQ, InspecTech Aero Service's latest addition to its iShade series of electronic dimmable windows, is able to reduce cabin noise levels.
A dedicated GE Aviation field service operation will be on-site at the Ocean Sky Jet Centre FBO at London Luton Airport through the Olympics. The GE mobile repair team will be available for any line maintenance needs. GE Aviation will also position new and exchange materials in the region for quick access.
Is this BARR 2.0? FAA released a proposal in May outlining permanent procedures for aircraft owners seeking to block their registration information from near-real-time flight tracking programs. FAA had restored the program — which had been called Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) — on an interim basis in December 2011 under the direction of Congress. In the fiscal 2012 transportation appropriations minibus bill signed into law Nov. 18, 2011, Congress mandated FAA to remove the restrictions from participation.
