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.
In January of this year, activists in Egypt began calling for demonstrations against the government of Hosni Mubarak, and by mid-February, possibly triggered by Mubarak’s capitulation, Libya erupted in a far more violent and bloody confrontation. Throughout the events that shook both nations, company officials with employees in Egypt and Libya as well as governments with diplomatic staff and their families were suddenly faced with the need to protect their people and find a way to get them to safety.
The used aircraft market, while improving, remains a major concern, declared GAMA chairman John Rosanvallon during the association’s annual “State of the Industry” presentation.
The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAE) released a report that warns that society may be dangerously over-reliant on satellite navigation systems like GPS. According to the RAE, the range of applications using the technology is now so broad that, without adequate independent backup, signal failure or interference could potentially affect not just land, sea and air navigation, but broad swaths of the global economy. LORAN advocates would likely concur.
At GAMA’s “State of the Industry” press conference in late February, GAMA Chairman John Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon, reported that the global economic downturn continued to negatively impact general aviation manufacturers in 2010, but that signs of a recovery have started to emerge. “Our industry experienced another challenging year that required many manufacturers to continue to make careful decisions about production schedules, employment and product development,” said Rosanvallon.
CitationAir’s fleet of 81 aircraft just got faster as the company added six of the fastest production business jet to its lineup. The Mach 0.92 Citation X can take customers from Los Angeles to New York in just over 4 hr., lopping a half hour off the typical time.
The first international Cessna Skycatcher delivery was to Aeromil Pacific at Sunshine Coast Airport in Queensland, Australia. It will be used for sales demonstrations throughout 2011. The Skycatcher is Cessna’s entry in the light sport aircraft category. It features a Garmin G300 avionics suite and is powered by a Teledyne Continental O200D engine. Priced at $113,500, the two-seat, single-engine aircraft has a maximum speed of 118 kt. with a maximum range of 470 nm.
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:
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.
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.
The European Commission approved the satellite-based European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) system for aviation operations. Like WAAS in the United States, EGNOS complements and improves the accuracy of GPS, allowing reduced-separation RNP operations and LPV approaches to any runway independent of ground installations. With the approval, EU member states can design and certify approaches.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The NBAA reiterated its strong opposition to the FAA’s plan to limit participation in the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program, saying the actions represent unwarranted invasion of privacy and a potential security risk for passengers aboard aircraft. Under the BARR program, the FAA accommodates requests of aircraft owners and operators to exclude their aircraft from ASDI and NASSI data feeds. In the notice, the FAA says, “We have tentatively determined that it is in the best interests of the U.S.
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.
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 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
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.”
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.
The front page story in the January/February issue of “Flightlines,” an electronic magazine for Hawker Beechcraft employees, carries the headline, “Committed to Wichita” and describes the company’s acceptance of an incentive package that ties it to the city and a minimum 4,000-person workforce for at least 10 more years.
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.
Landmark Aviation has added seven more aircraft — two King Airs and five jets from light to heavy —to its managed fleet, which now numbers 75 aircraft, among the largest in the nation.
