SimCom Training Centers will acquire 14 flight training devices and simulators from FlightSafety International for piston and turboprop aircraft along with courseware for the Cessna 210, 421C, Conquest I and II; Hawker Beechcraft Baron 58, King Air B200 and C90B; Piper Cheyenne I/II and III and Navajo; Saab 2000; and Twin Commander 690A and 1000. With the addition of this equipment, SimCom will operate a total of 59 simulators in five training centers in the U.S.
Israel Aerospace Industries' (IAI) Ghost electrically powered vertical-takeoff-and-landing (VTOL) mini-UAV is making its debut at this week's Association of Unmanned Vehicle Systems International show in Washington. Weighing 9 lb., the tandem-rotor autonomous aircraft can fly for up to 30 min. on battery power and is designed for low noise and ease of use in urban warfare and special operations. IAI has also developed the Panther family of tilt-prop small VTOL unmanned aerial systems.
Few details about the merger are being disclosed, but if approved, it will create a company with more than 40,000 employees and operations to 115 destinations in 23 countries. The combined entity will be named LATAM Airlines Group, although the two companies will operate as separate brands.
“Time For Change” (AW&ST July 12/25, p. 50) presents a truss-braced wing design as a potential option in the field of research for fuel-burn reduction.
The next generation of unmanned aircraft could be today's systems, but linked in ways only now becoming possible, thereby enabling them to perform missions beyond their individual capabilities. Use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) has grown during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but as the conflict draws down, services are seeking ways to make better use of their existing assets, recognizing that prospects for new systems are receding as budgets tighten.
Inmarsat's decision to go with Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) for its Global Xpress deal marks a major step forward for the aerospace giant's goal to return in force to the commercial satellite business.The company will attempt to raise commercial satellite sales to 30% of the company’s space business within five years, up from 10% now.
Lockheed Martin's Medium Extended Air Defense System (Meads) is facing an existential threat on Capitol Hill. Senators are actively trying to end funding for the system and renegotiate the U.S. agreement to develop the missile with Italy and Germany. Rather than simply push back on the cuts, Lockheed Martin is making a run at the competition, arguing it will cost the government more in the long term to sustain Raytheon's Patriot missile system than to opt for Meads.
After the hugely embarrassing two-week partial shutdown of the FAA, lawmakers are turning their attention to negotiations on a long-term reauthorization bill—something the agency has not had since 2007. However, that does not mean posturing on the Hill is being replaced with “Come, let us reason together.” Lawmakers return to town after the Sept. 5 Labor Day holiday with less than two weeks to agree to a long-term bill, pass the 22nd extension of the Airport and Airways Trust Fund authority or hit replay on the shutdown drama.
India is expected to pick two finalists among the MiG- 35, Dassault Rafale, EADS Eurofighter, Gripen, Boeing F/A-18 and Lockheed Martin F-16. A commercial bidding process will follow, with final selection expected by the end of 2011.
EBAA announced that Fabio Gamba will become CEO of the association, effective Sept. 1. He will take over the CEO role from Brian Humphries who remains president of the association. Gamba will run the business side of EBAA from the association's Brussels headquarters. He will also take on the role of actively liaising with EBAA members. Gamba was most recently the Deputy Secretary General of the Association of European Airlines (AEA). Gamba began his professional career at the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization (CANSO).
Two important vacancies at the FAA and TSA have now been filled. FAA Chief Counsel David Grizzle has been appointed COO of the agency's Air Traffic Organization. He replaces Hank Krakowski, who resigned in April. The TSA has tapped Kerwin Wilson to serve as acting general manager for general aviation. Wilson succeeds Brian Delauter, who left the agency in May to accept a corporate security position. Wilson had been Delauter's assistant general manager at the TSA.
NBAA and AOPA are concerned that in the tumult of federal debt reduction and searches for new revenue sources, the issue of general aviation user fees may reappear. Most reports suggest that no decision on that contentious issue has been made, but on the heels of recent hot rhetoric about the use of private aircraft, general aviation has much to worry about, writes Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association President Craig Fuller.
