NBAA by the Numbers: The NBAA's annual convention in Atlanta in September attracted more than 32,000 visitors, down slightly from the 33,088 at the 2006 show in Orlando. The convention sold 5,200 booth spaces to a record 1,152 exhibitors. The static display at Fulton County Airport drew 115 aircraft. The association reports its gathering is now the seventh largest (in display space) convention in the United States.
ARINC Direct has added wireless mobile flight planning to its portfolio of services for business jet operators. The new service, ARINC Direct Mobile, is designed for pilots and flight departments who want to create and submit flight plans using Blackberries or other personal wireless devices. The service is available immediately and offers most of the features of ARINC's standard Web- enabled flight planning service.
Duncan Aviation, Lincoln, Neb., announced that Todd Duncan assumed his new position as chairman as current Chairman Robert Duncan retired, becoming chairman emeritus.
The NBAA Convention seems this year to have reached a critical mass. Year after year it has been a fount of news -- of new airframes, engines, avionics, significant sales, FBO expansions, the state of the industry -- the whole spectrum from new light sport aircraft to VIP Boeing 787s. This year, the sheer volume of news from the convention was a gusher that would have swamped this issue, and at least the next - bumping major news generated before, during and after the convention, flowing like the atmosphere of Jupiter around the Great Red Spot of NBAA 2007.
Responding to criticism by the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said in a recent TV interview that Brazil's airspace is now safer, "although safety is one thing and its perception by the public is something else." Jobim oversees aviation in Brazil. He highlighted the continued training of some 600 professional controllers and equipment modernization as signs that safety is a priority. Structural reforms are also under way, such as transferring ATC from military to civilian hands.
*Nov. 7-9: Chevron Product Integrity Training, Phoenix. Chevron Global Aviation, 1500 Louisiana St., Houston, TX 77002. (866) 557-3456. www.totalga.com *Nov. 7-9: International Aviation Womens Association 19th Annual Conference, Sheraton Buenos Aires & Convention Center and St. Regis Hotel, Buenos Aires, Argentina. (410) 571-1990. www.iawa.org
Members of the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC), including the NBAA, recognized Robert E. Breiling for his significant long-term contributions to business aviation safety in the United States and worldwide.
In response to Richard Aarons' informative and alarming article "Deadly Overconfidence" in the September issue of B&CA (Cause & Circumstance, page 150), I am very glad as a high-time MU-2 pilot and owner/operator to see a factual story about the unfortunate events leading up to the May 2005, Hillsboro, Ore., crash.
Airport officials from around the nation say a passenger facility charge (PFC) hike is essential to infrastructure development, and want to make sure the increase is included in the final version of the FAA reauthorization bill. The House version of the bill includes an increase in the PFC cap to $7. However, the Senate version of legislation does not.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide launched its new Berlin Campus in early October. The campus offers a Master of Aeronautical Science degree alon g with other degree programs in aviation maintenance, technical management, professional aeronautics, integrated logistics and project management via Embry-Riddle's online learning program. Applications are being accepted for classes. Prospective students and professors may contact Thomas Giovingo, associate dean of academic support, at +49 (0) 631 303 27818 or [email protected] for education information.
Computer problems slowed progress toward the FAA's NextGen air traffic control system program. The agency had been trying to release a report by an Aviation Rulemaking Committee tasked with developing recommendations to provide incentives to operators to equip their aircraft with Advance Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) equipment ahead of the anticipated 2020 deadline. The ARC report was completed a few weeks ago, and the FAA had hoped to release the report either concurrently or shortly after the ADS-B proposal was released.
The White House is holding a veto threat over the House appropriations bill that includes FAA funding for fiscal 2008. Administration officials accused lawmakers of raising taxes by retaining the current fuel-tax-based funding model, rather than introducing the more dramatic financing proposal -- i.e., user fees -- proposed by the administration and supported by airlines. The administration also faulted the house bill for spending too far above the administration's budget request - primarily on the Airport Improvement Program.
