KINGSLEY OKOLI was appointed regional sales director for Beechcraft products in Sub-Saharan Africa. Okoli will be based in Nigeria. He spent 13 years with the U.S. Air Force, working in the West Africa region and with the Nigerian air force. He was an F-16 crew chief and later a fighter squadron logistics readiness office. Most recently, he was senior program analyst for IMSolutions.
Honeywell is teaming with Swiss-based Jetex to expand its global flight support services reach. The partnership, the companies say, will expand their flight planning aircraft data link, flight following and international trip support services. Jetex will resell Honeywell’s Global Data Center flight support services to customers in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. These include Honeywell’s Flight Sentinel dispatch and datalink offerings.
Airworthiness directives issued last week by U.S. and Canadian authorities are targeting unrelated yaw and pitch control system problems experienced by certain Bombardier regional jets.
FAA Administrator Michael Huerta is appealing to general aviation pilots to make sure they’re “ready to fly” before they embark on a trip. The appeal came in an open letter to the general aviation community underscoring that the troubling accident rate has captured the attention of the highest levels of FAA. FAA often puts out safety alerts to operators with common sense advice on piloting aircraft, but they typically don’t come directly from the administrator.
Revo Models Colonial C-1, Colonial C-2, Lake LA-4, Lake LA-4A, Lake LA-4P, and Lake LA-4-200 airplanes. [Docket No. FAA-2012-0845; Directorate Identifier 2012-CE-013-AD; Amendment 39-17431; AD 2013-08-14] – supersedes an existing AD that currently requires a one-time, dye-penetrant inspection of the horizontal stabilizer attachment fitting and repetitive visual inspections of the fitting for any evidence of fretting, cracking, or corrosion (with necessary replacement and modification); replacement of the fitting upon reaching the 850-hr.
The San Antonio Airport system will honor the late aviation pioneer and entrepreneur Durrell Unger “Dee” Howard by renaming South Terminal Drive as Dee Howard Way in a June 3 ceremony. The west airport access road runs just south of the giant red-orange hangars built by Howard in the 1960s through 1980s. It is now owned by MRO and completions giant ST Aerospace.
BOMBARDIER Model CL-600-2C10 (Regional Jet Series 700, 701, & 702), CL-600-2D15 (Regional Jet Series 705), and CL-600-2D24 (Regional Jet Series 900) airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2013-0370; Directorate Identifier 2013-NM-034-AD] – proposes to require cleaning the crew oxygen system. This proposed AD was prompted by a report that traces of oil could be found in the crew oxygen system due to the use of incorrect pressure testing procedures during manufacturing.
Nextant Aerospace’s new 400XTi is among a potential new family of aircraft that the Cleveland-based manufacturer his hoping to create. The XTi is the next generation of Nextant’s 400XT – a remanufactured Beechjet 400 that is stripped down and then built back up with a new interior, new avionics, new engines and now winglets. Nextant began delivery of the 400XT in fall 2011 and has since delivered 28 of the aircraft. The company has continued to capture orders, including major fleet orders, and expand its market to Europe and Asia.
Signature is expanding its Signature Select affiliate fixed-base operation program to the EMEA region. Under the program, an affiliate FBO will add Signature Select branding to its own. Signature will offer training, sales, marketing and systems support to participating FBOs. Signature will promote the locations and provide point-to-point coordination of handling and flight support. In addition, the FBOs will participate in Signature’s web-based reservation and TailWins loyalty program. Signature launched Signature Select in fall 2011 in the U.S. and Canada.
While much of the company’s current focus and investment involves its turbofan product line, Cessna is also in the propeller airplane business ... as long as it delivers to the bottom line. The Wichita plane maker plans to defend its leading position in light aircraft, President and CEO Scott Ernest said at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva. “I’m not giving it up,” he said. But he added a caveat: “... as long as it’s profitable.”
NetJets is helping to launch Bombardier’s newest aircraft, the Challenger 350, with a firm order for 75 aircraft and options for 125 that have a total value of $5.4 billion. Steve Ridolfi, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, and Jordan Hansell, chairman and CEO of NetJets, on May 20 took the wraps off the $25.9 million Challenger 350, an enhanced version of the Challenger 300 that first flew on March 2. It’s due to enter service with NetJets, fitted with the fractional operator’s custom Signature Series interior, in May 2014.
Sikorsky has received FAA approval for an oil rig approach system that the company claims can reduce helicopter pilot workload during oil and gas operations by 60%. The Rig Approach software upgrade, under development since 2007, is designed to ease workload during the approach to oil and gas platforms. With the system engaged, the aircraft flies to within one-eighth of a mile of the platform, placing the aircraft into a final approach where the pilot can either make the decision to land or go around.
