Canada's CHC Helicopter went private Sept.16, sold to First Reserve Corp., a large private equity investor in the energy industry. First Reserve agreed in February to pay C$3.7 billion to buy Vancouver-based CHC -- a nearly 50-percent premium to the company's stock price. Upon closing the sale, CHC shares were delisted and will no longer be traded publicly. CHC is expected to have C$1.3 billion in revenue this year, up from C$1 billion in 2006.
In response to high demand, jetAVIVA is expanding its Jet Familiarization Training program to include pre-type rating training in the Cessna Citation Mustang. The JFT program is built to allow pilots to achieve four primary goals: become a safe jet pilot; gain experience in a very light jet; excel during type rating training and (if applicable) help determine which VLF is right for each customer. The training is offernd in three packages: basic, intermediate and advanced, providing 10.5, 25 and 45 hours of flight time, respectively.
Corsair Aviation of St. Paul, Minn., has purchased ACM Aviation from the San Jose Jet Center, a subsidiary of Atlantic Aviation. Corsair is an aviation holding company whose principal operating companies are JetChoice and Capitol Wings.
Embraer opened its first U.S. business jet service center, inaugurating a 47,700-square-foot (4,431-square-meter) hangar at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport, in Mesa, Ariz., Sept. 25. The new facility at the former Williams Air Force Base will service Embraer's Phenom 100 and 300 and the Legacy 450, 500 and 600 executive jets. The new $10 million facility consists of a hangar, workshops and office space. Embraer expects to create approximately 60 jobs there over the next five years. The first employees completed Phenom 100 service training at the end of September.
When Henry F. S. Morgan built his first motorcar in 1909, he designed it with three wheels instead of the conventional four. The single rear wheel delivers the power to the road, while the front two steer the car exactly as a four-wheel automobile's do. In the decades following (until 1952, when production ceased) he improved the little two-seater and kept the price cheap.
*United Airlines Capt. "Pat" Boling flew a V-tail Bonanza tanked with 402 gallons of avgas 7,090 miles from Manila to Pendleton, Ore., in 46 hours. It was the longest nonmilitary overwater flight in history.
The sound a helicopter makes in flight can affect people in different ways, depending upon their point of view. If you're an accident or flood victim or a wounded GI waiting to be evacuated, it can be the sweetest music you'll ever hear. But if you are communing with nature in the Grand Canyon or working in the gardens on your Sag Harbor estate, violation of your treasured quiet can summon demons.
Nextant Aerospace has added several options to its Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 Beechjet 400A/XP retrofit package. Available options include a second multifunction display, an integrated flight information system, XM broadcast graphical weather or Universal weather services, TCAS II, AHRS-3000S, GPS-4000S, Doppler turbulence detection weather radar, RTU-4200 radio tuning unit, DBU-5000 database loader and CDU-6200 control display unit.
I was most interested to read Nina Anderson's letter highlighting the potential dangers of unauthorized use of mobile telephones in flight (July, page 12). In relation to the recent Boeing 777 accident at London Heathrow, it had crossed my mind that some sort of interference to the fuel control software could have been generated by the use of a mobile telephone. This followed my reading in February of a U.K.
Several months ago I received a phone call from a friend, a business pilot, who informed me he had decided to resign his position for something better. He had advanced within his Blue Chip flight department from a support role to become an international captain with a bright future, but now he was done. He said his options included accepting a first officer position with the international branch of a fractional operation or a captaincy with a large flight department across town. Why the move, I asked.
*West Star Aviation, Dallas, announced that Susie Corn has been appointed operations manager at the Dallas Love Field facility. She will be responsible for all maintenance, avionics and customer service and support operations.
By the mid-1980s, Cessna knew it needed a successor to the Citation III, its first midsize aircraft. The 1982 model offered a cabin with 5.5-foot width, 5.7-foot height and 18.4-foot length, which provided considerably more comfort for six to eight passengers than Cessna's narrow-fuselage light jets. The Citation III also featured a moderately swept, super-critical wing that made possible 450 KTAS cruise speeds, fuel-efficient TFE731 turbofans, trailing-link main landing gear for smooth touchdowns and hot-wing anti-ice, plus advanced systems.
