Business & Commercial Aviation

Drone Pilots? “Empty Cockpits” (Viewpoint, June 2016) was a good editorial. There’s no quick fix to this [pilot shortage] problem. Desire alone is not enough to incur the expense with so long a period before you get an adequate return. Maybe drone pilots? Dick Van Gemert Fairfield, Connecticut Looking Back Fondly

The 17th annual Reading Air Show attracted 3,000 registrants, 1,500 aircraft and a total crowd of 65,000 over the three-day period. Total aircraft movements recorded by the tower were 6,227.

According to the FAA, inflight cabin safety means protecting against fire, turbulence, decompression and providing the means to address medical emergencies. Quite a catalogue of woes.

A flight attendant’s roles are many, but minimizing risk is foremost. In order to reduce risk to a level as low as reasonably practicable, potential hazards must be identified and then reported, discussed, analyzed and, ultimately, mitigated.

Five questions for Joe Moeggenberg, president, CEO and founder of Argus International

Jet-A And Avgas Per Gallon Fuel Prices June 2016

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.