These preliminary graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Eclipse 550 under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance based upon Eclipse 500 AFM data, Eclipse Aerospace projections and our estimates. Actual performance of the Eclipse 550 may fall short of these projections because of empty aircraft weight gain compared to Eclipse 500 aircraft.
Aero Dynamix, Inc., Euless, Texas, announced that test pilot Dwayne Williams has joined their growing team of night vision goggle professionals. The company is an industry leader in NVG cockpit modifications. Aviation Personnel International (API), San Francisco, promoted Colleen Kelly to vice president, Client and Talent Relations, responsible for the retained recruitment of aviation professionals of behalf of Fortune 500 companies and private individuals.
There are certain flight conditions and control inputs that can overstress the main rotor mast components of a semi-rigid system, resulting in catastrophic failure. Consequently, it's vital that pilots fully understand the limitations of this type of system.
Rated at 900-lb. thrust for takeoff, the Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F-A is the smallest member of the PW600 family that also is installed on the Cessna Citation Mustang and Embraer Phenom 100. The engine features a conventional, two-spool design with an inner shaft attached to the wide-chord front fan that is powered by a single-stage low-pressure turbine. The outer shaft has a single-stage, axial flow compressor and a single-stage centrifugal flow high-pressure compressor.
The FAA insists that it will make major strides with a vital air traffic control upgrade by year-end, but serious questions are being asked in Washington about whether revised timetable and cost estimates can be met. The En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) program was “re-baselined” midyear, but the agency has already missed an important near-term milestone in September. The FAA says this delay will only be a matter of months, and if that is true it would help ease the skepticism of lawmakers and government watchdog agencies.
Eclipse Aerospace is restarting production of its very light jet. The company has begun taking orders for the Eclipse 550, based on the 500. The 550 will feature integrated avionics by IS&S, auto-throttles and FAR Part 135 upgrades. The aircraft will be priced at $2.695 million in 2011 dollars. Mason Holland, chairman and CEO of Eclipse Aerospace would not say when production of the Eclipse 550 would start or how many aircraft he expects to deliver the first year. He did project average deliveries of 50 to 100 aircraft per year during a 10-year period.
Piper is reviewing the fate of its Altaire PiperJet program as it focuses on its successful piston and turboprop business, the company announced Oct. 17. In the same announcement the company said Piper President Geoff Berger and Executive Vice President Randy Groom had left the company. Simon Caldecott has been appointed interim president and CEO of Piper Aircraft, effective immediately. Caldecott stated, “Our team is dedicated to moving Piper forward.
Kevin Bredenbeck, Sikorsky chief test pilot, who flew the revolutionary X2 Technology demonstrator last year to an unofficial speed record for conventional helicopters, has been recognized by the Society of Experimental Test Pilots with the Iven C. Kincheloe Award for the year's outstanding professional accomplishment in the conduct of flight testing. Bredenbeck, who is also Sikorsky's director of flight operations, accepted the award at a ceremony in California in September.
The September edition of J.P. Morgan's Business Jet Monthly report noted that prices rose slightly in August for used business jets that are out of production but still have derivatives being manufactured.
Oliver Stone, managing director of the new London-based aircraft brokerage, Colibri Aircraft Ltd., believes the market for previously owned business airplanes is gradually recovering. In today's market “typically, the newest and largest planes are doing the best,” says Stone. “The ultra-long-range, large-cabin jets are actually doing quite well. Prices have stabilized and inventory is thinning out.”
The Australian Transport Safety Board (ATSB) continues to push manufacturers and operators to take a closer look at pressurization system failure warning devices, no doubt spurred in part by a remarkable incident involving an oxygen-starved pilot whose confusion may have been a lifesaver. It happened on July 16, 2009, when a string of system and human failures led to an undiagnosed pressurization system problem in Beechcraft King Air C90 (VH-TAM) while on a routine flight out of Perth Airport in Western Australia.
Based on its most recent poll of aircraft dealers, Vref Publishing Inc., the Arizona-based provider of data on the resale market, reported in the third quarter edition of its Market Leader newsletter, “There has been a surprising amount of activity. Early this summer, many dealers reported, 'they've never been busier.'”
