Aviation Partners Inc. (API) is taking deposits for delivery positions for the Falcon 50 winglets it expects to be certified in first quarter 2012. API's high-Mach blended winglets already have been certified for Falcon 2000 series aircraft and on Sept. 2 the FAA issued an STC for winglets for Falcon 900s. The Falcon 900 series winglets are optimized for cruise speeds of Mach 0.80 and higher and provide at least 5% more range, the company says.
1. The processing times necessary for permits and visas (minimum 48 hr. and as long as seven days). 2. Utilizing the resources of your handlers to learn what they know about the destination. 3. Checking the International Operations Feedback page on the NBAA website (and not forgetting to contribute your feedback post-trip). 4 . Having a plan for securing any alcoholic beverages you may have on board. 5. Remembering that the Saudi weekend is Thursday-Friday versus the traditional Muslim weekend of Friday-Saturday.
“Operating in Cuba” by David Esler (October 2011, page 62) was very interesting and informative. Let me add some color to it. I had the opportunity in March of 1978 to fly into Havana. After reading the article we must have been one of the first N- registered aircraft to fly into Cuba.
SuperJet International has launched the Sukhoi Business Jet with a $200 million order for four aircraft from Comlux The Aviation Group, a VIP charter services company. The first two aircraft (the second two are options) will be delivered for outfitting to the Comlux Group completion center in Indianapolis early in 2014. At $50 million completed, the Sukhoi Business Jet will go head to head with Embraer's $50.48 million Lineage 1000, says SuperJet International CEO Carlo Logli.
These preliminary graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Eclipse 550 under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance based upon Eclipse 500 AFM data, Eclipse Aerospace projections and our estimates. Actual performance of the Eclipse 550 may fall short of these projections because of empty aircraft weight gain compared to Eclipse 500 aircraft.
I find the new FAA regulation regarding FAR Parts 23, 25, 27 and 29 lightning protection for aircraft systems (Intelligence, July 2011, page 28) interesting since Boeing imposed this specification on antennas we've manufactured for them back in 1961. Since then we have been supplying DC-grounded, direct and indirect lightning strike-protected antennas certified up to the Boeing 787. Fortunately most single- and multiengine aircraft are already equipped with our DC-grounded antennas.
The FAA is deploying a new tool to help controllers maintain optimum separation between aircraft on approach. The Automated Terminal Proximity Alert (ATPA) tool was developed by Lockheed Martin and the FAA. ATPA is an enhancement to the Common Automated Radar Terminal System, installed at more than 100 Tracons. The ATPA system informs controllers of distances between aircraft that are flying in-line instrument approaches. It will alert a controller when a trailing airplane is predicted to come too close to an aircraft ahead of it.
As well noted in “High-Altitude Upset Recovery” (July 2011, page 52), pilots must know the basics for maintaining or, if necessary, regaining controlled flight. But what is the primary obstacle to maintaining that control? I would suggest that the answer, both at high and low altitudes, is confusion — the old, “Where's this thing taking us now?”
I knew exactly the shot we needed, but I couldn't figure how to get it. It was 1988 and I was making a documentary about U.S. Navy carrier operations. For a videographer, my time at sea was paradise. No matter where you turned the lens on the flight deck, things were in motion — fighters screaming, cables jumping, steam hissing, and men in colored shirts crawling, lifting, running, pointing. It was fabulous. I was getting hours of eye-popping footage. Except . . . not one second of a Navy jet close in, cleaned up and moving fast. I needed that scene.
NATA has released an updated Safety 1st Deice/Anti-icing Training Module. The module was first released in 2010 and has been used by FBOs to train ground personnel in preparation for winter operations.
A Gulfstream G550 recently set a city-pair speed record between Savannah, Ga., and Campinas, Brazil. On Aug. 8, the aircraft took off from Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport at 7:56 a.m. local time with 11 passengers, a flight attendant and captains Eric Parker and Anthony Briotta in the cockpit. The G550 landed 8 hr. and 28 min. later at Viracopos-Campinas International Airport, having flown 3,894 nm at an average cruise speed of 519 mph.
