Business & Commercial Aviation

Questions for Shawn Vick, CEO of Global Jet Capital Inc., Boca Raton, Florida.

London Oxford Airport is seeing an increase in large business jets using its facilities this year. Its FBO has seen a 37% increase in large jet movements and a 46% increase over the past two years, the airport reports.

AirspaceX, a new company set up by design house Detroit Aircraft, is developing a tail-sitting electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing aircraft that can carry modular payloads, including a four-seat passenger cabin for air taxi operations.

Selected accidents and incidents in April 2017. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

Will supersonic business jets be streaking across oceans in the near future? No less an entity than Rolls-Royce is cautiously optimistic about the prospects and is actively studying a new generation of potential engine designs to power it.

Japan has set ambitious targets to double foreign visitors to 40 million a year by the 2020 Summer Olympics, and business aviation is expected to play a role.

A highly experienced Mexican crew with newly minted Bombardier Challenger type ratings attempted an approach into one of business aviation's toughest airports with adverse winds on Jan. 5, 2014. The result was tragic.

Compare Jet-A and avgas fuel prices by U.S. region based on a survey conducted in May 2017 by Aviation Research Group/U.S. Inc. and an analysis of the lowest fuel prices reported by FBOs on acukwik.com

Hawthorne Global Aviation Services has acquired JetSun Aviation Centre, an FBO located at Sioux Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa. The facility has more than 100,000 sq. ft. of hangar space, a reception area, conference room, pilot lounge and flight planning.

Choosing the right person to take over when you exit can be the capstone of your career as a director of maintenance. Depending on the size of the operation, there may be several people involved in the process, but regardless, your input will weigh heavily in the selection.

Business aviation flight activity increased globally during the first quarter of 2017 compared to the last three months of 2016. In fact, it was the highest utilization of aircraft for any first quarter since 2008, according to Jet Support Services Inc., a provider of maintenance support and financial services.

Blackhawk Modifications in Waco, Texas, has received an STC for the installation of True Blue Power TB44 lithium-ion batteries on Blackhawk-powered Cessna Caravan 208 and 208B models.

Shenzhen, China-based Amber Aviation has launched its business jet management services. The company was founded by Chairman Chang Qiu Sheng. It will also have an office in Hong Kong.

The FAA has adopted a new Airworthiness Directive for certain Learjet Model 60 airplanes. This AD was prompted by an evaluation by the design approval holder indicating the upper fuselage skin under the aft oxygen line fairing is subject to multi-site damage.

​Aircare International has launched an enhanced hypoxia training course for pilots and cabin crewmembers. The training involves both classroom instruction on high-altitude physiology and actual exposure using a hypoxia training platform.

CVR Recording for Challenger N115WF: Shortly past noon on Jan. 5, 2014, a Bombardier CL-600-2B16 Challenger crashed during a landing attempt on Runway 15 at Colorado's Aspen-Pitkin County Airport/Sardy Field (ASE). The information below, from the NTSB report, is a record of what went on in the cockpit as the approach became unstabilized and the flight came to grief.

FlightSafety International has teamed with Service Elements to create an Aviation Maintenance Management Program. The three-day course, provided at FlightSafety's Maintenance Training Center in Dallas, is designed to enhance the skills of current aircraft maintenance department managers and help those who aspire to such positions.

In early May, Pratt & Whitney Canada completed production of its 100,000th engine, and of that total 60,000 remain in service operated by 12,300 customers in more than 200 countries and territories.

The fourth Cessna Citation Longitude test aircraft has joined the flight-test program. The aircraft is expected to receive FAA type certification later this year. The fourth Longitude flew for the first time on May 6.

Duncan Aviation has released a new edition of its Business Jet Model/Market Summary, an initial introduction and overview of market conditions.

Gulf stream Aerospace's G280 set two speed records in April on flights to and from the 2017 Avalon Airshow. The aircraft flew 3,332 nm from Singapore to Melbourne, Australia, in 7 hr. and 21 min., at an average cruise speed of Mach 0.81. It then flew from Singapore to Dubai's Al Maktoum Airport, 3,177 nm, in 7 hr. and 18 min. at Mach 0.82.

Completions specialist Flying Colours Corp. has delivered the first three Bombardier CRJ200 ex-airliner-to-VIP conversions for Chinese luxury company Sparkle Roll's SR Jet, and will deliver three more by year-end.

Vision Systems, through its new division Smart Lite, introduced the second-generation Electronically Dimmable Window, the Nuance V2 and the latest version of its smart interactive window, Acti-Vision Window adapted to business aviation.

Jet Aviation is preparing cockpit avionics systems in older Challenger 605s and 300s for upgrades that will improve transoceanic flights and meet upcoming FAA requirements.

SEA Prime, the company managing the FBO in Milan Linate Prime and soon operating in Milan Malpensa, and Bombardier have signed an agreement to open a new Bombardier Line Maintenance Station within SEA Prime’s facilities at Milan Linate Prime.