Here’s a clue to the December charter surge. Airline flight cancellations. The DOT reported cancellations by the 18 largest U.S. airlines increased to 3.7% of scheduled flights in December, up from 2.8% the same month the previous year. December’s cancellation rate was the second-highest on record, and ATA SmartBrief cited some experts as saying airlines scrubbed flights in order to avoid onerous fines resulting from ramp delays. But a spokeswoman for the Air Transport Association said weather was the larger issue.
Bell Helicopter will equip its new Magellan 412 EP commercial helicopter with Rogerson Kratos cockpit display systems. The system, following on the highly successful Rogerson Kratos cockpit displays for the Bell Model 429, utilizes similar hardware and advanced features tailored to the 412EP Magellan mission. The 412 EP system will have four high-resolution 8–by-10-in. displays with advanced graphics and multiple video inputs and it will be compatible with night-vision goggles.
The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 became law on Aug. 1, 2010, amending the Pilot Records Improvement Act by mandating that the FAA establish a database for pilot records to be used for conducting background checks before pilots are hired. In 1991, the FAA established a policy of expunging records of certain legal enforcement actions after five years, last expunging records on Nov. 1, 2010. The new pilot database must retain legal enforcement records until the FAA is notified that the individual is dead.
Piper Aircraft is ramping up work on the Altaire, its first jet, with some 160 engineers now assigned to the project and metal work on the first conforming aircraft under way. The company reported that it has 157 orders in hand for the $2.5 million aircraft. Jackie Carlon, director of marketing, says the engineering department has released more than 1,000 drawings for the aircraft and that first metal was has been cut for the initial unit.
Frank Robinson worked at Bell Helicopter as a young engineer. So, when he decided to develop a simple, low-cost helicopter, he naturally opted for the elemental two-blade teetering main-rotor system as originated by Arthur Young at Bell but with the addition of coning hinges to allow the blade to flap upward under load.
General Electric is counting on a joint venture with Avic to propel the company into the front ranks of avionics suppliers along with Rockwell Collins and Honeywell. With Chinese President Hu Jintao and U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke looking on, GE Aviation President and CEO David Joyce and Avic Senior Vice President Zhang Xinguo signed an agreement Jan. 14 in Chicago to form a joint venture — GE-Avic Civil Avionics Systems Co. Ltd. — in Shanghai.
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) has selected Cobham Synthetic Vision EFIS systems for its fleet of Eurocopter and Bell helicopters. LAPD is the largest municipal airborne law enforcement operation in the world and serves a population base of four million. The LAPD rotorcraft will be retrofitted with Cobham’s two-screen EFIS system: Primary Flight Display (PFD) and Multi-Function Display (MFD), GPS receiver, integral Helicopter Terrain Awareness and Warning System (HTAWS), and integral FMS.
ACSS (L-3 Communications & Thales Co.), Phoenix, named Terry Flaishans vice president and general manager reporting to Kris Ganase, president of L-3 Aviation Products. Angel MedFlight, Scottsdale, Ariz., promoted Rastislav “Rusty” Valko to COO, responsible for company-wide operations.
Hawker Beechcraft is forecasting strong growth in private aviation across the Middle East over the next few years, with King Air-based special-mission applications, which range from government maritime patrol, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, plus commercial applications such as photographic, air ambulance, flight inspection and weather modification, a major segment.
The Gulfstream G250 super-midsize aircraft is proceeding with icing tests on serial number 2001. The aircraft, which first flew in December 2009, is completing a test series with simulated ice shapes attached to non-heated areas such as the nose, tail, winglets and engine pylon to evaluate handling, stability and control with ice buildup. Serial number 2002 completed anti-ice system dry-air testing and will fly in natural icing conditions for FIKI certification.
If the words “rear naked choke” and “ground-and-pound” have meaning, you may be one of the growing ranks of sports fans who follow mixed martial arts, also known as MMA and, in its most visible professional form, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, or UFC. Twenty-nine-year-old Justin Murray, a senior trip owner for Universal Weather and Aviation in Houston, says he initially just went to a martial arts gym to lose some weight back in April 2007. Now he’s ranked #7 in his 170-lb category in Houston’s International Extreme Fight Association (IFXA).
