Pratt & Whitney Canada's PW210 engine has been selected by Eurocopter to power the next-generation X4 helicopter. The PW210-powered X4 is expected to enter into service by 2017. The engine will also power three other unspecified helicopters.
American Jet International, Houston, announced that Annette Vitello is the new director of operations, responsible for flight department operations, including management and control of business development. Aviation Partners Inc., Seattle, promoted Gary Dunn to vice president of sales and marketing. In addition to the sales and marketing activities for API's Blended Winglets products for business aircraft, Dunn's duties will include the sales of large winglet retrofits to corporate and head-of-state buyers of Boeing 737, 757 and 767 aircraft.
The FAA's multi-year process to clean up the civil aircraft registry last year by requiring all aircraft to re-register on a rolling schedule is now in effect. When the program was announced, the agency warned it would cancel registrations for any aircraft whose owner did not respond. The HAI discovered, “they weren't kidding.” Rotor News reported that HAI's Finance and Leasing Committee found some 300 helicopters with cancelled registrations. If any of those 300 is in active use, it's now illegal to fly them until they have been re-registered.
The European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme (EU-ETS) is a “unilateral tax by one region of the world,” said NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen at the 11th Annual Aviation Summit of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, adding that the scheme is “not the way to promote global aviation in an environmentally friendly way.” Bolen emphasized how the aviation industry has worked together to promote NextGen and emissions-reducing technologies.
Northrop Grumman and Quest Aircraft of Sands Point, Idaho, are teaming to explore civil, military and government applications of the Quest Kodiak single-engine turboprop aircraft integrated with a modular, reconfigurable C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) system. Quest has delivered a Kodiak to Northrop's Aberdeen Integration Center in Baltimore, at its Martin State Airport facility, for integration of Northrop equipment for use as a demonstrator.
I do hope your optimism in “Different Juice, Same Mission” is the future reality instead of the potential permanence of the subdued aviation industry. I do wonder if your proofreader is currently commuting to work in a Desoto after failing to catch the misspelling of the battery powered automobile as “Telsa” rather than the correct name, which is “Tesla.” via email
GAMA revised its deliveries/shipment totals downward following the release of Hawker Beechcraft's Form 10-K year-end results filing on April 13. The February year-end shipment report was released without the Hawker Beechcraft results. Hawker Beechcraft's decision to halt production of the Beechjet 400XP and supplier issues with the Hawker 4000 held down deliveries in 2011, contributing to a larger decline in industry-wide business jet shipments, according to revised data released by GAMA April 17.
Qatar-based Gulf Helicopters has received EASA Part 147 maintenance training approval for its Gulf Helicopters Training Academy and now can conduct AgustaWestland AW139 training courses for third-party commercial and private operators.
“ABACE2012 met all of our estimates and expectations, as well as those for the exhibitors and attendees,” says Ed Bolen, NBAA president and CEO. The association presented the event in partnership with the Shanghai Airport Authority, the Asian Business Aviation Association and the Shanghai Exhibition Centre. A total of 156 exhibitors filled the 4,000-sq.-meter hangar at the Shanghai Hawker Pacific Business Aviation Service Centre and the adjacent Exhibit Pavilion that was added to accommodate additional vendors.
Aerion, the supersonic business jet developer, has kept a steady orderbook for “just under 50” of its $80 million aircraft, says Aerion Vice Chairman Brian Barents. “We've essentially maintained that $4 billion orderbook with which we entered the recession,” he says. “We're delighted with that.”
Avionics makers, recognizing the phenomenal popularity of inexpensive, go-anywhere, tablet-based applications, have been feverishly developing ways to bring iPads and Adroid-based "post-PC" mobile OS tablet computers into business aircraft cockpits.
Piper Aircraft continues to expand its international network with the appointment of Duran Aviation as a distributor for new airplane sales in Central America. Based at Airport Marcos A. Gelabert in Panama City, Duran Aviation is part of Company Consultenos, S.A., which is a family-owned company that is involved in several areas, including automotive, golfing and real estate. Duran Aviation will market and sell Piper aircraft throughout Central America in Panama, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Belize.
AgustaWestland and fashion design house Karl Lagerfeld announced a partnership for the design of VIP helicopter interiors and exteriors. The cooperation will initially focus on the development of a VIP interior and exterior styling for the AW139 medium-twin helicopter. The companies may expand the partnership to include other AgustaWestland commercial helicopter models.
Piper Aircraft has landed a contract valued at $90,000 to provide complex multi-axis machined parts for Triton Submarines, which like Piper, is based in Vero Beach, Fla. Piper Aircraft's Services business unit, which was formed in part to preserve engineering expertise originally developed for the now-shelved Altaire single jet, is providing the work for Triton.
Aviation's Washington alphabetters have beat back threats of user fees, NextGen charges, tax shifts from air carriers, new levies from deficit-heavy states, GPS encroachment, and a steady litany of White House denouncements and all the ugliness they imply. So, it came as a terrible surprise when the industry was recently blind-sided by the IRS with what could amount to a huge, even debilitating tax increase — without having to go through Congress or a statehouse. The target this time: aircraft management fees.
An increase in Part 135 commuter/air taxi business jet accidents is driving a significant jump in business jet accidents through the first three months of the year. But an improving turboprop record has kept down the overall number of U.S.-registered business turbine accidents, according to the latest information released by safety expert Robert E. Breiling Associates. U.S.-registered business jets and turboprops combined for 16 accidents in the first quarter, down slightly from 19 in the first quarter of 2011.
The first flight of the Hawker 400XPR is imminent as we go to press. An upgrade of the discontinued Beechjet/Hawker 400, the new model features Williams International FJ44-4A-32 engines, winglets and an optional four-display Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 cockpit. The avionics suite was recently certified, and the engines and winglets are expected to get their approvals by the end of September. The Williams engine is flat rated at 3,200 lb. thrust, or 8% more than the PWC JT15D it replaces. The new fanjet also features dual-channel FADEC systems.
Associated Aircraft Group (AAG), the East Coast executive helicopter service, is celebrating more than 40,000 hr. of safe flying in its fleet of Sikorsky S-76 helicopters. The company's achievement spans more than 17 years of operating the S-76. AAG operates a fleet of S-76 helicopters in both fractional ownership and full management programs.
BBJs aren't just B737s any more. Boeing's Team BBJ has a clear goal for this year, encapsulated by the slogan: “12 in 12.” Specifically, the makers of Boeing VIP jets plan to deliver a dozen executive airplanes in 2012. These include eight of Boeing's Brobdingnagian 747-8s, two BBJs and a pair of BBJ 2s. In late February, Capt. Steve Taylor, president of BBJ, delivered the first 747-8 to Wichita for installation of an “Aeroloft,” an aft-mounted sleeping berth designed by Greenpoint Technologies for up to eight people.
I just finished reading Patrick Veillette's “Upset Recovery in Sims” (April, 2012) on the limitations of upset prevention and recovery training in standard hexapod flight simulators and wanted to express how much I appreciated your commentary. It is one of the best explanations I have read regarding what simulators can and cannot do in this arena of training, and the inherent dangers of such training without regard to the valid training envelopes of flight simulation training devices.
For half the cost of a GIV, you can own a 1983 to 1987, Stage III noise compliant GIII that provides access to virtually the same noise-sensitive airports used by newer aircraft. Retrofitted with hush-kits, these aircraft can fly eight passengers about 3,600 nm at Mach 0.75. Their cabin cross sections are the same diameter as all other legacy Gulfstream models, but the net interior length is 3.0 ft. shorter than the GIV and overall interior length is 4.8 ft. shorter.
