Edited by GORDON A. GILBERTAndrew Healey A BRITISH VIEW OF GPS, ETOPS AND 8.33 kHz
U.S. operators may be interested in the "oversees" viewpoint of some of the new technologies facing virtually all business aircraft operators. B/CA's London-based correspondent asked John Robinson, British aviation analyst and former chief pilot with Magec Aviation, for a European take on three evolving developments.
Independent US Airways Express carrier CCAir of Charlotte has completed a private placement of 545,000 shares of company stock at $2.75 per share, or nearly $1.5 million. The placement was arranged by Barlow Management Inc., the investment group that recently was unsuccessful in an attempt to acquire control of Mesa Air Group. A Barlow partner is Jonathan Ornstein, CEO of low-fare European carrier Virgin Express, former CEO of Continental Express and former executive vice president of Mesa.
The Hunan Yuanda Air Conditioner Corp. has begun operating its Cessna CitationJet in mainland China, according to reports from the Xinhua news agency. The aircraft was purchased new in March 1997, and is believed to be the first privately owned business jet flying in China, although chartered business jets have been operating there for some time. China Southern Airlines is assisting the company with operating the aircraft.
This year's Farnborough Air Show will be the last one to be held in September (September 17-13). Subsequent events will take place in July. The show's organizers said the decision was made after "extensive consultation" with industry. "Apart from reducing the chances of rain," said a spokesman, the new date also will "balance the run-up time between Farnborough and the Paris Show." The exact dates of Farnborough 2000 will be July 24-30.
A one-day helicopter ditching training course is now offered by FlightSafety International in cooperation with Stark Survival Co. of Panama City, Fla. The course is designed for pilots only and is suitable for all types of helicopters, says FSI. For realism, egress training is conducted in a water dunker. Training time also is devoted to cockpit fire and smoke management, and emergency air bottle and smoke hood deployment. The course is presented at FSI's West Palm Beach S-76 training facility.
Several business jet manufacturers will conduct maintenance and operations workshops this year. At press time, the following M&O meetings had been scheduled: Bombardier Challenger, April 30-May 1 in San Antonio; Cessna Citation, April 27-29 in Wichita; Dassault Falcon Jet, May 18-20 in Nice, France; Gulfstream Aerospace, June 2-4 in Savannah; Learjet, April 27-May 1 in San Antonio; and Raytheon Hawker, August 31-September 2 in Hilton Head, S.C. See B/CA's Calendar for more details.
Edited by GORDON A. GILBERTPerry Bradley WAAS TRIALS SUPPORT IFR INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT
While a fully operational wide-area augmentation system is still years away, the FAA already is conducting precision approaches using its WAAS prototype and is gathering data that will help it define procedures for approaches once the system is implemented.
Edited by GORDON A. GILBERTGordon A. Gilbert FIRM HOPES TO OFFER ORENDA-POWERED COMMANDERS
Dakota Aero Manufacturers plans to offer Twin Commanders reengined with Orenda V-8 powerplants. The Bismark, N.D.-based firm is working with Dick MacCoon and his company, MR RPM, to obtain an STC for the installation of the avgas-fueled, 600-hp turbocharged engine.
Burbank Aeronautical Corp. II is finally at the doorstep of certification for its $2.9-million hush kit for Boeing 707s. The kit, which brings B707s into compliance with FAR Part 36, Stage 3, has been in the works for four years (March 1993, page 22). First deliveries are scheduled for April. A spokesman for Burbank, Calif.-based BAC II said the project was "much more complicated" than anticipated. The company also is working on obtaining certification soon for B707 winglets.
Development, certification and deliveries of the Boeing Business Jet, a derivative of the next-generation B737-700 and 800, remain on schedule despite recent events, according to Boeing. A spokesman in Seattle told B/CA that the BBJ program is not impacted in any way by the FAA's increasing scrutiny of the company-first in the wake of earlier quality-control concerns due to accelerated production of B737s and, lately, the discovery of missing fasteners on the horizontal stabilizers of at least eight B737s.
