AgustaWestland delivered two AW139 medium twin engine helicopters to the Cyprus Ministry of Justice in December to perform law enforcement, border patrol and search and rescue missions. Three more AW139s are to be delivered to the Cyprus Ministry of Defence for search and rescue and utility-EMS duties in the Cyprus Flight Information Region (FIR).
On April 11, the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame will enshrine the following people at its annual banquet at the Century of Flight Hangar at the Georgia Museum of Aviation. (Contact Nicole Bissette at (478) 328-0704 for reservations and information.)
Asia-Pacific’s share the global market for new business jets has been increasing, growing from 7% of global deliveries in 2007 to 12% in 2009. As of August 2010, Asia-Pacific had 637 business aircraft, or 3.6% of the world fleet, according to JetNet. Within the region, the relatively mature market of Australia/Oceania remains the biggest, with 161 aircraft. However, India was second with 143 aircraft, followed by China with 114 and Southeast Asia with 110.
Peter Diamandis, a publishing executive (and not the head of the X Prize Foundation), was explaining to me how the company had come into being. He had been working for CBS in Manhattan and Larry Tisch, the billionaire who then ran the place, was selling all kinds of things to reduce debt and improve the bottom line. Tisch had been considering offloading the company’s magazine division to an outside group, so Diamandis began devising a more attractive plan for taking over the division himself.
American Eurocopter has delivered a VIP-configured EC145 to Lewis Energy. It is the third Eurocopter aircraft for the company. “We started with an AS350 and then moved to the EC135 for its larger cabin size and twin-engine performance,” said Rod Lewis, Lewis Energy founder, president and CEO.”The EC145 gives us an even bigger cabin.” American Eurocopter said it worked closely with the customer on the interior completion and the exterior paint of its new aircraft.
“Like a lot of people in this industry, I’ve got to believe the worst is behind us, “said Dave Labrozzi, president of GE Capital Corporate Aircraft Finance, at the end of 2010. “We are now in recovery mode. Time will tell how fast and how far the recovery will be.” Like most companies in business aviation, GE Capital Corporate Aircraft Finance faced challenges during the past couple of years.
Dec. 31, 2010 — At about 1426 EST, a Eurocopter EC-135-P2 (N312PH), operated by Petroleum Helicopters Inc. as AirCare 5, and a Cessna 172H (N2876L) collided in midair approximately one-half mile northwest of the Shenandoah Valley Regional Airport (SHD), Weyers Cave, Va. The Cessna airplane departed controlled flight after the right wing separated, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces at ground contact. The helicopter sustained minor damage and landed safely at SHD. The commercial pilot and passenger onboard the Cessna were killed.
Airbus Corporate Jet Centre (ACJC), the Airbus unit specializing in Airbus Corporate Jet VIP cabin completion, has signed an “EngineLife” agreement with Snecma to propose full engine service support for CFM International CFM56-5B engines to its VIP, corporate and government customers.
Hawker Beechcraft Services has acquired the first test aircraft for the Hawker 400XPR program and has initiated design engineering on the $2.24 million upgrade of the Hawker 400XP/Beechjet 400A.
“In Close and Gusty” (October 2010, page 44) by Ross Detwiler is an excellent article on the subject of wind-shear landing and should be mandatory reading for all pilots with regard to VREF bug setting.
Illegal charter operations have been a top agenda item for the EBAA (European Business Aviation Association) and the organization is meeting the issue head on this year. Operating without a valid Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC) and failing to comply with traffic rights are key concerns for many within the business aviation community, the organization says. To help combat the practices, the EBAA has published a brochure, which provides guidance to operators and brokers.
The NATA has released a revised guidebook Refueling and Quality Control Procedures for Airport Service and Support Operations. The 2011 revision includes an in-depth review of topics relating to aviation fuel handling, with photographs and a new, easy-to-read format. The new guidebook includes chapters addressing safety; aviation fuels, fuel handling, quality control and testing; equipment; operational procedures; training; and resources. The guidebook is referenced in FAA Advisory Circular (AC) 150/5230-4A, Aircraft Fuel Storage, Handling and Dispensing on Airports.
Piper Aircraft is exiting the light sport aircraft (LSA) market with the termination of its business relationship with Czech Republic-based Czech Sport Aircraft. The company had announced plans in January 2010 to enhance and market Czech Sport Aircraft’s LSA as the PiperSport, but Piper cited “differences in business philosophies” in its decision to end the partnership. Piper had established a new company, PiperSport Distribution, to provide a stand-alone distributor network to market the Czech-built aircraft.
