Raytheon Aircraft expects the King Air C90GT to win certification from Transport Canada this month, followed by certification of the Premier IA in the third quarter.
CHC Helicopter Corp. said it was awarded a contract to continue providing helicopter services for offshore oil producers in Brazil with a larger fleet of helicopters. Working with Brazilian Helicopter Services Taxi Aereo (BHS), Vancouver-based CHC said it received a new five-year contract to provide eight Sikorsky S-76C+ helicopters to support Petrobras' operations in the Brazilian offshore market. The addition of the new aircraft will double the CHC fleet in Brazil to 16, the company said.
The Stumpf Group, an Austria-based company with wide-ranging industrial and real-estate investments, ordered an A319 Airbus Corporate Jet from the manufacturer. The ACJ will be powered by CFM International CFM56-5 engines. A decision on where the aircraft will be outfitted/completed is pending.
San Jose Jet Center, a full-service fixed-base operation and charter and management company, issued a request for proposals for the operation of an on-site aviation catering business. The jet center, which averages 1,200 departures a month, has scheduled a site visit June 28. Proposal deadline is July 31. The RFP can be accessed at http://www.sjjc.com/temp/SJJC_Catering_RFP.pdf.
Rolls-Royce broke ground for a new $42 million jet engine test facility at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Rolls-Royce will use the facility to test development and prototype jet engines for performance, noise and systems validation. Initially, the center will test the Trent 1000 and Trent 900, under development for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and Airbus A380, respectively. Work is expected to begin at the site in late 2007. The center is the first Rolls-Royce test facility outside the United Kingdom.
Capacity at Chicago's Midway Airport will be curtailed beginning today (June 19) because of a summer-long runway construction project there. Runway 13L/31R is being closed today and will remain out of service until Sept. 5. NBAA's GA Desk warned that the standard airport arrival/departure rate will be reduced while the construction project is under way. "We can expect some arrival delays when volume exceeds the reduced rate.
A U.S. district court ruled against Gulfstream Aerospace in a suit brought by the manufacturer against CAMP Systems International involving CAMP's use of Gulfstream maintenance manuals in its maintenance-tracking business. In a suit filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia in Savannah, Gulfstream had charged CAMP with copyright and trademark infringement, and sought damages. CAMP responded that Gulfstream's copyright claims were invalid and that CAMP's use of the Gulfstream maintenance manuals had been a "fair use" under the law.
A Gulfstream GV operated by a Swiss charter company recently surpassed 10,000 flight hours. Gulfstream said GV Executive AG, based in Zurich, Switzerland, achieved the 10,000-hour mark June 9 during an overnight flight between Lilongwe International Airport in Malawi and London-Luton Airport in England. The aircraft had accrued 2,411 takeoffs/landings when the flight arrived in Luton. G5 Executive took delivery of the airplane, S/N 517, on May 5, 1998. The company also operates three other Gulfstreams - two G550s and one G450.
Model S-76A, B, and C helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2006-24587; Directorate Identifier 2006-SW-05-AD] - Proposes to require inspecting all installed HR Textron main rotor servo actuators for a high rate of leakage and also inspecting for contaminated hydraulic fluid. The AD would also require reducing the time-in-service (TIS) interval for overhauling the servo actuators.
SATSair continued to expand its services, adding Manassas, Va. and Atlanta, Ga. as domiciles in the air taxi network. The air carrier is basing pilots and a Cirrus SR22 aircraft in both areas. Based in Greensville, S.C., SATSair is building a domicile network throughout the eastern U.S. The company dispatches aircraft from the nearest domicile to pick up customers at any airport in the service area that has a runway longer than 2,500 feet.
Honeywell NT5311A, T5311B, T5313B, T5317A, T5317A-1, and T5317B series turboshaft engines and Lycoming former military T53-L-11B, T53-L-11D, T53-L-13B, T53-L-13B/D, and T53-L-703 series turboshaft engines [Docket No. 98-ANE-72-AD; Amendment 39-14620; AD 2006-11-16] - Supersedes an existing AD that currently requires repetitive engine fuel pump pressure tests of certain fuel control regulator assemblies to determine if both fuel pumps in the fuel control regulator assemblies are producing fuel pressure.
