Louise B. Timken, 88, one of the first women to pilot her own Learjet, died on October 3 in Canton, Ohio. Her husband founded the Timken Co., a roller-bearing maker, and she started to fly with him in general aviation aircraft in the 1930s. Louise Timken served in the Civil Air Patrol during World War II. Then, she flew a Model 23 Learjet, N88B, for nearly three decades, which included two trips to Europe. She didn't give up the left seat until she reached age 83.
Edited By Gordon A. GilbertEdited By Gordon A. Gilbert
Through the first nine months of this year, deliveries of new GA airplanes were up 55.7 percent over the same period in 1997, according to GAMA. The 1,051 shipments of U.S.-built piston airplanes alone was an 85.4 percent increase over the 567 units delivered in 1997. Foreign and domestic business jet manufacturers delivered 361 business jets in the first three quarters, a 20-percent increase over the 301 units shipped a year earlier.
Embraer's announced plan to produce 12 37- and 50-seat regional jets per month is ``enough to satisfy, on its own, the demand for regional-jet aircraft in this market for the foreseeable future,'' the Canadian government said in its ``first submission'' to the World Trade Organization (WTO) in November. Canada and Brazil have squared off before the WTO in a battle over export subsidies.
In March 1999, Garrett Aviation Services hopes to receive an STC for an all-glass cockpit upgrade for the Dassault Falcon 20B based on its previously certificated Collins Pro Line 4 update. The modernization replaces dozens of electromechanical instruments and controls with three Universal Avionics flat panel integrated displays stacked in the center panel. The new avionics includes dual Universal UNS-1D FMSes and the company's Unilink air-to-ground datalink. Cost for an all-up modification, including Pro Line 4 displays and TCAS, is about $1.9 million.
Inventory Locator Service opened an online service that enables subscribers to sell and buy parts through an auction process. The Memphis-based firm offers both a reserve auction and an absolute auction. In a reserve auction, the seller is not required to sell the part if bids fall below a set minimum. Absolute auctions have no minimum acceptable bid, and the part must be sold to the highest bidder. An ILS official told B/CA that the company is starting the program initially with an auction every two weeks.
The GPS Hangar Antenna Re-radiating Kit from Air Data enables operators to verify the performance of a GPS receiver without moving the aircraft outside the hangar. A GPS choke ring antenna, installed on the roof, allows GPS signals outside the building to be re-transmitted inside the building. Price: $3,500. Air Data Inc., 8368 Bougainville, Ste. 106, Montreal, Quebec H4P 2G1 Canada. (514) 344-1674; fax: (514) 344-1675.
Pratt&Whitney is studying the possibility of a late 1999 launch of an all-new family of low-cost engines in the 1,000- to 2,500-pound-thrust range. A turboprop, and possibly a turboshaft, would come from a common core. ``We want to develop technology at a cost that is affordable--both to acquire and operate,'' said Pratt&Whitney Canada CEO David Caplan. If a go-ahead is given as planned by the end of 1999, Caplan predicted that the new engine family could enter service in less than three years from project launch.
Edited By Gordon A. GilbertEdited By Gordon A. Gilbert
The first Global Express aircraft of the more than 80 ordered are expected to enter corporate service in first quarter 1999. The company originally had planned on the ultra-long-range aircraft to enter service before the end of this year (July, page 15), but certification came just last month. Major certification issues remaining are known icing and some autopilot elements, a Bombardier official told B/CA. To handle Global Express completions, Challenger outfitting is being moved from Montreal to Tucson, where Learjets are completed.
If all goes according to the latest timetable, the first commercially viable FAR Part 36, Stage 3 noise treatment for Gulfstream IIs and IIIs should be undergoing flight tests this month with an eye to FAA certification at the end of the first quarter of 1999 (July, page 34). At the end of November, Las Vegas-based Stage III Technologies planned to begin flight tests with a production prototype exhaust system mounted on one side of a G-II owned by launch customer Hubbard Broadcasting of St. Cloud, Minn.
International handling agent Air Routing established an office in Beijing to provide operational, fueling and security support for corporate aircraft flights to and within China .
Airbus increased the number of commitments for the corporate jet version of its A319 transport to 12, but first flight is moved back to early May 1999. According to Paul Mason, vice president commercial operations, the first customer hand-over is scheduled for November 1999. Airbus originally targeted availability in spring 1999. Airbus would like to achieve a 12-unit-per-year production rate--about 50 percent of the world market for airliner-based business jets, Mason said.
