CESSNA SECURES APPROVAL FOR LATEST CJ - Cessna Aircraft earned FAA type approval for the newest iteration of the venerable 525 CitationJet line, the CJ2+, a follow-on to the CJ2 that incorporates several features that were formerly options. The CJ2+ is equipped with upgrades to boost payload and performance.
Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., will provide its lighting research work as part of an FAA Center of Excellence (COE) for Airport Technology. The COE focuses on airport structures, pavement materials, wildlife issues, anti-icing, and lighting. LRC will evaluate applications for solid-state lighting and lighting technologies such as LEDs for runways, taxiways, approaches, and other areas of the airfield.
Jet Aviation Basel plans to increase its hangar space by a third under a new agreement with Swiss International Air Lines and airport authorities to take over the Crossair hangar in Basel. The 5,000-square-meter hangar boosts Jet Aviation Basel's total hangar space to 20,000 square meters. "We are very happy that we found a solution with Swiss and the airport authority to be able to handle the growing number of aircraft at our facility," said Rainer Albecker, senior vice president and general manager at Jet Aviation Basel.
FAA CALLS FOR MARCH 2007 END TO MODE S EXEMPTIONS - FAA Friday proposed to stop issuing exemptions after March 1, 2007 from requirements that mandate installation of Mode S transponders in aircraft operated under Part 135 or 121. FAA said it would continue to evaluate requests for extension of current exemptions until March 1, 2007, but the agency does not plan to grant any new exemptions after that date. FAA has issued numerous exemptions allowing operators to install Mode A or C in lieu of Mode S transponders.
Procrastinators who have not yet reserved exhibit space at NBAA's convention can still make reservations, if they act quickly. The exhibit hall in Orlando has room for 5,300 booth spaces, and last week NBAA had reservations for 4,762 spaces. The convention was moved from New Orleans to Orlando after Hurricane Katrina devastated southern Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama (BA, Sept. 5/101).
Genesis 3 Engineering, an aerospace engineering firm based in Woodland Park, Colo., has developed reduced vertical separation minimum approval modification kits for Dassault Falcon 20 aircraft. Genesis 3 is shipping the kits to installation facilities throughout the country. The kit is priced at $114,900 and includes on-site installation support.
BRIAN LASH was named vice president of client relations for Executive Jet Management. Based in Chicago, Lash will manage EJM client relations for customers in the Midwest. He has more than 10 years of aviation sales, management and marketing experience. Most recently, he was an aviation consultant and assistant to the chairman of Hill, Holliday, Connors, Cosmopulos Inc. in Boston, where he helped establish a corporate flight department and evaluated the purchase of aircraft charter services.
Permira funds announced the completion of its acquisition of the Jet Aviation Group, one of the largest business aviation service companies in the world (BA, Aug. 15/65).
LARGE UAV FIRST TO WIN APPROVAL FOR FLIGHTS IN NAS - General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) became the first manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles to win FAA approval to operate its Altair high-altitude unmanned aerial system (UAS) in the National Airspace System under an experimental certificate.
Embraer Aircraft officials are targeting their new business jet products at the lower end of the market because they believe that's where the action will be over the next decade. The Brazilian manufacturer predicts 44 percent of new business jet deliveries will be aircraft in the very light or light categories through 2016. The company is forecasting deliveries of 9,680 aircraft valued at $144 billion during the period. See charts below.
BLAKEY: FAA WILL ACCOMMODATE UAVs, BUT SAFETY COMES FIRST - FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told a group of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) supporters that the agency will accommodate the use of the unmanned flying machines in civilian airspace, but only after safety concerns are addressed.
FAA OPENS INDEPENDENT DISPUTE RESOLUTION CENTER - FAA last week opened its new Center for Early Dispute Resolution after employees voiced concerns about the way the agency handles internal conflicts.
Bell Helicopter and Boeing handed over the first production CV-22 Osprey to the U.S. Air Force. A variant of the Bell Boeing V-22, the CV-22 will be used for long-range special operations missions, contingency operations, evacuations and maritime operations. The CV-22 is fitted with a similar communications and navigations suite to that of the V-22, but also includes an electronic warfare package, a multi-mode radar for low-altitude, low-visibility flight, a retractable aerial refueling probe, four radios and a flight engineer seat in the cockpit.
