-- AASI Jetcruzer 500--Following an initial public offering in late 1996 that raised more than $30 million, Advanced Aerodynamics and Structures, Inc. is continuing development of its single-engine turboprop Jetcruzer 500. The Long Beach, Calif.-based company has built and certificated three prototypes of the non-pressurized Jetcruzer 450, which will serve as the basis for development of the six-place Jetcruzer 500.
The second annual Corporate Jet Transactions forum is scheduled for July 16-18 at the Helmsley Park Lane Hotel in New York. Sponsored and organized by the Strategic Research Institute of New York and The CIT Group of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., the seminar is designed to increase attendees' skills and knowledge in the financing, acquisition and ownership of corporate aircraft.
B/CA's commitment to provide you with accurate, useful, comparative, apples-to-apples data on aircraft, avionics, modifications and accessories is as old as the magazine itself, now in its 40th year of continuous publication. Before electronic calculators and desktop computers, B/CA's editors spent weeks each winter in a marathon numbers-crunching ritual surrounded by stacks of business aircraft specification sheets, options price lists and pilot operating handbooks, as well as mountains of scrap paper and barrels of coffee.
Aviation editor/publisher/writer Robert B. Parke is hanging up his passport--at least for business use--and is wrapping up a 45-year career in publishing. Parke has been a special features writer for B/CA for 18 years, turning out articles on varied topics in his characteristic literary style with a measure of humor. Lately, his assignments for the magazine kept his suitcase in service both throughout the United States and abroad.
Advanced Aerodynamics&Structures, Inc. (AASI) 3060 Airport Way Long Beach, Calif. 90806 (310) 988-8618 Aero International (Regional) 1 allee Pierre Nadot, F-31712 Blagnac Cedex, France +5-62-21-62-21 Agusta Via G. Agusta, 520, I-21017 Cascina Costa Di Samarate (VA), Italy +331-229-111 U.S. Subsidiary: Agusta Aerospace Corp. 3050 Red Lion Rd. Philadelphia, Pa. 19114 (215) 281-1400
Kal-Aero has been refurbishing business jets for more than 30 years, and now Gulfstream Aerospace has given the company its official stamp of approval by naming Kal-Aero an authorized provider of interior and refurbishment services for all Gulfstream aircraft. The Battle Creek, Mich. company has refurbished G-IIIs and G-IVs for the past three years.
Kal-Aero received an STC to install P&WC PT6A-135 engines on the Conquest I. The Battle Creek, Mich. company said the mod boosts cruising speed to 300 knots, improves climb rates, and enables the aircraft to maintain 450 shp to 28,500 feet (30,300 feet with new, Hartzell BlackMac Props). The retail price of the re-engining starts at $425,000. The Black Mac props bump the minimum cost to $450,000. Down time is seven days. Modified aircraft are known as Conquest 1500s.
Northwest Airlink Mesaba Airlines responded positively to the acquisition of Express Airlines I by its senior partner. According to President and CEO Bryan Bedford, ``Mesaba Airlines enjoys an excellent working relationship with Northwest Airlines, and is in the final phase of negotiating a long-term airline services agreement, which forms the basis for our Airlink partnership with Northwest.'' Northwest owns a 30-percent stake in Mesaba. Bedford said that the Express I acquisition should have a positive effect on Mesaba's growth.
To assist companies that wish to be ``training centers'' under the new FAR Part 142, the National Air Transportation Association is offering copies of a ``core curriculum.'' The curriculum is intended to reduce the workload involved in developing a course from the ground up and reduce the time to certification, says the group. Part 142 was adopted in 1996 to foster the use of simulators. Part 141 schools still can operate, but one school cannot hold Part 141 and Part 142 certificates (August 1996, page 21).
Canadian Regional was in negotiations to spin off its Quebec-based Inter-Canadien subsidiary. Carrier President Mary Jordan said that, ``Because the Quebec routes at Inter-Canadien do not provide sufficient feed traffic to the mainline, we decided it was best to place any future investment in the Quebec operation with another owner.'' Jordan said talks were going well with interested parties. ``I am optimistic that we will conclude a deal beneficial for both the Inter-Canadien employees and the company,'' she added.
Bell and Boeing in November 1996 launched the 609 tiltrotor, the first civil tiltrotor to emerge from nearly 45 years of vertical takeoff and landing research at Bell. The six- to nine-passenger 609 will sell for between $8 million and $10 million, depending on the interior configuration.