MedAire, an aviation medical services company, has opened MedAire Europe, a satellite office, in Oslo, Norway. The office, operated in partnership with Norwegian Air Ambulance, offers week-long training classes at that location. Early in 1999, MedAire plans to launch a European MedLink Emergency Telemedicine Center, patterned after its Phoenix-based MedLink service. Meanwhile, in the United States, MedAire has added three new FlightSafety International training locations for its Management of Inflight Illness and Injury training: Houston, Tucson and Wichita.
Air Routing International has designed an on-site, three-day International Operations and Procedures Course tailored for operators' specific destinations, en route stops and areas of proposed operation. Graduating students receive initial and recurrent training certification for minimum navigation performance specifications, RVSM and required navigation performance operations. ARI tries to limit class size to 11 people. Each attendee receives a variety of take-home course materials.
Columbia, Md.-based PATS, inc. is expected to broaden installation services at its Georgetown, Md. facility as a result of recent FAA certification as a repair station. The company is best known for the development and installation of its own STCed products such as extended range fuel tanks, and oxygen and fresh-water systems for airliner business jets, as well as APU relocation kits. As an FAA repair station, PATS will be able to offer installation of STCed products other than its own.
Chrysler Pentastar Aviation recently completed an audit that is expected to lead to ISO 9002 registration for the Waterford, Mich., business aviation services company .
Boeing has obtained FAA and JAA certification for its 737-700, the platform for the Boeing Business Jet. The BBJ combines the -700 fuselage with the wings and landing gear of the larger and heavier 737-800. Boeing claims orders for 46 BBJs with customer deliveries scheduled to begin before year-end. Meanwhile, a full-scale mock-up of the BBJ is currently making a tour of selected sites.
You've got your flight bag packed, and you're ready to go. But do you have everything you need? Are you carrying your elemental diode, mineralized water, personal air purifier/ionizer, digestive enzymes and flax supplement?
Million Air Nassau expanded its FBO at Nassau International Airport with the completion of a 22,000-square-foot hangar and office facility. The new hangar is capable of storing aircraft up to and including the Global Express and Gulfstream V. In addition, the facility has office space for tenant operators. Phone: (242) 377-3108.
Stevens Aviation (Greenville, S.C.)--Dennis M. Mullins came aboard as general manager of the company's aircraft services facility at Jeffco Airport in Broomfield, Colo.
Alliance Coatings' QuikMix urethane touch-up kits are ready to mix and are available in all JetGlo and AcryGlo colors. The customer specifies aircraft make and model, and can choose from over 6,000 formulated colors. QuikMix kits include one four-ounce can each of urethane exterior paint and interior paint, as well as a catalyst. Price range: $72 and up, depending on colors and quantities. Alliance Coatings, Inc., 1662 N. Magnolia Ave., Ste. 2, El Cajon, Calif. 92020. (619) 596-9191; fax: (619) 596-9190.
Dassault Falcon Jet recently finished a three-year expansion of its completion and service center at Little Rock, Ark. As part of ongoing improvements, 22 additional CATIA workstations will be installed in 1999. Together with the physical expansion, Dassault is using its CATIA computer design software to help drive aircraft completion times down to three months while increasing capacity to 60 aircraft per year, according to a company spokesman.
Michael S. Graff, president of Bombardier Business Aircraft, often has been quoted as saying that the firm's new program is the ``worst-kept secret'' in the industry. No wonder. For three years, Bombardier has probed, poked and palpated the business aircraft industry with the goal of deriving a precise diagnosis of conditions and opportunities in the rapidly emerging, super-midsize business aircraft market. An executive physical at the Mayo Clinic hardly could have been more thorough.
The number of business jets with RVSM approvals was about 890 in late October, according to a report by the AOPA U.K. The report lists the following aircraft models (with the number of aircraft approved shown in parentheses): Astras (3), Challengers (237), Citations (14), Falcons (298), Gulfstreams (247), Hawkers (27) and Learjet 60s (21). In addition, the AOPA U.K. reports 43 business jet airliners with RVSM approval. Further information on RVSM and GA can be found at www.arinc.com/Ind_Govt_Srv/RVSM/rvsm.html.
