Business & Commercial Aviation

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.

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.

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.

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.

Lawrence Esser makes some disturbing statements in his letter regarding “Crosswind Troubles.” He states that one should “takeoff or land with a wings level attitude in a crosswind” when operating an airplane like the Citation X with long swept wings. Since he did not elaborate on his recent new technique, there are two obvious choices.

Landmark Aviation acquired DB Aviation at Waukegan Regional Airport in Illinois. Offering FBO, charter and aircraft management and maintenance services, DB Aviation supports Landmark’s growth strategy, and brings the network to 41 FBOs, with locations in the United States, Canada and Western Europe, the company said. Landmark Aviation is headquartered in Houston, Texas.

Looking for help with communication skills? The FAA Human Factors Guide for Aviation Maintenance and Inspection has a whole section devoted to improving communication for technicians. Included at the website are links to Advisory Circular AC 120-72 Maintenance Resource Management Training, which addresses best practices for maintenance communication, as well as guides from the Department of Energy, which developed structured shift change communication protocols (you know, they’re the nuclear reactor guys) and the European Aviation Safety Agency.

This will be the second year in which the NBAA has scheduled the Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference together with NATA’s FBO Leadership Conference on Feb. 7-8, which will immediately precede the S&D event. As flight activity picks up, many flight departments are increasingly busy planning and staffing for the economic rebound expected in the coming two years. It’s a great opportunity to network with the FBO community and access information from the airport service perspective, such as NATA’s Safety 1st program.

FlightSafety International received approval from Brazil’s ANAC for its Bell 212 and Bell 412 full flight simulators. The ANAC approved FlightSafety’s Bell 430 full flight simulator in 2009. FlightSafety offers training programs and simulators for the three aircraft at its Learning Center in Fort Worth, Texas.

Daher-Socata has developed an “Exclusive Maintenance Program” for TBM 850s that covers all scheduled maintenance costs, including annual inspections, for five years or 1,000 flight hours. The program also extends warranties for avionics and systems to five years and for the airframe to seven years.

Eurocopter Malaysia delivered an EC145 helicopter to Sabah Air Aviation for medical airlift missions in the Sabah region, north of Borneo, the company announced Nov. 30.

Bombardier has delivered almost 300 Challenger 300 aircraft since starting deliveries in early 2004, making it by far the best-selling super-midsize business aircraft in the market. Originally named the Continental, the Challenger 300 was designed to bridge the gap in Bombardier’s product line between the 2,300-nm range, midsize Learjet 60 and the 3,900-nm range, large-cabin Challenger 604.

So you thought teenagers texting while driving were a threat? Flight department professionals may wish to take note of a new policy at a leading service chain. Atlantic Aviation is instituting a No Phone Zone policy in every venue where its employees conduct ground operations on the ramp.

A battery-powered Cessna 172 trainer? George Bye told BCA in November that the technology already exists to produce just such an aircraft and, accordingly, the training market is a primary target for his avgas-less aspirations. The founder and CEO of Bye Energy Inc., a “clean energy solutions integrator for general aviation,” says his company will have a battery-powered C172N flying out of Denver’s Centennial Airport by spring. Cessna is assisting in the project.

These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Dassault Falcon 900LX under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Dassault Falcon Jet’s sales engineers provided the data for the Range/Payload Profile. Data for the specific range chart were extracted from the Dassault Falcon 900LX Performance Manual.

Congratulations for your excellent article on spins (“When the Very Best Fall,” October 2010, page 46). As an experimental test pilot, I was involved in about 15 development and certification spin test campaigns on normal and acrobatic category aircraft.

Operators of Cessna Citation Xs soon will be able to install Safe Flight’s AutoPower system on their airplanes. The automatic throttle system will be offered for retrofit on in-service airplanes, as well as on new-production aircraft, through the Cessna Service Center in Wichita. Development hardware has been qualified and delivered by Safe Flight, and first flight of an installed system was to take place by the end of 2010. Supplemental type certification is anticipated shortly.