Declines in demand at its two largest airframe business units, Haeco Xaimen and Haeco Americas, contributed to an overall 1.8% year-over-year decline in total airframe manhour services sold through the first six months of the year, and those markets are not expected to rebound before 2016, Haeco Ltd., executives say.
While unmanned aircraft have received bad press for forcing firefighters to halt aerial operations when one is sighted, unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are widely regarded as potentially powerful tools for fighting wildfires that are becoming increasingly destructive as urban development expands into unoccupied land.
The deadline to comply with the FAA’s NextGen mandate to move beyond 2020 will not move, the FAA administrator says. And pilots have reported seeing unmanned aircraft more than 650 times so far this year, the FAA says. Plus, a federal report cites a faulty carburetor that led to the loss of engine power as the probable cause of the crash of Harrison Ford’s vintage aircraft. Finally, Cessna Aircraft’s Citation M2 business jet has received certification to operate at high-elevation airports.
Business aviation is operating at 83% of the sector’s peak levels of 2008, according to Jet Support Services, Inc., which tracks business aircraft flight hours. Flight hours in the second quarter grew 2.9% from a year ago. Q1 2008 marked the decade’s highest activity rate, JSSI said. In the second quarter of this year, monthly usage totaled 27.75 hr. per aircraft, down from the 2008 peak of 33.45 hr., but up notably from the first quarter of this year.
Don’t expect the deadline to comply with the FAA’s NextGen mandate to move beyond 2020, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said during a meeting with reporters at AirVenture Oshkosh. It won’t. “Don’t wait until the last minute,” Huerta said. “The mandate is not going away.” The FAA has mandated that almost all aircraft flying in U.S. airspace above 10,000 ft. must be equipped with ADS-B Out avionics equipment by Jan. 1, 2020.
LONDON – Reduced activity in the oil and gas industry caused by a fall in energy prices is continuing to weigh heavily on helicopter operators that support energy companies. International operators such as Bristow Group and CHC have cut flying rates and laid off pilots as their clients halt exploration work and reduce the numbers of people required to work offshore.
Honeywell Aerospace has received FAA aftermarket certification for a Future Air Navigation Systems, or FANS, for Falcon 900 and 900B aircraft. It will allow operators to retrofit compliant technology into existing hardware instead of upgrading cockpit systems completely, and make meeting the FAA’s Equip 2020 mandate more cost-effective, Honeywell said. Honeywell is also planning on an aftermarket certification for other legacy aircraft for the FANS mandate.
Embraer Executive Jets delivered its first Legacy 500 midsize jet to a customer in Mexico. The aircraft will be operated by Transpais Aereo, a subsidiary of the Lomex Group Aeronautics Division. The Legacy 500 received type certification from Mexico’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority in June.
Pentastar Aviation has added 11 aircraft to its aircraft management fleet in the past 10 months, the Waterford, Michigan-based company said. Pentastar has added three Hawker 400s, a Hawker 850, a Citation Sovereign, a Falcon 2000LXS, a Gulfstream GIV, three Gulfstream GVs and an MD-81. Improvements in the economy are allowing more companies to use business aviation, the company said.
FlightSafety International has selected Aeroglobo to provide Pratt & Whitney Canada Engine training in Brazil, the company said. Training will be offered at Aeroglobo’s facility in Botucatu, Brazil, for P&WC PT6T, PT6A, PT6B, PW100-Series, PW200-Series and PW500 engines. The facility will be equipped with training engines and FlightSafety’s Graphical FlightDeck and desktop simulators, and instructors will provide classroom and hands-on instruction.
AIE, based in Murrieta, California, has completed the first installation of the L-3 Modular Airborne Data Recorder/Acquisition System Single-LRU in the DHC-6-300 Twin Otter, the company said. The FA5300 series records up to 2,048 words-per-second for a minimum of 25 hr. and has the capability of recording four channels of high-quality audio for up to 2. hr.
Aug. 22-23—Shoreham Airshow, Brighton City (Shoreham) Airport, West Sussex, www.shorehamairshow.co.uk/ Aug. 25—9th Asia-Pacific Congress of Aerospace Medicine, Beijing, China, www.apfama.org/2014 Aug. 25—10th Chinese Conference of Aerospace Mediciner, www.apfama.org/2014
The Office of Inspector General is initiating an audit of the FAA’s oversight of Suspected Unapproved Parts for the aviation industry. The audit follows a request in March from the ranking members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and the Subcommittee on Aviation. The members are concerned about the risks the unapproved parts present to aviation safety.
FAA has pledged to improve internal guidance and training of foreign civil aviation authority inspectors in response to a U.S. Transportation Department Office of Inspector General (OIG) report that expresses concern about the shift in oversight of foreign repair station compliance with U.S. regulations.
Flight testing continues on Enstrom Helicopter Corp.’s new TH180 aircraft, designed for ab-initio flight training and the light commercial and private owner markets, the company says.
July and August are difficult times to gauge demand trends for the sale of business aircraft, Doug Wilburne, Textron vice president of investment relations, told analysts at a Jefferies 2015 Global Industrials Conference.
