The FAA, while finalizing its new flight, rest and duty regulations for FAR Part 121, is considering extending that rule to Part 135, says FAA Flight Standards Director John Allen. Speaking during the NATA's Air Charter Summit in early June, Allen did not provide a timeline on a potential proposal for Part 135, and concedes the agency has its hands full with mandates from last summer's Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010 that stemmed in part from the 2009 Colgan crash.
At a school event last year my bride and I were tasked with leading a team of fellow Connecticut parents in a friendly, multi-state competition. Our first assignment was to come up with a name and slogan that captured our state's spirit and identity. Pens and pads in hand, we looked from one team member to the next, ready to record their suggestions. We waited. And waited. And waited. The essence of Connecticut seems not to fire imaginations.
In the wake of the departure of Brian Delauter, the TSA's general aviation branch general manager, the agency hopes to continue building on its collaborative approach with industry, improving access to Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA), moving forward on the proposed Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) and refining temporary flight restrictions (TFRs).
The Transportation Research Board's Airport Cooperative Research Program (ACRP) has released a Handbook for Analyzing the Costs and Benefits of Alternative Aviation Turbine Engine Fuels at Airports contains an Alternative Fuel Investigation Tool (AFIT), instructions for using the tool, and a report on its development. AFIT is an analytical model designed to help airport operators and fuel suppliers evaluate the costs associated with introducing “drop-in” alternative turbine engine fuel at airports and the benefits measured by reduced emissions.
Landmark Aviation will take over the operation and management of the West FBO at Tampa (Fla.) International Airport from the current tenant, Signature Flight Support, on Oct. 8. The agreement with the Tampa Airport Authority is for 20 years with a five-year renewal option if Landmark constructs a minimum 30,000-sq.-ft. hangar facility during the initial 20-year term. Under the agreement, Landmark will provide Signature's current Tampa employees with employment opportunities. In addition, Landmark is required to make a one-time payment of $2,569,500 on or before Oct.
Jet Aviation Moscow Vnukovo recently signed an agreement with Vnukovo Invest, a co-owner of Vnukovo International Airport in Moscow, to expand its operations into a new hangar, storage and office facility later this year. Jet Aviation began operating at Vnukovo in November 2007 and has offered 24/7 line maintenance and AOG support throughout Russia since 2009.
The fractional aircraft business is rebounding, Flight Options CEO Michael Silvestro said June 8 at the NBAA Regional Forum at Westchester County Airport (HPN), and he expects to be adding another half dozen or more jets to his 101 aircraft fleet by year-end. “My fractional business is up 400%,” he said, comparing sales activity of the first quarter of this year with the corresponding quarter in 2010. He attributes that increase to “the world feels a little bit better” about the economy, and the fact that there are great aircraft deals out there.
I'd like to thank BCA for running excerpts from the magazine from 50 years ago. My father was an instructor with Capital Air Lines and I grew up in the airline environment. He brought BCA and Aviation Week home from work and I read them from cover to cover. I remember many of the articles, advertisements and photos you spotlight each month. Somewhere, I still have airplane cards that were a series in one of the magazines, so long ago. The inspiration of your fine publications encouraged me to successfully pursue a career as an airline pilot.
Abu Dhabi Airports Company signed a lease with Jet Aviation authorizing it to provide aviation services at Al Bateen Executive Airport later this year. Under the deal, Jet Aviation becomes Al Bateen's first independent maintenance, repair and overhaul provider.
Honeywell is acquiring EMS Technologies, an Atlanta-based network and satellite communications company, for $491 million, and the deal is expected to close in the third quarter this year. Honeywell is paying $33 per share in cash, or 13 times EMS Technologies' earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA), the companies said in a statement. EMS will be split between Honeywell's Automation and Control Solutions (ACS) and Aerospace groups.
A new rule — that applies to electrical and electronic systems installed on aircraft certificated under FAR Parts 23, 25, 27 and 29 — establishes two levels of lightning protection for aircraft systems based on the consequences of system function failure: catastrophic and hazaderous/major consequences. This regulation, which goes into effect Aug. 8, also addresses lightning protection for systems according to the aircraft's potential for lightning exposure.
