The Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA) has appointed Rudy Toering president and CEO. Most recently he served as vice president, operations and business development for FlightPath International. Earlier in his career Toering worked for CAE Industries and FlightSafety International, and he also has experience with business aviation groups, including the European Business Aviation Association, the International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations Board and the British Business and General Aviation Council.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency (CBP) has changed reporting requirements and certain entry-airport restrictions for its Southern Border Overflight Exemption, a move that should ease cost and administrative burdens for companies that have southern border crossings. CBP is also no longer requiring operators to seek passenger clearances and will let operators depart from any foreign airport south of the U.S. border, not just those included in the operator's overflight exemption, according to the NBAA.
Safe Flight Instrument Corp. received an STC for its AutoPower (Automatic Throttle System on the Citation X. The system's advanced technology is tailored and manufactured specifically for Cessna and it is fully compatible with the existing Citation X avionics suite providing potential fuel savings for extended range.
The FAA and the Massachusetts Port Authority (Massport) have completed two safety enhancements to Logan Airport's longest runway. The new runway safety area includes a 300-ft.-wide concrete pier that extends 470 ft. into Boston Harbor. The crushable concrete area is installed on top of the pier and covers a 170 ft. by 500 ft. area. The Engineered Material Arresting System (EMAS) bed is designed to quickly and safely stop an aircraft as large as a Boeing 747 in the event the plane moves past the end of the runway.
Europe is fielding a competitor to Robinson's Helicopter's mighty mite, the R22. Bruno Guimbal, an aeronautical engineer with Eurocopter, believed there was a market for a small, piston-powered helicopter with excellent performance — something well below his employer's line. And so he, too, set out on his own. By 2005, his two-place Cabri G2 was flying and setting world records — height attained without a payload 6,658 m (21,838 ft.); duration of a climb to 3,000 m (9840 ft.) of 6 min., 42 sec.; and duration of a climb to 6,000 m (19,680 ft.) of 22 min., 6 sec.
Signature Flight Support Dublin Ltd. acquired the assets of gategroup's aircraft deicing business at Dublin Airport (DUB/EIDW). This announcement follows BBA Aviation's acquisition of gategroup's deicing, washing and cabin cleaning business at London Heathrow and London Gatwick, which will be operated by Aircraft Service International Group (ASIG). Deicing services will be available to both business and general aviation as well as commercial airline customers, marking Signature's entrance into commercial ground handling services at Dublin Airport.
Flight Displays, Alpharetta, Ga., announced that Reed Macdonald has joined the company as chief operating officer responsible for overseeing all aspects of company operations including oversight of research, product design, manufacturing, logistics, customer service, accounting and finance.
Europe's goal of developing a database that collects aviation occurrence reports from across the region and helps identify broad safety trends is moving closer to reality as both data quality and reporting consistency improve, the EASA reports. The European Commission's European Central Repository (ECR) has amassed nearly 665,000 aviation occurrence reports since 2005 and 2011 was the first year that all 31 EASA member states contributed reports.
ICG (International Communications Group), Newport News, Va., appointed Carlos Monsalve vice president Sales, Commercial Aircraft Systems Air Transport Division, responsible for the CAS global sales team, alliance partners and distribution network, in addition to assisting in marketing concepts and developing sales and product strategies. He reports to Armin Jabs, ICG's president of CAS.
Musical chairs in Washington. In a rare 100-0 vote, the U.S. Senate in late June confirmed Anthony Foxx to become U.S. transportation secretary, succeeding Ray LaHood. The former mayor of Charlotte, N.C., assumes leadership of a Cabinet department that oversees the FAA, the Maritime Administration and numerous other related federal agencies. Two weeks later Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced she was resigning her Cabinet post and likely become president of the University of California system.
Aircraft operating costs are presented in a format that separates the data into seven separate areas: Mission Costs, Variable Costs, Fixed Annual Costs, Periodic Costs, Personnel Costs, Training Costs and Facilities Costs.
Nepal's Shree Airlines has ordered five AS350 B3e and three EC130 T2 helicopters from Eurocopter. They will be used for search and rescue, aerial work, disaster relief missions and tourism. With this acquisition, Shree Airlines becomes the largest Ecureuil operator in South Asia with a total of nine aircraft.
