Cambridge Airport is offering free landing to all operators who purchase between 5,000 and 10,000 litres of fuel. For operators purchasing over 10,001 litres, further heavy discounting will be offered. The promotion will run until the end of 2013. ExecuJet Europe is celebrating its first anniversary at Cambridge. The company's first full-service FBO in the U.K., has expanded its services during the past year and has seen an increase in aircraft movements. In June 2012, it launched the U.K.'s first free pet travel service (PETS), which has proved popular with clients.
Kathleen E. Bangs (Honda Aircraft Co. Greensboro, N.C. )
I just read “The Alabama Bet” about Al Ueltschi (Viewpoint, December 2012). Very good, as always. And as always, I learned something — namely — the meaning of the word “macadam” (after I Googled it). Honda Aircraft Co. Greensboro, N.C.
Cockpit Apps, maker of the flight log app iLOG, launched it newest product — iFuel, a simple to use app allowing pilots to determine when to tanker fuel using an iPhone or iPad. Available through iTunes, the app helps take the guesswork out of tankering decisions by taking into account fuel prices at each destination, burn rate for the specific aircraft and ramp fees. It also will calculate fuel prices if ramp fees are waived. According to the company, operators can expect to save several thousand dollars by using the app depending on the flight profile.
User charges stand a fair chance of enactment — “We are much more hopeful about this program than in the past,” one tope official told BCA. The administration is asking for a three-cent-per-gallon general aviation fuel tax (one cent more than the current rate), an extension of the two-cent-per-gallon airline tax to jet fuels, and a continuation of the present “temporary” 5% passenger ticket and air-freight waybill levy, to be effective next January 1.
The Gulfstream Aerospace facility in Lincoln, Calif. is now an Authorized Service Station for Howell Instruments' products including ITT, EPR, fuel flow and fanspeed indicators as well as fan speed amplifiers, tachmoters, and Howell's AUTOTemp and AUTOTAK indicators. Gulfstream notes that there are approximateley 900 Gulfstream GIVs, GIIIs and GIIs flying worlwide, most of which are equiped with Howell Instrument products. Gulfstream Lincoln is EASA and FAA certified to perform inspection and repair of electromechanical components, avionics, wheels, brakes and tires.
EPIC announced the release of the iGo EPIC app at the recent NBAA S&D Conference in San Antonio. The app offers easy search functionality and fuel pricing for FBOs within the EPIC FBO Network. For EPIC cardholders there is an added convenience of getting account specific pricing by FBO location and quick access to Bravo Rewards information and account login.
Bombardier named ExecuJet Nigeria in Lagos a Line Maintenance Facility (LMF) for Challenger 300, Challenger 604,Challenger 605, Global 5000, Global 6000, Global Express and Global Express XRS business jets. Bombardier says the Lagos facility will complement ExecuJet's center in Lanseria, South Africa, which has been a Bombardier Authorized Service Facility (ASF) since 2002. The announcement brings the number of Bombardier ASFs and LMFs to more than 60 facilities worldwide. These are supported by nine Bombardier-owned service centers in North America and Europe.
Dubai, UAE-based Jetex Flight Support opened a new flight-planning lounge at London Oxford Airport that was scheduled to be operational in mid-February. Jetex is taking over one of the FBO's crew lounges and rebranding it as the “Jetex Lounge” with new furnishings, signage, aeronautical charts and pictures, and world time-zone clocks. Jetex-supplied computers will link directly to their flight-planning systems while also hosting generic flight-planning software packages for crews to do stand-alone assessments of route options.
Daher-Socata announced Feb. 7 that the worldwide TBM 700 and TBM 850 fleet has passed the one million flight-hour milestone. With a total fleet of 620 high-speed, single-engine turboprops, the overall fleet flies an average of 120,000 hr. annually. Daher-Socata' claims its TBM 850 is the world's fastest single turboprop aircraft, with a maximum cruising speed of 320 KTAS at FL 260 (in ISA conditions).
Gulfstream obtained EASA certification for the G280 on Feb. 7, following U.S. FAA and Israel Civil Aviation Authority type certification Aug. 30. Gulfstream delivered the first G280 to a U.S.-based customer Nov. 13.
Universal Weather and Aviation, Inc. announced its new Web-based flight scheduling software solution, Universal Flight Scheduling Software, providing complete remote access and full functionality in an easy-to-learn and use application. The software works for FAR Part 91 and Part 135 operators, and is designed to allow users to remotely access preflight, post-flight, database, reporting, tools and other functions, as they would from their office desktops, on any Web-enabled mobile device. It was designed based on feedback from schedulers and dispatchers.
