The first Legacy 650 business jet assembled in China under a joint venture by Embraer and Aviation Industry Corporate of China (AVIC) took flight in late August. Guan Dongyuan, senior vice president of Embraer and president of Embraer China said the 2.5-hr. flight was “an important milestone not only in the Embraer-AVIC partnership, but also in the history of the Chinese executive aviation industry, as the jet is also the first large executive jet assembled by a joint venture in China.” Delivery of the aircraft is expected by year's end.
China's Avicopter will build cabins for the Sikorsky S-76D as a second-source supplier of the executive/transport helicopter. The work will be done by Avicopter's Changhe factory at Jingdezhen, which previously made eight cabins for the S-76C++. Czech supplier Aero Vodochody also makes S-76D fuselages. Avicopter will deliver its first cabins in 2016, according to the schedule. The cabins — fuselages forward of the tail booms — will be delivered to Sikorsky fully fitted with equipment.
AgustaWestland is flight testing several aerodynamic improvements expected to boost performance of its AW609 TiltRotor. The manufacturer has test flown the aircraft with a modified vertical tail fin at its Cascina Costa flight test facility in Italy. That alteration is part of a package of improvements including a more aerodynamic design for the engine exhaust nozzles and changes to the prop-rotor spinner cones. Together, the mods reportedly reduce the aircraft's drag factor by approximately 10% and result in a significant weight savings as well.
Gulfstream Aerospace has seen its Russia-based business-jet fleet grow more than six fold in the last six years, according to an announcement made by Gulfstream President Larry Flynn at the recent Jet Expo in Moscow. There are now 53 customer-operated aircraft in Russia and a combined 76 in Russia and the CIS. In 2007, those numbers were eight and 11, respectively. To support the fleet in Russia and the CIS, Gulfstream has more than $120 million in parts and materials inventory at Luton, Madrid and Basel.
Global Aviation has added a Bombardier Challenger 300 to charter fleet. The additional aircraft joins the company's Global Express XRS, Challenger 604 and Hawker 800SP. Global Aviation plans to further expand its fleet later this year with a Gulfstream GV and a Hawker 900XP. Its fleet is based in Portland, Ore.
ProJet Aviation will host the eight annual Aviation Education and Career Expo on Oct. 25 at the ProJet corporate hangar on the Leesburg Executive Airport. The event is attended by more than 500 students, educators and parents who will interact with more than 40 aviation vendors. It's free to attendees and features speakers, videos and demonstrations that will showcase the variety of career opportunities in aviation. Speakers include Jamail Larkins (right), pilot and entrepreneur; Lt. Meagan Flannigan who has accumulated over 1,250 hr. flying F-14Ds, and F/A-18s; and Capt.
Cirrus Aircraft has partnered with Lake Superior College to develop and implement an Aircraft Assembly Pre-employment Program, which is part of a Minnesota Job Skills Program Grant for workforce development aimed at recruiting, training and preparing low income individuals for assembly jobs at Cirrus. The grant will fund the program's curriculum development and enrollment for up to 60 participants. Contact SOAR Career Solutions at (218) 722-3126 or [email protected].
Elliott Aviation has installed a Honeywell Primus Epic CDS/R Phase V and NZ-210 WAAS FMS upgrade in a Hawker 800XP. Elliott will obtain the STC for the FMS 6.1 version 03040 with Epic CDS/R and the legacy SPZ-8000 EFIS. In addition to the Honeywell installation, the aircraft will receive a 48-month inspection, full paint, full interior and structural inspections. The retrofit reduces the weight of the aircraft by 50 lb.
AVMATS Parts Support is the first company to part out an airworthy Gulfstream V, according to the company. This aircraft, s.n. 647, was recently purchased by AVMATS for the sole purpose of improving parts availability and reducing the cost of proprietary items. It widens the rotable pool and adds a needed new source for used and serviceable GV parts to the market.
Cessna Aircraft completed the first international delivery of its TTx, handing over the fixed-gear single-engine aircraft to a customer in Thailand. Cessna received certification of the TTx in July, marking a return of the former Corvalis program that had suspended production in late 2010. The new TTx is the first aircraft to sport the Garmin G2000 avionics system with a glass cockpit and dual 14.1-in. high-definition displays and touch screen controls.