National Business Aviation Association named Stephen Hadley as regional representative for the Southwest, covering a territory that includes Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas and Mississippi. Hadley has a background in both corporate aviation and FBO management. He was chief pilot for the Waco, Texas law firm Campbell, Cherry, Harrison, Davis & Dove, PC and chief pilot and director of flight operations for Abilene Aero and Lubbock Aero.
Michael A. Dornheim, an engineer and pilot who wrote for Aviation Week & Space Technology for 22 years based in Los Angeles, was killed when the car he was driving plunged into a ravine in the Santa Monica Mountains. The accident occurred June 3, but the wreckage of his car with his body inside was not found until June 12. The Los Angeles County Fire Department used a helicopter to retrieve the body.
Named a team representative for Mooney. Rider will sell Mooney aircraft in the Northeast, including New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine. She graduated from the University of North Dakota's John D. Odegard School of Aerospace Science, and is a commercial pilot with single, multi-engine and instrument ratings. Before joining Mooney, she was an account manager for iviation, an aircraft services company in Memphis, Tenn.
Promoted to director of engineering, aviation for Garmin International Inc. Straub will oversee all of Garmin's aviation programs in the newly created position. He joined Garmin in 1993 and has been involved in development the company's core aviation products, including GNS 430, GNS 530 and G1000.
Pilatus Business Aircraft scheduled its first Regional Operators Conference for the PC-12 business turboprop on Aug. 17 in Manchester, N.H. The day-long conference will provide a forum for owners, operators and service center personnel to discuss maintenance and operational issues. The conference will complement NBAA M&O seminars and Pilatus Owners and Pilots Association conventions.
June 21 - Wings Club Luncheon featuring Scott Donnelly, president & CEO of GE Aviation, Yale Club, New York City, 212-867-1770, email: [email protected]. June 26-29 - SAE International General Aviation Technology Conference & Exhibition, Wichita Hyatt, Wichita, Kan., (724) 776-4841 July 24-30 - Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture Oshkosh 2006, Oshkosh, Wis., (920) 426-4800 October 17-19 - National Business Aviation Association 59th Annual Meeting & Convention, Orlando, Fla., (202) 783-9000
Cessna Aircraft plans to offer an enhanced vision system (EVS) on the Citation Excel/XLS and an Integrated Flight Information System (IFIS) on CJ1 and CJ2 aircraft. The product enhancements were unveiled during Cessna's recent annual Citation Customer Conference in Wichita, Kan. More than 400 operators attended the conference. The Max Viz EVS-1000 uses a fuselage-mounted, infrared camera to enhance situational and terrain awareness during times of low visibility.
Appointed to Raytheon Aircraft as vice president, global commercial sales. Dwyer will oversee sales of both Beechcraft and Hawker aircraft. He has 10 years of Raytheon experience, beginning as a domestic Beechcraft salesman in Pittsburgh, Pa. He was named regional vice president - Latin America in 1997, and most recently was vice president of worldwide sales for the Beechcraft product line.
State Department officials told the flight training community last week that they would prefer the Department of Homeland Security handle the J-1 Visa Program for flight training since DHS already has the infrastructure to deal with other, shorter-term flight training programs involving foreign students. Department of State earlier this year released a proposal that would, among other things, limit the time a student could train in the U.S., which many flight training officials believe would undercut the purpose of the program.
The National Air Transportation Association urged Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta to carefully examine attempts by airports to use federal grant dollars for public-run ground-handling services that compete with the private sector. Some airports have applied for funds through DOT's Small Community Air Service Development grant program to provide ground-handling services.
Betting that the seeds of brand loyalty can be planted with airplanes priced below the $209,750 Model 172R, Cessna plans to unveil a proof-of-concept Light Sport Aircraft at next month's Experimental Aircraft Association gathering in Oshkosh, Wis. See article below.
National Business Aviation Association President and CEO Ed Bolen urged members to continue to voice their opposition to user fees to Congress. Too often, this issue is considered a Washington issue that doesn't affect the rest of the country, Bolen noted. But, he added, "This is clearly getting outside Washington, D.C. There's a real fire. Our community is very much under attack." He cited recent articles in Business Week and the Wall Street Journal.
