Canadian Chris McCabe, chief pilot for Toronto-based Chartright Air Group, has had extensive experience flying chartered business jets into several locations within the Republic of Cuba. As the country adheres to ICAO procedures and altimetry, McCabe offered to provide a PANS OPS review for domestic operators who might eventually be Cuba-bound (or flying anywhere else that uses ICAO procedures):
It takes considerable effort on our part, but BCA's annual Purchase Planning Handbook (May issue) has become one of the most trusted specifications and performance references for business aircraft extant. The handbook is regularly used to gauge the capabilities of business aircraft during pre-purchase negotiations because multi-million-dollar investment decisions frequently hang in the balance. PPH readers have confidence that aircraft in the listings will perform up to published expectations.
The opening of a new FBO typically is cause for industry celebration in an age when then the number of FBOs has diminished from 5,000 in the 1980s to 3,000. For Million Air, this summer's opening of its newest facility brings the addition of a 29th location, another company-owned base, and an entrance to what company executives believe is an up-and-coming market. This comes when financing is hard to find for new FBOs.
Thirty years ago, Jim Haynes was working in finance in Washington, D.C., when an accountant friend mentioned that he was trying to settle the estate of a couple who had been killed in an automobile accident. He said it appeared that they had an interest in a business out at Leesburg (Va.) Airport. That tragedy and that piece of information would soon set Haynes off on a course of action that would cause a change in taxation and help transform a region in ways no one could have imagined.
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Similar to other Model 525 aircraft, the Citation M2 will be powered by two Williams International FJ44 turbofans. The current plan is to keep the 1,965-lb. takeoff thrust rating, but it's certain that the new engines will have more robust cores that will provide improved hot-and-high airport performance, more climb thrust and higher cruise thrust. Expect a slight improvement in specific fuel consumption because the new powerplants will incorporate more advanced technologies than the FJ44-1AP engines fitted to the CJ1+.
If you're a scheduler or dispatcher and you just received this issue of BCA, you have just about two weeks to make the Oct. 17 deadline for filing an application for a scholarship under the NBAA's Schedulers & Dispatchers Scholarship Program. The awards are announced in December and presented at the next S&D annual meeting, scheduled for Jan. 15-18, 2012, in San Diego.
The Citation M2's cockpit is a clean-sheet design, a complete break from any avionics package yet installed in a 525-series airplane. The configuration embraces the ergonomic design philosophy of the Citation Ten, using three, side-by-side 14-in. landscape configuration, flat-panel displays with LED backlighting and 1,280-by-800-pixel resolution. These screens provide far more display area than the three, 8- by-10-in. portrait configuration displays in the CJ1+. Indeed, they provide the most display area available in current production light jets.
Computerized maintenance management systems have all but replaced paper for the same reason that such digital systems usually take over any task: It's all become too complicated for humans.
Garmin unveiled a new series of portable navigation devices, the aera 796 and aera 795. The 796 will become Garmin's flagship portable aviation product, incorporating features of the GPSMAP 696, while also adding new capabilities such as a touch-screen user interface, pilot-selectable screen orientation and 3D Vision. The units are designed to move toward a paperless cockpit with a digital document viewer, scratch pad and pre-loaded geo-referenced AeroNav IFR and VFR enroute charts. The 795 incorporates the same features as the 796, but is not XM capable.
The arch cantilever design of TWA's new terminal at Idlewild is based on four concrete shells joined at the center, tapering out to a thickness of only 8 in. at the edge. Designed by architect Eero Saarinen, it covers one and one-quarter acres, cost $15 million and uses four concrete buttresses to support the massive shell.
Skyservice Inc., Canada's largest charter/management company, often dispatches Learjets from its air ambulance division to Cuba for patient-transfer missions. Based in Montreal, Skyservice has 56 managed and company-owned business aircraft in its stable, including five Learjet 35 air ambulances equipped with intensive-care units that routinely operate on a worldwide basis.
As well noted in “High-Altitude Upset Recovery” (July 2011, page 52), pilots must know the basics for maintaining or, if necessary, regaining controlled flight. But what is the primary obstacle to maintaining that control? I would suggest that the answer, both at high and low altitudes, is confusion — the old, “Where's this thing taking us now?”
In late September, Cessna introduced the Citation M2, a less-expensive and more-capable version of the CJ1+ that's intended to be a more attractive intermediate step up in speed, range and cabin comfort that will be positioned between the Citation Mustang and the CJ2+. The new design has been in development for three years and it's slated to fly during the first half of 2012.
FAR Part 91 and Part 135 operators increasingly are asking aircraft manufacturers to provide range charts based upon crew duty times rather than aircraft fuel endurance.
In the last budget request the Department of Labor (DOL) requested an additional budget and manpower specifically to investigate employee misclassification and this topic has been identified as one of the department's leading initiatives. If you use or plan to use contractors, you need to understand the rules. The DOL has a website to help you navigate the rules. You can visit it at: http://www.dol.gov For those of you who missed Attorney Greg Ripple's presentation at the NBAA MMC on this topic, the NBAA has posted his presentation on their website:
Minimize quick turn-arounds. Fully release brakes during turn-arounds. Don't drag a brake during taxi. Consider single-engine taxi. Use reverse thrust/flat pitch if allowed. Anticipate the need to slow down and make necessary power changes ahead of time. Minimize brake applications. Apply a smooth, firm pressure to slow down the aircraft. Land at the slowest speed consistent with safety. Land on longer runways with the wind.
As pilots we don't seem to think much about the brakes until we really need them, and then our interest intensifies in direct proportion to the proximity of the runway end and the speed at which it is approaching.
Step into the cockpit of a Hawker 4000 that has the newly available block point upgrade (BPU) package and it's immediately apparent that the super midsize aircraft has undergone quite a comprehensive improvement program. The FMS, flight guidance system, avionics and autothrottles offer new functions and greater utility. Airframe systems were upgraded to reduce workload and to provide better operating flexibility. In all, nearly two dozen hardware and software changes were made from which pilots can benefit in everyday operations.
Given all the problems facing the Obama administration — intractably high unemployment figures, plunging poll numbers for the president and lack of traction for his latest stimulus proposal — it is increasingly difficult to understand why the executive branch continues to waste energy defending its wrong-headed attempt to “out” the owners of private aircraft.
ARINC plans to set up a Russian office next year to tap growth in commercial and business aviation in that market. The aviation electronics specialist already has contracts with Russian airports and business jet operators for its infrastructure and inflight offering. Andy Hubbard, vice president for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says that even though the market has long been of interest, a meeting with potential customers this year prompted ARINC to step up its engagement in Russia. Business outside the U.S.
Balancing workload with available manpower is a never-ending struggle for maintenance managers. Even so-called “normal” operations can be highly unpredictable, and aircraft always seem to break at the worst possible time. Having extra help on call for unplanned maintenance work is a great way to cushion the impact.
Eclipse Aerospace Inc. (EAI) has completed a combustion liner recertification project that will enable its EA500 very light jet (VLJ) to return to its maximum certified service ceiling of 41,000 ft. EAI calls the FAA approval the last of a lengthy list of certification projects that the company has undertaken to fix problems and improve the aircraft since it bought the program out of bankruptcy in August 2009. The fixes are expected to increase the value of existing EA500s and set the stage for new production of the VLJ.
