Awards and Honors Actor and accomplished pilot Harrison Ford received this year's NBAA's Al Ueltschi Award for Humanitarian Leadership. In addition to his extensive work as an outspoken champion for general aviation, Ford regularly files missions in support of humanitarian and philanthropic causes. He has participated in the Citation Special Olympics Airlift and works with the Corporate Angel Network.
Duncan Aviation is expanding its service capabilities with the addition of a tenth Rapid Response engine location in Portland, Ore., and increased accessory shop space at its facility in Lincoln, Neb. The new Rapid Response unit will provide mobile engine services such AOG emergency services, and many scheduled and unscheduled events, including engine changes. The Portland area formerly was served by Duncan Aviation's response team in Seattle. Duncan also refurbished and expanded its service area in Lincoln, providing an additional 6,300 sq. ft.
Chicago Jet Group, a Universal Avionics authorized dealer, received the first Future Air Navigation System (FANS) retrofit certification on a Dassault Falcon 50 with the UniLink UL-801 Communication Management Unit (CMU) with an internal VHF VDL Mode 2 receiver. It's interfaced with dual UNS-1Lw FMSes and International Communications Group's (ICG) NxtLink ICS-220A Iridium Satcom. Universal's CVR-120A was also installed for required FANS datalink message recording.
The political math is not complicated. The U.S. government and most of the states are broke. Most people don't own aircraft. So, there won't be a populist revolt if in their quest for more revenue the IRS and counterparts at the state level target business aircraft for audits.
Garmin International announced a premium GPS watch designed specifically for aviators. The D2 features Garmin's signature direct-to and nearest navigation functions, as well as a built-in altimeter with adjustable baro setting, altitude alerting capabilities, display of both local and Zulu/UTC time, and the ability to seamlessly integrate with the Garmin Pilot app, VIRB action camera, and many more functions. The price of the D2 is $449.00 and it should be available this month,
Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACSF), Alexandria, Va., has selected Greg Kinsella, president and CEO of Key Air, to the ACSF Board of Governors. American Eurocopter, Grand Prairie, Texas, named Samuel Adcock to the post of vice president-general manager of the company's helicopter production plant in Columbus, Miss.
I've never taken the time to write back on an article before, but having read “Checking the Descent” (Viewpoint, August 2013) I wanted to share an in-the-trenches view from someone who is trying to start a flight school and get more people into aviation on a day-to-day basis. In my opinion, the biggest issues (behind the declining pilot population) are not what you mention. They're symptoms and not the cause. There is only one reason: Cost. General aviation has become too expensive.
I really enjoyed you sharing your recent experiences in the venerable HU-16 in “Water Log” (Viewpoint, September 2013). I just returned from Florida where I obtained my multi-engine seaplane rating in the Albatross' “little brother,” the G44 Widgeon. What a blast! Congrats to our friends in Canada on reaching quite a milestone with the PT-6. I have no doubt it will be around for another 50 years yet to come.
Nextant Aerospace is returning to Beechcraft products to add a second airframe to its remanufacturing business. This time it's targeting the King Air C90. Nextant has teamed with both General Electric and Garmin to offer what it calls the G90XT, a C90 fitted with GE H80 engines in place of the current Pratt & Whitney PT6As and with Garmin's G1000 avionics suite instead of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 platform. While the Cleveland, Ohio, modifier's move to add another Beechcraft aircraft to its product line is not a surprise, the choice of the King Air is.
Flush with new funding, Mooney Aircraft is stepping out of its years-long malaise and reports it will return its swift piston singles — specifically, the Acclaim Type S, Ovation 2GX and Ovation 3 series — to production by January, 2014. It's a new day for Mooney. And with a new investment group that is committed to the future, we're expecting to make a strong move in the industry,” noted Barry Hodkin, CFO for the company.
Luma Technologies has completed development of their latest addition to the Lumatech line of LED annunciator panels for the King Air family and is set to offer a forty-five station variant tailor to the C90A and newer models. Designated the LT-4545, it is a one-for-one drop-in replacement for the existing incandescent annunciators incorporated into the C90 glareshield. Luma Technologies www.lumatech.com
I found “NOTAMs in Transition” (January 2013) to be an excellent article. As a member of the FAA's NOTAM working group we have been pushing for NOTAM improvements for many years, in fact since 2000. Your last paragraph captures the problem perfectly: Stop-and-Go Funding. I would love to see more articles on NOTAMS particularly from the dispatcher's perspective or more importantly explaining the role of the dispatcher. Manager Dispatch Operations
The amphibious de Havilland DHC-2 MK 1 Beaver (C-GCZA) departed on wheels from Pitt Meadows Airport, B.C., just east of Vancouver, at 1620 on May 13, 2012, with the pilot and three passengers on board, for a day VFR flight to Okanagan Lake, B.C., some 150 sm to the northeast. It touched down at the lake about 1 hr. and 40 min. later where a single passenger deplaned, as planned.
