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.
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.
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.
Kenny Dichter is at it again, making business aviation more accessible to a wider group of users as he did when he cofounded the Marquis Jet Card program piggybacked on the NetJets fractional ownership operation. But the twist in his latest venture, Wheels Up, is that the turboprop and jet program isn’t based on 25-hr. jet cards but memberships.
Textron Aviation is betting that its much-improved, 3,000-nm range Cessna Citation Sovereign+ will offer the quickest point-to-point trips for six passengers on many business missions.
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.
With some Fortune 500 companies examining their flight departments’ costs and exposure — with some prominent closures as a result — does this foretell a trend? And will upper management issue jet cards for business travel? B&CA asked principals of charter brokerages and operators marketing jet cards their opinions:
Sikorsky Aircraft is working to expand its penetration of the Asian market, and while its primary focus is on its military product line, including Black Hawks and Sea Hawks, its commercial helicopters are finding buyers as well.
Yingling Aviation recently acquired the assets of ICT Aircraft Services, enabling the Wichita services company to provide Type One deicing and Type Four anti-icing services for aircraft at Mid-Continent Airport. The acquisition includes two Premier deicing trucks equipped with heated 1,800 and 1,500-gal. Type One glycol tanks, 300-gal.
The Sovereign+’s avionics suite, featuring Garmin G5000 equipment, is the most-advanced flight deck ever developed for a Citation. It’s also the most-capable G5000 system in any current-production business aircraft. Yet, the Sovereign+’s cockpit is also one of the least cluttered of any business aircraft flying. Frequently used systems all have dedicated cockpit control panels. Some manual functions are automated and seldom-used functions, such as cockpit and cabin temperature control and cabin lighting, are controlled through avionics system submenus.
Honda Aircraft President and CEO Michimasa Fujino continues to collect recognitions for his contributions to the novel over-the-wing engine mount configuration for the HondaJet light business jet.
“In the U.S., charter is still picking up in heavy and midsize jets. There are some new, midsize models that might be feeding that.” The speaker is Air Charter Guide Product Director Bettina Gentile, presenting her assessment of the 2014 business jet charter industry. The publication maintains details on 2,400 active charter operators in its database. “Europe was growing but is now stagnating,” she continued. “Heavy and midsize categories are declining, while very light jets are increasing — Phenoms and the like.”
Business aircraft flight operations are poised to increase in September, marking the 10th consecutive month-over-month increase and the 17th out of the last 18 months, according to business aviation research specialist Aviation Research/U.S. (ARGUS) and FAA data. ARGUS, which tracks business aircraft flight operations in the U.S. and Canada, recently reported a 0.9% gain in business flight operations in August, and said operations are on pace to climb another 2.7% in this month.
Rated at 5,907 lb. thrust for takeoff up to ISA+16C, the PW306D is a 2% higher output and reduced emissions version of the 306C that powers the original Sovereign. The engine is a conventional twin-spool turbofan with a 4.4:1 bypass ratio.
These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of Citation Sovereign+ under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Textron Aviation senior sales engineer Dave Champley provided the data for all charts. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they do not take into account ATC delays, and less than optimum routings and altitudes.
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.
Designers attempt to give exceptional capabilities in all areas, including price, but the laws of physics, thermodynamics and aerodynamics do not allow one aircraft to do all missions with equal efficiency. Trade offs are a reality of aircraft design.
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