Landmark Aviation officially began operations at Gerald R. Ford International Airport (GRR) in Grand Rapids, Mich., on July 1 through the acquisition of the assets of Northern Air and the Grand Rapids Air Center. They will be operating out of the Northern Air facility, and will offer both FBO and MRO services. There is a VIP lounge, executive conference room and a flight-planning center. Hangar and office space is also available.
Nineteen years after being awarded certification of its single-engine PC-12, Pilatus Aircraft planned to deliver the 1,200th unit. The delivery ceremony was set for Aug. 7 in Portsmouth, N.H., where Thomas Bosshard, president and CEO of Pilatus Business Aircraft will hand the keys to George Antoniadis, his counterpart at PlaneSense, Inc. The fractional ownership provider's fleet will then expand to 49 of the Swiss-made turboprops, the world's largest civilian fleet of PC-12s.
International Standards for Business Aircraft Operations (IS-BAO) has topped 700 registered operators. IS-BAO was launched by the International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) 11 years ago to provide a series of standards and best practices that operators can voluntarily assimilate and document. The standard, which includes a safety management system program developed by the International Civil Aviation Safety Organization, has since become internationally accepted.
The National Research Council Canada (NRC) has formally launched a concentrated research effort to find and test potential replacement fuels for 100LL avgas. Such an alternative is vital to ensuring the long-term operational viability of piston-powered aircraft, says Jerzy Komorowski, general manager of the NRC's aerospace division. General aviation is a key part of Canada's transportation infrastructure, particularly in rural and northern parts of the country where it provides the main mode of air transport for people and cargo.
Corporate Fleet Services, Cornelius, N.C., announced that Mike Thomas recently joined the company as vice president Business Aircraft Sales and Acquisitions. He comes to CFS from Nextant Aerospace. He has held positions at General Electric Credit, Chase Aircraft Finance and CIT Financial. Thomas also was regional sales director for the Hawker at Beechcraft Corp.
Flying to the Paris Air Show was a Grand Commander flown by Bjorn Bostad of Flo-Aire, Inc., Newton, Kan. The airplane covered 2,850 mi. non-stop from Gander, Newfoundland, to Zurich. Power settings at 13,000-15,000 ft. were 55-60%, giving the Commander a 203 mph block-to-black speed for the 15 hr. 10 min. trip.
Gulfstream's new 9,300-sq.-ft. sales and design center in Dallas is now open to customers. “With the entry-into-service of the G280, we wanted to offer mid-cabin customers cabin-design capability at the same location where their aircraft is being completed,” said Tray Crow, director, Interior Design. Gulfstream Dallas comprises a completions center for Gulfstream mid-cabin aircraft (G280 and G150) and a service center for all Gulfstream aircraft.
On the night of Dec. 20, 1995, American Airlines Flight 965, a Boeing 757 carrying 151 passengers and eight crewmembers, crashed on a 9,800-ft. mountaintop while attempting a straight-in approach to Runway 19 at Alfonso Bonilla Aragon International Airport at Cali, Colombia. Only five passengers survived the accident, one of whom died later in hospital.
Ed Iacobucci, founder of DayJet, the on-demand air-travel enterprise, died June 21. He was 59. Although Iacobucci is best remembered in the aviation community standing proudly next to one of his Eclipse 500s, DayJet was built on his expertise in the information technology industry. The former IBMer founded Citrix, the original cross-platform system that delivered enterprise software on a central server, and under his leadership the company grew to become a tech giant.
If you're heading for that big continent in the southern half of the Western Hemisphere with a cabin full of high-worth individuals, you might first want to read Pablo Penalva's “Top Five Things to Know Before Flying to South America.”
“One thing both we as crew as well as our passengers did for this trip was register with the U.S. Department of State in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program, or STEP,” Capt. Bob Lazear, who flies for retailer Costco, told BCA about his flight department's preflight planning for a spring 2013 flight to Colombia to visit coffee plantations.
Jeppesen and Pacific Coast Avionics are offering NavData and charting information in bundled service options. A dedicated Pacific Coast Avionics Web portal has been created for customers to directly order Jeppesen bundled services. Options provide NavData, JeppView, Jeppesen obstacle, terrain and cultural information, and eCharts for multi-function display. Garmin GTN PilotPak bundle plans with Jepp data are also available. Jeppesen database updates are also simplified for Pacific Coast customers. Visit www.jeppesen.com or www.pacificcoastavionics.com