As the U.S. government's new fiscal year kicked off in October, Washington remained at budget war, and once again, the business aviation community became ensnared as a pawn in a much larger political debate. The acrimony over the budget resulted in the Oct. 1 shutdown of the federal government. That's now happened 18 times since the late 1970s. However, new this year was how the manner of the shutdown which affected a much greater portion of federal employees.
Bombardier is moving closer to the long awaited first flight of its all-new Learjet 85. The manufacturer recently rolled out the first Model 85 in a private celebration with employees in Wichita, and then invited the press to view it just prior to the NBAA Convention in October. Bombardier, Inc., CEO Pierre Beaudoin says the aircraft is on track to fly before year-end. This, the first FAR Part 25 all-composite business jet, is manufactured in a new dedicated facility in Queretaro, Mexico, and assembled in Wichita, but has suffered a number of program delays.
There never seems to be enough time or resources to complete every necessary task. Yet invariably through teamwork, perseverance, and plain old hard work, the airplane is made ready on time and the customer has no idea of the effort involved. Customers only start asking pointed questions when maintenance glitches cause a flight to be delayed or scrubbed or inconvenience them in some other way. Their overall perception of safety is closely tied to the aircraft's reliability and the easy confidence of the professionals attendant to it.
A former Metrojet and Hongkong Jet executive has launched T3 Private Jets Asia Limited to help clients in the Asia Pacific region better manage their aircraft. T3, which has bases in Hong Kong and Thailand, will advise on management companies, reviewing contracts, monthly billings and aircraft logbooks, along with performing aircraft inspections to ensure client expectations are met. The company was founded by Mark Thibault, former COO at both Metrojet and Hongkong Jet, with the aim of providing an “unbiased and unrushed approach” in the Asia Pacific region.
MD Helicopters is making performance enhancements to its MD 540F as it prepares to move toward certification in 2015. The new aircraft, an updated and modernized variant of the MD 500 family, will get a new anti-torque system. Engineers are studying a number of options including a four-bladed tail rotor to improve the aircraft's performance in conjunction with the new Rolls-Royce M250-C47E turboshaft, which the company announced it had selected for the MD 540F.
Rated at up to 11,450-lb. takeoff thrust for the Falcon 5X, the Silvercrest features a 42.5-in. fan with double-swept, wide-chord blades and a 5.9:1 bypass ratio, one of the highest in this thrust class. Aft of the fan, there is a four-stage, axial flow, low-pressure compressor (or supercharger) on the same shaft. The fan and supercharger are powered by a four-stage low-pressure turbine. The high-pressure core features four axial-flow compressor blisks, plus a centrifugal flow compressor — a first for this thrust class.
Bell Helicopter selected Garmin's G1000H avionics suite for its new short-light-single (SLS) helicopter. Bell also has the G1000H on the 407GX and says the panel would “be the first of its kind in the short-light single class.” The suite is designed to improve situational awareness through its Helicopter Terrain Avoidance Warning System, Helicopter Synthetic Vision Technology and Traffic Information Systems. Powered by the Turbmeca Arrius 2R engine, the 5-place SLS is designed to fly at 125 kt. with a range of 360-420 nm and a useful load of 1,500 lb.
Business aviation's long range, large cabin aircraft market heated up in the early 1980s as the Canadair Challenger 601-3A took on the Gulfstream III and IV. Dassault knew it would be left behind if it failed to field a competitor. Time was of the essence, so Dassault engineers dusted off the fuselage for what was to be the Falcon 30 regional jet, grafted on a strengthened Falcon 50 wing, designed a new area ruled aft fuselage and Voila! — the 3,750-nm Mystere Falcon 900 trijet.
Sept. 11 — At 0923 EDT, a Bender Mustang II (N691LB) was destroyed when it collided with terrain and a hangar after takeoff from Smoketown Airport (S37), Smoketown, Penn. The private pilot/owner/builder was seriously injured, and the airplane was consumed by post-crash fire. It was VFR and no flight plan was filed for the personal flight, which was originating at the time of the accident. Witnesses indicated the airplane had just lifted from Runway 28 at “full power” when the wings rocked steeply to the left first, and then to the right.
Jet Aviation's base in Zurich has moved into a new fixed-base operation built alongside the existing General Aviation Center in Zurich. The facility incorporates the new branding and corporate look that was unveiled earlier this year at Jet Aviation's Geneva FBO. The company also moved its operations center rampside, placing it closer to the customs and immigration area, and farther from the customer area.
