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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Constant Aviation – the Cleveland-based maintenance, repair and overhaul facility – has earned an STC for installation of Aircell's Cabin Wireless Access Point (CWAP), which provides in-cabin Wi-Fi service for Gogo Biz Inflight Internet, in two Embraer EMB135 corporate shuttles. This reportedly is the first installation of its kind in this aircraft type.
President Barack Obama reopened barely healed wounds and drew an outcry of protests from the general aviation community and elected officials when he pushed for increased taxes on millionaires, billionaires and corporate aircraft users, saying their tax breaks could compromise health, education and safety programs.
Jim D'Agostino (JAR auditor ), Via e-mail (JAR auditor )
I thought Fred George's article, (July 2011, page 52) was excellent. As far as I know high-altitude upset recovery and high-altitude stalls are no part of regular recurrent or initial training. I was an instructor and examiner at Flight Safety on the Falcon 900 series of aircraft. If time permitted, during a recurrent session, I always had crews demonstrate a stall and a recovery at altitude, above FL 370. Most stall and usual attitude training is accomplished at 10,000 ft. in the simulator.
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.
I have been a charter operator here in South Florida since 1999, flying everything from single engine piston aircraft to business jets under Part 135. You identified the problem accurately, but there are two aspects you have overlooked.
I was disturbed to see that “Illegal Charter” cited Nick Sabatini [former FAA associate administrator for Aviation Safety] and Jim Ballough [former FAA director Flight Standards Service] as industry experts. Their testimony before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee [in 2008, regarding FAA's Customer Service Initiative] was an affront to all of the hard working FAA personnel who had to work for them and an embarrassment to the FAA as a whole.
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.
I've been in the business aviation world for over 37 years and greatly look forward to the arrival of my BCA magazine monthly. The May edition is my favorite for obvious reasons. So, I was 'just slightly' disappointed this year when I flipped back to the avionics section and 'lo and behold' it was missing. Perhaps that field is expanding so rapidly you thought it best not to include it. Aviation Manager
Rockwell Collins agreed to sell its Rollmet product line to Precision Castparts. Rollmet makes seamless alloy and stainless steel pipes and propulsion system components for the energy, petrochemical and defense industries. The sale is expected to be completed in the fiscal fourth quarter.
Aviation Research Group/US reported that June U.S. flight activity showed a slight increase over May activity. ARGUS TRAQPak data indicate that June business aircraft activity was up 0.4% over May. By operational categories, the FAR Part 135 and Part 91 segments both posted a positive month, up 1.6% and 0.2%, respectively. The fractional segment was the only operational category to drop, down 1.5% from April. By aircraft category, only turboprops managed to stay positive from the previous month, up 4.2%.
Rockwell Collins, in collaboration with helicopter operators Bristow, CHC, and Dancopter, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), Eurocontrol and the Netherlands Civil Aviation Administration, has completed an operational evaluation to successfully validate ADS-B Out airworthiness requirements for helicopters operating over the North Sea. The multi-year project, consisted of flight tests using a Rockwell Collins TDR-94D transponder and, in some instances, a Rockwell Collins GPS-4000S GPS sensor.
China's Minsheng Bank to buy 50 Gulfstream and 20 Embraer business jets. Minsheng's website said a non-binding MOU was signed June 28, covering Gulfstream G650, G550, G450 and the newly renamed G280 (see below) jets. The bank signed a similar agreement with Embraer for 20 unspecified executive jets July 19. It's notable that Embraer is in the process of gaining approval to convert its ERJ135 China production facility to the manufacture of Legacy 600 and 650 super midsize business jets. Minsheng Financial Leasing Co. Ltd.
Toby Smith, the Tulsa-based aircraft broker, says the state of the pre-owned turbine aircraft marketplace is mixed. However, he sees a couple of positive signs. “When considered as a percentage of the active fleet, inventory levels for all classes of turbine aircraft are now almost back to 2008 levels, well before the flood of aircraft hit the market in 2009. Additionally, although not back to pre-downturn levels just yet, the number of resale transactions has been steadily growing since 2009.”
While no determination has yet been made as to the probable cause of the crash of Air France Flight 447 into the South Atlantic two years ago, I have read that ice contamination of the Airbus A330's pitot tubes could be a factor. If that proves correct, all I can say is that circumstances confronting those pilots were likely to be confusing and frightening all the way to their doom. I know.
The used jet inventory, as a percentage of the active fleet, decreased in June by 20 basis points to 10.4%, according to J.P. Morgan. The financial analysts also reported that average asking prices fell 0.7% from May levels, making the average used jet worth $10.68 million. By category, medium and light jet inventories decreased in June by 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively, while heavy jet inventories inched up 0.1% during the month. Prices for heavy and medium jets decreased 0.4% and 1.9%, respectively, while light jet prices increased 1.4%.
The latest edition of the Aircraft Bluebook Price Digest notes that prices for most types of previously owned aircraft are stable. Values for the majority of business jets held firm in the second quarter, with prices for 583 models categorized as stable, while prices for 298 decreased and 41 types enjoyed price appreciation. According to Aircraft Bluebook, among the biggest movers were late-model Bombardier Global XRSes, whose value gained $1 million when compared to the previous quarter.
The latest edition of Vref's Market Leader newsletter says the current market for previously owned business aircraft remains “uneven” and “mixed,” but “continues its transition to . . . the new normal — a sluggish, almost flat-line recovery.”
H4 Aerospace Ltd., a U.K. aircraft design firm, has engineered the first ever retrofit of a Bombardier Global Express with Lufthansa Technik's Nice cabin management and inflight entertainment (CMS/IFE) system. The installation of this system was performed during an 8C-check, the Global Express' biggest scheduled maintenance event, which is performed on the aircraft every 10 years. The owner of the long-range airplane had opted for a complete refurbishment of the interior, which provided an opportunity to update the cabin to the latest CMS/IFE technologies.
Eclipse Aerospace has received FAA certification for a newly redesigned canister to be used with the PhostrEx fire-suppression system on the Eclipse 500 very light jet. Canisters are expected to be available for purchase beginning this month.
The first production Dassault Falcon 900LX equipped with the new EASy II cockpit was scheduled to be delivered in July, and now operators of existing Falcon 900 aircraft equipped with the EASy cockpit can upgrade to the EASy II standard via a Service Bulletin. Dassault has developed a training course for EASy II in conjunction with CAE SimuFlite, and the course has been approved by the FAA, European Aviation Safety Agency and the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority so flight crews can begin to familiarize themselves with the state-of-the-art flight deck.
