Dassault has appointed another Falcon service center for the Middle East. Jeddah-based Saudia Private Aviation Engineering and Maintenance, the business aviation unit of Saudi Arabian Airlines, is a line service center for the Falcon 900 and 7X. The company employs more than 75 technicians and has more than 35 years of experience in maintaining and inspecting all types of business aircraft. Saudia’s 43,000-sq.-ft. facility has two hangars, as well as workshops, storage facilities and a sheet metal, tire and battery servicing shop.
Bombardier celebrated the manufacture of the 1,000th Dash 8/Q series regional turboprop and the 400th Global business jet during a ceremony Nov. 12 at the company’s facility in Toronto, where the aircraft are built. The event included industry leaders, local and federal leaders, customers, suppliers, media, retirees and the nearly 4,000-plus employees at the Toronto site. The Canadian Air & Space Museum presented the site with a Canadian Air & Space Pioneer award in recognition of the Dash 8/Q series.
PAUL KUCHTA was promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety International’s learning center at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. He will direct the facility’s aircraft maintenance technician training programs, along with other management responsibilities. Kuchta has served with FlightSafety since 1998, initially as a technical analyst and then as a maintenance instructor. Most recently, he has been director of maintenance training.
WILL VAN ZEVENTER was named vice president of business development for BAE Systems Asset Management. He has more than 20 years of experience in the aviation industry covering commercial aircraft leasing and sales, corporate aircraft remarketing and commercial aircraft after-sales support. He comes from Focus Aviation, where he was head of marketing.
General aviation aircraft manufacturing is underway in China, and the country is now contemplating the if, when and how of building a business jet. Zhang Xin Guo, executive vice president of the Aviation Industry Corporation on China, told Aviation Week during a meeting in New York last week that his company “is trying to find a partner to cooperate with” on such a project.
An exclusive license to technology developed by L-3 Communications would cut development risk and time to market on future integrated flight deck programs by Montreal-based Esterline CMC Electronics, according to President Greg Yeldon. “L-3 Communications’ SmartDeck suite of technologies is uniquely synergistic with the concepts we already have in our product development road map,” Yeldon says. “It will allow us to offer more capability in our products, and to address a wider range of markets.”
EMBRAER EMB-500 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-0870; Directorate Identifier 2010-CE-045-AD; Amendment 39-16505; AD 2010-23-16] – Replace both flow-control shutoff valves with improved valves, per the instructions of Embraer Phenom Service Bulletin 500-21-0001 (dated Dec. 9, 2009). This AD, which resulted from an MCAI issued by an aviation authority of another country, was prompted by several failures of shutoff valves in the closed position. Failure of both the left and right valves can cause loss of the pneumatic source, leading to loss of cabin pressurization.
Nov. 17-19—ALTA Airline Leaders Forum, Panama City, Panama, www.alta.aero/airlineleaders/2010/ Dec. 15—The Wings Club Luncheon Featuring Gary Kelly, Chairman, President & CEO of Southwest Airlines, The Yale Club, New York, (212) 867-1770, [email protected] Dec. 15—Future of Aviation Advisory Committee Meetings, Washington, http://www.dot.gov/faac Feb. 7-8, 2011—National Air Transportation Association FBO Leadership Conference, Savanna, Ga., (703) 845-9000, www.nata.aero
BOMBARDIER Regional Jet Series 700, 701, 702, 705 and 900 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-0700; Directorate Identifier 2010-NM-123-AD; Amendment 39-16500; AD 2010-23-11] – Replace certain Angle of Attack (AOA) transducers with new or serviceable transducers, per the instructions of Bombardier Alert Service Bulletin A670BA-27-054, Rev. A (dated Jan. 18, 2010). This AD, which resulted from an MCAI originated by Transport Canada, was prompted by the discovery that certain resolver stators installed in AOA transducers were not cleaned correctly.
EUROCOPTER FRANCE Model SA-365N, SA-365N1, AS-365N2 and AS 365 N3 helicopters [Docket No. FAA-2010-1082; Directorate Identifier 2009-SW-041-AD; Amendment 39-16491; AD 2010-23-02] – Before further flight, amend the “Limitations” section of the Rotorcraft Flight Manual to limit the never-exceed velocity (VNE) to 150 KIAS and to add a 1,500-fpm. rate of descent limitation beyond 140 KIAS. Also, install placards on the cockpit instrument panel in full view of the pilot and co-pilot.
Business and general aviation deliveries continued to reflect the industry malaise in the third quarter, down 23.4% from the third quarter of 2009 and nearly 60% from two years ago, according to the latest General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) report.
