Business & Commercial Aviation

Jet-A And Avgas Per Gallon Fuel Prices June 2016

ExecuJet has acquired its first fixed base operation in the Caribbean region. The FBO is located at Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten. The FBO was acquired from TLC Aviation.

West Star Aviation in Charlotte, North Carolina, was named an authorized dealer of hardware sales and installation of SmartSky technology.

To help spur equipage, the FAA is offering a $500 rebate incentive for general aviation aircraft owners who equip their U.S.-registered, fixed-wing, single-engine piston aircraft with required Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast Out avionics. The announcement was made in early June by U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and FAA Administrator Michael Huerta.

An investigation is underway to determine why Piaggio Aero's prototype P.1HH Hammerhead unmanned air system crashed off Sicily on May 31.

Jet Aviation Moscow Vnukovo has received FAA repair station approval following a recent audit of its maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. The approval authorizes it to support aircraft registered in the U.S., including Bombardier, Gulfstream, Embraer, Falcon and Hawker aircraft.

Marshall Aviation Services has added the Bombardier Challenger 604 and 605 to the business aircraft types it supports as a Continuing Airworthiness Management Organization (CAMO).

Bell Helicopter is moving production of its new Model 505 JetRanger X helicopter from the U.S. to the company's Mirabel plant near Montreal as part of a restructuring that the company says will optimize manufacturing capabilities.

With a global shortage of airline pilots forecast, CAE is tackling the problem head-on, and in June announced new and extended cadet training agreements with India's IndiGo, CityJet of Ireland, China's Shenzhen Airlines and Norwegian Airlines.

NetJets Europe has partnered with The London Heliport, the capital's only Civil Aviation Authority-certified heliport, and has rebranded it NetJets London Heliport with prominent signage touting the fractional operation, along with its sister company, Executive Jet Management, in the building and around the landing site. More than one-third of NetJets' European customers are based in London.

The average age of a business jet in Europe is 26, according to research from Global Jet Capital, an aviation finance specialist. Sixteen percent of the mid-to-heavy private jets in Europe are age 20 years or older and 8% are at least 30 years old. Consequently, there is a significant market in Europe for private jet owners considering an upgrade of their aircraft, Global Jet Capital said.

Jet Aviation has added eight aircraft to its global management fleet in the past two months, including two Gulfstream G650s and a G550, an Airbus to its managed fleet in EMEA and Asia, two Dassault Falcon 2000s, a Sikorsky S-76 helicopter and a Global Express in the U.S. Jet Aviation manages 300 aircraft worldwide. Jet Aviation Business Jets, an air carrier certificate holder, is based in Zurich. Jet Aviation Flight Services is based in Teterboro, New Jersey.

Lufthansa Technik and DC Aviation Group, a European operator of business jets, have signed a cooperation agreement.

TAG Aviation is adding a second Airbus ACJ319 to its corporate jet fleet to meet the rising demand for charters and business travel, the company said.

Jet Aviation Basel, a completions and maintenance center, has signed a parts consignment agreement with Custom Control Concepts, based in Seattle.

The economic slowdown and shrinking overall demand for business aviation services in Russia has not affected the expansion plans of A-Group, which operates FBOs at Moscow-Sheremetyevo and St. Petersburg-Pulkovo airports.

Jet Support Services, which provides hourly cost maintenance programs for business aircraft, has formed a partnership with Global Jet Capital, a financing provider for large-cabin, long-range private jets.

Jet-A And Avgas Per Gallon Fuel Prices May 2016

BCA's editor-in-chief William Garvey talks with Bill Koch, chairman of Hawthorne Global Aviation Services.

The pilot breed has in it the primal instinct to attempt every assigned task, no matter the odds of success. Like many of our innate urges, this proclivity must be kept in check because in an airplane, acting on it can be deadly.

Sheltair has acquired Tampa Jet International Center at Tampa International Airport, Florida, and plans to expand its infrastructure. The operation and location is expected to fit into Shelter's growth model and complements its network of fixed-base operations.

In February 2002, a Gulfstream V underwent maintenance at a repair station at West Palm Beach Airport in Florida. The airplane was placed on jacks for a tire change. During the process, a maintenance tech disabled the weight-on-wheels, aka "squat" switches with wooden "Popsicle sticks" to simulate that the GV was in "ground mode" so he could access the Maintenance Data Acquisition Unit in the cockpit to troubleshoot a false overspeed warning problem.

Former Royal Air Force aviator O.W. "Wally" Epton, with nearly 17,000 hr. of stick time specializes in conducting functional check flights and training other pilots how to do the same in a responsible and knowledgeable way.

BCA contributor James Albright, who authors the "http://code7700.com" website, advises using qualified pilots and mechanics on functional check flights.

Aviation lore veritably brims with tales of the fearless test pilot flying into harm's way to probe the limits of an experimental airplane's performance, the quintessential scenario being the flutter dive. You know the scene: Pull up, Buck, pull up!