BBA Aviation, parent of Signature Flight Support, has sold Oxford Airport in England to Oxford Airport Acquisitions Ltd. for $82 million. BBA purchased the airport in 2000. The divestiture follows BBA's sale of Oxford Aviation Training, the airport's pilot training organization, to GCAT Flight Academy earlier in the year for $76 million. Of the original portfolio of businesses it bought at Oxford, BBA still retains CSE Aviation, CSE Aircraft Sales, Lynton Aviation Aircraft Sales, Proptech (Portsmouth) and the CSE Citation Centre (Bournemouth).
Eurocontrol opened its new Central Flow Management Unit in Brussels, Belgium, featuring an operations room specifically designed for the task. The CFMU is used by Eurocontrol to ensure airspace is used in the most efficient manner. The CFMU concept was introduced in 1985, but because of significant increases in European flights it outgrew the original facility. Eurocontrol estimates that delays would more than triple without the intervention of the CFMU.
Honeywell has won an FAA technical standard order for its new Primus Epic Control Display System/Retrofit (CDS/R), an approval that will clear the way for the avionics maker to retrofit the system, which features eight-by-10-inch LCDs, on nearly a dozen aircraft.
Agusta Global Support Plan (GSP) -- Designed to provide comprehensive cost control measures, the GSP covers parts and labor for both scheduled and unscheduled maintenance, repair and replacement of components, overhaul, life-limited parts and pilot refresher training. Parts and labor for mandatory Service Bulletins are included. Avionics are also included. Engine services are provided by engine OEMs. The contract is transferable.
I WAS ONE OF SEVEN PEOPLE on the aircraft when we had a midair over the Amazon. I am grateful we survived. It was really a matter of less than an inch that was the difference between our surviving or perishing. And it was a matter of several feet that was the difference between the lives of the people on the airliner being spared. Sadly, that didn't happen.
Reader Hogan is right. The first guy to say he's too tired will be the last guy called and that guy will get plenty of rest while he watches TV and waits for the phone to ring. We know of no ALJ rulings on that subject so far.
WHEN DOES A CASE OF pilot error become a case for the criminal courts? Mark Tayfel, a Canadian pilot, has been tried for criminal negligence causing death in Manitoba and, at this writing, was awaiting a verdict by the justice who heard three days of testimony. His aircraft crashed into a Winnipeg street intersection after running out of fuel during a second attempt at an IFR approach.
The National Air Transportation Association is urging the FAA to clarify that Safety Alerts for Operators (SAFOs) are voluntary. The association said it supports the use of SAFOs to distribute important safety information, which usually includes recommended -- but not required -- actions. But the association expressed concern that SAFOs have also said that "failure to adhere to the SAFO recommended actions could result in an FAA determination that operators are not in compliance with their obligations as certificated air carriers," which sounds like an implied threat.
In the late 1980s, British Aerospace (BAe) embarked upon development of the 30-passenger Jetstream 41 regional turboprop, an updated and stretched version of the 1960s-vintage, 19-seat Handley-Page Jetstream 31. The J41 would have a seven foot longer cabin, 25- to 30-knot higher cruise speeds and improved airport performance, especially at high-and-high landing facilities. The low-price, low-DOC J41 was intended to compete against considerably more modern and roomier regional commuters, such as the Dornier 328, Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia and Saab 340.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told senior staff members recently she was encouraged by the quality of applicants who are seeking the post of chief operating officer of the FAA's Air Traffic Organization and said she planned to begin interviewing candidates soon. FAA Deputy Administrator Bobby Sturgell has been serving as acting head of the ATO since former ATO head Russ Chew left the agency earlier this year to join Jet Blue.
Just 202 days after design work began, the Epic Victory single-engine, build-it-yourself jet made its maiden flight July 6, from Redmond, Ore. The company planned to debut the aircraft publicly at the Experimental Aircraft Association's AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis.