BAE Systems is developing a more regionalized African strategy to support the growing number of its aircraft now in operation across the continent. “We are placing growing numbers of our portfolio aircraft into African countries, and third parties are also finding Africa a very receptive market for our products. With such a head of steam building up, we have decided to regionalize our support to provide a more responsive service to African operators,” says Sean McGovern, business director-support for BAE Systems Regional Aircraft.
NetJets posted a 17% increase in sales in the third quarter and first nine months of 2010, reports Berkshire Hathaway, parent of the fractional ownership provider. Berkshire Hathaway credits increases in flight-revenue hours worldwide and fuel cost recoveries. But fewer aircraft in the NetJets program have led to lower management fees, the company says.
FAA has published a notice of proposed rulemaking that would add steps to the inspection procedures specified in a 1987 airworthiness directive designed to prevent seats from slipping or roller housings from departing seat rails.
KELLY ALLENDER was promoted to assistant manager of FlightSafety International’s Cessna learning center in Wichita, Kan. Allender joined FlightSafety in 2001 and most recently was director of programs at the Wichita center. He also has served as program manager for the Cessna Citation Mustang training program, as well as a ground and simulator instructor. He also served with the U.S. Marines for nine years.
Hawker Beechcraft Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture is enthusiastic that the NBAA convention in October was “a success and a fine showcase for our products.” Hawker Beechcraft sold five new airplanes, booked $18.5 million in new business for Hawker Beechcraft Services and “generated a substantial number of hard leads,” Boisture told analysts Friday. Despite the positive returns, the “depressed” market has prompted the Wichita plane-maker to shelve the Hawker 400XP. See article on Page 3.
Taiwan-based Win Air opened the first charter and aircraft management service in the country on Oct. 29. The charter company flies an all-Gulfstream fleet. “This new service will provide increased mobility for Taiwanese executives and for others in the region and around the world,” says Win Air President David Fei. “Our airplanes will carry them to all continents, most of them nonstop. We will provide this service from the most convenient location for business in Taiwan.”
MIKE MADSEN was named president of Honeywell Aerospace’s Defense & Space business. Madsen previously was vice president of the Airlines Customer Business team within the Air Transport & Regional (AT&R) business, and before that was vice president for AT&R’s Regional Aircraft and Aero Component business. Madsen has 20 years of experience with Honeywell, beginning as a performance engineer in the Systems Analysis and Performance group supporting the TFE731, ATF3 and CFE738 engines.
Montreal-based business charter operator Zenith Jet is predicting that 2010 will be the trough year – instead of the widely reported consensus of 2011 – and the industry will see a disciplined recovery between 2010-2019.
BOMBARDIER BD-700-1A10 and BD-700-1A11 airplanes [Docket No. FAA-2010-0548; Directorate Identifier 2010-NM-041-AD; Amendment 39-16497; AD 2010-23-08] – Replace the balance washer screws on certain ram air turbines (RATs) with new balance washer screws, per the instructions of Bombardier Service Bulletin 700-1A11-24-014, Rev. 02 or 700-24-075, Rev. 02 (both dated March 15, 2010). This AD, which resulted from an MCAI originated by Transport Canada, was prompted by five reports of balance washer screw failures caused by nonconforming screws.
The Global Aerospace Center for Icing and Environmental Research (GLACIER) Inc., a joint venture of Pratt & Whitney Canada and Rolls-Royce Canada, has opened its new, state-of-the-art cold-weather testing and research facility for aircraft engines in northern Canada.
In a sign of gradual recovery for European business aviation, traffic for the past six months has outpaced activity seen for the same period last year. Although activity (departures, arrivals, internals and overflights) in October was below September levels, year-on-year the activity last month was up 3.6%. But monthly traffic remains below what was seen in the same period two years ago, although since June that gap has come down significantly.
Innotech Aviation has received FAA supplemental type certificate (STC) approval for a Ku-band satellite connectivity system in the Bombardier Global Express. Branded I-Ku, the installation centers on VMT-1500 avionics and an antenna from California-based ViaSat, which also operates the worldwide Yonder satellite service with which the equipment will work. Users will have simultaneous access to high-speed Internet, VoIP and voice over Wi-Fi via personal wireless devices such as laptops, Blackberries, iPhones and iPads.
Citation X operators soon will be able to install Safe Flight’s AutoPower system on their airplanes. The automatic throttle system will be offered on new production aircraft, as well as for retrofit on in-service airplanes, through the Cessna Service Center in Wichita. Development hardware has been qualified and delivered, and first flight of an installed system is to take place by yearend. Supplemental type certification is anticipated early next year.