New TSA Chief Edmund Hawley last week reiterated the agency's view that industry and the government must approach security in a risk-based and collaborative way. Speaking before the Aero Club of Washington, D.C. Tuesday. Hawley noted that TSA can't assess and try to mitigate risk based on past history like an insurance company would since success in terrorism is predicated on the element of surprise. TSA officials want to ensure they rely heavily on random checks to disrupt any potential terrorist plans.
The pilots of the Cessna Citation 560 that crashed during an approach to the Pueblo, Colo. Memorial Airport Feb. 16 knew the aircraft was picking up ice during the last 20 minutes of the flight, but a transcript of the cockpit voice recorder tape from the airplane does not indicate they had serious concerns about the situation. The crew had apparently activated the aircraft's anti-icing and de-icing systems.
Million Air increased the number of fixed-base operations in its chain to 32 with the addition of a facility in Fayetteville, Ark. Based at Fayetteville Municipal Drake Field, the newest member of the Million Air franchise has a 20,000-square-foot hangar, along with 5,000 square feet of office space, a lounge, reception area, conference room and storage area. Million Air and the city of Fayetteville are jointly financing a $300,000 remodeling project, which will upgrade the main terminal lobby and provide more office space for Million Air and other airport tenants.
ARINC received a contract to provide technical and marketing support to SecureLogic Corporation for an airport security software test pilot program for the Transportation Security Administration. TSA recently awarded SecureLogic a pilot program using the company's iScreen aviation security software. TSA will evaluate the results of the program and decide whether to install the technology at more airports in the U.S.
Just three months after hiring an executive director for the Next Generation Air Transportation System Institute, the Institute Management Council is seeking another candidate. Dale G. Goodrich, a commercial airline pilot and Air Force Reservist was named to the top staff job at NGATS this summer (BA, July 11/13). Sources confirmed that Goodrich will be stepping down Oct. 15 because he is being called to active duty.
RAYTHEON Model 390 Premier 1 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-21239; Directorate Identifier 2005-CE-27-AD; Amendment 39-14263; AD 2005-18-22] - requires verifying minimum clearances to correct chafing conditions in the powerplant left-hand and right-hand engine installations. This AD results from reports of inadequate left-hand and right-hand engine assembly cable, wire, and hose routing clearance. FAA is issuing this AD to detect and correct chafing conditions in the engine installation, which could result in leaking flammable fluids near an ignition source.
EMBRAER Model EMB-110P1 and EMB-110P2 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2005-21302; Directorate Identifier 2004-NM-189-AD; Amendment 39-14267; AD 2005-19-02] - requires repetitive inspections for corrosion or cracking of the rotating cylinder assembly in the nose landing gear (NLG), and related investigative/corrective actions if necessary. This AD also requires the eventual replacement of the rotating cylinder assembly with a new part, which terminates the need for the repetitive inspections. This AD results from reports of corrosion on the NLG rotating cylinder assembly.
HOWARD YELLEN is joining Global Military Aircraft Systems (GMAS) as general manager. GMAS is a joint venture between L-3 Communications and its Integrated Systems LLC subsidiary and Alenia North America. Yellen is retiring from the U.S. Army as a brigadier general in mid-November. He has 30 years of active duty experience, holding a number of leadership positions, including deputy commanding general for U.S. Army Special Operations Command and chief of staff of the U.S. Special Operations Command.
The world economic growth rate was 4.5 percent in 2004, according to Embraer officials, who expect the average annual growth rate will be 3.1 percent for 2005-2020. However, citing an anticipated "amplifier effect" for the business aviation market, Embraer executives peg the market growth rate at 4.4 percent annually for the 16-year period. Most of the growth will come in the U.S. and Europe, but the BRIC nations (Brazil, Russia, India and China) also are expected to show significant business aviation growth during the forecast period.