Twenty-two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall — the pivotal event marking the sunset of the USSR — former Soviet satellite states have emerged from the shadows to claim their place in the new Europe.
Piper Aircraft held a PiperJet Altaire supplier gathering in June as the company moves toward certification of the single-engine business jet, with first flights of conforming test articles in 2012. Piper says certification and first deliveries will occur in 2014. Aerospace suppliers represented at the June 16 event included Castle Metals, Garmin International, Kollsman, L-3 Communications, Millennium Concepts, PCI, Goodrich Cabin Systems, PPG Aerospace, Triumph Aerospace, and Williams International.
Erik Eliel's “Getting Radar Right” (April 2011, page 54) is one of the best “Met” pieces I have read in a while. The writing style is excellent as well as the knowledge you have imparted to me. Please, keep them coming! Boeing 737 Captain, US Airways Aviation Management Systems Inc.
The FAA will strip privacy protection options from general aviation operators beginning Aug. 2. But business and general aviation groups have banded together to mount a legal challenge to the DOT decision announced by the FAA to end the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program, which is administered by the NBAA. The NBAA, along with the AOPA and EAA, said that they would seek a court injunction to prevent the BARR ruling from taking effect, and to invalidate the new policy altogether. Publication of the notice follows the DOT's quiet announcement at 5 p.m.
Scott Ernest, a GE Aviation veteran, is the new president and CEO of Cessna Aircraft. The announcement came less than a month after Textron announced Jack Pelton would step down as Cessna chairman, president and CEO. Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly, who had served as president and CEO of GE Aviation before joining Textron in 2008, led the Wichita manufacturer in the interim.
SimCom now offers an accellerated nine-day Eclipse 500 initial type rating course for pilots with turbine and high-altitude operating experience. The course has fewer classroom hours than the 14-day course for less-experienced pilots. Total simulator hours are the same for both programs.
Eurocopter was to debut its X3 hybrid helicopter at the 2011 Paris Air Show as we went to press. Lutz Bertling, Eurocopter president and CEO says, “The X3 is an excellent example of how we are preparing for the future . . .
Regarding the May 2011 Cause & Circumstance “Thunderstorm Break-up,” I think the Board has been unusually hard on the controller when he did provide all that was requested of him. The pilot received three preflight briefings from AFSS and was provided information regarding the severe weather conditions along his planned route. He expressed concern about these conditions and altered his route of flight farther south so he could maneuver around and through “holes” in the weather.
Air Methods Corp. has agreed to acquire OF Air Holdings Corp., parent of Omniflight Helicopters Inc. Omniflight provides air medical transport services throughout the U.S. using community- and hospital-based service delivery models, using a fleet of approximately 100 helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Omniflight is headquartered in Addison, Tex., with operations in 18 states involving over 75 base locations. Air Methods will acquire Omniflight for an aggregate purchase price of $200 million in cash on a cash-free, debt-free basis.
Your tribute to my friend John Wiley in the April issue of BCA was very moving. Well done. And it's so hard to believe that his story in that issue was his last work.
Initial testing of GPS receivers confirms aircraft navigation systems will experience significant jamming from thousands of broadband-wireless transmitters planned to be deployed across the U.S. The tests were conducted to determine the susceptibility of GPS receivers to interference from the high-power terrestrial transmitters LightSquared plans to deploy.
“The future for DCA and general aviation is bright,” said the TSA's Douglas Hofsass (see above). General aviation has been allocated 24 arrival and 24 departure slots there each day, Hofsass said, and the TSA's goal is to fill each of those slots. Several improvements to the DCA Access Standard Security Program (DASSP) instituted in early March have begun to bear fruit, he said. As a result, operations have markedly increased. Before March, the number of general aviation operations averaged two to three a day. Now it is at eight to 10 a day.
Tom Haines (Editor in Chief, Senior Vice President )
Thanks for the nice piece about John Wiley. I will surely miss him and his dry humor. We frequently compared Bonanza notes at the shows and talked shop. I first met him when I was at Professional Pilot magazine and he was still contributing there. I, as always, also enjoyed his last entry in BCA (“Baghdad Diary,” April 2011, page 42). How prophetic his closing sentence: “Life . . . is also very unpredictable.” Sad. He will be missed. Thanks for capturing his good soul so well.
