These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Hawker 200 in a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Hawker Beechcraft's chief sales engineer, Martin Tuck, provided the chart data. Please note: These data are preliminary and are subject to change as a result of flight tests leading up to aircraft certification, now slated for the first half of 2012.
GE Honda Engines said the HF120 engine for the HondaJet has amassed about 2,000 ground and flight test hours and 1,860 starts. Certification testing is on schedule for completion by the end of this year. Eighteen engines have been built for “certification testing and customer flight tests,” including several that were “rebuilt multiple times with instrumentation to support unique certification tests.” GE Honda Engines has embarked on product support and services infrastructure development “to assure a flawless entry into service,” according to a company spokesperson.
Flight Options, the second-largest fractional jet operator in the U.S., has obtained a three-year, $167 million financing package with Brazil's Banco Nacional de Desenvolvimento Econômico e Social (BNDES) to finance the purchase of Embraer Phenom 300s. This first-of-its-kind loan agreement between BNDES and a fractional jet operator will be guaranteed by the Brazilian Ministry of Finance, advised by the Brazilian Export Credit Insurance Agency (SBCE). In 2007, Flight Options placed an order for 100 of the light jets, plus an option to purchase 50 more.
Cessna in June marked 15 years since opening its manufacturing facility in Independence, Kan., where the company has produced nearly 9,500 single-engine pistons and more than 350 Citation Mustang business jets. Work at the Cessna Independence facility includes assembly, paint, installation of interiors and delivery of seven single-engine piston aircraft models — the 172R Skyhawk, 172S Skyhawk SP, 182T Skylane, T182T Turbo Skylane, 206H Stationair, T206H Turbo Stationair and the Corvalis TTX — as well as the Citation Mustang entry-level business jet.
In your June edition we printed a RUAG ad with wrong information (page 14). “In reference to RUAG's advertisement that appeared in the June issue of Business & Commercial Aviation magazine, RUAG would like to clarify that RUAG is not an official OEM partner and/or approved major service center for Twin Otter. RUAG holds a EASA Part 145 base and line maintenance approval with respect to Twin Otter DHC-6 Series. RUAG regrets any confusion and inconvenience caused to its customers and partners.”
Sean Tucker is an extremely talented performer whose air show routine leaves literally no room for error. (Fast Five, June 2011, page 26) But having lost six colleagues to aviation and witnessed the deaths of two air show performers on separate occasions, I don't attend air shows anymore featuring radical acts like Mr. Tucker's. I fail to see the purpose of such radical flying. Will Mr.
Dassault Falcon recently received certification for the Falcon 900LX from the General Administration of Civil Aviation of China (CAAC). The 900LX joins the rest of the Falcon 900 family already certified in China. The Falcon 7X and the Falcon 2000 family are also CAAC-certified. The first Falcon 900LX will be delivered in China by year-end.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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),
The Chinese air force said it will open six airfields to joint military and civil use during the current five-year planning period, running to 2015, according to Chinese media. The newly opened airfields, which have not been identified, join 63 military fields that the air force has made available to civilian use since the 1990s. Military flying takes up 23.51% of China's usable airspace, the air force said in a statement released under the guise of a Xinhua news agency report. Civil traffic uses 32%, it said, without accounting for the rest.
Hawker Beechcraft will open a new maintenance facility at New Castle Airport in Wilmington, Del. The facility, expected to open in second quarter 2012, will be a full-service repair and overhaul operation offering airframe, engines, avionics and mobile service support for the company's entire product line, from the single-engine Bonanza to the super-midsize Hawker 4000.
A flying car from Scaled Composites? The company is exploring development options for a twin-fuselage, hybrid internal combustion/electric-powered air and read vehicle. The Model 367 BiPod is a two-seat, twin fuselage vehicle with removable wings, stabilizer and tail tips to enable swift conversion into a road vehicle. Seating one person per fuselage, the BiPod is currently configured to be driven like a car from the left-hand cockpit and flown as an aircraft from the right side.
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.
The Hawker 200's Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 cockpit looks a lot like that of the Premier IA, with its three 10-in. by 8-in. AFD-3010E LCD screens, stand-alone annunciator light panel and dual multifunction CDUs in the center console. The most obvious difference is the Meggitt EPD-40002 integrated electronic standby instrument system that replaces the cluster of three standby instruments aboard the Premier IA.
While keeping tools from being left behind is an important part of any foreign object damage (FOD) control program, do not forget about the importance of keeping debris, trash and flotsam out of your aircraft. The National Aerospace FOD Prevention Inc. website (www.nafpi.com) can help maintenance managers develop and manage FOD control programs. The group provides access to experts on the subject and provides links to helpful hints and training materials for FOD prevention.
Bahrain-based MENA Aerospace Enterprises' MAE Aircraft Management division has been awarded a certificate of registration for compliance with IS-BAO (International Standards for Business Aircraft Operations).
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).
Within hours of President Barack Obama's June 29 press conference (see above), at least nine aviation associations — ranging from the manufacturers, service companies, operators, a union and the Alliance for Aviation Across America (which represents 5,700 aviation, government, local and business groups) — had come out condemning Obama's remarks.
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.