VARIOUS SIKORSKY MANUFACTURED AND RESTRICTED CATEGORY Sikorsky Model S-61A, D, E, L, N, NM (serial number 61454), R, and V; Croman Corporation Model SH-3H, Carson Helicopters, Inc., Model S-61L; Glacier Helicopters, Inc. Model CH-3E; Robinson Air Crane, Inc. Model CH-3E, CH-3C, HH-3C, and HH-3E; and Siller Helicopters Model CH-3E and SH-3A helicopters. [Docket No.
ARINC Direct this summer is planning to begin delivery of its new Xplore device, a portable unit that is designed to bring ACARS services typically found only on large business jets and airliners to a range of aircraft. The Xplore unit combines four capabilities in a portable box – ACARS messaging services, SMS and instant messaging, voice services and BlackBerry email. The device can be attached by Velcro or thumb screws to a panel mount.
Beechcraft executives are having “several conversations” about the sale of the Premier and Hawker 4000 programs, said Shawn Vick, president of Beechcraft International Services Co., during last week’s European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition in Geneva, but he was cautious about a timeline for an agreement. Those talks are proceeding along a “structured cadence” that Vick hopes will conclude this year.
Gulfstream recently added two G150s to its Field and Airborne Support Teams (FAST) operations, replacing the G100s that were in the fleet. Gulfstream will maintain a G100 as a backup for airborne maintenance service. The aircraft are used to transport technicians and parts across the U.S., Canada, Central American and the Caribbean. The fleet upgrade is part of a number of initiatives to expand and enhance its FAST program. Gulfstream is adding a third shift of pilots and named a new chief pilot, Tenille Cromwell, for the program.
Most manufacturer executives attending last week’s European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva agreed that the European market is continuing to lag. “Across the show we heard a consistent lament – potential business jet customers have the money, but many are not stepping up to buy new jets,” RBC Capital Markets analyst Robert Stallard notes. But it was not all bad news, Stallard says.
A year after Jet Aviation’s completions woes had “blemished” an otherwise strong financial performance at parent company General Dynamics, Jet Aviation President Dan Clare says the business has put new systems and processes in place and that customers have been happy with the results.
FlightSafety International has received European Aviation Safety Agency approval for 49 of its practical maintenance training courses under Regulation 1149/2011 so far. The regulation calls for all previously approved practical maintenance training courses to comply with a training needs analysis requirement by Aug. 1. FlightSafety has made the requisite changes to the remainder of its practical maintenance training courses and has submitted them to EASA for approval. The training specialist expects to receive approval for the remaining courses before the Aug.
The White House has announced it will nominated Michael Whitaker, an airline industry veteran, to fill the deputy FAA administrator role left vacant by Michael Huerta’s Jan. 1 appointment as head of the agency. Whitaker, who currently works for the air transport division of Indian conglomerate InterGlobe Enterprises, has more than 20 years of experience in the airline industry, first with Trans World Airlines and then at United, where he worked for 15 years.
Dubai-based United Aviation Services (UAS) has begun offering free trip planning services for business aviation customers. UAS had dedicated a team of professionals to work with customers on details of flight operation, weather briefings, fuel and travel scheduling. This includes full route planning, trip cost estimates, fuel stop planning, airport briefs, information on equipment and handling, general information, customs advisory services and security/risk assessment.
As illegal charters and shoddy customer service practices chase away prospective customers from business aviation, Jens Henry Dreyer, managing director of charter brokerage Aviation Broker, is developing a forum to encourage community discussions on solving the issue. Charter practices are highly regulated in the U.S., Dreyer says. Controls on European operations are more lax, leaving open the way to all sorts of problems and little to no passenger rights. “The system is not clean,” Dreyer says.
EUROCOPTER DEUTSCHLAND Model MBB-BK 117 C2 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2012-0773; Directorate Identifier 2009-SW-71-AD; Amendment 39-17352; AD 2013-03-18] – requires inspecting the long tail rotor drive shaft assembly for blind rivets, and if any blind rivets are installed, replacing that shaft assembly. This AD was prompted by the discovery that some helicopters have blind rivets installed in the place of solid rivets in the long tail rotor drive shaft.
Cessna’s slowdown of light jet production is just that and not a suspension, President and CEO Scott Ernest noted at the European Business Aviation Convention and Exhibition (EBACE) in Geneva. “You don’t stop a production line,” says the executive, who spent nearly three decades overseeing supply chain matters with GE Aviation before taking the reins at the Wichita plane maker in 2011.
BELL Model 204B and 205A-1 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2013-0379; Directorate Identifier 2009-SW-26-AD] – supersedes an AD for helicopters with a certain tail rotor pitch control chain installed. The existing AD requires visually inspecting the chain to detect a crack in the link segments and, for affected Model 205A-1 helicopters, replacing the tail rotor chain and cable control system with a push-pull control system. Since issuing that AD, FAA has determined the need to apply the requirements to a newly-produced, similarly-designed chain with a different part number.
