This is Learjet's golden anniversary, and Clay Lacy, a longtime friend of William P. “Bill” Lear and one of the aircraft's original distributors, bore witness from the start. The first Learjet 23 flew on Oct. 7, 1963. In July the following year, it became the first general aviation aircraft to be certified to the then new FAR Part 23 standards. Powered by two 2,850 lb.-thrust GE CJ610 turbojets and sporting go-fast lines, it was an instant phenomenon. But once certification was won, Lear had more hurdles to overcome.
Constant Aviation recently secured a supplemental type certificate for installation of a Wi-Fi system, along with Aircell's Gogo Biz inflight Internet system, on an executive configured Boeing 737-200. The installation marked an expansion of the facility's in-house capabilities and STCs. Constant already has STCs for the installation of Gogo Biz inflight Internet aboard Gulfstream, Embraer, Beechcraft, Hawker and Cessna Citation aircraft.
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 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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Bombardier Aerospace opened a new facility at its Belfast location that will be dedicated to wing manufacturing and assembly. Bombardier had already expanded its Northern Ireland site with the hiring of nearly 1,000 employees over the past two years, and expects to add at least 250 more over the next year at the new wing manufacturing and assembly facility. The 600,000-sq.-ft. site is making wings for the CSeries. The opening follows the recent ground-breaking of Bombardier's planned 150,000-sq.-ft.
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.
Dallas Airmotive, Dallas, appointed Thomas Kennedy regional engine manager representing all of the company's engine and auxiliary power unit service for customers in the New England area.
GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems has joined the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, raising the trade association's total membership to 84. The unit is a division of GKN Aerospace, one of the world's largest independent first-tier suppliers to the global aviation industry with over 100 years of aerospace experience and 12,000 employees in more than 35 facilities worldwide. GKN Aerospace Transparency Systems designs and manufactures glass, acrylic and polycarbonate transparency systems and tests and certifies cockpit and passenger windows.
StandardAero secured a three-year agreement to provide Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A engine maintenance, repair and overhaul services for RainAir Aircraft Services. Under the agreement, StandardAero will be the exclusive engine service provider for RainAir, which is based at Albertville Regional Airport in Alabama. StandardAero's facility will perform line and heavy maintenance engine work up to hot section inspection at its Maryville, Tenn., facility and engine overhauls at its Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada shop.
Vistajet, the swiss-based block charter outfit is teaming with jet aviation flight services and newly formed Wheels Up to expand into the U.S. Under the agreement, Vistajet will initially base 12 new Bombardier Global jets in the U.S. For both international and domestic trips. The aircraft, valued at $600 million, will be managed and operated by Jet Aviation on its FAR Part 135 certificate. Wheels Up, meanwhile, will market and sell the service, called the Vistajet Flight Solutions Program.
