Some repair and overhaul shops, sensing opportunity, are providing attractive package deals to turboprop owners and operators. By combining a scheduled heavy inspection with an avionics upgrade, a new interior and new paint — plus maybe an engine upgrade to boot — a shop can roll out the virtual equivalent of a new aircraft at a fraction of the factory cost.
The NTSB is scheduling a three-day hearing on Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) safety beginning Feb. 3 at the Safety Board’s Washington DC headquarters. Representatives from the FAA and the EMS community, including pilots and medical personnel and managers, will gather to discuss flight operations, aircraft, training and oversight.
XOJET , San Carlos, Calif., announced that Holly Nelson has joined the company as senior vice president, finance and controller; Jerry Joondeph is senior vice president and general counsel; Jim Prebil is senior vice president and chief information officer; and Theodore Botimer is senior vice president, systems.
Four general aviation advocates lost their bids to return to the House of Representatives in the November congressional elections. Reps. Robin Hayes (R-N.C.), Nick Lampson (D-Texas), Randy Kuhl (R-N.Y.) — all members of the aviation subcommittee — and Rep. Jon Porter (R-Nev.), a former subcommittee member who jumped to the House Ways and Means Committee, all lost hotly contested races. On the plus side, Reps. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), the subcommittee chair. and Thomas Petri (R-Wis.) the senior Republican on the panel, both won re-election handily.
The FAA noted a major milestone in the shift from ground-based to satellite-based navigation. The number of published WAAS-based Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) approach procedures has surpassed the number of Category-1 ILS approach procedures. The tipping point came during September, the agency said. For the past 60 years, Category-I ILS has been used at airports throughout the National Airspace System (NAS) to guide aircraft to as low as 200 feet above touchdown.
AvFuel added Million Air of San Antonio (SAT) to its network of FBO-branded dealers. Million Air SAT completed a renovation of the facility in 2007 to expand amenities and services offered.
Cessna reports that it is still on course to begin deliveries of the Model 162 SkyCatcher during the second half of 2009. A mockup of the SkyCatcher was on display Nov. 6-8 during AOPA Expo at the San Jose (Calif.) McEnery Convention Center. This schedule matches the timeline announced when the light sport aircraft launched in July 2007. Major program development milestones achieved since then include prototype first flight March 8 and first flight of the first production model May 1.
He was brash, self-assured, independent, anti-war and full of big ideas. The daughter of an Air Force brigadier general, she was studious, serious, well ordered and clear about her post-college future as a college professor – a plan that did not include marriage for at least another ten years. And so naturally the two Indiana University undergrads fell hard for one another early and informed their surprised, respective families that they planned to marry.
Third quarter 2008 retail sales numbers collected by Amstat and distributed by the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) reflect the continuing slide of the used aircraft market. For the three-month period ending Sept. 30, jet resale transactions dropped 10.4 percent to 456, while the number of jets available for sale grew 14 percent to 2,136 aircraft. The number of months required to turn over the inventory climbed from 11 months as of the end of the second quarter to 14 months at the end of the third quarter.
During the course of this, Business & Commercial Aviation’s 50th anniversary year, we’ve published quite a lot of information pertaining to business aviation during our first, 1958. For those readers who have been noting the historical factoids, we’d like to reward you with BCA 50th Anniversary picture frames, as long as supplies last. To obtain yours, provide answers to the questions below and e-mail them, along with your address (and any comments that come to mind) to: [email protected].
Industrial Investors’ economic woes (see related item on page 13) will have repercussions beyond AAI Acquisition and Adam 700 development. The Russian firm also planned to buy Piper Aircraft, providing a much-needed cash infusion into the PiperJet development program. That investment now has been put on hold, according to AAI Acquisition insiders. Without a large-scale cash infusion from outside investors, it’s unlikely that Piper will be able to sustain its jet development program.
General Dynamics completed its approximately $2.18 billion acquisition of Zurich-based Jet Aviation Nov.5 from Dreamliner Lux S.a.r.l., a company controlled by the Permira Funds. The companies announced plans for the acquisition in August. The transaction gives General Dynamics a worldwide business-jet support flight-support services presence. Jet Aviation is one of the world’s leading business-aviation services companies. Approximately 5,600 Jet Aviation employees operate 25 airport facilities throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North and South America.