Honda Aircraft's production facilities in Greensboro, N.C., are now complete, and CEO Michimasa Fujino says one of the reasons he selected the site for the $100 million plant (not including the equipment) and headquarters facility is “space for expansion,” clearly implying there is more to come. Honda refers to the current HondaJet as the “Model 420,” based on the design maximum true airspeed. The first three conformal aircraft for flight test exist, with a fourth to start in assembly soon. F1 is flying and will soon begin a series of stall tests.
Hubbard Aviation Technologies has thrown a lifeline to operators of European-registered Gulfstream II, II-SP, II-B and III aircraft, winning EASA certification of its QS3 Hush Kit System that brings the jets to compliance with Stage 3 noise standards. The company says a QS3-equipped Gulfstream not only meets Stage 3 noise requirements but maintains the aircraft's performance, allowing max gross weight takeoffs, using Gulfstream-approved flap settings with no reduction of EPR, the company says, and is the only such system with EASA certification.
Here are some examples of actual incidents in which Boeing's Aircraft Health Management (AHM) service played a role in keeping 'em flying: A flight en route lost its weather radar, an MEL item that would have grounded the aircraft after arrival at its destination. The fault had been reported to the operator's central maintenance facility via ACARS, analyzed and the necessary part identified, ordered, and transported to the arrival airport. The aircraft landed, the part was installed, and the flight continued after a brief delay.
New noses for the Twin Beech: A Royal Canadian Air Force Beech 18 is a flying test bed for the 500-hp Canadian P&W turbine (top, left). Volpar tricycle gear conversion by Capital Aviation, Springfield, Ill., of the Beech C-45H, delivered to Midland Investment of San Antonio (bottom, left).
Embraer has joined the cockpit, center fuselage and aft fuselage sections of its new Legacy 500 midsize jet. The Legacy executive jets will be assembled at Embraer's facilities in São José dos Campos, Brazil. The company says this is a significant step toward beginning flight tests in the second half of this year.
Eclipse is now turning a profit. “We make more money than we spend,” Eclipse Aerospace CEO and Board chairman Mason Holland told BCA Editor-in-Chief William Garvey. “We're a profitable company year in and year out.” “We are investing additional dollars toward the production effort every month,” Holland says. He speaks about the return to production now as a certainty, with the recent partnership with Sikorsky a major factor in moving forward. He anticipates 60% of sales being outside the U.S.
One afternoon in the late 1990s, I was at United Air Lines' central maintenance facility. During a break in one of the presentations on marketing MRO services to other carriers, my minder whispered in my ear, “Wanna' see something really cool?” — a question for which any journalist has but one response.
The ability to maneuver is severely restricted around many business jet airports in mountainous terrain, such as Aspen-Pitkin County/Sardy Field, Colo. (ASE) and Truckee-Tahoe, Calif., Airport (TRK). Often such airports are served by rather infamous instrument approach procedures with missed approach points (MAP) that terminate at significant heights and/or a long way from the runway.
From the simplest knives of the caveman days to the most advanced computers of today, tools have helped make our lives easier and enabled us to do amazing things. Aircraft maintenance technicians have a special relationship with tools. From wrenches to laptops, we just cannot work on aircraft without them. However, a lost or misplaced tool can cause missed flights, damage or even destruction of an aircraft. Keeping tools where they belong through good tool control is the cornerstone of good maintenance practices.
Aviatrax S.A., a Luxembourg-based aviation consultancy, and Aviation Consulting Ltd., a U.K. technical services company, have announced a new joint venture whereby Aviation Consulting Ltd. begins trading as Aviatrax Technics Ltd. Aviatrax Technics has Continuous Airworthiness Management Organization subpart G and I approval, issued by the U.K. CAA (EASA Part M requirements) as well as Cayman CAA certification (OTAR 39 requirements),
