Business & Commercial Aviation

The turbofan for the USAF Fairchild-Republic T-46 advanced trainer was rated at 1,330 lb. thrust and was assigned the designation F109. But the program was canceled after the first 28 F109s were delivered.

Despite the seemingly glacial-pace of air traffic management evolution, the FAA has begun upgrading its services and capabilities, including controller-pilot data link communications to help make the flow of traffic safer and more efficient.

Rick Stoulil, chief pilot for Hormel Foods Corp., says: "The way the HTF7000 is set up, it works great. It is equipped with autothrottles and is very responsive [on spool-up] with very little lag. And it's really fuel efficient.

Going behind the scenes to see how much work is involved in creating an avionics product and bringing it to market gives one an appreciation and respect for the work of the designers, engineers and technicians who make this happen.

According to Honeywell, there are 700 HTF7000-powered aircraft in service with 1,400 engines that have collectively logged more than 2.6 million hours.

Mark Jones's deep expertise on Hawker series aircraft has proven to be invaluable to his employers, fellow maintainers, pilots and the jet’s manufacturer.

While Honeywell Aerospace's forward view is firmly fixed on the super-midsize business jet market, the Phoenix-based OEM continues to produce its stable of smaller turbine engines.

The enduring innovation of Universal Avionics products is closely tied to its core characteristics of designed by pilots, and built by pilots for pilots.

Especially as a single pilot, organizing items you will need for the flight while still in the chocks or the planning room just makes good sense.

News of promotions, appointments and honors involving professionals within the business aviation community.

Selected accidents and incidents in September/October 2016. The following NTSB information is preliminary.

Flight departments must walk a narrow path to satisfy all regulatory requirements.

The first prototype of the $2 million Gulfstream II business jet took off Oct. 2 from Grumman's Bethpage, New York, airfield. It flew for 52 min. at 200 kt. and landed at the company's Peconic River Airport in Calverton, New York. Learn what else was news in November 1966.

If you are interested in stepping up to a long-range, large-cabin G500, it could be a real bargain.

As winter approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, pilots turn their thoughts to braking action performance and procedures.

R. A. “Bob” Hoover, called the “greatest stick-and-rudder pilot who ever lived” by Lt. Gen. James Doolittle, USAF (Ret.), died peacefully of heart and kidney failure early Oct. 25, 2016, at Torrance Hospital, near his home in Palos Verdes, Calif. He was a favorite performer at air shows around the world, thrilling his audiences with his precision aerobatic maneuvers in the North American Aircraft P-51 Mustang and Aero Commander Shrike.

Jet-A And Avgas Per-Gallon Fuel Prices October 2016

Dassault Aviation delivered its first Falcon 8Xon Oct. 5 to longtime Falcon operator Amjet Executive, marking the entry into service of the company's new top-of-the-line, ultra-long- range flagship. The delivery occurred at Dassault’s Bordeaux-Merignac facility. The 6,450 nm (11,945 km) Falcon received its EASA and FAA certification in June and, Dassault noted, is entering service precisely on schedule, two years after it was first announced.

TRU Simulation + Training has entered the second phase of expansion for its Pilot Training Center in Lutz, Florida. It is enlarging its facility by 30,000 sq. ft. to accommodate four additional flight simulators in order to diversify its training programs. TRU Simulation is a Textron Aviation company headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina.

The Citation Longitude, Cessna Aircraft's entrant into the super-midsize business jet category, flew for the first time Oct. 8. The flight from Beech Field on Wichita’s east side where the aircraft was assembled occurred less than a year after the jet was publically detailed. “Today’s successful first flight of the Citation Longitude was performed exactly as we anticipated,” said Scott Ernest, president and CEO, Textron Aviation.

Meanwhile, days earlier Cessna delivered a Citation M2 to Helitrip Charter, which is leasing it to Catreus Ltd. a British charter operator.

Nextant Aerospace, which builds the 400XTi, and Constant Aviation, which offers MRO services, have partnered with Rockwell Collins to offer a Next Gen flight deck package for Beechcraft 400X/XP aircraft.

Acorn Growth Companies, an Oklahoma City private-equity firm, announced Sept. 26 that it has acquired Seattle-based Raisbeck Engineering from founder and Chairman James D. Raisbeck. Founded in 1982, Raisbeck's company has developed dozens of modification systems for general aviation, utility and jetliner aircraft.

Daher recently completed its 800th TBM single-engine turboprop, a TMB 930 that rolled off the assembly line at Tarbes-Lourdes-Pyrenees Airport in France.

Embraer is cutting 1,463 employees from its workforce in Brazil as it moves to reduce costs in the midst of a challenging market. The departing workers represent 99.5% of those who applied for a Voluntary Dismissal Program, the company reported.