A drag-reducing upgrade kit developed for Boeing MD-80 operators has received supplemental type certification from the FAA. Developed by Long Beach, Calif.-based engineering company Super98, the first part of the kit is initially designed to reduce fuel burn by 2.5% or more, with a further 1% benefit available from a more extensive upgrade. Fuel savings were verified in flight tests of an instrumented MD-83 in late 2010 and earlier this year.
The Eclipse 550's Avio cockpit has left- and right-side, 10.4-in. portrait configuration PFDs, plus a 15.3-in. landscape configuration MFD in the middle. Functions are controlled by line select keys with soft labels on each display, inner and outer knobs at the corners of the displays, a few stand-alone switches in the instrument panel and slide-out multifunction keyboards in front of the pilots' knees.
ExecuJet Aviation Group, the Swiss-based aviation management company, reported in September that it has experienced continued growth in new and used aircraft sales since the beginning of the year. The company predicts the trend will continue well into 2012. Year-over-year figures show ExecuJet's deliveries this year increased by almost 100%, with aircraft sales revenues up by 90%.
Hawker Beechcraft has received a type certificate from the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) for the manufacturer's Hawker 800XPR. The performance-enhancing package for the popular twinjet received FAA approval earlier this year, and deliveries have begun.
Conklin & de Decker will hold its 12th annual Aircraft Acquisition and Planning Seminar in Scottsdale, Ariz., on Dec. 6 and 7 at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. The meeting is designed to help the aircraft buyer, owner or aviation professional understand how to make informed aircraft purchasing and owning decisions.
The city of Taegu slid behind us as we turned east for Tsushima Island, midway across 100-mi. strait separating South Korea and Japan. I was number two in the third flight of LT-6Gs, which we were handing over to the then-new Japanese Air Defense Force, near Nagoya, where they would be overhauled and returned to their intended role as training aircraft.
After three decades in the automotive industry as a top executive with General Motors and Delphi in the U.S. and Europe, Guy Hachey returned to his native Quebec in April 2008 as president and chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace. Five months later, the collapse of Lehman Brothers triggered a global financial crisis that decimated the business aviation industry. In a recent interview with BCA Editor-in-Chief William Garvey and Aviation Week & Space Technology's Joseph C.
Sept. 25 — At 1341 local time a Bell 412SP, (Indonesia registry PK-OVC), crashed in a jungle under unknown circumstances 150 km east of Selaparang Airport, Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia. The helicopter was operated by PT Airfast Indonesia under the provisions of the Indonesia Civil Aviation Regulations and was on a cargo flight. It sustained substantial damage and both crewmembers were fatally injured in the crash. The flight originated at Dodo Camp Airport and was destined for Lemurung Camp.
August 2011 statistics on the used aircraft markets contain good news, says Jetnet, the Utica, N.Y.-based provider of corporate aviation information. In the first eight months of this year, the year-to-date average asking price for business jets rose 3.5%, while the industry maintained double-digit growth (11.4%) in used business jet retail sale transactions.
Israel Aircraft Industries invented the super-midsize business aircraft in the mid-1990s when it launched its IAI 1126 Galaxy. These aircraft can fly eight passengers 3,200 nm and land with NBAA IFR reserves. They offer nearly Gulfstream GII cabin dimensions, but with the fuel consumption of a standard midsize jet. On a 1,000-nm trip, for instance, the aircraft actually burns slightly less fuel than a Hawker 750 or Cessna Citation Sovereign. IAI earned FAA certification for the Galaxy in December 1998, and 53 units were delivered from 1999 to 2001.
Next year, Bombardier's Global 5000 and 6000, fitted with Global Vision cockpits powered by Rockwell Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics, will be the first production business aircraft to enter service with head-up displays with synthetic vision system (SVS) background imagery.
It began as a maker of cast-off airplanes and at one point was near collapse, but Bombardier Aerospace is demonstrating enviable resilience during the market downturn, thanks in large measure to its top end business jets, while investing billions in new models.