The aircraft electronics market softened a bit in the second quarter of 2013 with total sales reaching$1.62 billion, according to the Aircraft Electronics Association (AEA). The sales, reported by 20 aviation electronics manufacturers, were down about 5% from the $1.71 billion reported in the first three months of this year. AEA this year began reporting sales figures to provide a picture of the overall market and its contributions to the economy.
The repair station security rule continues to languish at the Office of Management Budget, where it has now been under review for six months — twice the typical 90-day review time for most rulemakings. While the repair station rule sits at the White House office, the resulting ban on FAA certifying any new foreign repair stations has passed the five-year mark. Congress prohibited FAA from certifying new foreign repair stations until the Transportation Security Administration releases the long-awaited security rule. That prohibition took effect in August 2008.
In August, Charter flights continue to be the bright spot of business aircraft flying activity, up 14.3% year-over-year overall. Small and midsize aircraft charter operations drove that increase, improving 21.6% and 19.2%, respectively. Counting all operations, however, year-over-year flights are relatively flat in North America, with just a 1% slide, according to the latest ARGUS data. However, ARGUS is finding a month-over-month strengthening, up 3.2% from July. All categories improved except turboprop fractional and large-cabin charter operations.
Blu Halkin has become the fifth AOC-based operator at Cambridge International Airport, U.K., when it celebrated its maiden flight from Cambridge to Milan with its Citation CJ3 (G-PAOL). Blu Halkin's second base is in Northern Italy, and selected Cambridge because of its maintenance expertise and ground handling capabilities.
The King Air 350i's flight deck is a mixture of new and old. The panel has three, large-format, portrait configuration AFD-3000 adaptive flight displays used for left and right PFDs plus a center MFD with engine instrument indications. The core of the system is the central Integrated Avionics Processing System, a computer chassis at the center of the system's hub-and-spoke architecture. Standard equipment includes an Integrated Flight Information System that hosts electronics charts, enhanced map graphics, and XM satellite radio or ACARS weather, among other functions.
Esteemed colleague, veteran flight department manager and expert fighter and business pilot Ross Detwiler seems to have tunnel vision on the issue of head-up displays (HUDs). He's so focused on the pros and cons of the comparative benefits associated with using head-up versus head-down displays (HDD) just for low visibility approaches, he's lost sight, literally and figuratively, of what's going on outside the airplane for the other 99% of the flight.
The overriding benefit of a head-up display (HUD) system is facilitating the pilot's transition from instrument to visual flight near the ground for landing. What if the aircraft could be landed without “seeing” the ground? Take a look at the picture of a head-down display (HDD), synthetic vision PFD in Figure 1. That presentation would be the same at night, in VFR or in IFR. That image represents the future.
If the Vietnam War could be said to have provided anything good, it was its technological advancement of turbine-powered helicopters and development of a pool of qualified pilots to fly them. At the peak of the war, the U.S. Army was churning out some 300 pilots a month.
On the evening of Dec. 29, 1972, a Lockheed L-1011 departed New York's JFK Airport, on a scheduled FAR Part 121 flight to Miami International Airport (MIA). Around 11:32 p.m, the crew received clearance and began the approach to Miami. The first officer lowered the landing gear but noticed that the nose gear down and locked indicator light did not illuminate. The pilots canceled the approach and entered a holding pattern at 2,000 ft. so that they could investigate the problem. They recycled the gear with no change.
Standing before hundreds of business aviation operators clustered into hotel ballrooms at annual NBAA International Operators Conferences over the past decade, Bill Stine has urged attendees to begin mapping out plans for equipping their transcontinental business jets with FANS 1/A avionics.
In mid-December 2011, NTSB investigators viewed black and white video images recorded on Nov. 23 by an outdoor security surveillance camera located about 6 mi. south of Superstition Mountain at Apache Junction, Ariz. The video file contained about 50 min. of image data covering the period from about 1810 to 1900.
One of the more interesting aircraft projects on the near horizon is in fact a second coming of what was surely one of the most controversial civil aircraft ever certified and produced — the Eclipse very light jet. Inspired by a proof-of-concept aircraft sponsored by Williams International to highlight its EJ-22 engine, the Eclipse project launched in 1998.
This past summer, the general aviation community welcomed the fact that the House GA Caucus had reached 200 members, making it one of the largest caucuses in the chamber. Its Senate counterpart also had grown in numbers, encompassing 35 members. Such strength is good news because the caucuses have played instrumental roles in key issues affecting the industry including debates on user fees, contract towers, air tour restrictions and other contentious matters, one of the most notable being the protection of general aviation privacy.
