More than 2,000 Beech King Air 200 twin turboprops currently are in service and Raisbeck Engineering’s modifications are aboard almost two-thirds of the aircraft in the active fleet, according to James Raisbeck, the firm’s founder and chairman. These systems enable the King Air 200 to fly higher, faster and farther, according to flight test data supplied by Raisbeck and confirmed by BCA in 1985 and 1995 studies.
During the recent NBAA convention, it seemed as if everyone was looking for signs that the U.S. general aviation industry had weathered the worst of the worldwide economic malaise and finally was moving into recovery mode. One company that was particularly upbeat was Twin Commander Aircraft LLC, which owns the rights to all turboprop and piston-twin Commander models and supports the worldwide fleet with replacement parts, upgrades, technical resources and a worldwide network of independent authorized service centers.
I’m probably not the first (hopefully not!) to respond to your excellent article. It’s marred only by the repeated misspelling of Sydney, the most prominent city in Australia. And after spending seven wonderful years there in the 1970s and 1980s, I doubt many Aussies would recognize the term “Strine,” either. As far as I know, “S’tralian” would be a more acceptable term for their proud and colorful twist on English.
SJ30 maker Emivest filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Delaware federal court. Dubai-based Emivest owns the former Sino Swearingen facilities in San Antonio, Texas and Martinsburg, W.Va. Emivest has an 80% stake in the company, with the rest largely owned by the Taiwanese government.
The FAA dedicated a new, 195 ft. tall control tower Oct. 28 at Reno-Tahoe International Airport. The new control tower is almost three times the height of the old tower. Reno’s runways are considerably longer than they were when the old tower was built in 1957, which made it challenging for controllers to see aircraft on some taxiways and runways. The old tower also experienced glare from lights on the cargo areas.
The assets of Mooney Airplane Co. Inc. have been transferred to Mooney Aviation Co. Inc., which is currently providing service to all aircraft supported by the Mooney Airplane Co., including technical support, service parts and the factory service center in Kerrville, Texas.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is no longer sending letters of admonition to pilots who fail to submit a passenger manifest and arrival/departure notification to CBP using the Electronic Advance Passenger Information System (eAPIS) at least 60 min. prior to leaving or entering the United States, or enter erroneous data. Fines are being imposed. For the first violation it’s a $5,000 fine, $10,000 for subsequent violations.
Milestone aircraft are always worth noting, and Bombardier marked two Nov. 12, when it delivered its 1,000th Dash 8/Q-Series regional turboprop and its 400th Global business jet. The event took place at the company’s Toronto facility at Downsview Airport, where both series are manufactured, along with Learjet wings. The Downsview plant began building airplanes in World War II, when Britain’s de Havilland Aircraft moved Mosquito production there to be out of reach of German bombers.
Flight Display Systems, the Alpharetta, Ga., manufacturer of inflight entertainment (IFE) systems, has introduced an IFE upgrade package for Cessna Citation Mustang and Embraer Phenom owners. The so-called Club CMS product includes a moving map; adapter cables for iPods, iPhones and iPads; a DVD/CD player; six audio channels that can provide up to 90 hr. of MP3 music; two new seven-inch LCD monitors; and four passenger switching panels with headphone jacks. The entire system costs $25,000, plus installation.
Avpro Inc. (Annapolis, Md.) — Doug Smith, an industry veteran with 30 years of aircraft sales experience, most recently with Bombardier Aerospace, has been named an executive sales director of this aircraft brokerage, acquisition and consulting company. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries America (Addison, Texas) — Shin-Ichiro (Stan) Yokoi, a 24-year Mitsubishi aviation employee, has been named general manager of the company’s Aviation Product Support Division, which supports the MU-2 turboprop. Yokoi replaced the retiring Nobuhito (Noel) Takayama.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. revealed its new Hawker 200 derived from the Premier II at NBAA 2010. A prototype has accumulated over 100 hr. since its first flight in March. The Hawker 200 has new winglets, Williams International FJ44-3AP engines, a gross weight increase and a 43,000-ft. cruise capability. It also features multi-scan weather radar, ADS-B Out, a 400-hr. inspection interval and 10-yr. warranty on its composite airframe.
Argus TRAQPak data shows October business aircraft activity up 10.4% over the previous month. By market category, increases were seen across the board with the fractional segment showing the greatest, up 13.1%, Part 135 charter activity was up 11.3%, and Part 91 corporate increased 9.2% over September. All aircraft categories were up from the previous month, led by large cabin aircraft, which were up 14.7% from the previous month. The mid-size cabin market saw an increase of 11.8%, and the small cabin market saw an increase of 10.0% from September.
