As the relentless process of FBO mergers and consolidation rolls on, Signature Flight Support has acquired the former Marathon Flight Services at Kissimmee Gateway Airport (ISM) in Florida. Signature's expansion to the new stop in central Florida near Walt Disney World was based on strong growth in the market there, the company said. (Signature is itself owned by London-based BBA Aviation.) Following the acquisition last summer, the company said it would be finishing a fuel farm project that was under way.
Executive Jet Management, Cincinnati, has appointed Charlie Hughes as vice president, aircraft management sales. Brent Smith was named chief financial officer.
Pending the output of Special Committee 203 of the RTCA, which has been charged with formulating technical specifications for UAVs in civil airspace, the FAA has been dealing with these unique aircraft (it prefers the UAS nomenclature) on an ad hoc basis. The feds have made it very clear that the guidance issued to hobbyists operating scale-model aircraft with radio controls, as found in Advisory Circular 91-57, does not extend to sheriff's departments or police chiefs who want to use pilot-less aircraft to search for perps in backyards before sending a patrolman in.
So far in this series reviewing aeronautical fundamentals, we've looked at factors that affect how an airplane behaves. (Board Time, July 2007, page 76; Energy Management and You, October 2007, page 76). Let's now look at some that we must consider when we want to stay up for extended periods as we head for somewhere far away. As we taxi our shiny business jet toward the end of the runway we look back at those wings, long and smooth, flexing slowly with the weight of a full load of Jet-A.
Bombardier Aerospace has launched a new fee-based support program for older Learjets and Challengers so it can focus on the needs of the operators of these so-called "classic aircraft" and provide "effective technical and service solutions."
The board of directors of Canadian aerospace and rail car manufacturer Bombardier in December 2007 approved the appointment of Pierre Beaudoin as president and CEO, continuing the Beaudoin family leadership of the company that has been controlled by the Bombardier family since its inception in the 1940s. Beaudoin will assume his new duties June 4, 2008, the date of the next annual shareholders meeting. His father, Laurent Beaudoin, 69, will continue as chairman of the board.
Ever wonder who creates the standards and specs that define aircraft avionics, electrical and software? Most of these standards come from working groups established by the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, or RTCA, Inc. Founded in 1935, the RTCA is a private, non-profit corporation that develops consensus-based recommend- ations regarding communications, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management system issues. RTCA functions as an advisory committee for the FAA and recommendations are used as the basis for policy, program and regulatory decisions.
The new, more powerful King Air B200GT is now FAA-certified, Hawker Beechcraft announced in December 2007. Featuring a 305-knot max cruise speed, the upgraded twin turboprop is nearly 20 knots faster and climbs faster to cruising altitudes than the King Air B200 it replaces. The upgraded aircraft was first announced in May. The aircraft is fitted with Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-52s, a model that mates the turbine section of the 1,050-shp PT6A-60A found on the King Air 350 with the existing King Air B200 PT6A-42 gearbox.
Of all the beneficiaries of the vibrant market for previously owned turbine-powered aircraft, perhaps none has reaped the benefits of the heightened interest in used, high-end business jets as much as Aero Toy Store. The Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company specializes in long-range, wide-body corporate airplanes that were built in this decade. However, it also purchases brand-new aircraft, has them completed and then sells them to end users. When all the figures are totaled, it is estimated that Aero Toy Store will have sold $1 billion worth of airplanes in 2007.
Intelligence | 13 * King Air B200GT Certified * FAA gives Adam Aircraft TIA for A700 * ARC to Consider Landing Distance Planning Rules * Airspace Control Next Big UAV Issue * Protests at EPS Target Aircraft Emissions Edited by James E. Swickard Commentary 7 | Viewpoint By William Garvey An Extraordinary Diary 24 | Business & Commercial Aviation 1958, a Year in Review 70 | Cause & Circumstance By Richard N. Aarons
Ballistic Recovery Systems, Inc. (BRS), known for making parachutes to recover entire aircraft, broadened the scope of its business in November 2007 with the acquisition of Head Lites Corp., a manufacturer of high-visibility personal safety products. The purchase was handled through a BRS subsidiary, Advanced Tactical Fabrication. ATF, which is 90 percent owned by BRS and 10 percent by Head Lites, will be based in South St. Paul, Minn., with BRS. Head Lites has production facilities in Pinebluff, N.C., and Tijuana, Mexico.
Jet Aviation, Zurich, appointed Sebastian Groeger as the new senior vice president and general manager of Jet Aviation Singapore. Martin Bernegger has been appointed senior vice president and general manager of Jet Aviation Dubai.
For several years, on this side of "The Pond," I have been pestering politicians and the media about the hugely unjust public perception of aviation as the major threat to the Earth's climate, when in fact, the percentage contribution to adverse climate change is in single figures, and smaller than from power generation, surface transport and the global herbivore population.
Before most people noticed, the idea of employing aircraft in the national airspace without pilots aboard them -- unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs (and sometimes UAS, where the S is for "systems") -- has gotten to a point where their introduction is considered inevitable. Who'd have thought? After all, these machines were originally developed to conduct military missions in areas deemed too hazardous for humans, not for ordinary flying tasks. Advocates like to say UAVs are best at "3-D missions" -- those that are dull, dirty or dangerous.
The National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University plans to open a new facility as we go to press that will provide 14,000 square feet of additional research space. The facility will house environmental testing equipment including an anechoic chamber, a reverberation chamber, two fluid susceptibility chambers, a temperature/humidity/altitude chamber, a rate of heat release chamber, an aircraft insulation tester and two shaker tables.
NetJets and the union chapter that represents more than 2,600 NetJets pilots, signed what they said was a significant amendment and expansion to a prior agreement. 75.7 percent of eligible members voted in favor of the measure. Voter participation was a hefty 95.8 percent. The two sides had been working toward agreement since April 2007. The agreement, which was signed on Dec. 7, 2007, will become amendable in five and a half years -- however, a provision included in the new contract that allows for a three-year extension should NetJets meet certain parameters.
Adam Aircraft won Type Inspection Authorization approval for the A700 twin jet aircraft from the FAA in early December 2007, clearing the way for FAA pilots to conduct flights in the aircraft. The third fully conforming aircraft, serial number 5, should begin flying in February, with s.n. 6 expected to take to the air in May. Receipt of the TIA "confirms we are on target for achieving FAA certification of the A700 in 2008," said Duncan Koerbel, president of the Denver-based manufacturer.
The French defense ministry has selected the Eurocopter 120 light helicopter for its new lead-in rotary-wing training program, one of several training initiatives to be outsourced to private operators. The ministry said the EC120 operator also had been selected, but could not yet be divulged. The selected operator will determine the number of rotorcraft to be procured. France has already contracted with EADS to use Grob aircraft to provide lead-in training for air transport pilots.
SatWest LLC, the Albuquerque-based provider of satellite business solutions, has been granted an STC for the L-1 satcom kit for Learjet 31, 31A, 35, 35A, 36 and 36A airplanes. The system was developed in conjunction with DC Aerospace, LLC.
The FAA has issued a stern warning to Santa Monica, Calif., city officials that a proposed ordinance to ban larger business jets at Santa Monica Municipal Airport (SMO) would violate federal laws and result in enforcement proceedings against the city. In early December 2007, the City Council agreed to a "first reading" of a proposed ordinance that would ban Category C and D aircraft - those with approach speeds faster than 121 knots - from using the airport. Santa Monica estimates that about 50 percent of the business jets that operate at SMO are Category C or D aircraft.