Any public company operating a business aircraft must decide early on how the costs of running the corporate aviation department will be borne. These costs may be allocated internally, or the department may be treated as a service and its costs absorbed by the company as a whole.
In response to growing demand in Asia, Jet Aviation Singapore is building a maintenance hangar adjacent to its current FBO and maintenance operation in Seletar Aerospace Park. The hangars will be integrated and incorporate two stories of office space in addition to new battery, tire, upholstery and workworking shops, including two paint spray booths. The new hangar will have an arched roof tall enough to accommodate Boeing BBJ and Airbus ACJ aircraft.
Aero Charter Inc., Chesterfield, Mo., has hired Peter Purcell to serve as King Air and Beechjet captain. Purcell has 14 yr. of aviation experience, including eight as a corporate pilot. Airports Council International-North America, Washington, named George Kelemen senior vice president of government and political affairs. He will be ACI-NA's chief lobbyist, managing the Government Affairs department.
I enjoyed reading your tribute to Al Ueltschi (“The Alabama Bet,” Viewpoint, December 2012, page 9). It brought back quite a few memories. My family owned the FBO at KSUA (St. Lucie Skyways) from 1949 through 1980. During the 1950s Al flew in a lot with Juan Trippe's B23. Frequently, I flew with them back and forth to Long Island to visit some relatives there. Being only five or six years old at the time I was not used to some of Al's vocabulary!
The FAA is calling for horizontal stabilator control system inspections on more than 34,000 older Piper piston aircraft. In an airworthiness directive (AD) published in the Feb. 4 Federal Register, the agency is mandating inspections and repair or replacement of damaged or corroded control cable assembly parts on Piper PA-28, PA-32, PA-34 and PA-44 (Cherokees, Warriors, Archers, Lances, Saratogas, Senecas and Seminoles) that are 15 years old or older.
Sikorsky Global Helicopters (SGH) delivered the first of 16 completed S-92 helicopters that the Avincis Group will use to provide transportation for its customers' offshore oil and gas crews, and for search and rescue. The aircraft order announced in February 2012 is the largest single purchase of S-92 helicopters to date. SGH is the commercial aircraft business arm of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
On Jan. 30, 2013, an F3 category tornado with 137- to 179-kt. winds ripped through Adairsville, Ga., leveling five dozen structures, damaging almost 100 others and killing one person. This 900-yd.-wide twister reportedly sustained average 140-kt. winds for more than 20 mi. before dissipating. It crossed Interstate 75, flung vehicles into the air and damaged or destroyed entire neighborhoods.
Eurocopter's (nee Aerospatiale's) AS350C/D AStar first entered the market in 1977 powered by a comparatively anemic and chronically sick Lycoming LTS101 turboshaft engine, but the basic design elements, including its three-blade, Starflex main rotor system, wide cabin and smooth ride were there from the beginning. Less than one year after introduction, it was up–graded with the more powerful and considerably more reliable Turbomeca Arriel 1, and reborn as AS350B.
Most FBOs should experience steady growth in business in the range of 4-6% in 2013, said John Enticknap a principal of Aviation Business Strategies Group (ABSG), at the 2013 NBAA Schedulers and Dispatchers Conference. “The FBO industry has not fully recovered from the economic downturn over the past several years,” Enticknap said. “Yes, 2012 was a better year than 2011, but there has been a modest shakeout of FBOs who had been operating marginally.
Dubai World Central (DWC) has signed an MOU with Aircraft Support Industries (ASI), the Australian firm that specializes in developing aircraft maintenance facilities, systems and equipment, to jointly provide clients with build-to-suit and related services in the design, development and construction of aircraft hangar and maintenance facilities at DWC's Aviation District.
The NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention will now be called the Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (BACE). “NBAA's largest U.S. show has been referred to as an 'annual meeting' [since its 1947 inception], but in recent decades, it has grown in size and importance to be much more than just a meeting, and this change reflects that reality,” says NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen. At the same time, Bolen says the change strengthens the brand for all NBAA-related shows. While the U.S.
While not yet officially Beechcraft Corp. as we go to press, the newly forming company that is emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection already has received a rating on expected new debt. Moody's Investor Service assigned a B1 corporate family rating to Beechcraft Holdings, LLC on a proposed $375 million term loan that will be used as part of its financing to exit from Chapter 11. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on Feb. 1 confirmed Hawker Beechcraft's reorganization plan, clearing the way for the company to emerge from bankruptcy.
General aviation advocates are working to help regrow membership in the General Aviation caucuses in the U.S. House and Senate. NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen recently issued an “action call” urging his members to appeal to their local lawmakers to join the caucuses. “The caucuses will be vital in the coming year, as those serving in the 113th Congress face a policy environment that could have repercussions for general aviation,” Bolen tells members.
