Just got through rereading your great article on the PWK accident (Cause & Circumstance, September 2011, page 56). For what it's worth, I have about 3,500 hr. in Lears, including 2,500+ in 35s and thought I'd donate my two cents.
An Airbus and TAM Airlines initiative to plant 75,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil is part of a plan to scale up the production of aviation biofuel to commercial quantities. Project leader JetBio has selected San Diego-based SG Biofuels to develop hybrid varieties of jatropha to be grown on abandoned pasture land. In addition to Airbus and TAM, which flight-tested a jatropha-derived biofuel blend in November 2010, the initiative includes the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Bioventures Brasil and aviation fuel supplier Air BP.
For more than three decades, it was standard practice for corporate flight departments to charge part or all of the cost of operating company aircraft to other departments that used them. Allocating operating costs to internal customers helped flight departments justify the expense of the aircraft to top management, to apportion equitable operating costs according to usage patterns and to meter access to prevent over-scheduling, among other purposes.
Rusty Brown says it all started with an invitation to a Christmas party last December for the Homeless Children's Trust, a charitable organization sponsored by the Hawkeye Area Community Action Program in Iowa. Brown, a Rockwell Collins reliability engineer, recalls, “I was invited to go as a volunteer. There are one to two adults for every child who comes to the party, and I was invited to be one of the adults, so I went.”
The NBAA reported that since filing their opening court brief in September to preserve the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program, the NBAA and the AOPA are working toward the next milestones in the legal battle against the government's curtailment of the program. Up next: By Sept. 28, the FAA was expected to file a response to the associations' brief. After that, the associations will file a final brief by Oct. 12. Shortly after that, the Court of Appeals is expected to schedule arguments.
When a military CASA 212 with 21 people aboard was lost off Chile's seacoast in September, authorities used an iPhone app called Find My iPhone to locate the remains of the airplane, which crashed in a zone between the islands of Robinson Crusoe, Santa Clara and the Juan Fernandez airport. One of the victims' relatives knew the victim had an active iPhone at the time of the crash. Using the app, the relatives were able to isolate the coordinates of the last place the phone generated a signal before it crashed and passed that information to the Chilean Navy.
Skyservice Inc., Canada's largest charter/management company, often dispatches Learjets from its air ambulance division to Cuba for patient-transfer missions. Based in Montreal, Skyservice has 56 managed and company-owned business aircraft in its stable, including five Learjet 35 air ambulances equipped with intensive-care units that routinely operate on a worldwide basis.
Jet Aviation Basel has been awarded a refurbishment contract for an Airbus 330-200 by an undisclosed client. The Swiss facility recently signed a contract with a long-standing customer to perform cabin modifications and general refurbishment of the airliner. To reduce the required downtime and to ensure timely completion and re-delivery, Jet Aviation plans to prepare all required parts in advance of the Airbus's arrival at the facility at the end of this year.
Embraer's Lineage 1000 executive jet received type certification from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC), allowing owners to register and operate the Linage 1000 there. The Lineage 1000 is Embraer's largest executive jet model.
Comlux Aruba N.V. registered a Boeing 767-200ER in Aruba. The aircraft will be based in Zurich, Switzerland, as part of Comlux's VVIP fleet. This is the fourth aircraft Comlux has registered in Aruba as part of its strategic cooperation with the Registry of Aruba. The company is in the process of applying for an Aruba Aviation Operating Certificate.
Given all the problems facing the Obama administration — intractably high unemployment figures, plunging poll numbers for the president and lack of traction for his latest stimulus proposal — it is increasingly difficult to understand why the executive branch continues to waste energy defending its wrong-headed attempt to “out” the owners of private aircraft.
My long career includes over a decade of experience in Lear 20s and 30s; some of it at Chicago Executive Airport. “PWK Learjet Accident” (Cause & Circumstance, September 2011, page 56) about the Lear 35A that descended through icing and attempted a circle to land on Runway 34 made what little hair that's left stand up on the back of my neck way before I got to the, “Add full power” part. Thanks for your good work on this article. Oak Ridge, Tenn.
