In March, the FAA reassured Eclipse EA500 operators, at least for the time being, that it is not grounding the aircraft in the wake of Eclipse Aviation’s Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy. All Eclipse operations including certification, production, service centers, training centers and dealers are shut down. Initially it was thought that ETIRC Aviation, Eclipse Aviation’s largest shareholder, would bring the OEM out of bankruptcy and restart operations, but it is evidently unable to come up with necessary financing — sparking creditors to demand liquidation.
True to its word, Bombardier is maintaining its commitment to the all-composite Learjet 85. Since announcing in September 2008 it was dropping composite-expert Grob from the program, Bombardier has brought the project completely in-house — transferring detail design, structural certification, prototype manufacture and initial production from the German firm to its own plants and even starting from scratch with a different composite lay-up process.
Michael Garvey, son of the editor of this magazine, flies a helicopter for the U.S. Coast Guard out of a base in Alaska and knows all about operations in low visibility. NVGs are a routine part of his life, and the USCG has extensive experience with the devices.
“Jet sales are no longer in a cool-down mode. This industry has been pickled,” declared Carl Janssens, author of the Aircraft Bluebook’s Marketline newsletter. Values for virtually all jets and turboprops are declining or, at best, stable, according to the spring 2009 edition of the publication.
Seattle-based Raisbeck Engineering has won Brazilian and European Aviation Safety Agency certification of its increased gross weight Epic package for Beechcraft King Air C90s and C90GTs. Brazilian and European operators of these twin turboprops now are able to benefit from a gross weight increase to 10,500 pounds, which provides operators with an extra 400 to 850 pounds of fuel and/or payload. The heavier-weight Epic performance package includes Raisbeck/Hartzell 93-inch quiet turbofan propellers and dual aft-body strakes.
International Communication Group (ICG) , Newport News, Va., has restructured its sales organization. Armin Jabs, ICG’s president and chief operating officer, will oversee the private label and new market development segment. He will be assisted by Bryan Trainum, who holds the new position of director of new business development. Jeff Saucedo, vice president, product sales, will lead the OEM and Completion Center sales effort, assisted by Andrew Mayfield as senior sales coordinator.
Northern Jet Management , Grand Rapids, Mich., has promoted Rick Hansen to chief pilot. John Snyder was promoted to captain and Kip Catlin has been given IOE responsibilities with the flight crew team in additional to his captain duties.
FAA career executive Lynne A. Osmus replaced Robert A. Sturgell Jan. 20 as acting FAA administrator. A 30-year agency veteran, Osmus had been the agency’s liaison with the Obama transition team. In one of his final acts before leaving office, Sturgell approved a contract for Thales ATM to install and test a low-cost ground surveillance system that could improve runway safety at small to medium-sized airports. Other similar contracts will be awarded soon, the agency said. Thales ATM is based in Shawnee, Kan.
NetJets Europe in February agreed to buy Egelsbach Airport just south of Frankfurt International Airport to improve its access to the German banking capital and the economically important Rhein/Main region. NetJets says slot scarcity at Frankfurt International drove the decision. Roughly two-thirds of requests for slots are turned down if submitted one day before, making the region “underrepresented” in the NetJets network,
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas set a Feb. 19 deadline for bids in the auction of Coppell, Texas-based aftermarket supplier Superior Air Parts, a Thielert subsidiary. Superior sells parts for Teledyne and Avco engines as well as other aircraft companies. Superior Air Parts filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in late December 2008 as part of an agreement for Textron unit Avco Corp. to buy Superior’s assets from Thielert for $11.5 million in cash.
NBAA says recently proposed fire supression guidelines from the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) could adversely impact general aviation hangars across the country. The proposed guidelines would require all Type III hangars (those greater than 12,000 square feet, with hangar doors no more than 28 feet high) to install foam fire suppression systems. The NBAA wants members to contact the NFPA and request an extension to the March 6 comment deadline, so the industry can better understand the proposed requirements.
— At 1409 CST, a Sikorsky S-76C++ (N748P), registered to and operated by Petroleum Helicopters, Inc. (PHI), crashed into marshy terrain approximately seven minutes after takeoff and 12 miles southeast of Lake Palourde Base Heliport (7LS3), in Amelia, La. Both pilots and six of the seven passengers on board were killed. One person was critically injured. The helicopter departed 7LS3, a PHI base, en route to the South Timbalier oil platform ST301B to transport workers from two different oil exploration companies. No flight plan was filed, nor was one required.
