As mentioned in the main text, U.S. Customs and Border Protection no longer confers “permission to proceed” authority to aircraft entering U.S. territory at Adak Island in the Aleutian Chain. Previously, aircraft using Adak as a tech stop on the way back from Asia could arrange to take on fuel at Adak, then with prior arrangement, proceed to Anchorage to clear Customs. Here, courtesy of Universal Weather & Aviation, is the two-part message received last year from CBP:
FBO Million Air Houston announced in January a new general manager in the person of Robert Lee, most recently GM at Atlantic Aviation in Wheeling, Ill. He has more than 20 years of experience in aviation operations.
Since 1993, the FAA has prohibited executives from reimbursing their companies for personal use of company aircraft. The genesis of this policy was a legal interpretation requested on behalf of Charles Schwab. The FAA took a very narrow view of FAR Part 91.501(b)(5), concluding that the rule was designed to allow reimbursement for business flights, and therefore personal flights were not covered. Simply stated, the man named Charles Schwab could not write a check to Charles Schwab & Co. Inc. for a personal flight in the company airplane.
I savor reading Cause & Circumstance. It’s usually the first read for me when I get the publication. “A Failed Culture of Safety” (February 2011) was quite fascinating, but it left me feeling as if I’d watched an episode of “Hawaii Five-O” that ends with a “To be continued next week.”
Eight furloughed pilots have been recalled in the company’s move to address growth as business recovers. FlightOptions is expanding its fleet of Phenom 300, 400XT and Citation X aircraft, along with its capacity for fractional and jet card programs. FlightOptions now employs 311 pilots.
Again profitable, NetJets ordered 50 Global business jets with options for an additional 70 aircraft. Bombardier said it was the largest business aircraft sale in the company’s history. The firm order transaction is valued at approximately $2.8 billion based on list prices. If all the options are exercised, the total value of the order will surpass $6.7 billion, also based on list prices. The firm order comprises 30 Global 5000 Vision and Global Express XRS Vision aircraft, with deliveries scheduled to begin in fourth quarter 2012.
An attempt by the FAA to adopt a substantive change in the operations of FAR Part 135 certificate holders by means of a “rules interpretation” is under attack by a broad cross section of the air charter community.
Robinson Helicopter Company has a backlog of 169 new orders. The company delivered 162 aircraft in 2010: 40 R22s, 112 R44s, and 10 R66 turbine helicopters.
Kaman Corp. Composites Division has been awarded a contract to manufacture composite passenger entry and over-wing exit doors for the Bombardier Learjet 85 midsize business jet.
Bell Helicopter received 41 signed contracts at Heli-Expo 2011. The orders included 412EPs, 429s and 206L4s, as well as 11 new 407GXs from customers in North America, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. At this year’s Heli-Expo, Bell announced the 407GX, a new version of the Bell 407 equipped with Garmin’s G1000H Integrated Flight Deck, and the 407AH, the first Bell-qualified armed commercial aircraft.
I read “A Failed Culture of Safety” (Cause & Circumstance, February 2011, page 53) with great interest. Good article. I am sure you know the NTSB report on the Quest Diagnostics fatal crash was pulled from the Internet. Not good. I believe that our industry has a shared responsibility to operate safely for the benefit of all parties. Your observations regarding Quest Diagnostics are quite disappointing as it appears that Quest lacks a commitment to safe operations
Sabreliner Corp. recently completed a Service Life Extension Program (SLEP) on a Learjet 35 air ambulance owned and operated by Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based Aero Jet International. The SLEP was performed in Sabreliner’s Perryville, Mo., facility and involved an extensive inspection of all of the aircraft’s flight controls using state-of-the-art, non-destructive inspection techniques.
GPS coordinates in Japan will need to be updated. Japan’s Geospatial Information Authority’s network of 1,200 GPS monitoring stations across that country detected a maximum displacement of 13 ft. with an average displacement of 8 ft. recorded over a 248-mi. area of the main island of Honshu after the March 11 9.0-magnitude earthquake.
This short adventure began with an e-mail from a friend who flew with me at Piedmont Airlines. Vince was a 727 flight engineer but was now in Iraq with a company that has thousands of employees in Iraq. It uses Iraqi airliners with two Boeing 737-200s to shuttle its employees in country. The job was for a check airman to work on safety and compliance and to occasionally ride jump seat. A walk in the park, so to speak.
It’s likely that the most challenging application of business aviation ever attempted is the corporate shuttle service operated between Anchorage and Alaska’s North Slope tundra to transport oil field and Trans Alaska Pipeline workers to their jobs.
As the chief administrator of the FAA, you are in the proper position, equipped with the proper perspective to put an end to a process that is about to waste more taxpayer dollars, at a time we can ill afford to do so.
The Helicopter Association International is partnering with the Experimental Aircraft Association to establish a new “home away from home” for the international helicopter community at EAA AirVenture 2011 in Oshkosh this summer. The partnership unites the producer of the world’s largest trade show dedicated to helicopters with the organizer of the world’s largest general aviation event, AirVenture, to be held July 25-31. The Heli Center will provide a central location for helicopter-related exhibitors to highlight their products and services to attendees.
Raytheon will install its Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System (STARS) at 11 major terminal radar approach control (TRACON) facilities by 2015. An initial goal calls for five systems to be operational by the end of 2013, says Raytheon Director for Domestic Automation Michael Espinola. Dallas/Fort Worth will be the first of the 11 TRACONs to receive STARS, and the New York, Chicago, Atlanta, and Northern and Southern California facilities are also among this group.
Dulles International Airport, slated to be Washington’s jetport, won’t be ready for at least 15 months, Administrator Halaby told the committee, and the cost will be “substantially greater than previously estimated.” FAA type certification of the Lockheed JetStar is expected by June 30, with minor fuel system modifications, the latest change requested by the FAA.
Becker Avionics and Axnes Aviation AS of Grimstad, Norway, signed a teaming agreement for sales, marketing and product support services for the Axnes Polycon Wireless Intercom System that allows rotary- and fixed-wing operators to have audio communications between crewmembers in an aircraft and away from the aircraft on the ground, as well as with ground support crews.
Aviation associations and avionics manufacturers have joined other transportation interests in a coalition to eliminate any jamming threat from plans to expand wireless broadband coverage of the U.S. using high-power transmitters in a band adjacent to that used for GPS. That threat emerged after the Federal Communications Commission’s January decision to grant LightSquared Communications conditional approval to provide terrestrial broadband services using frequencies previously reserved for mobile satellite communications.
It may be America’s 49th and largest state, but to Dave Hall, Alaska could almost be regarded as an “international destination” for business aviation operators.
It was the peak of thunderstorm season as the crew completed the final preflight preparations for their eastbound flight across the United States. The aircraft was at maximum certified weight and full of fuel. The Terminal Area Forecast (TAF) for the destination, Orlando International Airport (MCO), valid for the time of arrival, was benign, and the closest NEXRAD site, located in Melbourne, Fla., showed no activity near MCO. Their filed alternate was Jacksonville International Airport (JAX) and their aircraft was equipped with airborne weather radar.
In light of an increasingly strong charter trend, FlightWorks of Atlanta has added a Falcon 2000EX in Virginia and a Falcon 50EX in Tennessee. The company claims 15% year-on-year growth in charter sales.
