Airbus delivered 15 corporate jets in 2010, worth more than $1.5 billion at list prices, setting a new record for this sector of its business. The company delivered 13 A318 Elites, ACJs and A320 Prestige aircraft, plus two VIP widebody A330/A340s. Airbus also won eight ACJ orders in 2010, bringing total orders to date for Airbus VIP models to more than 170 aircraft. The new orders are for seven aircraft from the A318 Elite/Airbus ACJ/A320 Prestige family, plus one widebody A330/A340.
Garmin’s new Electronic Stability and Protection (ESP) system has been STCed on a Beech King Air 200. The system is designed to help pilots maintain stable flight and ward off situations that could cause stalls and spins, steep spirals or other loss-of-control conditions. The ESP acts independently of the autopilot and operates in the background when a pilot is hand-flying the aircraft. It gently nudges the controls toward stable flight whenever pitch, roll or high-speed deviations exceed recommended limits.
Abu Dhabi’s Al Bateen Executive Airport reported a 36% increase in civil operations in 2010, compared with 2009. Officials credit the increase to their success in attracting corporate and VIP clients to the only business aviation airport in the region. “The year-end performance report for Al Bateen Executive Airport indicated that the airport registered 7,970 commercial aircraft movements in 2010,” says General Manager Steve Jones.
JetMadam.com — a multiple jet-listing service based at John Wayne Airport (SNA) in Newport Beach, Calif. — bills itself as “a new website for buyers, brokers and industry professionals looking for a fresh approach to marketing private jets.” The main attraction of the website is the “Photo of the Month” tab, where visitors can view several pictures of attractive women standing in front of a business jet for sale and vote for their favorite image.
The FAA reported that incidents of lasers pointed at airplanes almost doubled nationwide in 2010, over the previous year to more than 2,800, the highest number recorded since the FAA began keeping track in 2005. Los Angeles International Airport recorded the highest number of laser events in the country for an individual airport in 2010, with 102 reports, and the greater Los Angeles area tallied nearly twice that number, with 201 reports. Chicago O’Hare International Airport was a close second, with 98 reports, and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and Norman Y.
The availability of the second-generation EASy II avionics package for the Falcon 7X now has slid to the end of 2012. The basic package includes more-powerful graphics modules, among several other hardware and software upgrades needed to support its increased functionality.
Rockwell Collins has opened its China System Support Center in Shanghai for fundamental and advanced engineering, program management training, systems integration and avionics system consulting. A major Comac C919 supplier, Rockwell Collins expects to expand its reach in China with the support center. The company is providing the 150-seat jet’s communication, navigation, surveillance, cabin management, inflight entertainment and simulator components.
BAE Systems is increasingly optimistic about selling its aircraft as corporate shuttles, reports BCA sister publication Aviation Daily. “We had a pretty upbeat year [in 2010], and we are pretty upbeat going into 2011,” said Steve Doughty, senior vice president of sales and marketing asset management at BAE Systems Regional Aircraft.
Helistream Inc. is a helicopter operator and sales organization located at John Wayne Airport (formerly Orange County) in Costa Mesa, Calif. The company was established almost 30 years ago and is owned by partners Rod Anderson and Barb Perrin, both former military helicopter pilots. Helistream is also one of Robinson’s oldest dealers.
Moline, Ill.-based Elliott Aviation has achieved ISO 9001:2008 and AS9100:2004 Rev. B certification. The approval covers several of its services, including modifications, avionics work, structural adjustments, interiors, fueling and painting.
Gulfstream Aerospace has purchased a building to house its growing research and development program. The 253,000-sq.-ft. facility is located adjacent to the company’s R&D campus in Crossroads Business Park, near its headquarters at Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport. The acquisition is part of an expansion plan Gulfstream announced last November that includes building new facilities at the northwest quadrant of the airport, renovating several existing facilities on the main headquarters campus and expanding office and lab facilities at the R&D center.
Another encroachment on FAA authority over air commerce. The National Park Service (NPS) has drafted a plan to restrain aircraft activity over Grand Canyon National Park (GCNP). The plan calls for new limits on the number of air tour operations, hours of their flights and minimum altitudes. The NPS draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), which covers air tour flights and calls for the “substantial restoration of natural quiet” over GCNP, is open for public review. Comments are due June 6.
