Gulfstream Aerospace has opened a 200,000-square-foot service center adjacent to the company's headquarters in Savannah. The new facility, which can accommodate up to 20 various Gulfstream models or 12 G-Vs at one time, includes 12 office suites for customers, crew lounges and conference rooms. The center will provide minor and major maintenance, modifications, inspections and engine changes. Nearly 400 mechanics, technicians and other sales and service staff are assigned to the facility.
Flightstar recently finished building new FBO facilities at Illinois' Rantoul National Aviation Center, the former Chanute Air Force Base. The new facilities feature a hangar large enough to accommodate Gulfstream-V-size business jets. Attached to the hangar is a new full-service terminal. Flightstar started FBO services on the airport shortly after Chanute AFB was closed in October 1993 (B/CA, February 1994, page 39).
FAA has agreed to a gradual phase-in schedule for Reduced Vertical Separation Minimum (RVSM) standards in North Atlantic Track (NAT) airspace. The plan calls for 1,000-foot separation minimums to be implemented in January 1997-initially between FL 330 and FL 370, instead of FL 290 and FL 410 as originally planned. The new plan could allay concern expressed by many corporate aircraft operators over not being able obtain RVSM certification by January 1 and thus being shut out of the NAT system entirely.
Most of the ground rules applicable to the ``Business Airplane Charts'' also apply to the ``Helicopter Charts.'' MANUFACTURER /MODEL This block of data 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'' section of the Handbook. B/CA EQUIPPED PRICED
The first Global Express is taking shape at Bombardier's de Havilland assembly facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, leading to first flight in September. Final assembly was expected to be complete as the Handbook went to press, and power-on testing was slated to begin in late April. Initial customer deliveries actually will predate certification, which is expected in May 1998.
The international satellite operation known as Inmarsat plans to reorganize into a more business-like structure. Among the changes: setting a maximum limit on any one investor's shareholding and voting power, allowing multiple investors per member country, and replacing the existing ruling council with a board of directors. A special session of member countries will be convened late this year or in early 1997 to adopt the plan and the timetable for implementing Inmarsats' future structure.
The following companies provide ground-side communications access to satcom-equipped business aircraft: Aeronautical Radio, Inc. 2551 Riva Rd. Annapolis, MD 21401 (410) 266-4276 Fax: (410) 266-2329 American Mobile Satellite Corp. 10802 Parkridge Blvd. Reston, VA 22091 (703) 758-6000 Fax: (703) 758-6111 Avicom Japan Ltd. Business Coordination Department Kenchiku-Kaikan 5-26-20 Shiba Minatoku, Tokyo 108 Japan
Photograph: The MD600N is the latest NOTAR single from McDonnell Douglas. Certification of the aircraft is expected by the end of the year. Don't look now, but the quiet resurgence in most segments of the civil helicopter market seems to be taking root. In 1995, manufacturers were optimistic about prospects that a turnaround was here to stay, and that enthusiasm seems to have been borne out by performance over the last 12 months.
Business aircraft sales continued strong in 1995. They were fueled by continued overall economic growth, as evidenced by record stock-market gains and the availability of a large number of new models. Indeed, Edward W. Stimpson, president of GAMA, asserts, ``The industry is better off today than at any time in the last 15 years.'' The year 1996 is shaping up to be another strong sales year, one in which GAMA expects both deliveries and sales revenues to increase.
Reeling from passenger reaction to walking across inclement tarmacs to board turboprop flights, AMR Eagle is making some big changes. The latest development is a covered adapter that mates the jetbridge to the door of the ATR 42/72.
Avtec, Incorporated, a St. Louis-based repair and completion facility, has received FAA certification of a fiber-optic lighting system for aircraft cabins. The system emits light from a high-intensity lamp or ``illuminator'' through one or more bundles of flexible polymer fibers. Avtec claims fiber optics is safer and more durable than other lighting systems, and installation can be made virtually anywhere inside the cabin.
Bell and Boeing-already partners in the V-22 Osprey program-are in the process of defining a small civil tilt-rotor with both executive transport and utility applications. A launch decision is expected by year-end. Preliminary specs call for a 275-knot aircraft with an 800-nm range. Bell believes the D600 would have to sell within 50 percent of current medium helicopters, putting the price in the $6.5-million to $8-million range.
During recent years, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has conducted investigations into the practice of certain industries in fixing and advertising list prices. It is the position of the FTC that it is deceptive to the public and against the law for list prices of any product to be specified or advertised in a trade area if the majority of sales are made at less than those prices. B/CA is not in a position to know the prices for most of the sales in each trading area in the United States for each of the products in this issue.
In early June, Trimble Navigation is scheduled to complete its acquisition of Terra Avionics, an avionics equipment manufacturer. Trimble makes FMSes, long-range navigation and GPS sensors, and collision-avoidance systems. Thirty-year-old Terra manufactures transceivers, GPS receivers, airborne phones, ADFs, audio panels and transponders. After the acquisition is completed, Terra's production and product-support operations in Albuquerque will be consolidated at Trimble's facilities in Austin.
Potential buyers for Fokker still come and go, but the receivers of the bankrupt company now are investigating the feasibility of completing another 12 to 18 aircraft beyond the 15 that had been promised earlier. The extension is being considered since customers are pressing for delivery of outstanding orders and, according to Fokker, new customers have come forward. Extending production might also provide more time to find a takeover candidate, but Fokker officials report that Samsung of Korea and Saab of Sweden have decided not to make a bid.
Transport Canada and the FAA have awarded Level C certification to a Canadair Challenger 604 simulator. Level D approval is expected in early 1997. The simulator, developed by CAE Electronics, is located at the new Bombardier Aerospace Training Centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada (B/CA, February, page 35). Meanwhile, FlightSafety's Falcon Jet Learning Center in Teterboro is being enlarged to provide space for a Falcon 2000 simulator later this year, and a Falcon 900EX simulator in 1997.
Comments are due May 17 on an FAA proposal that would redefine the reference stall speed for transport aircraft as 1 g instead of the minimum speed obtained in a stalling maneuver. As currently defined, the agency says that Vs can be less than the lowest speed at which aerodynamic lift supports the airplane's weight. Applying multiple factors, such as 1.3 times Vs to get a landing reference speed, may not provide as large a speed margin as the FAA intended. The proposal also would harmonize the rule with those proposed by Europe's Joint Aviation Requirements Part 25.
