The captain in the Northwest accident cited in “Fatal Distractions” (July 2010, page 56) was well respected at his airline, so even pros can make mistakes. There also was a dead-heading pilot jump-seating on the flight deck, and the NTSB cited his presence as a contributory distraction to the flight crew. The pilots missed setting the flaps to the required takeoff setting, which caused the aircraft to stall.
Three aviation veterans have joined together to form Holstein Aviation, a new Indianapolis-based firm that is providing a range of business aviation consulting services, including aircraft use, acquisition, asset disposal, short-term leasing, supplemental lift, personnel recruitment and outplacement support for displaced flight crews and maintenance technicians.
Aircell received a contract in August to equip more than 250 NetJets midsize and large-cabin business aircraft with Aircell high-speed Internet service. Aircell has rebranded is business aviation services as Gogo Biz Inflight Internet. The NetJets contract is the largest order that Aircell has received for the service.
The general aviation manufacturing segment continues to limp along toward a tepid recovery, according to GAMA’s most-recent shipment report, which notes that deliveries were down by about 6% in the second quarter and almost 10% in the first half. Billings actually increased by $20 million to $9.4 billion in the first half, but general aviation deliveries fell below 1,000 in the first half of the year with 937 shipments. Business jet deliveries were down 14.3% to 355, and turboprop shipments dropped 17.8% to 157.
Max-Viz EVS-1500 infrared Enhanced Vision Systems (EVS) now can be installed on King Air 200 and 300 series aircraft. Through an exclusive agreement, in-service King Air owners, operators and repair stations can now purchase the EVS-1500 directly from Hawker Beechcraft Parts & Distribution. Installation is being offered through Hawker Beechcraft Services, the airframe manufacturer’s factory-owned service center network.
Summertime canoeing and the big centennial celebration gotme thinking, grudgingly, about the Boy Scouts of America. I was once a loyal Scout, pledging to do my best, but parted ways after three offenses — the BSA’s, not mine. First, the bad stroke. I’d paddled canoes since kidhood under all kinds of conditions, so was taken aback when camp counselors insisted I master the J-stroke, to which I objected as ineffective. That cost me my paddle rights. Strike 1.
NetJets has canceled the last of the orders it had with Hawker Beechcraft, a move that trimmed about $400 million from the company’s backlog. Company executives stress that the cancellation has little impact on the company’s current bottom line, with none of the aircraft on order scheduled for delivery this year and only one in 2011.
Bert B. Overfield, 77, who dedicated over 40 years to general aviation, died on July 18 after a long-term battle with emphysema and a short-term battle with pancreatic cancer. Overfield, of Keller, Texas, began his career in 1956 as a design engineer with Cessna. He went to Lear Jet in 1962 to help design the first Lear Jet (Model 23) with Bill Lear. His career then took him back to Cessna as project engineer, and project manager on the A-37 attack aircraft.
The EPA conceded FAA authority over aviation fuels and says its recent Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on the use of lead in avgas only provides a means to collect additional information, and that the agency has not established or proposed any deadline for banning the use of leaded avgas.
Sikorsky Aerospace Services signed an agreement appointing the Mumbai facility of Deccan Charters Ltd. of Bangalore, India, as an authorized Customer Service Center to support Sikorsky S-76 helicopters.
In most countries, imports of new and pre-owned business jets are on the decline. However, in Canada, whose economy added 93,200 jobs in June and gross domestic product rose to 6.1 percent, business jet imports are rising, according to Aircraftpost.com. For medium and long-range aircraft produced since the mid-1990s, imports into Canada for all of 2009 totaled 17, compared to 19 aircraft imported in the first six months of 2010 alone.
AgustaWestland’s new AW169 twin, powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW210 turboshaft engines is scheduled for first delivery in 2015. The company hopes to sell 1,000 units of the helicopter into the government and emergency medical services markets over 20 years. The AW169 is designed to fill a gap in the Italian manufacturer’s product line between the AW139 and the Grand. The new model has a design weight of just over 9,900 lb, measuring about 39 ft. long and 5.6 ft. wide.