Brazil’s ANAC has certified the Bell Helicopter Model 429. This follows certification by the U.S. FAA, Transport Canada and EASA. Deliveries in Brazil will begin early this year. The helicopter was first certified as a single-pilot IFR, Category A helicopter under Part 27 airworthiness rules in mid-2009.
Rockwell Collins is expecting business jet avionics orders to ramp up in mid-year. Airframe manufacturers have told the company to prepare for build-rate increases. “The used business jet market is getting cleared out, and manufacturers are getting ready to increase production . . . by 2012, is our current projection,” said Rockwell Collins Chairman and CEO Clay Jones in an interview with MarketWatch’s Christopher Hinton.
Duncan Aviation recently earned additional STCs for the installation of Aircell’s cabin telecommunication router, which provides Wi-Fi access in the cabin for the Gogo Biz Inflight Internet service. The new STCs apply to Hawker Beechcraft 800XP, 850XP and 900XP aircraft, as well as Dassault Falcon 2000 and Falcon 2000EX EASy airplanes.
China began authorizing some private helicopter flights without prior approval on an experimental basis in January on the southern island of Hainan, state media reported. Four helicopters, flown by eight pilots, will take part in the initial two-month experiment, the official Xinhua news agency said. Private aircraft currently need to have flight plans approved by the authorities, a process that can take from a day to a week, according to Xinhua.
General Electric’s H80 engine will power the LET L410 regional turboprop aircraft under a five-year agreement signed with Czech manufacturer Aircraft Industries. GE will deliver 20+ engines per year to support new and retrofit installations on the L410-UVP-E20 twin-engine commuter aircraft. Certification on the L410 will be significant, marking GE’s entry into the air transport market with the H80 engine, developed as a competitor to Pratt & Whitney Canada’s PT6. Aircraft Industries plans to complete H80-powered L410 aircraft certification by mid-2012.
Dennis Rousseau, president of AircraftPost.com — the Albany, N.Y.-based company that provides real-time valuations for more than 5,000 medium and large business jets — believes that aircraft prices have stabilized at roughly 25% under “a normalized market,” but that it may be up to three years before the excess inventory of used aircraft shrinks enough for airplane prices to reflect their true value. However, he cautions, “We need to be careful and not look at 2007/2008 as the ‘normal market’ to return to because prices weren’t normal; they were exaggerated.”
Thank you for the excellent article, “Curbing the FAA’s Enforcement Overreach” (Washington Watch, February 2011, page 59). Having survived the nightmare I appreciate that reasonable minds are trying to correct the process.
Eurocopter officially inaugurated its new North Sea Service Center in Aberdeen, Scotland, providing a training, technical support and logistics facility in close proximity to helicopter operators that support the region’s oil and gas industry — as well as the emerging wind farm sector. Eurocopter rotary-wing aircraft constitute the largest helicopter fleet in the United Kingdom. The center has a new EC225 helicopter full-flight simulator.
Gustavo Sganzerla (Brasilia, Brazil), — Dick Aarons (Former Dispatcher)
I am a pilot and flight department manager for an FAR Part 91 operation in Central Brazil, and am a huge fan of BCA. I always read it cover to cover. However, you must be kidding with “A Failed Culture of Safety” (Cause & Circumstance, February 2011, page 53). The copilot feathers both engines, thus crashing the airplane, and corporate culture is the culprit? OK, maybe there were some problems with Quest’s corporate safety culture, but this particular accident doesn’t seem to have been caused by them.
The flight was to be a simple aerial photography mission over a large expansion construction project at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (BWI). The Bell 206B maneuvered over the work area at about 400 ft. AGL. However, soon after slowing to a hover, the helicopter did a rapid 180-deg. right turn around the mast, stopped momentarily, then continued its clockwise spin. According to one witness, the helicopter continued in a descending turn until striking the ground violently, killing both the pilot and photographer.
Notably, the pilots involved in our 30-accident study were executing maneuvers quite common in everyday operations when LTE brought them down. The following accident summaries are presented to help pilots better understand this phenomenon and the common scenarios in which it can occur. Hover Out of Ground Effect (HOGE) Dec. 30, 2008, Panama City, Fla. Aircraft: Schweizer 309C Injuries: None
