During the National Business Aviation Association's (NBAA) most recent convention in Las Vegas, John Pistole, who heads the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), had welcome words for the business aviation community. He pledged to continue to work with industry on initiatives to improve access to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA).
Cockpit automation is here to stay, and will probably increase in the future. Automated cockpit systems have contributed significantly to improvements in safety, operational efficiency, and precise flight path management, all welcome developments. Unfortunately accidents continue to point out vulnerabilities attendant to automation as well.
Keith Plumb, president and COO of regional fractional ownership provider Executive AirShare, added the title of CEO on Jan. 1. Plumb is succeeding Bob Taylor as part of a succession plan that began in early 2013. Taylor, who has been chairman and CEO, will become chairman emeritus, focused on various sales and business development projects. Taylor, who turns 67 shortly, jointly founded Executive AirShare with Plumb in 2000 in Wichita.
Safe Flight, White Plains, N.Y., announced the appointment of Matthew Greene as executive vice president. Since joining the company in 2003, he has taken on increasing roles of responsibility, most recently as vice president of Program Management where he led the improvement of new product time to market.
Although cleared, the driveway was snow crusted. So, I watched with keen interest as my daughter made her way up its steep incline, her all-season tires going slower and slower until just inches from the summit, they stopped. Not good. Hustling up, I told her to take a back seat. Daddy would get it over the top. A perfect Papa Berenstain Bear* moment: Don't be upset getting stuck on a hill, Driving cars through snow takes know-how and skill
Zenith Aviation, a Fredericksburg, Va.-based marketer and distributor of Dornier 328 parts, has significantly increased its inventory with the purchase of Dornier 328 jet assets from Comtran and Jetran International. The assets include two Dornier 328-310 heavyweight jets, six Pratt & Whitney 306B engines, two sets of Dornier 328-310 heavyweight landing gear, a complete 12-seat executive interior, and more than 2,000 line items of rotable parts .
The FAA recently selected six operators to conduct civil unmanned aircraft system (UAS) research: The University of Alaska, the State of Nevada, New York's Griffiss International Airport, North Dakota Department of Commerce, Texas A&M University, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. University of Alaska Fairbanks leads a multi-state team that includes Hawaii and Oregon with a total of 14 test ranges among them. Nevada's test resources include airfields and special-use airspace in sparsely populated areas.
Gulfstream Aerospace 's service center at London Luton Airport in the U.K. recently received European Aviation Safety Agency approval to perform maintenance on the Gulfstream G280.The facility earned similar EASA approval for Gulfstream 's G650 last year. The G280 entered service in November 2012, followed by the G650 in December 2012.
Call letters of the renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport changed from IDL to JFK. The cost, including navaid signals, air navigation charts and reservation computer codes, is estimated at $500,000. Then, there's all those little baggage tags. No matter how successful, an airplane sooner or later goes back to the drawing board to be taken from good to better. The twin-Baron recently emerged from a face lifting with a longer airframe, added baggage space, increased useful load and upped performance figures.
In April 1997, the American Airlines Flight Academy produced a seminar on the hazards of automation dependency, particularly the perils of attempting to reprogram flight management computers in time-sensitive, high workload environments.
Raisbeck Engineering's Swept Blade Turbofan Propellers are now being delivered after their FAA certification covering the entire King Air C90 and E90 family. When added to the Raisbeck EPIC Performance Package for the C90/E90 aircraft, the Swept Blade Propellers deliver performance increases across the board, according to Raisbeck. The EPIC Package is priced at $99,864 plus installation and includes Raisbeck Dual Aft Body Strakes and FAA-Approved Airplane Flight Manual Supplement.
Biggin Hill Airport, London, appointed Robert Walters as director. He spent seven years as business development manager for the airport and will continue to lead sales and marketing but will also manage customer service.
Priester Aviation, Wheeling, Ill., hired William (Bill) L. McNease as vice president and director of Flight Operations. Kevin Brink was named sales director, North American Sales responsible for sales in Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, Hawaii, Nevada eastern Oregon, Saskatchewan and Washington. Scott Clarey joined the company as sales director, North American sales for Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Utrak. He is based in Tempe, Ariz.
AP On Air launched a range of fresh blended cocktails offering passengers exotic drinks at altitude. In partnership with London-based Pontoon Cocktails, a menu of seven mixes will be offered to flight attendants along with its regular food and beverage menus. The drinks incorporate hand-pressed juices, infusions and syrups and are delivered frozen to maintain freshness. They are individually packed and come with the appropriate garnish and serving instructions.
AgustaWestland is continuing to add improvement modifications to its AW609 as the aircraft moves toward its confirmed certification scheduled for 2017. The hybrid fixed/rotary wing aircraft currently has “almost 60 potential orders from global customers,” according to Roberto Caprarella, Communications Manager for the company. These are from both civil and government customers in a range of configurations, primarily VIP/executive transport and offshore oil and gas operators.
Lowell Deering (Mission Aviation Fellowship Papua, New Guinea )
I enjoyed “A Classic Accident Chain” (Cause & Circumstance, December 2013, page 51). It describes the situation succinctly. You have highlighted a number of latent issues, which are good to think about. I work as a senior pilot and trainer with Mission Aviation Fellowship. We operate a number of Twin Otters doing charter operations in New Guinea, and the situation you describe in the article could be something we might face one day, and some of the latent issues are factors that we face already.
Despite news of a resurging U.S. manufacturing industry, U.S. export competitiveness in manufacturing continues to decline, according to a new report by the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation. In 2000, Europe and the U.S. remained atop the world's exporters, with Japan trailing the U.S. by a little more than one-third the total exports. Since that time, China has leapfrogged both the U.S. and Europe. U.S. exports, in terms of dollar value, have grown 70% since 2000, marking the third slowest growth among the world's top 11 exporters.
TWC Aviation, Los Angeles, announced the Jason Berg has joined the company as chief aviation officer. He will oversee TWC's flight operations, safety and maintenance departments, and play a key role in the firm's new environmental initiative.
West Star Aviation, East Alton, Ill., named Debi Cunningham vice president of Marketing and Interior Design. She started her career in business aviation in 1983 and has been with West Star since 2002.
Global demand for agricultural aircraft is boosting sales, with Embraer forecasting an increase in Ipanema deliveries this year as it hands over its 1,300th aircraft to Rio Verde, Brazil-based Fort Aviacao Agricola. The Brazilian manufacturer expects to deliver 70 Ipanemas this year, up from 66 in 2102 and 58 a year earlier. The single-engined aircraft has been in production for more than 40 years. In the U.S., agricultural aircraft manufacturers Air Tractor and Thrush Aircraft are on track for record deliveries this year.
Beechcraft King Air turboprop poised for its first flight at press time, will be delivered to customers in the fall this year. The pressurized twin is powered by the increasingly popular PT6A-6 turbines, which provide a design performance of 270 mph cruise and 1,400 mi. range. Beech reports a backlog of $10.8 million for the King Air. Basic airplane still costs about $300,000.
FltPlan is offering its free Weight & Balance program via its website and mobile apps for over 400 makes and models of aircraft in its database. The program is available on the full website, on the Android app or on the iPad app. The Android and iPad apps' Weight & Balance features integrate with a users online information. It can be imported direction to an app, with no need to re-enter the aircraft parameters. The data can be used offline when no Internet is available.
