RUAG has delivered the first Dornier 228-212 to the Venezuelan government at the end of January. This is the first of 10 Dornier 228s in passenger configuration ordered by that government and includes spare parts, ground equipment and training. The Dornier fleet will improve travel between remote areas and regional hubs, and will give residents in hard to reach areas greater access to medical care and government support.
The Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI) wants FAA to permit limited unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) operations before the agency's small UAS rule is finalized. Beyond that, the association is urging FAA to meet its revised deadline for publication of the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on small unmanned aircraft, and to make the issue a top priority this year. The agency has been working on the NPRM since 2009 and has indicated it expects to publish it this coming November, a schedule, AUVSI notes, that is almost four years late.
For the aviation industry, Jan. 13 marked the end of a long decade. That was the day that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at long last published its repair station security rule. The action was a bit tardy. After all, Congress had mandated it more than a decade ago, and then became so frustrated by agency inaction that it forbade the FAA from certifying any new foreign repair station until TSA released the rule. That ban has been in place since August 2008.
Luxembourg-based Luxaviation has acquired Unijet, a leading French business aviation operator, through its Belgian subsidiary, Abelag. Based at Le Bourget in Paris, Unijet provides the group access to Europe's foremost business aviation airport. With the acquisition, the new group increases its staff to 350 employees and its fleet to 60 business aircraft based in Benelux, Germany and France.
TAG Aviation recently introduced iPad–based electronic flight bag (EFB) technology to its Switzerland-based fleet, featuring Jeppesen Mobile FlightDeck. Jeppesen will help to eliminate paper-based information from TAG's operations and increase overall operational efficiency. The company aims to achieve savings in fuel consumption by reducing the weight of each pilot's flight bag. On average, these can weigh from 40 to 50 lb. each. Jeppesen www.jeppesen.com
The long running fight for control of Santa Monica, Calif., Airport entered a pitched legal battle recently to determine the future of the facility, a key general aviation field outside Los Angeles — and possibly put hundreds more airports in jeopardy. Late last October the city filed suit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking to control the fate of SMO, insisting it has “unencumbered title” to the airport property and can do with it “as it chooses.” The municipality wants the option to close the airport after July 2015.
Organizers of the 2014 Asian Business Aviation Conference and Exhibition (ABACE), set for April 15-17, report exhibitor registrations early this year were far ahead of last year's pace and have expanded the exhibit hall and pavilion to allow for more booths at the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Centre. ABACE is produced through a partnership between the Shanghai Airport Authority and National Business Aviation Association (NBAA), and co-hosted by NBAA, the Asian Business Aviation Association and the Shanghai Exhibition Center.
Bombardier Aerospace recently received a $537 million order from an undisclosed customer for three Global 6000, two Global 7000 and three Global 8000 jets. Still in development, the Global 7000 and is slated to enter service in 2016, and the 8000 is to follow in 2017. So much for the good news. In January, the Montreal manufacturer announced plans to lay off 1,100 employees in Canada and 600 in the U.S. to contain costs after stretching out development of its CSeries jetliner by at least 12 months and seeing business and commercial aircraft orders decline in 2013.
Is there a chance that the Standard Lateral Offset Procedure, or some variation on it, will be authorized for use in non-oceanic U.S. airspace? The answer is a qualified, “Yes.”
Correction: Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga., hired Kevin Brink and Scott Clarey as sales directors for North America. Kevin Dutton's name was misspelled under his photo in the February “On Duty” section.
Embraer, Sao Paulo, Brazil, appointed Peter Griffith vice president, sales and marketing for Europe and Africa, for the company's Executive Jets unit. Griffith has had sales positions with Raytheon Aircraft, Cessna and Honda, among others. Peter Walker was named vice president sales and marketing for the Middle East and Asia Pacific. He has served as a chief pilot and has had sales roles for Hawker Beechcraft and Nextant.
On aviation taxes: It [the 1965 budget] would increase the present tax of two cents per gallon of gasoline used by general aviation to three cents and would impose a two-cent tax on jet fuel. There is no tax on jet fuel at the present time.
