Sun Air Jets, Camarillo, California, announced the addition of Greg Paxson to their Maintenance Management team. Greg will fill the role of Part 135 Director of Maintenance. Dave Anderson, Sun Air’s current Part 135 director of maintenance, will move laterally and fill the role of Part 145 accountable manager.
FlightSafety International, New York, promoted Tracy Clough to director, International Teammate Resources. Neil Whiteman has joined the company as vice president and senior counsel for FlightSafety Services Corporation.
NetJets, Cincinnati, named Robert Molsbergen president of Cincinnati, Ohio-based Executive Jet Management He will also serve as chief operating officer of NetJets Inc.’s international aircraft management business.
Summit Aviation, Middletown, Delaware, hired Jeremy Bennett as manager of Business Development. Christin Sherwood is the new Over-the-Counter Parts sales representative.
The National Business Aviation Association is honoring two former longtime staff members — Kathleen Blouin and William (Bill) Stine — with Pillar of Association Awards. NBAA has previously only recognized two other former employees, Fred McIntosh and John Pope, with the award, formerly known as the Staff Lifetime Achievement Award. Blouin stepped down earlier this year from her role as senior vice president of conventions and forums.
The reorganization at Bombardier saw additional departures in September as Ralph Acs, head of the Learjet line, Stephane Leblanc, his counterpart for Challenger programs, and Marie-Helene Pelletier head of the business aircraft unit’s supply chain, cleared out their desks.
Blackhawk Modifications is developing a new engine upgrade for the Cessna 208A Caravan and 208B Grand Caravan that will replace the standard 600-hp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-114 or 675-hp PT6A-114A-hp turboprop engine with the 867-hp PT6A-140 engine.
Jet Aviation Saudi Arabia has recently been approved by the FAA to operate as a repair station for Gulfstream aircraft. With the approval Jet Aviation can support it customers in Jeddah and Riyadh with light scheduled maintenance (A checks) on Gulfstream GII, GIII, GIV and GV aircraft.
Gulfstreams are favorite conveyances among the top brass in the U.S. government, but Northrop Grumman is hoping to put some G550s to work identifying bad guys on the ground. The company has conducted more than 500 hr. of flight testing various radars in the model.
In the wake of two recent crashes within a week of each other in which the pilots are suspected of being rendered unconscious by hypoxia, the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association Air Safety Foundation (ASF) issued a safety alert warning to pilots to remain on guard to the condition’s symptoms. The first crash, which occurred Aug. 30, involved a Cirrus SR-22T en route to Manassas, Virginia, from Wisconsin, but entered restricted airspace in the Washington, D.C., and continued out over the Atlantic.
Mountain Aviation, a Broomfield, Colo.-based charter and management firm, has come under new ownership by a private investment firm, a move the company says will help it expand its core markets in the Rocky Mountain region along with looking at new opportunities in the oil and gas and government markets. The company notes that it has extensive experience operating in rugged environments, giving it “a strong foundation for expanded capabilities” in the oil and gas and government markets.
The California Highway Patrol (CHP) has begun replacing its fleet of a dozen AStar helicopters with new versions of the same. The department has contracted with Airbus Helicopters up to 15 AS350B3e helicopters. The initial order is for three new AStars, with deliveries beginning in December.
Sierra Industries, Ltd., is offering performance upgrades to the Cessna 525 Citation Jet series. Know as the Sapphire, the program is designed to be a comprehensive package of modifications that will enhance performance, reliability and comfort for legacy CJ aircraft.
Initial testing of an unleaded avgas replacement fuel at FAA’s technical center in Atlantic City, New Jersey, is to begin this fall. The agency selected two fuels from Swift Fuels, one from Shell and another from a consortium of BP, TOTAL and Hjelmco for lab and rig testing. Following that, the FAA plans to narrow the candidates to one or two fuels to undergo Phase 2 testing on engines and aircraft. Congress set aside $6 million in fiscal 2014 to support the fuel testing, and has indicated plans to match that in fiscal 2015.
Family-owned business jet completions specialist Flying Colours will triple its outfitting capacity at its Peterborough, Canada, base by early 2016 with a major expansion that will increase its dedicated production bays from three to nine. “Our 120,000-sq.-ft.
Construction of 250,000 sq ft in new production and completion space is underway at Dassault Falcon Jet’s already sprawling facility in Little Rock, Arkansas, the largest in the French planemaker’s network.
The Export-Import (Ex-Im) Bank of the U. S., which became a controversial subject recently — a fact that took aerospace manufacturers and other exporters by surprise — may have secured at least a short term future by now. By late September the Congress was expected to pass a continuing resolution to keep the federal government in business.
A Frasca Citation CJ1+ full flight simulator (FFS) recently delivered to Nanshan International Flight Academy in Longkou, China, has received CAAC Level D approval. With the notification, academy head Li Fang said, “We look forward to continuing our relationship with Frasca and to ensuring the highest quality flight t
Gatwick-based Air Partner, which numbers among its clients the British royal family, is reaping an upsurge in chartered jet travel, having raked in 5 million pounds ($8.3 million) in JetCard sales in the first six months of 2014.