Mobile Edge has introduced checkpoint friendly laptop cases designed to help move traveling computer users through airport luggage checks more quickly. Airport screeners can X-ray a laptop while still inside its bag. The new ScanFast Collection meets TSA requirements. All three cases (backpack, briefcase messenger bag) accommodate popular models of laptops and are covered by the Mobile Edge lifetime warranty. Price: $99.99 Mobileedge 1150 North Miller St. Anaheim,CA 92806 (714) 339-1400
*Satcom Direct Communications, Inc., Satellite Beach. Fla., has chosen Tony Queenan as its new vice president of sales. He will be responsible for government and military sales into the aviation and land-mobile markets.
Almost 50, an aviator for more than half my life -- many of those years in noisy cockpits and long before hearing protection was a real concern -- it's probable that my hearing isn't exactly "perfect" anymore. In addition, many of the hobbies and side tasks I do at home involve operating tractors, chain saws and other loud machinery and have probably added to the hearing damage. And then there is the matter of age . . .
Satcom Direct, a Satellite Beach, Fla.-based provider of satellite voice, fax and Internet data services, is expanding its Internet reach thanks to the launch of a new Inmarsat satellite. Satcom Direct said the Aug. 18 launch of the Inmarsat-4 F3 spacecraft will allow the company to provide mobile broadband Internet services to business, general aviation, military and government markets worldwide. Before the launch, the company's mobile broadband services covered 85 percent of the world's landmass. The network now covers the globe, including aircraft in flight.
In past stories, we've polled schedulers and dispatchers to compile lists of trips you've found challenging, coupling the results with this advice: Tap the talents and experience of a good flight support provider when you're heading off the beaten track. So it seems only logical to survey the leading providers' experts for their perspective. While there is a good deal of agreement between operators and service providers on many destinations, the opinions of the providers offer some surprises -- or at least differences.
Australian accident investigators say the failure of an oxygen bottle caused the fuselage rupture of a Qantas Boeing 747-400 on July 25. Significantly, the highly regarded Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has no idea how the failure can be prevented from happening again -- particularly since the bottle fell into the sea and thus cannot be examined. "There's nothing at this stage that the ATSB can identify that could have been done to prevent this," said investigator Julian Walsh. "We don't really know why the bottle failed.
According to European Business Aviation Association President Brian Humphries, the most common navigation error committed by business aviation operators -- especially those visiting the U.K. and the Continent from North America -- is "level busts," or missing the assigned altitude either because of sloppy flying or misunderstanding of the region's admittedly confusing transition altitude system.
Making the transition as quickly as possible to the NextGen air traffic control system is one of several recommendations made in a new energy task force report by the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE). NextGen will greatly enhance operating efficiency and safety, while reducing delays and unnecessary energy consumption, said the Sept. 3 report. The report also called for expanding exploration and development of U.S.
Steve Brown, NBAA vice president, operations, believes the Emissions Trading Scheme passed in July by the European Parliament is "unkind to all of aviation," not just the business aviation community.
The rising inventory of used business jets "portends a major deterioration in the new aircraft market quite soon," a JPMorgan market analysis warned Sept 4. "Let there be no doubt the used market is rapidly falling apart, which should lead to a deteriorating market for new aircraft in short order," the report said. It noted that used aircraft inventories were at the highest level since September 2003, "representing the seventh monthly increase in a row" and that 19 of 23 tracked models had higher inventories, including Gulfstream.
Delta AirElite Business Jets says it is the first charter operator of a 2008 Dassault Falcon 7X aircraft in the United States. The 6,000-nm airplane was added to the company's charter fleet in September and is based in the Rocky Mountain region. In addition to the 7X, Delta AirElite, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, said it has added several other aircraft to its fleet since the beginning of the year, including its second Gulfstream G550, fourth Bombardier Learjet 45 and a Cessna Citation CJ2+.
*CRS Jet Spares, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., announced that Kirk Meissner is the new sales representative for Oklahoma and Ron Holt will support Illinois and South Carolina.