Hawker Beechcraft Services (HBS) in Chester, United Kingdom, continues to meet key milestones on its Hawker 800XPR upgrade program, and the company expects to achieve FAA certification early this year, with European Aviation Safety Agency approval to follow shortly afterward. HBS announced the program during the 2010 European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition and named its first customer, JoinJet of Denmark, during the NBAA convention last fall.
SimCom Training Centers has acquired the former PrestoSIM training center located near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, and said it plans to “greatly expand” the facility with new flight training devices and training courseware, and updating the existing simulators. It said many of the existing staff will be retained and new instructors added.
Dassault Falcon has promoted Mark Verdesco to director of pre-owned aircraft sales, replacing Skip Flint, who retired in December. In his new position, Verdesco is responsible for all pre-owned aircraft activity in the Western Hemisphere, including working closely with Dassault’s direct-sales teams on trade-ins and leases.
Piper recently delivered 14 new piston aircraft, four Piper Seneca Vs and 10 Piper Archer IIIs, to Qatar Aeronautical College for its airline pilot training programs. The sale has a total retail value of about $6.7 million. All the aircraft are equipped with Garmin avionics: The twin-engine Seneca V trainers have four-screen dual G600 systems, while the single-engine Archers have four-screen dual G500 systems.
Dubai-based Empire Aviation Group and RMSI a Dubai-based medevac, emergency medical services and clinical services specialist, have partnered to launch a new intensive-care air ambulance service. Empire will manage and operate a Hawker 800XP business jet configured as an air ambulance for RMSI.
Bahrain Airport Co. (BAC) has signed an agreement with MENA Aerospace to build and operate a major private and business aviation hangar complex on Bahrain International Airport. Development is already under way on the northwest corner of the airport. When complete, the first phase’s footprint will be 283,758 sq. ft. (6.5 acres), making it one of the largest general aviation facilities in the region.
Sikorsky Aircraft delivered two S-92 helicopters to AAR Corp. for passenger and cargo missions in Afghanistan. AAR is supporting the U.S. Transportation Command.
Canada’s National Research Council Institute for Aerospace Research is looking for licensees for a fly by wire control system it developed that automatically switches between two control response rates. In instrument or low-visibility conditions where visual cues are poor to nonexistent, pilots tend to make slower and more deliberate control inputs. In visual conditions, pilots tend to make more rapid control inputs.
Russian Helicopters’ Ka-32A11BC has been certified for all-weather operations by the Indian civil aviation authority. India is a key market owing to the difficult operating conditions in the country and the large potential market size. Russian Helicopters says about half of the more than 140 helicopters of this type that have been built are in service outside Russia. Brazil also has begun the process of type certification for the coaxial rotor helicopter, the manufacturer says.
Air traffic controllers from airports around the Los Angeles Basin will step up use of an advanced tower simulator at the FAA’s regional office in Hawthorne, Calif., in the coming months as the agency closes on the final stages of a nationwide simulator deployment program. The final four MaxSim training systems, developed by simulation specialists Adacel, will be installed at sites around the United States to expedite new controller training. The FAA has 14 systems at its Oklahoma City training academy and 22 others at or near major U.S.
The NTSB is creating a Twitter handle (@NTSB) and a YouTube channel. Spokesman Peter Knudsen said NTSB decided to start with Twitter because it seemed the most accessible social media tool. “These tools will allow us to reach out directly to people and allow the chairman to speak directly with the public . . . This is just a start.”
Aircell announced that its Gogo Biz Inflight Internet service is now available in much of Alaska at no additional cost to subscribers. Coverage now includes Alaska’s more populous regions and some enroute segments, as well as arrival and departure corridors for some airports. Coverage maps are available at www.aircell.com/products-services/gogo-biz. Gogo Biz monthly service plans starts at $395/month.
