Sometimes no news is just that: no news. Snecma’s Silvercrest engine was originally launched as a 9,500- to 12,000-lb-thrust motivator for large and long-range jets — read: Gulfstream, Bombardier, Dassault. The company announced an 80-hr. test run on a developmental prototype that reportedly exceeded expectations, and the engine was poised to appear in service in 2012, Snecma said. Of course, that was back in 2008, when the business aviation world slid into an economic abyss, and now the premiere date has slid to 2014 but with no application airframe named yet.
Bell Helicopter announced that San Juan Regional Medical Center will add a Bell 429 light twin helicopter to its air ambulance fleet to support its AirCare unit based out of Farmington, N.M. Established in 1992, AirCare has transported nearly 10,000 patients in its Bell 222, accumulating nearly 13,000 flight hours since the program’s inception.
Some flight departments have adopted a New Year’s resolution to make it SOP to check aircraft tire pressures early and often. Schedulers and dispatchers, especially those in Learjet fleet operations that have caught the attention of the FAA, are taking the lead by adding flight crew reminders to flight documents and trip tickets.
The Falcon 900LX is a lithe, lean, large-cabin business aircraft that seems to defy the laws of physics. It can cruise between continents at Mach 0.80 indicated, similar to heavy-iron competitors with nearly double the engine thrust. In the process, it also is able to achieve best-in-class fuel efficiency, actually better than some large-cabin aircraft that poke along at Mach 0.73 to 0.75, including Falcon 900EX, the former class leader in fuel efficiency.
The growth of turbine-powered wind farms is posing a rising threat to airport operations and to the accuracy of radars, a Mead & Hunt planner says. An unexpected impact is often confusing images appearing on radar screens at air traffic control facilities that cover wind farms, says Tony Tezla, renewable energy planner with the consultancy’s Santa Rosa, Calif., office. He is calling for improved land-use planning and coordination among companies in the wind farm industry, aviation interests and governments to stem the growth of problems.
Business travelers who have sampled the cuisine of Ladurée’s fabulous Paris cake and pastry bakery might gladly fork over that much to fly to London and sample the firm’s double-decker macaroons, widely regarded as the world’s finest. Ladurée UK has just launched an inflight catering service to provide the fare from its traditional shops at Harrods and the Burlington Arcade to business aircraft operating from all London airports.
General Electric’s new H80 turboprop engine made its first flight on a Thrush 510G aerial applicator, Nov. 23, in Albany, Ga. GE says the Thrush 510G is the first application for the new H80 engine, and the first North American OEM engine installation for the M601 engine family. The first flight of the Thrush 510G aircraft, a 510-gal., 10,500-lb gross weight crop duster, lasted 30 min. and is part of the overall flight-testing program to demonstrate the aircraft’s capabilities. Since first flight, the H80-powered 510G had flown an additional 5 hr.
ExecuJet Aviation Group has been issued an air operator’s certificate by the New Zealand Civil Aviation Authority. The action allows the Zurich, Switzerland-based company to begin basing aircraft operations in New Zealand. ExecuJet initially is managing a privately owned Gulfstream G550 in the region. The G550 will be available for third-party charter, effective immediately.
Nextant Aerospace has completed research and development flight testing for the 400XT, its upgraded version of the Beechjet/Hawker 400A/XP. Nextant has flown more than 120 flight test hr. toward the certification of the Pro Line 21 avionics and Williams International FJ44-3AP engine installations on the 400A/XP airframe. “The aircraft is exceeding our expectations in all key performance and handling aspects,” says James Miller, president of the Richmond Heights, Ohio-based remanufacturing company.
Dec. 1 — At about 1336 EST, a Cessna 560XL (N607QS) sustained no damage when its rudder bound during landing at Toledo Express Airport (TOL), near Toledo, Ohio. The two pilots and one passenger were not injured. It was VFR and the flight was operating on an activated IFR flight plan. The FAR Part 135 flight departed from Monmouth Executive Airport, near Belmar, N.J., about 1207, and was destined for TOL. A post-flight examination inside the airplane's tailcone revealed ice around the rudder’s control cables and pulleys.
Of the roughly 550 business jets based in Middle Eastern countries, nearly 90% are considered medium- or large-size jets, says Brian Foley of Brian Foley Associates. “This fleet perspective is significant, because the worldwide average is closer to 60%,” he says. “And it is a measure of utility, not just luxury and prestige. All these Gulfstreams, Falcons and Globals (along with the occasional Boeing and Airbus models) fill a need for range and comfort reaching far beyond the Middle East that smaller jets can’t match.”
Look for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to form a group to try to advise governments around the world on how to craft laws that advance justice without threatening to disrupt aviation’s largely no-fault approach to safety. The recent criminal conviction and fines imposed on Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics in a French court a decade after the crash of an Air France Concorde supersonic transport is just the latest in what ICAO insiders see as a disturbing global trend toward “criminalizing” aviation accidents.