Industrial Investors, the Russian firm that bought the assets of bankrupt Adam Aircraft, has cut its monthly support from $6 million to $1 million because of the impact of the near-collapse of Russian capital markets that resulted in substantial margin calls, according to a highly placed source at AAI Acquisition. Rather than risk total collapse of AAI Acquisition, Jack Braly, president and CEO, announced a “strategic realignment” on Oct. 28 to keep the VLJ maker solvent.
For a total investment of about $3 million to $4 million, you can buy and equip a late model Beech King Air B200 so that it cruises faster, plus just as high and just as far as a $5.2 million 2009 Beech King Air B200GT. The rejuvenated King Air B200 can depart at its MTOW, climb directly to FL 350 in 26 minutes and cruise at 297 KTAS while burning 590 pph. Compared to a new King Air B200GT, that’s one minute quicker to FL 350 and 15 knots faster once level at that altitude.
While an overhaul facility like Stevens or Yingling may do the math when marketing its upgrades, Rockwell Collins applies a calculus to the determination of whether to proceed with an STC for Pro Line 21 packages. Because the company develops and holds ownership to all STCs in order to ensure performance of its products, this is no trivial exercise. John Peterson, the company’s manager of aftermarket marketing for business and regional systems, describes it this way:
Michimasa Fujino, the president and CEO of Honda Aircraft Co., Greensboro, N.C. is charged with the development, production and sales of a light business jet that will never be mistaken for another — the HondaJet. And it is most appropriate that he receive a Vision award because this unique aircraft and the new company created to produce it are direct results of his personal vision.
At a family reunion one Sunday afternoon in 1927, Clyde V. Cessna offered rides in his OX-5 Swallow to all comers. When the line formed, it was headed by Cessna’s 10-year-old nephew, Dwane Wallace. That airplane ride set the course of Wallace’s future career.
In the first few days after the onset of the worldwide financial crisis, business aircraft financing activity nearly ground to a halt. In October, Nicholas Chabraja, CEO of Gulfstream’s parent company, General Dynamics, reported that the absence of credit had “seized up” demand for business jets.
— A Piper PA-24-260, N8820P, was substantially damaged when it impacted trees and terrain while being vectored for an instrument approach to Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (CHO), Charlottesville, Va. Night VFR prevailed at the destination airport at the planned arrival time, and the pilot had filed an IFR flight plan. According to the FAA and Lockheed Martin Services (LMS) information, about 1633 the pilot telephoned LMS in order to obtain a weather briefing and file a flight plan.
DeCrane Aerospace , Georgetown, Del., named John A. Martin to vice president and general manager for PATS Aircraft Completions, a division of DeCrane.
French industrial group Daher will take over Socata by purchasing a 70-percent stake from EADS, which will retain a 30-percent share for the near future. The deal, which is expected to close in early 2009 barring unexpected regulatory obstacles, includes an agreement for Daher to have the first right to buy the remaining EADS stake if EADS decides to unload those shares after a three-year period, says Patrick Daher, chairman and CEO of the Daher Group. The sales price to privately owned Daher has not been disclosed.
BLR Aerospace, the Everett, Wash.-based developer of airframe aerodynamic enhancements, expects to receive FAA certification of winglets for King Air 90s early next year. Priced at $45,000, the airfoils will be installed at BLR’s network of dealers (which include many Hawker Beechcraft Services authorized locations), according to Dave Marone, the company’s vice president of sales and marketing.
While airlines are facing challenges in India, the market for luxury business jets is thriving, says a Falcon Jet official. “The business jet market in India is booming,” said J.P.H.P Chabriol, senior vice president-Dassault Aviation in an introduction to the company’s aerospace activities. Until recently, India had about a dozen of the Falcon family with the Tata group as its main customer. The company has now received 24 more Falcon orders. The business jet is now a business tool as opposed to a corporate status symbol, says a KPMG report.
2009 Jan. 11-15: American Association of Airport Executives 23rd Annual Aviation Issues Conference, Kona, Hawaii. (703) 824-0500. www.aaae.org Feb. 11-12: Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE) Forum 2009, Hong Kong. www.nbaa.org Feb. 18-19: NBAA Leadership Conference, Doubletree Hotel, New Orleans. www.nbaa.org March 6-7: PAMA 2009 Aviation Maintenance & Management Symposium, American Airlines Training and Conference Center, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. www.pama.org
