Embraer delivered a Lineage 1000 executive jet in early September to the Al Habtoor Group of Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The aircraft is to be managed and operated by Royal Jet, based in Abu Dhabi, UAE. The deal was originally announced in July 2008.
Private aviation company and Embraer Phenom jet operator, Executive AirShare of Kansas City, Mo., launched an enhanced website, “www.execairshare.com” that includes news and information about its regional fractional aircraft ownership programs and a trip cost estimator, enabling aviators to estimate round-trip costs from Executive’s regional bases to any city in North America.
AgustaWestland has delivered the first of four AW119Ke single-engine helicopters to the Finnish Border Guard to perform various missions, including border patrol, special operations and firefighting.
Air traffic controller trainees at the FAA academy in Oklahoma City are already learning to use NextGen satellite-based technology. “It’s our future,” Lindy Ritz, administrator of the FAA Academy told the Oklahoman newspaper. Initial ADS-B operational capability has been achieved over the Gulf of Mexico under the control of Houston ARTCC.
Sandel’s HeliTAWS has won TSO approval from the FAA. The helicopter terrain safety system incorporates Sandel Avionics’ proprietary TrueAlert technology, which is designed to eliminate nuisance alerts, a significant problem with existing terrain-warning products that limits their usefulness in helicopter operations. With TrueAlert, Sandel claims that pilots can safely take off, cruise, hover and land at off-airport locations without triggering nuisance alerts, while still receiving the benefits of Class-A terrain warnings during the entire flight.
The Challenger 604 has 3,700-plus nm range, a cabin with a commodious cross section, good payload and good fuel efficiency. This also is an aircraft that has jetliner-like features that are well suited to transoceanic missions, including a split-bus AC electrical system, triple-redundant hydraulic system, fully powered flight controls and dual ACM packs. From 1996 to 2006, Bombardier delivered 366 of these versatile large-cabin aircraft.
Textron’s Bell Helicopter announced its Bell 429 won certification of a Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) permitting a 9-deg. glidepath on LPV approaches at a minimum velocity for instrument procedures (Vmini) of 45 kt. , which allows point-in-space approaches to as low as 250 ft. the company says.
There are people way behind the eight ball . . . in panic mode. There is a whole list of issues, and operators are fed up. They say, ‘Here’s another regulation. It takes time. It takes money. Why do I need it? I haven’t had an accident.’” The speaker is one of the many who deal with the safety management system (SMS) issue on a daily basis. And no operator wants to go on record expressing anything negative on the subject. “It sounds as if we’re against safety,” as one put it.
Pan Am International Flight Academy acquired the training and simulator assets of Miami-based Aeroservice Aviation Center, the company announced Sept. 15. Aeroservice’s simulators will be integrated into Pan Am’s system and positioned where they most effectively serve customers. Aeroservice’s Miami training center will become Pan Am’s seventh training facility and will operate under Pan Am’s FAR Part 142 certificate. Pan Am, with the exception of a Cessna Caravan simulator in Memphis, focuses on heavy-iron training.
A Sensis Corp. team has advice for airport officials who want more capacity. Matthew Blake, director of strategic initiatives for advanced development at Sensis said, “New vehicles are the mechanism to do that.” Five aircraft types: cruise-efficient STOL transports, large commercial tiltrotors, UASs, VLJs and SSTs have potential for a strong impact at airports in urban areas, including major hubs and surrounding regional airports,
DART Helicopter Services (DHS), a distributor of certified helicopter accessories, and Hawker Pacific Aerospace have signed an agreement that will give DHS the capability to offer its complete inventory to operators in Hawker Pacific’s markets (Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Dubai), supplementing its operations in North and South America, Europe, Japan, China and Singapore. DART Helicopter Services www.darths.com Hawker Pacific Aerospace www.hawker.com
As the northern hemisphere slips into the cold seasons, cautious pilots will review the ice protection information located in their airplane’s documentation (AFM, POH, etc.) and their company’s winter operating procedures. Ice destroys lift and chokes off power. Ice takes down large aircraft and small. Ice is insidious. Small amounts of barely visible ice on a modern high-performance wing can glue your airplane to the ground and send you rolling off the end of the departure runway at takeoff velocity with no options and lousy prospects.