The new aircraft re-registration requirement that will go into effect later this year may cause problems for some aircraft owners if their address information in the FAA Registry is out of date. Aircraft owners are required to report a new address to the FAA within 30 days of the change. The FAA estimates that almost 45,000 aircraft are known to have bad addresses. Because the FAA will mail re-registration notifications to the addresses in the FAA Registry, the NBAA urges all aircraft owners to verify that their address in the Registry is correct.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association board of directors has approved Duncan Aviation and Greenwich AeroGroup as its newest members, bringing the international trade association’s membership to 69.
Even those who follow international affairs in the most cursory way recognize that things can change at lightning speed, often for the worse. So, if you are a flight department manager with executive and other personnel based in a place where bad things are likely to happen or even possible, then you’d better have a contingency plan for organizing your people and dealing with the unexpected.
L-3 Avionics Systems’ Trilogy ESI-2000 3 ATI electronic standby instrument with battery backup won FAA TSO authorization, the company announced Aug. 13. The all-solid-state ESI-2000 provides primary flight display information for a minimum of one hour and up to four hours of backup power, depending on temperature if primary power is lost. A 3.7-in. backlit screen makes the ESI-2000 clearly visible in daylight or dark cockpit conditions.
Linear Air acquired a fifth Eclipse 500 jet, making the VLJ jet-taxi charter service the largest exclusive operator of Eclipse aircraft in the United States. Linear Air, headquartered in Concord, Mass., also announced it is expanding its metropolitan New York presence with two Eclipse 500s based at the Million Air terminal at Westchester County Airport, allowing Linear Air to reduce or eliminate positioning costs and offer lower-priced on-demand service for customers in metropolitan New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
Jack DeCrane, who had managed merger and acquisition activities for the Aerospace and Defense Group of BF Goodrich, set up his own venture to acquire aircraft suppliers in 1989. That company, DeCrane Aerospace, evolved in to a major supplier of business aircraft cabin products with projected 2010 sales of $170 million. Along the way he acquired auxiliary fuel system maker and completion company, PATS Aircraft Systems. Jack DeCrane died in 1979. Now, coming full circle, DeCrane Holdings has agreed to sell off its interior fittings business to Goodrich.
Hawker Beechcraft announced that its piston-twin Beechcraft Baron has become the only aircraft in its class to be approved for operations at London City Airport. Due to the airport’s city location and extremely steep (5.5 deg.) approach requirements, aircraft must demonstrate the necessary performance capabilities, including a 7.5-deg. approach, and receive approval from EASA and London City Airport to utilize the airport.
Everett, Wash.-based AeroMech Inc. is helping Mid-Continent Instruments of Wichita obtain an STC for the installation of Mid-Continent’s MD835 lithium ion battery in a variety of general aviation aircraft, including the Beech King Air 200 and 300 and several Citation models. AeroMech, which provides engineering consulting services, is overseeing the initial battery installation in a King Air 200.
The AOPA and NBAA will help their members make the most of their light general aviation aircraft as business tools this fall at each group’s annual convention. Speaking on “AOPA Live” at EAA AirVenture, AOPA President and CEO Craig L. Fuller and NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen unveiled the six forums that will be presented as the Light Business Airplane Conference at both the NBAA Annual Meeting & Convention, Oct. 19 to 21 in Atlanta, and the AOPA Aviation Summit, Nov. 11 to 13 in Long Beach, Calif.
A new program is using the 66-spacecraft Iridium constellation to provide continuous, global monitoring of space weather. The Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (Ampere),is a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Iridium and Boeing.
Montreal-based aviation services firm Zenith Jet is predicting that Cessna will reinitiate the Columbus program with an entry-into-service date of 2016. In its recently released 10-year forecast, Zenith believes Cessna will account for 35% of all business jet deliveries, giving it the largest share of business jet unit volume. Embraer will move into the “Number 2 spot” in terms of unit deliveries, capturing 18 percent of the market share, Zenith forecasts.
The FAA has granted an STC for Garmin’s G1000 integrated flight deck in the Cessna CitationJet (Model 525, serial numbers 0001-0359). The RVSM-compliant system will save approximately 100 lb. of weight, and will give pilots the advantages of flying WAAS approaches with Garmin’s GFC 700 autopilot, electronic charts, data link weather and optional Synthetic Vision Technology. (See related story on page 38.)
