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Magazine Issue

Business & Commercial Aviation, March 2018

VOL. 114 NO. 3 February 26, 2018

Viewpoint

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Help Wanted: Promising Alternatives For Pilots

Mar 12, 2018
The pilot shortage. Oh boy, it's here in spades, says Charlie Priester, chairman of Chicago's Priester Aviation charter and aircraft management firm. And my opinion is it's going to get a lot worse.

Readers’ Feedback

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Readers’ Feedback

Feb 26, 2018
Readers comment on recent articles in BCA.

Intelligence

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Jet-A And Avgas Per-Gallon Fuel Prices: February 2018

Feb 26, 2018
The tables show Jet-A and avgas prices from a survey of U.S. fuel suppliers conducted in February 2018.
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Argus: 2017 BizAv Activity Grows In Every Major Category

Feb 26, 2018
Business aviation flight activity turned in its best year in 2017 since 2008, with more than 3 million flights in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, according to Argus International data.
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PlaneSense Takes First Pilatus PC-24 Delivery

Feb 26, 2018
Launch customer PlaneSense has taken delivery of strong the first of six PC-24 twinjets the fractional ownership operator has on order.
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Wijet To Upgrade Fleet With HondaJets

Feb 26, 2018
Honda Aircraft Co. has received the largest order to date for its HondaJet very light jets. European air taxi Wijet placed an order for 16 HondaJets valued at $78 million at today's list prices.
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Business Aviation In Asia Shows Growth

Feb 26, 2018
The business aviation market in mainland China has been challenging in recent years, partly due to the government's austerity measures. But the consensus in the industry is that China's business aviation market is starting to take off again.
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Citation Longitude Now In Full Production

Feb 26, 2018
Textron Aviation's assembly line for its new Citation Longitude super-midsize business jet is now at full-rate production, the company said. FAA certification is expected early this year.
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Signature Adds FBO At Santa Barbara

Feb 26, 2018
Signature Flight Support has received approval to purchase the only existing self-service avgas 110LL facility at the Santa Barbara Airport in California.
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Tamarack Earns CJ3 Winglet Approval

Feb 26, 2018
Tamarack Aerospace Group, based in Sandpoint, Idaho, has received FAA and EASA approval for its Atlas Active Winglets for the C525B business jet series, which includes Citation CJ3 and CJ3+ aircraft.
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Chinese Company Orders 152 Piper Trainers

Feb 26, 2018
Piper Aircraft has received its largest order ever for training aircraft. The Vero Beach, Florida-based manufacturer received an order for 152 aircraft valued at $74 million from Fanmei Aviation Technologies, Piper's dealer in China.
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Jetex To Launch FBO In San Bernardino

Feb 26, 2018
Jetex Flight Support plans to open its first FBO in the U.S. with the launch of private terminal service at California's San Bernardino International Airport.
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Falcon Aviation And Leonardo Contract With Kuwait Oil

Feb 26, 2018
Falcon Aviation and Leonardo Helicopters have partnered for a new helicopter offshore and onshore contract for the Kuwait Oil Co. Three new Leonardo AW169 helicopters will be deployed on a five-year contract to perform onshore and offshore oil and gas operations.
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Jetcraft Global Opens London Office

Feb 26, 2018
Jetcraft, a business aircraft sales and acquisitions company based in Raleigh, North Carolina, has opened a London office, demonstrating its commitment to Europe and the U.K., the company said.
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Clay Lacy Aviation Adds Charter Jets

Feb 26, 2018
Clay Lacy Aviation recorded a 23% increase in charter activity in 2017. It also has added 10 new charter jets and three cities to meet growing demand, the company said. New locations include Miami-Opa Locka Airport.
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Qatar Airways Receives Fourth Gulfstream G650ER

Feb 26, 2018
Gulfstream Aerospace has delivered a fourth G650ER to Qatar Airways for its Qatar Executive commercial charter service, making it the largest single owner and operator of G650ER aircraft, Gulfstream said.
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AOPA Drops Complaint Against Waukegan

Feb 26, 2018
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association has dropped its complaint with the FAA against Waukegan National Airport outside Chicago over fees at FBOs serving three airports.
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Nextant G90XT Completes Final FAA Certification

Feb 26, 2018
Nextant Aerospace has received the final piece of FAA certification on its remanufactured G90XT twin-engine turboprop, which paves the way for deliveries to begin.
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Boutsen Aviation Sees Strong 2018