Nextant Aerospace expected to fly its remanufactured Beechjet 400 for the first time in early September, and the Cleveland-area company anticipates certification of the upgraded light jet during first quarter 2011.
She seemed frail and delicate, but was alert throughout the proceedings, which her bright eyes followed with keen interest. At the tables filling the ballroom sat a mixture of young, less young and middle-aged, with an ample portion of white-haired or bald-domed seniors, some stooped, some hard of hearing, but all smiling, clearly glad to be there. This was the Wichita Aero Club’s second annual dinner dance and the evening’s highlight was the inaugural presentation of the club’s trophy to Mrs. Velma Wallace, the diminutive nonagenarian sitting opposite me.
Sorry to say, but if your aircraft is equipped with a multifunction display (MFD), it may be impossible to use the CAL control effectively. That's because MFD designers are ignorant of the many things a radar will do in the hands of a savvy pilot. They seem to assume radar gets used only when storms are about. They don't understand it can be used to back up VORs, GPS, GPWS, TAWS, aircraft attitude and even aircraft altitude agl.
A bonus depreciation provision, supported by Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) would cover certain business equipment purchases in 2010, including general aviation aircraft. To qualify for bonus depreciation aircraft must be placed into service by the end of 2011. The measure would enable a business to take an additional 50% depreciation on a capital investment in the first year, rather that over a five-year period.
Back in the stone age of aviation maintenance, it was not uncommon to have a huge inventory of spare parts in the hangar. OEMs were not as efficient at stocking parts and turnaround times were often long and unpredictable. The best part about having of all those parts was the ability to swap them out to troubleshoot maintenance problems. It was called the shotgun approach — fire wildly and hope you hit the right target. The days of keeping so many parts on the shelf are long gone.
AgustaWestland’s new AW169 twin, powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210 turboshaft engines is scheduled for first delivery in 2015. The company hopes to sell 1,000 units of the helicopter into the government and emergency medical services markets over 20 years. The AW169 is designed to fill a gap in the Italian manufacturer’s product line between the AW139 and the Grand. The new model has a design weight of just over 9,900 lb, measuring about 39 ft. long and 5.6 ft. wide.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association board of directors has approved Duncan Aviation and Greenwich AeroGroup as its newest members, bringing the international trade association’s membership to 69.
Jack DeCrane, who had managed merger and acquisition activities for the Aerospace and Defense Group of BF Goodrich, set up his own venture to acquire aircraft suppliers in 1989. That company, DeCrane Aerospace, evolved in to a major supplier of business aircraft cabin products with projected 2010 sales of $170 million. Along the way he acquired auxiliary fuel system maker and completion company, PATS Aircraft Systems. Jack DeCrane died in 1979. Now, coming full circle, DeCrane Holdings has agreed to sell off its interior fittings business to Goodrich.
Linear Air acquired a fifth Eclipse 500 jet, making the VLJ jet-taxi charter service the largest exclusive operator of Eclipse aircraft in the United States. Linear Air, headquartered in Concord, Mass., also announced it is expanding its metropolitan New York presence with two Eclipse 500s based at the Million Air terminal at Westchester County Airport, allowing Linear Air to reduce or eliminate positioning costs and offer lower-priced on-demand service for customers in metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Hawker Beechcraft announced that its piston-twin Beechcraft Baron has become the only aircraft in its class to be approved for operations at London City Airport. Due to the airport’s city location and extremely steep (5.5 deg.) approach requirements, aircraft must demonstrate the necessary performance capabilities, including a 7.5-deg. approach, and receive approval from EASA and London City Airport to utilize the airport.
Everett, Wash.-based AeroMech Inc. is helping Mid-Continent Instruments of Wichita obtain an STC for the installation of Mid-Continent’s MD835 lithium ion battery in a variety of general aviation aircraft, including the Beech King Air 200 and 300 and several Citation models. AeroMech, which provides engineering consulting services, is overseeing the initial battery installation in a King Air 200.
The AOPA and NBAA will help their members make the most of their light general aviation aircraft as business tools this fall at each group’s annual convention. Speaking on “AOPA Live” at EAA AirVenture, AOPA President and CEO Craig L. Fuller and NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen unveiled the six forums that will be presented as the Light Business Airplane Conference at both the NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention, Oct. 19 to 21 in Atlanta, and the AOPA Aviation Summit, Nov. 11 to 13 in Long Beach, Calif.