In his June Washington column, "Getting Greener" (page 90), David Collogan seems to have imbibed a little too much of the "Al Gore green tea." All this talk about reducing CO 2 emissions, and remaining "carbon neutral" is going to make my head explode.
"I think we're probably in the healthiest market I have observed since I have been in the business," declared Nick Cerretani, who co-founded Miller Aviation in Binghamton, N.Y., in 1975. He helped grow that flight school and Cessna dealer into a full-service aviation support company that produced FBO management software and eventually merged with Corporate Wings. After a stint at Flight Options, Cerretani formed his own aircraft sales company in 2002. Cerretani Aviation now has East and West Coast offices in addition to its headquarters in Boulder, Colo.
After an overrun of a snow-covered runway at Midway Airport in December 2005, in which a Southwest Airlines Boeing 737 struck two vehicles on a nearby road, killing a six-year-old child, the FAA released a controversial policy statement calling for FAR Part 121, 135 and 91 (K) operators to add a 15-percent safety margin in landing distance calculations, based upon runway conditions that exist at time of arrival.
Stevens Aviation, the aircraft sales and support company that announced its Lear 4 Ever upgrade program in late 206, has received an STC for the comprehensive refurbishment of a Learjet 25 at its Nashville base. The company's Denver location is presently working on a similar upgrade program for Learjet 35s and 36s and hopes to exhibit an example of one of those refreshed aircraft at the NBAA convention in Atlanta in September.
DayJet has begun limited on-demand, per-seat Eclipse 500 service in Florida, and at least one existing operator is concerned. Fort Lauderdale-based Gulfstream International, which is about to go public, is worried that the upstart VLJ air taxi operator could, if successful, poach some passengers from its scheduled service.
Whenever things go off track, the account goes to minus, or a bit of gloom settles in and stays, I know I'm going to call up your most thoughtful and selfless note and will be cheered by it. It's sometimes hard to know if we're actually connecting with the readers, whether what we put on paper is helpful to and welcome by them, so a message like yours is immensely encouraging. Thank you so much for your support.
Grupo Omnilife de Mexico signed a contract to buy a Lineage 1000 business jet from Brazilian manufacturer Embraer, the first sale of the Embraer 190 airliner variant to a Mexican customer. The Lineage is expected to enter service in 2008. Grupo Omnilife de Mexico, a major distributor of health and entertainment products and services, is scheduled to get its Lineage in December 2009.
Operators of late model Falcons need not be jealous of operators who have signed up for the new Dassault Falcon 2000LX, which features winglets designed in collaboration with Aviation Partners Inc. The Seattle-based maker of performance-enhancing airfoils is working with the airframe manufacturer to offer at least a couple of winglet retrofit programs for earlier models of the French-made business jet.
Summer is bringing in softer economic data than hoped for in the United States, as the weakness in car sales is joined with continued weakness in housing. Higher oil prices, and even higher gasoline prices, are sapping purchasing power at the same time that wealth is declining because of falling home prices. We continue to expect the economy to avoid a recession, but the cushion is getting smaller.
Where's Vern?" were likely to be the two most frequently heard words as Eclipse Aviation's early Monday, July 23 press conference was to get under way at this year's Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wis. As scripted, Peg Bilson, the firm's chief operating officer, was to preside over most of the event, whose centerpiece was to be a concept mockup of a single-engine personal jet being evaluated by Eclipse. Company founder, president and CEO Raburn, she was to explain, would arrive sometime later.
The FAA plans to assemble an industry-based rulemaking group to develop recommendations for addressing safe runway landing distance margins, James Ballough, director of the FAA's Flight Standards Service, said at the National Air Transportation Association's recent Air Charter Summit. The runway landing distance issue got a lot of attention after the Southwest Airlines runway overrun at Midway Airport in December 2005 in which a Boeing 737 slid off a snowy runway and struck two vehicles on a nearby road, killing a six-year-old child.