Gulfstream is not just staying put, but expanding in Savannah. The company announced a $500 million, seven-year expansion plan that will add about 1,000 employees a 15% increase over the current Savannah employment level of approximately 5,500 employees. “With our own sales trends and market forecasts suggesting an upturn over the next decade, we want to ensure Gulfstream is well-positioned to meet the demand in terms of products and services,” said Gulfstream President Joe Lombardo, “We are already beginning to see signs of a modest recovery.
Jet Aviation and Landmark Aviation have made donations to Able Flight Inc., a national non-profit organization that provides flight training scholarships to people with disabilities. The awards, which will fund scholarships for 2011, were presented to Charles Stites, executive director of Able Flight, Oct. 20 at NBAA.
I was sitting at a well-appointed dining table, gazing out upon Times Square, the Empire State Building, lower Manhattan and the harbor beyond from my perch 50 stories above it all and wondering about Frank Perdue and his chicken feet.
Political pundits can find an infinite number of ways to slice and dice election results to pinpoint key voting blocs that led to election or rejection of a particular candidate. But those pundits would be hard-pressed to find a more successful group of candidates than those who share membership in the Senate and House General Aviation Caucuses.
Steve Hansen, National Air Traffic Controllers Association Safety Committee chairman and veteran Albuquerque Center air traffic controller, won the Air Traffic Control Association’s (ATCA) Air Traffic Control Specialist of the Year award. The award, presented at ATCA’s 55th Annual Conference and Exposition in National Harbor, Md., is presented to an individual civilian air traffic control specialist who has performed in an exemplary or extraordinary manner in support of ATC during the previous year.
All the accidents mentioned in “When the Very Best Fall” involved airplanes that are safe to stall and spin in the hands of a pilot properly trained for such machines. Therein lies the problem. You can lecture all day and practice stalls and spins in a T-37, but if I put you in a flat spin in a Pitts or Sukhoi without proper understanding of what that turning propeller is doing to the airplane, you will spin all the way to the ground no matter what you do to the flight controls.
Avro Business Jets (ABJ) has launched the third of five planned business aircraft versions of the Avro RJ/BAe 146 regional jet. ABJ is targeting the VIP, corporate and corporate shuttle markets, but company vice president Stewart Cordner points out that the donor RJ series airframes — with their voluminous cabin area, near-short takeoff and landing performance and ability to operate from unimproved runways — offer a range of possibilities.
This past April, the FAA began to consider special issuance of medical certificates to pilots with mild-to-moderate depression who have been treated for at least 12 months on one of four antidepressant medications: fluoxetine (Prozac), sertraline (Zoloft), citalopram (Celexa) and escitalopram (Lexapro).
Air Charter Safety Foundation (ACFT), Alexandria, Va., announced that William F. Haberstock, president and CEO of Million Air Aviation, was elected vice chairman for 2011. John Grillo, president of Executive Fliteways, was selected as the new treasurer. Aircraft Technical Publishers (ATP), Brisbane, Calif., has selected William Mermelstein as the company’s new vice president of sales and marketing for compliance and safety solutions.
Jet Support Services introduced two new engine programs and a new coverage enhancement to meet the growing maintenance and service requirements of its clients. The Platinum Engine Maintenance Program is designed specifically for owners and operators of large-cabin aircraft. The new program covers Rolls-Royce BR710, Tay 611-8, 611-8C and AE3007A1E engines, as well as GE-CF34-1A, 3A, 3A1, 3A2, 3B and 10E7 engines.
New approaches to lending have created an interesting financing dichotomy that could potentially affect every used business jet buyer, says general aviation analyst Brian Foley. During a recent interview with BCA sister publication The Weekly of Business Aviation, Foley said, “On the one hand, with 2009’s credit crisis now abated, banks are back in the game and ready to lend — or so they say. On the other hand, pre-owned aircraft brokers complain their client’s loans are often not approved. Why?”
Who at BCA determined its readers would be interested in a story on animal cruelty simply because the abuser holds a pilot license (“A Different Kind of Ag-Cat,” October 2010, page 100)? As a reader of BCA since its inception, I was shocked that you would publish such drivel. I’ll be even more shocked if this gets published.
General aviation airplane shipments fell 14.5%, from 1,588 units in 2009 to 1,357 units in the first nine months of this year. 2010, GAMA reported. Billings for general aviation airplanes totaled $13.47 billion in the first nine months, down 2.5%. “Despite another drop in total shipments and billings, we believe that the longer-term outlook for general aviation is positive,” said Pete Bunce, GAMA’s president and CEO. Piston-powered airplane shipments totaled 634 units compared to 679 units delivered in the first nine months of 2009, a 6.6% decrease.