Feb 26, 2018
Boutsen Aviation, based in Monaco, closed on 17 aircraft transactions in 2017, including a Bombardier Global XRS and a Falcon 7X in December, the company said.
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Royal Flying Doctors Order King Air 350s

Feb 26, 2018
The Royal Flying Doctor Service South Eastern Section has ordered two modified Beechcraft King Air 350 cargo heavyweight turboprops to modernize its patient transfer and air ambulance fleet.
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Gulfstream Delivers Last G450 To Dominion Energy

Feb 26, 2018
Gulfstream Aerospace delivered its final G450 business jet as its new G500 approaches certification. The G450 entered service in 2005. Since then the company has produced more than 360 aircraft, the company said.
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Rockwell Collins, Stellar Labs Introduce Stellar Cloud

Feb 26, 2018
Rockwell Collins and Stellar Labs have launched Stellar Cloud, a software delivery infrastructure platform for business aviation built on Amazon Web Services infrastructure.
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Bell Sees China Helicopter Boom

Feb 26, 2018
​Bell Helicopter sees China as the brightest spot in its Asian universe. A recent burst of orders there will likely triple the manufacturer's in-country fleet from 120 today to nearly 400 over the next few years.
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Rectrix Gets Approval For Flights To Reagan National

Feb 26, 2018
Rectrix Aviation has received authorization from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to fly its charter jet fleet from Reagan Washington National Airport, becoming one of a select number of general aviation operators to hold the distinction due to strict security measures required by federal regulators at the airport, the company said.
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Embraer Delivers Legacy 500 To Malaysian Customer

Feb 26, 2018
Embraer has delivered a Legacy 500 midsize business jet to an undisclosed customer in Malaysia, which brings Embraer's Asia-Pacific region business jet fleet to 95 aircraft in more than 10 countries, the company said.
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Bombardier Has Best Fourth-Quarter Orders In Three Years

Feb 26, 2018
Bombardier Business Aircraft deliveries and revenue declined in 2017, although orders during the fourth quarter were the strongest for the period in three years, the company's president and CEO said on a conference call with analysts Feb. 15.
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FlightSafety G500 Simulator Receives Level C Qualification

Feb 26, 2018
FlightSafety International's new full-flight simulator for the Gulfstream G500 has received interim Level C qualification from the FAA.
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Philippine Air Force To Add 16 Bell 412EPI Helicopters

Feb 26, 2018
The Philippine Department of National Defense has purchased 16 Bell 412EPI helicopters that will be operated by the Philippine Air Force.
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AviationManuals Revenue Grows 35% In 2017

Feb 26, 2018
AviationManuals recorded a 35% increase in revenue and a 30% growth in its manual and software subscription services in 2017, the company said. Its client base now exceeds 4,000.
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Dassault Sees Improved Sales In 2018

Feb 26, 2018
Dassault Aviation expects improved business jet sales in 2018 following an upturn in demand in 2017.
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Electric Sun Flyer 2 In Final Stages Of Ground Testing

Feb 26, 2018
Bye Aerospace's Sun Flyer 2, a two-seat electric flight-training aircraft, is in the final stages of ground testing and is expected to fly for the first time this spring.
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The ADS-B Clock Is Ticking

Feb 26, 2018
The FAA deadline for equipping aircraft with Automatic Dependent Survillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) is fast approaching. There are many upgrades programs available to help you meet the Jan. 1, 2020, mandated deadline for ADS-B and Future Air Navigation System-1/A.
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GAMA Accepting Scholarship Applications

Feb 26, 2018
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association is accepting scholarship applications from high school students for the Edward W. Stimpson "Aviation Excellence" Award, which includes a $2,000 scholarship. Applications are due by April 13.
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Private Jet Card Comparisons Adds Corporate Gift Program

Feb 26, 2018
Private Jet Card Comparisons has launched Corporate Gift and Affiliate Referral Subscription programs. The website compares more than 100 jet card programs by more than 65 providers.

Fast Five

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Questions For Business Jet Caterer Paula Kraft

Feb 26, 2018
Paula Kraft, CEO and owner of Tastefully Yours and managing partner and co-founder of the DaVinci Inflight Training Institute, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Cause & Circumstance

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When Luck Fails: A Commander Comes To Grief

Feb 26, 2018
Students of air safety investigation know that most accidents and incidents arise from a series of small events that slip unnoticed into the timeline rather than one catastrophic occurrence.
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Selected Accidents And Incidents In January 2018

Feb 26, 2018
Selected aviation accidents and incidents in January 2018.