CRS Jet Spares, a major business aviation aftermarket parts supplier, has signed an MOU with Gulfstream Aerospace of Savannah that allows CRS to provide many Gulfstream parts as well as service support directly to operators of GII, GIII and GIV aircraft as an approved Gulfstream Aerospace supplier. In 2009, CRS purchased a large inventory of factory new material from Gulfstream.
Balancing workload with available manpower is a never-ending struggle for maintenance managers. Even so-called “normal” operations can be highly unpredictable, and aircraft always seem to break at the worst possible time. Having extra help on call for unplanned maintenance work is a great way to cushion the impact.
Matthew Winer got his first taste of a motorcycle when he was just seven. His 19-year-old brother Gary put him on the seat of his 1972 Honda SL100 dirt bike and sat behind him, operating the machine. “He had bought it used, worked to buy it,” Winer recalls. Currently president of Miami's Executive Air Services, Winer is also on his way to a pilot's license, but it's clear his one true passion is for the road. Back when he took that first motorcycle ride, his feet could just reach the pedals, and he held on to the center section of the handlebars while his brother drove.
Congress cleared the 22nd extension of FAA funding authorization to Jan. 31, 2012. The latest reauthorization bill covers four months, longer than any other extension since September 2009. While the action received strong support for keeping FAA operating, it drew renewed calls from industry and lawmakers alike for Congress to turn its attention to a long-term bill instead of continuing to be distracted by battles over short-term extensions.
George Best Belfast City Airport and FBO Eurojet Aviation will partner with U.S.-based Avfuel for business aviation fuel and services. According to Mark Beattie, operations director for George Best Belfast City Airport, “Introducing an alternative fuel supplier allows us to be more competitive, which will ultimately drive more business aviation traffic to the airport.” Beattie has been focused on growing general aviation activity at the airport.
The opening of a new FBO typically is cause for industry celebration in an age when then the number of FBOs has diminished from 5,000 in the 1980s to 3,000. For Million Air, this summer's opening of its newest facility brings the addition of a 29th location, another company-owned base, and an entrance to what company executives believe is an up-and-coming market. This comes when financing is hard to find for new FBOs.
The structural repair specialists at Sierra Industries recently told the story of a Gulf Coast-based Cessna Citation S550 owner who found his aircraft crushed by a collapsed hangar after a hurricane, an account that could give operators of other substantially damaged airplanes hope that they also might be able to restore their aircraft.
Piaggio Aero announced at Jet Expo 2011 that its P.180 Avanti II aircraft has received both type and production certificates from the Russian aviation authority, the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), confirming that the design of the aircraft complies with Russian regulations. It received EASA and FAA certification in 2005. The Avanti II can now be legally registered and operated throughout the Russian Federation.
LightSquared has proposed some changes to its planned broadband wireless network to mitigate GPS interference, but is resisting further testing before a decision is taken on whether to approve deployment of the revised system. LightSquared believes sufficient testing has been conducted to show most GPS receivers will not be overloaded by transmissions from its revised terrestrial network, but government witnesses at a September congressional hearing said tests already performed were not enough to ensure GPS would not still be compromised.
I am a big fan of BCA and an avid reader of Washington Watch every month. I suffer from being a triple-pariah: a hedge-fund manager, a mortgage originator/servicer and worst of all, a corporate jet owner, not to mention being an ATP rated pilot and ex-mechanic. You can only imagine how sensitized (or desensitized for that matter) I have become to government and press attacks.
Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Support (GCS) has announced the service areas for its West Coast and Northeast Mobile Technical Support teams' fleet of ground support vehicles. The West Coast base will cover Arizona, Nevada and California, while a second unit in the Northeast will support operators in New York, New Jersey and Virginia. Future plans call for other U.S.and international locations.
In the last budget request the Department of Labor (DOL) requested an additional budget and manpower specifically to investigate employee misclassification and this topic has been identified as one of the department's leading initiatives. If you use or plan to use contractors, you need to understand the rules. The DOL has a website to help you navigate the rules. You can visit it at: http://www.dol.gov For those of you who missed Attorney Greg Ripple's presentation at the NBAA MMC on this topic, the NBAA has posted his presentation on their website:
ACSS, an L-3 Communications & Thales Co., Phoenix, Ariz., named Kenneth Meyer as vice president of program management and customer support. Circor Aerospace, Corona, Calif., announced that Jamie Rodriguez has joined the company as director of Operations.
