The Phenom 300 is fitted with two 3,360-pound-thrust, FADEC-equipped PW535E engines that provide competitive takeoff field performance and the capability to climb directly to FL 450 at MTOW. The engine is a close relative of the PW535 fitted to the Citation Encore/Encore+, so it has been well proven in line service.
Conklin & de Decker’s latest Aircraft Performance Comparator is now available. According to the company it is the most comprehensive and easy to use performance comparison tool and now includes some of the latest aircraft that are still in development. The Aircraft Performance Comparator allows the user to overlay and compare aircraft interiors and exteriors with critical performance data that comes directly from the manufacturer’s approved flight and performance manuals. Price (CD only): Jets, $695; Turboprops, $595; Helicopters, $595; Pistons, $450
Universal Aviation China’s Jimmy Young provided the following country data for operators headed to the Peoples Republic of China. Commonly Used International Entry and Exit Points for China Northeast Region: ARGUK POLHO INTIK NIXAL AGAVO Southeast Region: LAMEN SADLI BEKOL TAMOT SIERRA SICOU Southwest Region: TEBAK KATBO SAGAG LINSO Northwest Region: PURPA REVKI SARIN GOPTO MORIT Popular Tourist Airports Not Open to Foreign-registered Aircraft ZULS Lasa Gongga Airport
The People’s Republic of China may own Hong Kong and its associated island of Macao, but whenever any of Chris Buchholz’s Metrojet pilots file for a flight to the mainland, they are treated like any other “foreign” operator.
Cobham Avionics, Mineral Wells, Texas, formerly S-TEC Corp., has FAA Organization Designation Authorization for STC projects. As part of ODA, the FAA delegates an organization the authority to perform its own certifications. This designation is the second such for a Cobham business unit; in 2008, Chelton Flight Systems, now also known as Cobham Avionics, was certified for ODA.
As NASA prepares to shut down and raze wind tunnels used to test aircraft and space capsules for nearly eight decades, some are questioning whether the space agency is abdicating its role in the development of aeronautics, according to Aviation eBrief. The pending demolition is the latest in a series at Langley Research Center, Va., one of three NASA facilities with wind tunnels. At its height, notes the Hampton, Va. Daily Press, Langley had more than 50.
An FAA review is underway of an Aviation Rulemaking Committee’s recommendations on improving flight and duty time regulations. The ARC recommendations seem to be been limited to Part 121 and scheduled Part 135 operations. The on-demand Part 135 community had urged FAA to limit the scope of the ARC to scheduled service, and hopes the FAA will give consideration to recommendations offered by the Part 135/125 ARC for on-demand flight and duty time requirements. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt has stressed his intent to fast-track new flight and duty time rulemaking.
Comtran International, Inc., the Texas-based aviation company known best for its Boeing MD-80 hush kits and head-of-state aircraft completions, has received European Aviation Safety Agency certification of its Revolution Series 328, a 12-passenger VIP conversion of the Dornier 328JET. This approval will enable Comtran to sell the aircraft to operators in Europe and other regions where EASA certification is required.
The CEO and the chief financial officer of Honeywell Aerospace have left the company for greener pastures. Honeywell Aerospace CEO Rob Gillette left to head First Solar, an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar and photovoltaic modules, Honeywell said in a statement. CFO Bob Hau is leaving to be CFO of Lennox International, a Texas-based heating and cooling equipment manufacturer, that company announced. Honeywell has appointed Tim Mahoney to lead its aerospace division. Mahoney was formerly chief technology officer of Honeywell Aerospace.
Amid a round of layoffs at Cirrus Aircraft, the company confirmed that co-founder Alan Klapmeier was no longer involved with the company. Klapmeier had not come to terms with Cirrus on a plan to acquire the Cirrus Vision Jet program, and he left when his contract as board chairman expired in August.
The Aircraft Electronics Association believes that the FAA potential rulemaking requiring repair stations, air carriers and manufacturers to develop and implement safety management systems (SMS) is imposing a significant additional burden without any financial, administration or administrative benefit to AEA members. The association is encouraging its members and the aviation industry to respond in that tenor to the FAA call for public comments. Read the AEA regulatory update and commentary at the association’s Web site. The comment deadline is Oct. 21, 2009.
That photograph on your driver’s license is probably your least favorite likeness, but the chances are it never affected you the way Joshua Doyle’s did. His driver’s license portrait changed his life.
Peter Smales, a former executive director of group sales and managing director (Europe) for ExecuJet, has returned to the United Kingdom to head a new business sales and services company, Indigo Lyon, which is headquartered in Windsor, Berkshire, England. The privately owned, limited liability company will specialize in international sales of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and also be involved in spare parts brokerage, consultancy, program planning and execution management.
Are executive/VIP-configured turboprop transports a trend? ATR announced that the Royal Thai Air Force took delivery of its first VIP-configured ATR turboprop transport yesterday (Sept. 9), ATR announced. The ATR 72-500 is the first of four VIP ATR’s ordered in 2007 with a VIP cabin interior and optional front passenger door. The RTAF VIP fleet mission is to transport the Thai royal family and government and military officials.
Denver International Airport (DIA) is jumping on the green bandwagon with a plan to build a solar electricity system to power its fuel farm. The airport is asking the Denver City Council for approval to build the $7 million photovoltaic project. The system would sit on nine acres north of the airfield and would generate 1.6 megawatts of power, enough to provide 100 percent of the airport’s fuel farm electricity consumption.
General Dynamics, Savannah, Ga., named Richard McMillion general manager of the General Dymanics Aviation Services facility at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, replacing Brian Waymire, who has returned to Gulfstream headquarters in Savannah.
What does “current” mean when you are dealing with aircraft maintenance? There’s more than one definition, since the correct response depends on whether you are maintaining an aircraft under FAR Part 91, 121 or 135.
College Park (Md.) Airport, the country’s oldest continually running airport, turns 100 on Oct. 8. The airport was created in 1909 when the Wright brothers, who had been contracted to provide training for U.S. Army officers to fly their military flyer, selected as their training field a site near College Park, home of the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland, in College Park.
Available business jet inventories dropped 2 percent in June after 18 straight months of increases, according to a recent report from financial services company UBS. Despite the June decline, available inventories still are 48-percent higher from the prior year and represent 17 percent of the installed base, according to the UBS Business Jet Update. The report estimated that a total of 2,999 business jets were available for sale at the end of June: 2,838 used aircraft and 161 new delivery positions.
Richard T. Santulli, the mathematician who conceptualized and then oversaw the development of NetJets Inc. into the largest operator of business jets in the world, resigned as chairman and CEO of the Berkshire Hathaway-owned company, Aug. 4. “After 25 years of working with the most talented group of people I could ever have imagined, who helped build the premiere aviation company in the world, I have decided to step down as chairman and CEO of NetJets . . . in order to spend some more time with my young family and pursue other interests,” he said.
Here’s the nightmare scenario: With earning reports due soon, the quarter looks awful. Wall Street will flay the CEO, and board members are wearing facial expressions of a group charged with high crimes. Somewhere down around item 13 on the meeting’s agenda is this brief item: “Terminate aircraft activity.”