Similar to other Model 525 aircraft, the Citation M2 will be powered by two Williams International FJ44 turbofans. The current plan is to keep the 1,965-lb. takeoff thrust rating, but it's certain that the new engines will have more robust cores that will provide improved hot-and-high airport performance, more climb thrust and higher cruise thrust. Expect a slight improvement in specific fuel consumption because the new powerplants will incorporate more advanced technologies than the FJ44-1AP engines fitted to the CJ1+.
JetCraft Corp. — the Raleigh, N.C.-based provider of business aircraft sales, acquisitions, trading and brokerage services — said at the end of August that its market outlook remains “fundamentally unchanged” despite recent financial uncertainties in Europe and the U.S.
Diamond Aircraft has resumed flight testing its D-Jet prototypes, following the temporary grounding in late March that stemmed from a cash shortfall and led to furloughs of most people working on the single-jet program. The 1-hr. flight of D-Jet 003, its first flight since March 27, included shakedown of aircraft systems, control sweeps, gear cycling, flap cycling, verification of navigation equipment and software, several touch-and-goes and completion of some control-system test points, according to the company.
Thank you for giving Delta Private Jets a mention in Intelligence (September 2011, page 15). We're always pleased to see our name in print. We have a lot of great things happening. As you noted, we did rebrand our Jet Card and introduced a $50,000 level. We were also recently voted “Best Private Jet Service” (third year in a row) and we've doubled our membership base in the last 12 months. We've also introduced a new partnership with Exclusive Resorts. Delta Private Jets
NASA is working with the FAA and the industry to plan an operational demonstration of fuel-saving approach procedures using automatic dependent surveillance — broadcast (ADS-B) at an airport with high air traffic density. The objective of Airspace Technology Demonstration 1, planned for fiscal 2015, is to show the return on investment for early adopters of avionics required for NextGen, says John Cavolowsky, director of NASA's Airspace Systems Program.
The comments made concerning the Dassault 7X recent trim incident are from customer briefing sessions that Dassault has held ever since the incident occurred.
Rance Hopwood, a partner in Capital Jet Group Inc., says that 2011 has been “a noticeable improvement” over 2010. The Mclean, Va.-based aircraft brokerage — which has sold everything from King Airs to BBJs, but specializes in Gulfstream, Citation and Bombardier aircraft — started seeing an upturn in activity in late 2010.
Many airports across the U.S. have runways under construction that might be temporarily shortened. The FAA issued InFO 11015 urging operators to pay close attention to ATIS messages as well as takeoff and landing clearances.
JetFlite International has expanded its Moscow presence, adding a Bombardier Challenger 601 based at Vnukovo Airport and expanding its sales and dispatch staff there. “From our perspective Moscow is an emerging market and there is a lot of opportunity there,” said Bill Cripe, JFI's CEO. “This summer in Moscow we are flying one of our airplanes over 80 hr. a month in charter. Over the past two years we've become comfortable in it. We have expertise that is unique to a U.S. operator working in Russia.
The Citation M2's cockpit is a clean-sheet design, a complete break from any avionics package yet installed in a 525-series airplane. The configuration embraces the ergonomic design philosophy of the Citation Ten, using three, side-by-side 14-in. landscape configuration, flat-panel displays with LED backlighting and 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution. These screens provide far more display area than the three, 8- by-10-in. portrait configuration displays in the CJ1+. Indeed, they provide the most display area available in current production light jets.
AircraftPost.com — the Albany, N.Y.-based provider of Web-based market intelligence, fleet statistics and valuations for current-generation medium- and long-range business jets — noted in an August blog posting that prices for in-production business jets are stabilizing.
'D3,' the third Sikorsky S-76D prototype, joined the flight test program and is serving as the primary vehicle to certify the avionics and electrical systems. The S-76D helicopter flight test program has logged more than 500 flight hours to date with its first two prototypes. All three prototypes were assembled at the Sikorsky Global Helicopters facility in Coatesville, Pa.
ARINC plans to set up a Russian office next year to tap growth in commercial and business aviation in that market. The aviation electronics specialist already has contracts with Russian airports and business jet operators for its infrastructure and inflight offering. Andy Hubbard, vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says that even though the market has long been of interest, a meeting with potential customers this year prompted ARINC to step up its engagement in Russia. Business outside the U.S.