Henry “Hank” G. Beaird, Jr. , well-known test pilot and World War II pilot, died on Feb. 2 in Dallas. He was 84. Beaird received his U.S. Army Air Forces commission and wings in 1944 when he was 19. He was stationed in New Guinea with the 3rd Air Commando Group and flew P-51s and C-47s. After the war Beaird finished his aeronautical engineering degree and went to work for Chance Vought and flew for the Texas Air National Guard. He and his wife, Rosalind, moved to Long Island, N.Y., and later Lancaster, Calif., where he flew the first production model of the Republic F105.
- launching a new initiative “to address misinformation on the business use of general aviation aircraft and to provide a more accurate picture of the value of business aircraft. We think it’s time the other side of the story be told, and that support be given to those businesses with the good judgment and courage to use business aviation to not only help their businesses survive the current financial crisis, but more quickly forge a path toward an economic upturn,” said Cessna Chairman, President and CEO Jack J. Pelton. Cessna is a Textron company.
Aviation technology provider AircraftLogs and Aircraft Spruce and Specialty Co. have partnered to market aircraft management packages and online pilot logbooks. The Aircraft Management Package provides private pilots and aircraft owners with a complete and secure management system via the Internet. It includes online logbooks, currency alerts, user-defined maintenance tracking, reporting tools and more. AircraftLogs has added Automatic Flight Posting to its product to allow any IFR flight to be automatically recorded. 4389 International Gateway
Excellent January Viewpoint (“Without Apology,” page 7) but I believe your call for assertive action has both near- and long-term components of equal importance.
Michelle A. James (Universal Avionics Systems Corp.)
Excellent Viewpoint in the January Business & Commercial Aviation. I agree with your points, and this has been a topic of conversation here at Universal as of late.
Price indexes recently released by Vref Publishing — the Shawnee Mission, Kan.-based business aircraft market research firm— reflect how precipitously values for older, previously owned, turbine-powered aircraft have declined in recent months. First quarter 2009 composite prices for benchmark used business turboprops and the three classes of used corporate turbojets have declined roughly 20 percent during the last year. Vref has been tracking prices for these aircraft since 1995.
Flexjet 25 Jet Card Program, operated by Jet Solutions, has introduced new features. The Flexjet 25 split-payment options provide card owners with the benefit of dividing the purchase price of a 25-, 30- or 35-hour jet card into two equal payments. The first half of the payment is made at the time of purchase. The second half is due after six months or upon scheduling more than half of the purchased flight hours.
Walter Hansen , a career corporate aircraft mechanic, died on January 17. He worked as a mechanic for Union Carbide from 1969 to 1971, as director of maintenance for McDonald Corp. from 1971 to 1982 and as director of maintenance for Digital Equipment in Bedford, Mass., until his retirement in 1998.
Air Culinaire and Morton’s Restaurant Group are taking inflight fine dining to a new high through a partnership that will offer Morton’s steaks and cuisine to private aviation clients and passengers. Aviation Customers in 12 of Air Culinaire’s 14 U.S. markets will have the option of placing orders for select Morton’s menu offerings, with a minimum of 24 hours notice. Air Culinaire will coordinate the logistics, packaging, delivery and onboard service of each Morton’s order. Air Culinaire 6525 Busch Blvd. Ste. 200
I’d been yelling at the television and pounding on the newspapers day after day. The business jet had suddenly become the whipping boy for all the world’s ills, and the righteous blather emanating from Washington, talking heads, columnists and editorial pages around the country was myopic, one sided and unchallenged. I was fed up with the quick, thoughtless castigation, the posturing pols hoping for sound bites on CNN, and the rampant hypocrisy that was doing real damage to good people in a vital transportation segment. This was madness. It was fight back.
The federal government has indicted six people associated with the Feb. 2, 2005, accident when a chartered Challenger 600 failed to take off from Teterboro Airport and ran off the runway, through a fence, across a highway and slammed into a building. The accident triggered an FAA audit of now-defunct Platinum Jet Management that revealed it had a licensing agreement with Darby Aviation to use the Challenger and its FAR Part 135 certificate, but that Darby was to keep operational control of the aircraft.