Transport Canada approved Canadian-registered Gulfstream G450 and G350 aircraft to operate at their maximum cruise altitude of 45,000 ft. Transport Canada restricts flight to 41,000 ft. or below unless special conditions have been met to deal with rapid cabin depressurization. Both aircraft have an automatic emergency descent mode.
Wendi Gavigan, vice president and manager of flight operations for Citigroup Corporate Aviation will be awarded the 2011 Schedulers & Dispatchers Outstanding Achievement & Leadership Award at the upcoming NBAA conference. The award recognizes individuals who have shared their outstanding business aviation industry expertise, provided extraordinary service, exhibited leadership and made significant contributions to the scheduling and dispatching function.
Montréal, Québec, in the parlance of industry and academia, is a “cluster.” That means Canada’s second largest city encompasses within a reasonably circumscribed area the mutually supportive and economically reinforcing elements of design, development, manufacturing, marketing, government, organized labor and education that combine to produce an internationally ranked industrial center with enough history and critical mass to define success — in this case, as Canada’s aerospace capital.
ARGUS International says that, historically, total U.S. business aviation traffic drops off during the holidays, and the company’s TRAQPak data showed that December followed the trend, with business aircraft activity down -3.2% from November. FAR Part 135 charter activity saw a modest increase of 3.0% from November. Comparing year over year December 2010 vs. December 2009, U.S. aircraft activity was up 4.4%. Looking at operational categories, the Part 91 market maintained another large increase, up 10.0%.
Stratos lives. The team developing the Stratos 714 single-engine personal jet reported Jan. 10 that the project had third-party funding enabling wind tunnel tests of a one-eighth scale model. Those tests are expected to take place in April, probably at the University of Washington. Carsten Sundin, Stratos Aircraft’s chief technical officer and vice president of engineering, said the design of the four-place, all-composite aircraft was the product of extensive use of computation fluid dynamics (CFD).
Hawker Beechcraft announced Dec. 21 that the state of Kansas has anted up $60 million to keep the OEM and 4,000 jobs in Wichita, a figure that convinced Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture to unpack his bags and stay put. Earlier Boisture said he was contemplating moving the entire company to Louisiana, to take advantage of incentives it had proposed as an enticement. The state’s package requires Hawker Beechcraft to maintain its current product lines in Wichita over the next 10 years.
Piper Aircraft selected Western Aircraft as the airplane manufacturer’s dealer for new aircraft sales in Alaska, northern California, Oregon and Washington. The company will sell the full Piper product line, including the new Piper Altaire single-engine jet. Western Aircraft, part of Greenwich AeroGroup, is based at Gowen Field in Boise, Idaho.
The Winter 2010 edition of Marketline, the Aircraft Bluebook newsletter, indicates that prices for business jets continued to slump during the third quarter of last year, while values of most turboprops remained stable during the period. A total of 502 jets declined in price, while 370 stayed stable and a mere 14 increased in value. On the positive side, the Bombardier Global Express experienced a $1 million uptick for select model years. Similarly, some late-model Gulfstream G550s recorded a $1 million move upward compared to the previous quarter.
Honda Aircraft is nearing completion of its 266,000-sq.-ft. aircraft production facility on its Greensboro, N.C., campus. Once finished, Honda will begin moving in equipment and personnel and begin pre-production preparations and training necessary to support the HondaJet production ramp-up beginning in 2012. Michimasa Fujino, Honda Aircraft president and CEO, said he expects the facility will turn out 30-40 aircraft in the first six months of production.
The FAA says the busy holiday travel period saw at least nine laser illuminations of cockpits of airplanes takeing off or landing at Honolulu International Airport, ending a year in which reports of such incidents more than doubled, reports Aviation eBrief, citing the Honolulu Star-Advertisor. Nationwide, 2,800 laser incidents were reported in 2010, compared with 1,500 in 2009.
I applaud your comment in the Jan. 5, 2011, BCA eBulletin that “the trend by EPA, FAA and other executive branch entities to preempt legislation with bureaucratic regulation warrants industry vigilance.” This is a serious problem not only for industry but for everyone in this country, and it is accelerating. And government regulations tend to vary from incomprehensible gibberish to patent nonsense.
Bombardier launched development of the clean-sheet Learjet 45 almost immediately after buying the company in June 1990. Unlike previous Learjets, the fuselage has a non-circular cross section that increases head and shoulder room for the passengers. It has a flat floor, plus a full-width, externally serviced aft lav. Interiors may be configured either with a fore-aft double club section or a center club with two front and two aft chairs. A belted potty seat is optional. There is a 50-cu.-ft. aft external baggage compartment.