I read with interest Paul Brou's article about our operation in the September issue of B&CA ("Critical Response," page 132). In my 30-plus years in aviation, many articles have been written about programs I have been associated and/or acquainted with. In my experience, one constant in the reporting regardless of whether it was a magazine article or radio or television broadcast is that there were always a few things that were not quite "right" in the final presentation. At least that is the way it used to be before I read your article.
Alpha Flying Inc.'s PlaneSense fractional ownership program has ordered 25 Grob SPn light jets. Delivery of the first Williams FJ44-3A-powered aircraft to PlaneSense, which serves the Eastern United States, is anticipated toward the end of 2008. In addition to the Honeywell Primus Apex integrated all-glass cockpit, the SPns to be delivered to PlaneSense will feature a six-passenger interior designed by Porsche Design Studio, with a large galley up front and enclosed lavatory at the rear of the cabin.
Most American boys know the drill: Your dad buys your first plastic U-control flying scale model for Christmas and you both run out to fly it. An hour later, dad's index finger bleeding from trying to prop-start the tiny Cox .049 glow-plug engine in the freezing cold, you both give it up and come in for hot cocoa -- and that's the end of it. Not for Peter Simons, though.
Eurocontrol has accepted the latest Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) concept for operations from 2020 and beyond, together with its supporting architecture and technologies. Eurocontrol says that ATM will move from "airspace-based to a trajectory-based environment allowing the safe and environmentally friendly execution of each flight as close as possible to the intention of its owner." The plan will be realized through the introduction of 4-D (three dimensions plus time) trajectory management, enabling user-preferred routing.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport has won the 2007 Airport Safety Award from the Flight Safety Foundation as a result of its leadership in developing innovative safety initiatives, including perimeter taxiways, area navigation (RNAV) procedures and a surface movement guidance system. The RNAV procedures were introduced in cooperation with NASA and the FAA.
NAT Seattle Inc., a Cobham Avionics & Surveillance company, offers an airborne server allowing users to make and receive phone calls on their personal cell phones inflight. This solution is available for most hybrid cell/Wi-Fi phones, according to the company. The phone must be used in "flight mode," with wireless LAN enabled. The company claims that the technology is easily certifiable on aircraft because it uses existing wireless LANs.
At about 1700 UTC, a Piper PA28-181, Swiss registration HB-PGC, was destroyed when during cruise flight the airplane crashed in mountainous terrain near Airolo, Switzerland. It was IFR at the time of the accident. The pilot and one passenger sustained serious injuries. Two other passengers were fatally injured. The cross-country flight originated at Firenze Peretola, Italy, and was en route to Zurich. The investigation is under the jurisdiction and control of the Swiss government.
Adam Aircraft has unveiled its latest interior for the A700 VLJ. The design, created by the airframe manufacturer in association with Infusion Design, an industrial creative design firm, was built by PCI NewCo, a DeCrane Aerospace company. The cabin features individual tables for each club seat and an aft partition for the private lavatory located under the fifth passenger seat, which will be approved for takeoff and landing.
Brazilian air traffic control responsibilities could transfer to a civilian agency from Brazil's military if it is deemed the best option, Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim said. He said defense of airspace must remain a military responsibility, but traffic control could be streamlined and upgraded under civilians to keep up with the current, unprecedented growth of airline traffic, according to the newspaper O Estado do São Paulo.
Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) has delivered the 400th PW150A turboprop engine to Bombardier Aerospace for the Q400 regional airliner. The 5,000-shp PW150A went into service on the 70- to 80-seat airliner in 2000. Equipped with a dual-channel FADEC and advanced diagnostic capabilities, the PW150A is the latest member of P&WC's PW100 family, which has over 100 million operating hours to its credit.
Federal agencies involved with aviation, volcanoes and weather have created a new system of working together to track volcanic ash plumes and report the risks to the aviation community and keep air travelers out of harm's way. Standardizing and coordinating, detecting, tracking and forecasting hazardous ash clouds, and adequately warning the aviation community on the present and future location of the cloud should significantly reduce danger, a NOAA announcement said.
