Dassault expects to see a boost in Falcon sales and slight increase in deliveries to 70 Falcon business jets in 2013. The improving sales would follow a year in which Dassault's Falcon net order intake (minus cancellations) increased by more than 50%, from 36 in 2011 to 58 in 2012. Deliveries were up last year by three units from 2011 to 66. But with the lead time in orders to deliveries, Dassault's production output is still reflecting slow orders during the downturn and is well beneath the 2010 peak of 95 deliveries.
In the 1963 Handbook for Planning & Purchasing, the five most expensive aircraft listed in the “Fixed-Wing Business/Utility Aircraft” tables were: Lockheed JetStar 1329-23A, $1,450,000; Fairchild Stratos Corp., F-27 Business, $895,000; North American Aviation, Sabreliner 265-40, $795,000; de Havilland DH 125 Series I, $625,000; Howard Aero, Howard 500, $597,000. (In BCA's 2012 edition the most expensive airplanes listed are the Airbus Corporate Jetliner at $80 million and the Boeing BBJ at $70 million).
Metro Aviation has released a smart phone app with the potential to decrease response time by up to 5 min. When air transport is needed, hospitals and first responders can use Metro Alert to notify one of Metro Aviation's bases and send GPS coordinates using the helo- alert function. Users will receive an estimated time of arrival and availability of the closest helicopter, as well as have access to other functions such as tips for preparing the landing zone.
Engineered Propulsion Systems (EPS), Inc., of New Richmond, Wisc., has validated its 4.4-liter, “Flat-Vee” Vision 350 aero-diesel engine design after testing at Hartzell Propeller headquarters in Piqua, Ohio. The testing proved that Hartzell's family of propeller blades are all adaptable to the EPS engine at power levels exceeding 350 hp without the need for further engine vibration dampers, the company said.
Boeing is moving all of its full-flight simulators (FFS) from Seattle to Miami. The relocation began when the first 787 simulator was shipped by truck to the company's training facility at Miami International Airport. This starts a consolidation of the company's pilot training activities in Miami that is expected to finish by year-end. Maintenance training for all but the 787 will remain in Seattle.
A Frasca Sikorsky S76 Level B full- flight simulator (FFS) is on its way to Bristow Helicopters in Scotland to join two other Frasca FFSs (for the S92 and EC225) already in service. Also, nearing delivery is an AW139 Level 6 flight training device (FTD) for the Trinidad and Tobago Air Guard and a Bell 206 FTD for the Japanese Coast Guard.
Robert E. Breiling Associates' annual Business Turbine Aircraft Accident Review has become the industry's guide for detailed narrative accounts of business aviation accidents worldwide. The Review is 500 pages with accounts of over 415 reported fixed- and rotary-wing turbine aircraft accidents and incidents. A summary of each accident includes model, operator type, phase of operation, conditions and a factual description of all reported circumstances.
Gulfstream and FlightSafety International worked together three years prior to the G650's entering service to develop flight crew, cabin crew and maintenance technician training programs. Each G650 pilot instructor has flight time in the actual aircraft and each maintenance instructor has turned wrenches on real aircraft.
The Obama administration is again accusing business jet operators of enjoying “subsidies” and availing themselves of “loopholes that give advantages to the wealthy and to corporations that average Americans and average businesses don't have.” The so-called loophole is depreciation. For every other business, depreciation is normal course of business. But for business jet operators, apparently it is a loophole.
Four, 14.1-in., landscape configuration LCD screens dominate the Gulfstream G650's second-generation PlaneView instrument panel with several layouts that can be customized by the flight crew. The outboard displays normally are configured as PFDs and the inboards as MFDs. The glareshield-mounted flight guidance panel has improved functionality, including LED illumination and annunciator buttons, an “FLXXX” flight level indication in the altitude window above the transition altitude, a push in/pull out, 1,000 ft./100 ft.
I enjoyed Fred George's “Truly Earning That Fourth Stripe” (February 2013, page 45). As a captain with Continental/United starting my 30th year, I've had the privilege of mentoring upgrading captains both as a check airman and as a human factors instructor. The author's thoughts are spot on!
After losing the USAF Light Air Support (LAS) competition for the second time Feb. 27 to a Sierra Nevada/Embraer team, Beechcraft once again protested the loss. The LAS contract is worth up to $950 million. Once a protest is filed with the Government Accountability Office, auditors have up to 100 days to review the case and make a determination. Citing the need “to honor a critical and time-sensitive U.S.
The Bell 47 is reborn as a turbine. Scott's — Bell 47 (SB47), a Minnesota-based upgrade and modification specialist, has launched a program to restart production of an all-new variant of the venerable Bell 47 light utility helicopter. Although outwardly identical in most respects to the original 1946-vintage design, the new variant will feature an array of 21st century features, including composite main rotor blades, an improved instrument panel with solid-state electronics, LED lighting and a new interior.
Sikorsky is insisting it has not abandoned its Schweizer light helicopter product line, but is working to rationalize it in a bid to reduce costs. Sikorsky took over Schweizer in 2004, taking on the product lines of S-300, S-333 and S-434 light-piston and light-turbine helicopters. But since the takeover, production of the light helicopter line has been significantly reduced, and several operators have struggled to get parts for the helicopters, limiting training and operations.
Duncan Aviation has put together an airframe-specific team dedicated to Gulfstream work at the company's Lincoln, Nebraska, campus. Duncan Aviation's Battle Creek, Michigan, location has been running with a dedicated Gulfstream airframe team since 1993, says Rod Christensen, Airframe Services Manager at Duncan's Battle Creek location.
The FAA is gauging the interest of aerospace companies in developing upgrades to the ground-based portions of its wide-area augmentation system (WAAS) in advance of dual-frequency GPS operations for the aviation community later this decade. WAAS uses a network of ground-based reference and control stations, and three geostationary satellites, to augment the accuracy of GPS signals to enable satellite-based instrument approaches and precision navigation operations in North America. Similar satellite-based augmentation systems are available in Europe, Japan and elsewhere.
The NTSB, March 12, issued five safety alerts aimed at reducing the number of general aviation accidents: reduced-visual reference; aerodynamic stalls at low altitude; pilot inattention to indications of mechanical problems; risk management of aviation maintenance technicians and risk management for pilots. The five Safety Alerts issued are: “Is Your Aircraft Talking to You?
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).
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.