Edited by GORDON A. GILBERTPerry Bradley FAA IS BUILDING ON HELI-STAR EXPERIMENT
The FAA is applying lessons learned during the Heli-STAR helicopter short-haul transportation network experiment during the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 to three new programs that the agency says it hopes will ultimately help it implement a free flight concept that will be applicable to helicopters as well as fixed-wing aircraft.
Drug runners are the suspects in the December 1997 daytime theft of a Learjet 35 from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport. The aircraft was registered to B.L. Bennett Aviation of Nashville. According to the Aviation Crime Prevention Institute, this is only the second stolen business jet that the Institute has on record, with the first being lifted in 1987.
The golden years of helicopters and the Helicopter Association International (HAI) will be celebrated at this year's 50th Annual Heli Expo set for February 15-17 in Anaheim, Calif. In honor of the occasion, "all HAI members and daytime and full-time registrants will receive free a specially commissioned book-Helicopters: 1948-1998, by Frank McGuire," said HAI President Frank L. Jensen, Jr., who will host the event for one last time before his retirement in March.
-- Aero '98, billed as Mexico's Business Aviation Show, is coming again to Toluca Airport, 30 miles west of Mexico City, on March 11-13. This year, organizers are getting ready for 100 exhibitors and 2,000 visitors, a sizable expansion of the 1997 event that attracted 57 exhibitors and 1,700 to 1,800 qualified visitors.
On page 52 of the January issue, the photo at the bottom of the page is a JetStar, not a Lear Star as the caption reads. (Of course, we knew that!) Thanks to all of the readers who pointed it out.
The flight lasted only four minutes, but it was a big step for Bell Helicopter. On December 11, 1997, test pilots Bob Williams and Eric Emblin picked up the new 427 light twin into a hover in front of the company's Mirabel, Quebec, Canada plant, setting into motion a year-long flight-test program. When it's over, Bell will have its first new type certificate in 20 years and will finally have a worthy entrant in the light-twin market, which until now it has ceded to its competitors.
Most regional aircraft manufacturers disdain the corporate marketplace. A handful of airplanes have made it to the corporate level, and only then as shuttles that operate on a quasi-scheduled basis. Besides, airlines compete for production slots in much bigger numbers.
The southeast boundary of the Atlantic High Offshore Airspace Area will be extended about 80 nm to close the gap with the boundary of the San Juan Enroute Domestic Airspace Area, if the FAA adopts recent proposed rulemaking. The agency says the modification would facilitate the use of the same domestic ATC procedures within the gap that are now used in the Atlantic High and the San Juan Enroute areas. Presently, the gap is subject to different ATC standards as set forth by ICAO.
While the sale of a used Cessna Citation would seem a routine occurrence in today's booming preowned aircraft market, the listing of a 1988 Model SII last fall had the broker community abuzz with speculation. This particular SII, it seems, has a whopping 8,800 hours on its Hobbs Meter-more than twice the usual time for a nine-year-old Citation airframe-and a $2.5-million price tag. The seller? The huge NetJets fractional ownership operation run by charter/management pioneer Executive Jet Aviation.
H.M. Strange was named vice president of industrial operations at the company's Little Rock completion center where he is responsible for new Falcon completions and the operation of the Jet Center, a company-owned maintenance facility.
Operators of more than 10,000 Continental engines must replace crankshafts made using the airmelt process with those made from the vacuum arc remelt process. The FAA ordered the replacement despite vehement opposition by operators. Trade groups claim the AD will cost operators nearly $7,000 per engine (three times the FAA's estimate) and contend that the agency has failed to produce solid justification for the expense.
Jet Aviation, which had managed the Eagle Group's FBO at Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport since early 1996 (August 1996, page 26), recently handed control of the facility back to the Eagle Group. The Jet Aviation signs are down, and the facility now is called Eagle Executive.