Henry Ogrodzinski, the president and CEO of the National Association of State Aviation Officials (NASAO) and a longtime industry advocate, died at his home in Washington, D.C. Jan. 22 after a two-year battle with cancer. He was 65. A gentlemanly and friendly persuader, the genial “Henry O” spent his entire professional career in aviation, working with NASAO, the Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA), the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) and Gulfstream Aerospace, among others.
It turns out 2013 was even harder for Sabreliner Corporation, which lost half of its business as a result of military budget cutting and defaulted on its bank loan. That, in turn, led to its sale to a Sabreliner Services LLC, which was reportedly formed recently by Innovative Capital Holdings LLC, a Florida investment firm. An investment group that included company Chairman F. Holmes Lamoreux previously had owned the company. As a result of the sale, Lamoreux is exiting, along with President Susan Aselage.
"Boosting DCA" (Washington Watch, February 2014, page 59) is the first article regarding Reagan Washington National Airport that hasn't totally ignored the fact that access to DCA is still severely limited. I've been getting very tired of aviation publications extolling TSA's superb efforts at relaxing the guidelines at DCA every time a new gateway airport is added. You are right on in acknowledging that there has been progress, but we are a long way from where we should be.
Business jet operations last year topped 4 million, an activity level not seen since 2008, according to preliminary FAA data. The 4.072 million operations recorded in 2013, represented a 2.26% increase over 2012. Since the data is preliminary, this is likely to increase slightly once FAA finalizes December operations. Business jet operations peaked at 4.825 million in 2007 before falling 11% in 2008 to 4.291 million. Operations plunged almost 20% the following year to a decade-low 3.449 million. They have been on the rise every year since, but recovery has been slow.
MyTurbine is a mobile app from Dallas Airmotive designed to easily connect customers anywhere in the world with information about engines being serviced, AOG support and much more. Convenient icons allow for quick navigation to the services most used by customers such as the company's First Support global customers. Users can check cost estimates and completions dates on engines in process, find service locations and contact sales reps among others features.
Rockwell Collins, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, announced that James “Jim” Walker has joined the company as vice president and managing director of Asia Pacific reporting to Colin Mahoney, senior vice president, International and Service Solutions.
P180 Avanti and Avanti II aircraft are the flying Ferraris in a turboprop world awash in airborne Fiats and Fords. They soar as high as FL 410, fly as fast as 400 KTAS and sip jet fuel. Their cabins provide midsize jet passenger comfort and interior sound levels are as low as some older light jets. They can fly six passengers 1,300 nm in less than four hours and consume less fuel than any other pressurized, twin-turbine aircraft.
A half century ago, the 280 kt., 1,800-nm range Howard 500 represented the pinnacle of business aviation's Big Piston Era. Durrell Unger “Dee” Howard of San Antonio, Texas, built 16 of these 5,000-hp beasts before losing the sales war to Leroy Grumman's new turboprop Gulfstream in the early 1960s.
Greenpoint Technologies, Kirkland, Wash., announced that Chairman Jon Buccola was named Executive of the Year by the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance, a non-profit organization geared toward growth and success of the aviation industry in the region.
It turns out that Christina Macfarland and I share a favorite place. By way of background, she is the great-great granddaughter of Henry Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil, and the man who created modern Florida by building The Breakers and other resorts, along with the railroad to bring yesteryear's snowbirds south.
Daher-Socata delivered 40 TBM 850 single-engine turboprops in 2013, up 5% from 2012 deliveries, and hopes the program will continue to expand as Europe considers permitting commercial operations of such aircraft in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC). The French manufacturer has delivered a total of 662 TBMs since introducing the TBM 700 in 1990; of the total, the 850 accounts for 338.
The PC-12 you flew in “Finnoff PC-12 Upgrade” is based at Boulder Municipal Airport in Colorado, not California; and Boulder City Airport is in Nevada. Boulder, Colo.
