LightSquared, Inc., may be going down, but not without a fight. The now bankrupt company had planned to use radio spectrum to create a wireless data network spanning the U.S., and was given a preliminary go-ahead by the federal government to do so. However, the GPS industry strongly objected, arguing that transmissions from the new network would interfere with existing GPS equipment used in aviation and a host of other industries and ultimately succeeded in stopping LightSquared after the latter had invested heavily in the project.
Cirrus Aircraft is beginning initial production work of the first conforming Vision SF50 jet, and plans to launch an 18-month certification program for the single-engine “personal” jet early next year. Three aircraft will be used in the flight testing, which the Duluth, Minn.-based manufacturer hope will conclude with type certification award in late 2015. The company, which has more than 170 people working on the SF50 program, reports more than 500 deposits for the $1.96 million aircraft.
June 21 — At 1240 EDT, a Cessna 172M (N9926Q) crashed during takeoff at the Oakland County International Airport (KPTK), Waterford, Mich. The pilot and three passengers were fatally injured and the airplane was destroyed. The Cessna was registered to and operated by Flight 101, LLC, Waterford, Mich., as a FAR Part 91 personal flight. It was operating VFR with no flight plan and the local flight was originating at the time of the accident. Control tower personnel saw the airplane lift off from Runway 09L and attained an altitude of about 100 ft.
Jeppesen completed upgrades to its JetPlan flight-planning engine to enhance flight planning capabilities for business and commercial aviation operators within Europe. The European Route Availability Document (ERAD) and route optimization functions work to quickly comply with Eurocontrol routing requirements and determine flight plans that maximize efficient fuel consumption and flight scheduling. The JetPLan engine powers Jepp's flight planning solutions, including the JetPlanner application and FlitePlan Online tools. Jeppesen
Flight Safety Foundation has created a new Legal Advisory Committee in an effort to protect safety information data. The committee will comprise leading plaintiff and defense accident lawyers, regulators and airline/aerospace counsel throughout the world. FSF General Counsel Ken Quinn observed, “It's become readily apparent that legal regimes are lagging far behind in protecting an ever-increasing amount of safety information that is being gathered, shared and analyzed, which is critical to saving lives.
The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) wants a big charge to go away. The association was caught by surprise in May when the FAA informed the organization that it would have to cover the costs of extra controllers assigned to handle air traffic at the annual AirVenture fly-in set for July 29-Aug. 4 at Wittman Field, Oshkosh, Wis. The bill? $450,000. Without any ready alternative, the EAA reluctantly agreed to the charge, but on July 3 filed a petition for relief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago.
Cirrus Aircraft is expanding its Grand Forks, N.D., facility to accommodate a new autoclave oven that will be used in manufacturing the Vision SF50 personal jet. Delivered in late June, the autoclave should be operational by mid-August and will cure the carbon fiber main spar of both the SR-2X series piston engine aircraft and the SF50. The autoclave pressurizes nitrogen gas up to 125 psi during the cure cycle, which more effectively compresses the composite part, enhancing its strength and durability properties. The oven has is an 8.5 ft .diameter, is 40 ft.
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.
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.
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.
Jet Professional is commemorating its 30th anniversary by launching a new global website with enhanced capabilities, user-friendly features and a streamlined presentation of information on the company's extensive line-up of human resources and staffing solutions. It features a new browse feature to view and apply to open positions and register a candidate profile for future consideration. There is quick access to pertinent documents such as time sheets, payroll cut-of dates and expense forms. There are also links to social media accounts.
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.
RUAG Aviation has completed its first EASy II flight deck upgrade on a Falcon 900EX at the company's Geneva, Switzerland facility. “The aviation team completed this integration in record time during a standard A/A+ check, significantly minimizing the impact on the customer's operating schedule,” said Bernd Heinrich, general manager of the Geneva facility.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
With the introduction of new HIRF regulations in 2007, the FAA published Advisory Circular AC 20-158, “The Certification of Aircraft Electrical and Electronic Systems for Operation in the High-Intensity Radiated Fields (HIRF) Environment.” This document also provides some good information for ensuring aircraft protection from radiated fields. You can download this document at www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/advisory_circulars/ and then search for 20-158.
Bombardier Aerospace recently delivered the 400th Challenger 300 super-midsize jet to Russian charter operator BJET. The company also operates a Global 5000 and 6000, a Challenger 605 and Challenger 850 and a Learjet 60. The Challenger 300 can seat eight-to-10 passengers and has a range of about 3,065 nm. The 300 entered service in 2004 and its dispatch reliability has been consistently about 99.7, according to Bombardier.
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.
Long before super-midsize aircraft became so popular, Dassault jumped into this market segment with the large-cabin Falcon 2000, a twin-engine, slightly shortened, 3,000-nm variant of the Falcon 900 tri-jet. First deliveries began in early 1995 and 231 units were delivered until early 2006 when the aircraft was superseded by the second-generation Falcon 2000EX.
Raisbeck Engineering has earned Brazilian certification of its new swept-blade turbofan propellers for Beechcraft King Air 200 series aircraft. The higher-thrust props, which Seattle-based Raisbeck developed in cooperation with propeller manufacturer Hartzell, markedly improve takeoff performance without increasing cabin noise levels. Raisbeck says the new props especially enhance operations to and from higher-altitude airports on hot days and permit operators to carry greater payloads and fuel for more range.
A total support solution for Eurocopter helicopters in deployed operations was launched recently by Eurocopter, DAHER, DCI, Eurotradia and Vector Aerospace. Designated E-HOTS (Eurocopter Helicopter On Theatre Services), the consortium consolidates the five partners' expertise and pools their resources providing a turnkey support package that covers a range of services for rotorcraft in any deployed operation such as humanitarian and crisis relief missions, conflict zones and oil and gas exploration.
First it was Mexico denying operators overflight permits for alleged nonpayment of navigation fees. Now, it's Venezuela. Applying for overflight permits from the Venezuelan civil aviation authority Instituto Nacional de Aeronautica Civil (INAC), some international business aviation operators in the past year have been surprised when they subsequently received huge invoices for allegedly overdue navigation fees from previous trips. These can amount to tens of thousands of dollars, often charged for flights never made in Venezuelan airspace.