The FAA is providing more time for comments on a proposed rulemaking to require airport operators to establish safety management systems. The comment period, originally Jan. 5, has been extended to March 7 at the request of airports and other industry associations, including the Experimental Aircraft Association.
Barry McDaniel (Director, Jeppesen Corporate Quality and Standards)
In your recent article about aviation databases, and regulations governing the processing of aeronautical information (“Building Aviation Databases,” October 2010, page 86), several references were made to the requirements set forth by DO-200A and what Jeppesen or other data suppliers do — or do not do — with data originated by state sources. The article states, “. . . according to DO-200A, the official country data must be passed through the system — even if some is known to be erroneous.” This is not true.
Duncan Aviation has delivered its first integrated iPad application for wireless control of cabin systems in a Falcon 900, the company announced in December. The installation uses an iPad app, an Aircell CTR Wi-Fi source and an interface unit to communicate instructions to the Honeywell MH cabin management system. The fully customized iPad cabin control interface does not impact any existing functionality or tie up system resources. This is the first of many iPad control systems that Duncan Aviation plans to deliver over the next several months.
Anticipating a heavy influx of business jets for February’s Super Bowl, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport moved business aviation operations to a refurbished airline passenger terminal Dec. 9. “It was time to improve our facilities as a regional operation,” a DFW spokesman said.
Bombardier Aerospace’s fiscal third quarter mirrored the third-quarter results of other business jet manufacturers, with lower revenues and earnings, but executives at the Canadian company remain optimistic that the market for large business jets continues to strengthen, and they are planning to increase production of the Global line in 2011. On Dec. 2, Bombardier reported Aerospace group revenues of US$1.8 billion in the fiscal third quarter ending Oct. 31, down from $2.1 billion in the previous fiscal year third quarter.
Construction has started on Phase 1 of an €800 million ($1.05 billion) development program at Pulkovo Airport that serves St. Petersburg, Russia. A ceremony Nov. 24 was attended by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin; Klaus-Dieter Scheurle, parliamentary state secretary in the German Ministry of Transport; and officials of the Northern Capital Gateway consortium, which is supporting the development. A new terminal is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2013.
Having read of Lou Churchville’s adventures with a true nine-life tabby cat as an unwilling passenger in his radial-powered cropduster, several thoughts arise: First, it’s easier to do stuff with airplanes that belong to someone else. Second, why would the pilot presume the cat wanted to fly in the first place? Possibly a transference of perceived joy from human to animal? Unlikely. Or it could have been the love of open-cockpit biplanes, which on their own hold some real magic in flight. “. . . oh, the cat will love it.”) Perhaps.
Emirates-CAE Flight Training announced at the MEBA show that it will expand its business aircraft training programs for pilots and maintenance technicians in Dubai with the addition of a CAE 7000 Series Level D full-flight simulator for the Bombardier Challenger 604 aircraft. The Challenger 604 simulator will be operational in the first half of 2012.
Takeoff and landing data from FAA shows a continued recovery in business jet traffic in October, with the 11th consecutive year-over-year positive month, up 5.7%, says a Morgan Stanley report. Sequentially, October was up 1.3%, it adds. Analyst Heidi Wood writes, “The U.S. business jet traffic recovery appears underway with both Cessna and Bombardier posting 11 consecutive months of positive year-over-year growth versus 12 for Gulfstream, reinforcing our thesis that a recovery in midsize jet demand would follow the high end.”
Gulfstream Aerospace has received FAA approval to retrofit Gulfstream IV, GIV-SP and GV cockpits with LED lamps. The LEDs perform better and are more reliable and cost-effective than the incandescent bulbs they replace, says Gulfstream. Because they have a much greater lifespan, the new LEDs reduce maintenance and material costs. Gulfstream also says the colors are richer and offer a purer color light. In addition, the LEDs operate approximately 80 deg. cooler.
Forecast International of Newtown, Conn., has joined the general industry consensus that a business aviation upturn will occur no sooner than 2012. Its new study projects that a total of 11,437 business jets, worth an estimated $217.5 billion, will be produced from 2010 through 2019. “The Market for Business Jet Aircraft” report also indicates that business jet production, which has dropped sharply since late 2008, will continue declining through 2011.
Abu Dhabi’s Al Bateen Executive Airport has taken a major step toward its goal of becoming a world-class business aviation center by installing a Cat 1 ILS system on its single runway, the 10,499 ft.-long Runway 13/31. The official inauguration of the precision approach system occurred Dec. 7, but operations actually began Oct. 13. While conditions at the airport are predominantly visual, sandstorms, fog or haze periodically require instrument approaches.
There are primarily two kinds of business aircraft in New Zealand: turboprops and a handful of VLJs used for domestic operations between the Oceania nation’s two islands and long-range “heavy iron” for going anywhere else.