Operators who are renewing their liability insurance coverage this year should experience stable liability insurance rates instead of the drastic climbing of premiums of 1995 and early 1996. The current trend runs true to form, since business aviators are riding the wave of what a well-respected insurance trade publication labeled ``an idiosyncratic and unpredictable insurance market.''
MANUFACTURER AND MODEL This block includes the manufacturer's name and the aircraft's model name and technical designation. For more information on manufacturers, please see the full company name and address in the Airframe Suppliers Directory, on page 123. B/CA EQUIPPED PRICED This is the current price of the aircraft with the equipment stipulated in the ``B/CA Helicopter Minimum Equipment List,'' and is shown for comparison purposes only. In most cases, the price is provided by the manufacturer; exceptions are so noted.
Corporate aviation flight hours increased 18 percent in 1995 (the latest year for which complete statistics are available), the largest component of the 6.6-percent increase overall in general aviation activity reported at the General Aviation Forecast conference in Wichita this spring. The FAA predicted GA activity will continue to grow-assuming the economy remains strong and there is no change in the cost of government services.
More importantly, though, are new models from all the major manufacturers. The new designs are successfully answering the call for lower operating and acquisition costs and improved performance. The Bell 407 and 430, Eurocopter EC-135, Sikorsky S-76C+ and the Agusta A109 Power all entered service in 1996. These new models will be joined by the EC-120, the Agusta Koala, the McDonnell Douglas MD 600N and the updated version of the Explorer--the MD 902--all of which will see certification and first deliveries by the end of this year.
-- Cirrus SR-20-Two prototype versions of the four-place, all-composite SR-20 have logged more than 1,200 hours in flight test, and the company is working toward certification of the $144,500 aircraft in December. The first production-conforming prototype is scheduled to fly in late summer of this year. Powered by a 200-hp, six-cylinder Continental IO-360-ES engine, the fixed-gear SR-20 cruises at 160 knots at 75 percent power and has a range of 800 nm with IFR reserves.
The Universal Avionics Systems Corp. UNS-1C Flight Management System is now being offered as an option on the Bell 430 twin-turbine helicopter by Bell's factory in Quebec, Canada. The factory pickup came on the heels of installation and FAA certification of the system on a Bell 430 at Heli-Dyne Systems of Hurst, Texas earlier this year. The 7.75-pound, Dzus-mounted system houses a navigation computer, a 12-channel GPS receiver/controller (with RAIM) and a color flat-panel CDU. Certification is for GPS operation in en route, terminal and approach phases of flight.
Effective May 19, aircraft flying in U.S. domestic airspace, its oceanic areas or over its territories will be charged for ATC services, if they do not take off or land in the United States. The fees, on a per 100-nm basis are: commercial aircraft-$78.90 ($69.50 in oceanic airspace), general aviation turbine aircraft-$15.78 ($13.90 in oceanic airspace) and general aviation piston aircraft-$4.38 ($3.86 in oceanic airspace).
Indonesian manufacturer IPTN continues to work toward certification of its N250 regional airliner, the first aircraft to be designed and built entirely in Indonesia. While certification of a version for the Indonesian market is slated for late this year, certification of an aircraft for the U.S. market likely won't come until 1998 or 1999.
AlliedSignal's RE 220 auxiliary power unit is living in rarefied air. The unit, installed in both the Gulfstream V and the Global Express, has demonstrated consistent start capability at 43,000 feet on the G-V, the highest ever for a business jet APU. In fact, its performance is matched only by the AlliedSignal 731-500 installed on the Boeing 777.
National Air Transportation Association is asking the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to exempt aviation companies from new requirements that significantly lower exposure limits to methylene chloride, a chemical used in aircraft paint stripping. The NATA told OSHA the rules will have a severe financial impact on companies that use minute amounts of the chemical. Firms with fewer than 20 employees have three years to comply with several provisions of the rule, which became effective on April 10.
The first corporate Sikorsky S-76C+ in Europe has been delivered to JCB (Excavators) Ltd. of Rowcester in Staffordshire, England. The new helicopter joins an Agusta 109 and a Falcon 2000 at the company's base on East Midlands Airport. JCB is a long-term proponent of corporate aviation, having first owned a Bell JetRanger during the 1970s.
The ALPA-affiliated pilots of American Eagle are supporting the tentative contract recently approved by the board of the Allied Pilots Association, which represents the American pilots. The pact, still to be voted upon by the rank and file at press time, called for the Eagle carriers--Executive, Flagship, Simmons and Wings West--to have the exclusive right to fly up to 67 RJs.