Operations

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The Normalization Of Compliance

Mar 22, 2018
The May 31, 2014, crash of a Gulfstream IV at Hanscom Field (KBED), Bedford, Massachusetts, was a call to action for many in business aviation. These pilots threw out the book and came up tragically short.
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Rotary Data Tracking: Hard Lessons Learned By Doing

Feb 26, 2018
I was excited when an emergency medical service (EMS) helicopter operator asked if I would help the company's safety officer get a flight data monitoring (FDM) program implemented well in advance of the April 23, 2018, deadline.
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FDM Deadline Looms For EMS Helicopters

Feb 26, 2018
According to FAR 135.607 "Flight Data Monitoring System," as of April 23, 2018, no person may operate a helicopter in air ambulance operations unless it is equipped with an approved flight data monitoring (FDM) system capable of recording flight performance data.
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Resources Required: The Need For Aviation Safety Action Programs

Feb 26, 2018
Several years ago, I was asked by a helicopter EMS operator whether I would first choose to set up an aviation safety action program (ASAP) or flight data monitoring (FDM) program for an operation such as his. I have extensive hands-on experience with ASAPs and was one of the principals involved with getting the first ASAP program approved in business aviation. Now that the FAA has grown more comfortable with ASAPs outside of FAR Part 121 carriers, it is easier getting an ASAP program approved and implemented.
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Lightning: Risks, Detection and Avoidance

Feb 26, 2018
Understanding lightning’s nature and its subsequent detection and avoidance is still the most accepted strategy, not just for survival but for keeping the people in the back of the airplane safe and calm.
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Avionics for Lightning Detection And Avoidance

Feb 26, 2018
Among the lightning protection arrows in a flight crew's quiver are onboard detection (or inferring) avionics.

Pilot Report

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Stratos 714: A Leap Forward In VLJ Design

Feb 26, 2018
Entrepreneur Michael Lemaire, CEO of Stratos Aircraft in Redmond, Oregon, and his chief technology officer, Carsten Sundin, have ambitious plans to develop an all-composite, 400-kt.-cruise VLJ that will be significantly more fuel efficient than any light jet aircraft.
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Homestretch to Certification For Epic E1000

Feb 26, 2018
The Epic E1000 could well be called Project Phoenix. Rising out of the failed Epic Air more than a decade ago, Epic Aircraft now is a financially healthy aircraft manufacturer.

Safety

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Energy Is Life: Manage It Well

Feb 26, 2018
The most important consideration when deciding about effective go-arounds from low altitudes is having an energy state from which that go-around can be made.

Piloting

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Air Show! Or Err-Show?

Feb 26, 2018
Derring-do attitudes can blind pilots from recognizing their limits, grasping the full range of consequences of their actions, and seeing how their rogue behaviors inspire younger, impressionable pilots to attempt to follow suit.

20/Twenty

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Second-Generation Citation II Is Cost-Effective Entry-Level Jet

Feb 26, 2018
Citation Bravo's performance and utility are head-and-shoulders above the original 1978 through 1994 CE-550. Bravo flies up to 2,000 ft. higher, 40 kt. faster and 300 mi. farther.

Point of Law

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What The Tax Law Means For Your Operation

Feb 26, 2018
The 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act has some important provisions relating to aircraft purchases, operations and federal excise taxes that drew little notice by the media as the bill raced through the federal legislature.

On Duty

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News Of Business Aviation Promotions, Appointments And Honors

Feb 26, 2018
News of business aviation promotions, appointments and honors.

Products & Services Previews

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BCA Business Aviation Product And Service Previews

Feb 26, 2018
BCA shares news of the latest products and services for the business aviation industry.

Retrospective: Flight Log

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Vmc The Hard Way: It Was A Concept Experienced, Not Taught

Feb 26, 2018
We were a cocky bunch of young naval aviators, and maybe even a bit more so than our predecessors since we had the extra distinction of being jet fighter pilots, something relatively new to the U.S. Navy in 1952.

BCA 50 Years Ago

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Business & Commercial Aviation News From March 1968

Feb 26, 2018
Business & Commercial Aviation News From March 1968
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Business & Commercial Aviation News From March 1968

Feb 26, 2018
Business & Commercial Aviation News From March 1968