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
Textron’s Bell Helicopter announced its 100th commercial helicopter delivery in India. ABIR Infrastructure Private Ltd. received the keys to a Bell 412 during the India Aviation air show in November. ABIR Managing Director K. Gnyandeep said, “ABIR is experiencing rapid growth with an established name in multiple business lines in India.
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.
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].
Proposed Rules Embraer EMB-135BJ airplanes — Revise the “Airworthiness Limitations” section of the “Instructions for Continued Airworthiness” to incorporate new maintenance inspections of the aircraft’s fuel tank system.
Business Aviation entered the jet age last September and B/CA went along for the ride. A couple of weeks after industrialist-pilot Henry Timken Jr. checked out in his Beech MS 760 in six hours, I rode in this first business-designed jet with Tom Gillespie, Beech MS 760 project sales engineer. At $210,000 (including handling equipment, tools, small spares, crew training), the 760 is the only business jet delivered in the United States.
Mike Yodice, one of the partners of Capital Jet Group, the McLean, Va.-based business aircraft brokerage firm, says activity “is slower than it has been.” Established in 1994, Capital Jet Group has sold all types of turbine-powered business airplanes, from King Airs to BBJs, to a roughly equal number of U.S. and international clients, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to privately held concerns.
CAE , Montreal, has appointed Sebastien Caire as vice president, Asia and Australasia and Suzanne Roy was named vice president, India. Bill Dolny has been named vice president and general manager of CAE’s Dallas training center; Michael Fedele is the new vice president and general manager of the Morristown, N.J. center. Dolny and Fedele will report to Tom Stelter, who was named vice president, CAE Training, Service and Innovation, North America.
Rockwell Collins recently participated in a flight demonstration to fly European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) approaches in Europe. The company’s FMS and GPS-4000S GPS receiver were on board an Air Nostrum-operated Bombardier CRJ-200 for the demo.
It was around 8 p.m. on March 21, 2001. We had departed Anchorage en route to the New Tokyo Airport — “Narita” to most pilots — 30 minutes earlier. The weather was clear and the setting sun washed soft light over the gorgeous Alaskan wilderness 37,000 feet below. A line check airman, I was training a new first officer on the nuances of the MD-11’s flight management computer when a call came over VHF No. 2, which was tuned to 121.5. The voice asked if anyone was on the frequency. “Aircraft calling on 121.5, this is FedEx 17,” I immediately responded.
spidertracks, a satellite tracking solutions company, announced that it has reached an agreement with Cessna Aircraft Co. to have its new product distributed through Cessna’s global aircraft support network. The system is made up of a spider-tracking device that combines satellite communication and GPS technology in one small portable device that does not require an external antenna.
Picture a wooded hillside so steep and craggy with giant boulders that it would be an effort to climb on foot. Got it? Now picture Paul Beattie (pronounced BATE-ey) heading toward it in a four-wheel drive buggy that looks like Bigfoot the monster truck had its way with a moon rover. And he’s going fast. Racing, in fact. Welcome to the fast-growing sport of extreme rock racing, the most competitive form of off-road motor sports there is.
Brigitte Vola says she’s just following in her family’s footsteps. Her grandfather and her father were firefighters — her dad was even the chief of his department back when Brigitte was growing up in Florida. When Vola, a registered nurse and certified EMT who works as a medical communications center representative for air ambulance operator AirMed, moved to Alabama to attend nursing school, she found that something was lacking: She missed being an EMT, a role she’d performed in Florida.
Stevens Aviation (Greenville, SC) — Dana R. Arnold has been named president of the aviation service company’s Business Jet Sales division. Arnold joins Stevens after 17 years with Learjet, where he was vice president of U.S. sales. Infinity Aviation Named Russian Sales Rep for EADS Socata
Any temporary dip in the price of jet fuel may tempt some folks to forget that a return to $7 to $10 per gallon Jet-A could follow a recovery from the record world economic slump. Should that happen, the Piaggio P180 Avanti will become even more attractive than it is today.
Two companies developing re-engined Citation IIs have recently achieved milestones in their efforts to retrofit early models of the Cessna light jet with William International FJ44 powerplants.
Bell Helicopter parent Textron announced that it will expand its operations in Mexico through an agreement with the state of Chihuahua to develop and build a new manufacturing facility. Textron International Mexico (TIM) is to manufacture “various minor assemblies, structural elements and wire bundles” for the Bell 429 helicopter. Once work is completed in Mexico, the parts will be shipped to Textron’s Quebec helicopter manufacturing operation at Mirabel for final assembly.
Citing the breathtaking pace of business aircraft deliveries, West Star Aviation of Alton, Ill., just announced it is constructing a $6 million facility at Columbia, S.C., Metropolitan Airport to increase its capacity for maintenance, modifications and avionics upgrades. The Columbia facility along with the company’s site in Grand Junction, Colo., will report as one when it comes to finances. The company also has a repair and service facility in Dallas.
New owners of the former Adam A700 program believe the all-composite VLJ is back on track for certification by mid-2010. Testing has resumed, and the FAA has agreed that tests performed by Adam are still valid, reducing the work remaining, says Jack Braly, the industry veteran installed as president and CEO of Adam’s new owner, AAI Acquisitions, which is backed by Russian private equity firms Industrial Investors and Kaskol. AAI Acquisitions says it has retained more than 50 of the original team from bankrupt Adam as it works to restart the program.
