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effect later this year may cause problems for some aircraft owners if their address information in the FAA Registry is out of date.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.)
When one Fortune 500 company after another shut down their flight operations during what were probably the darkest days of the still ongoing economic downturn, the spotlight was on their fixed-wing flagships. But helicopter operations suffered as well, especially those used for executive transport — and most particularly the larger helicopters, which we’ll categorize here as those with gross takeoff weights of 10,000 lb or greater.
In a move reflecting the challenging market confronting its membership of aircraft brokers and dealers, the National Aircraft Resale Association is shuttering its headquarters office at Reagan Washington National Airport, and parting with long time president Susan Sheets. “A lot of it is driven by cost,” NARA Chairman Steve Gade told BCA Aug. 17. He said NARA headquarters was officially transferring to Grapevine, Texas, which “is logical” since it is home to the organization’s meeting planner, Devri Surpless.
Most technicians are familiar with the “Aircraft Mechanics Creed;” some of us old guys keep a business card size copy in our wallet. Created by the Flight Safety Foundation, the creed served as a reminder of the trust we are given to ethically maintain the highest technical standards. The FAA Safety Team modified the creed for those who manage the maintenance function, to reinforce our duty to provide our technicians with an environment where they are able to focus on safe and effective maintenance, and not pressures to meet schedule. Visit www.faasafety.gov
Recently issued IRS rulings pertaining to liability for Federal Excise Taxes (FET), disallowance of accelerated depreciation deductions and tightened requirements for passive loss write-offs potentially threaten to hike costs for business aircraft operators. So warned attorney Keith Swirsky at the 13th annual Dassault Falcon Jet Aviation Professionals Conference held in May.
Col. Michael R. Gallagher, USAF (Ret.) (Hillsboro, Ore. )
I’d like to thank Ross Detwiler for reinforcing the cowboy image of military pilots with his tales of USAF pilot training in the Northrop T-38 Talon. I was in the same training program about the same time at Webb AFB, about 80 miles south of were Ross was training and the stunts he mentioned were not characteristic of the training I experienced. His salute to the T-38 could have highlighted what made and makes the airplane great.
Citing a growing interest in single-engine turboprops, Extra Aircraft is beginning a push to sell its Extra 500 single-engine turboprop in the United States, said Errol Bader, a spokesperson for the German manufacturer, stating that the Extra 500 is particularly attractive in fiscally challenging times since it has a comfortable cabin and at its maximum cruise speed at 16,000 feet burns just 20 gallons of Jet A per hour. And considering the currency differential and other factors, he said building aircraft in the United States is a logical business strategy.
Joshua Hochberg, an aviation attorney, has purchased Sonoma Jet Center, one of two FBOs at Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport in California, for an undisclosed sum. “We’re pretty positive about the prospects for growth. But it’s going to take a lot of hard work,” Hochberg told The Press Democrat of Santa Rosa, Calif.
AVWest of Perth Australia has placed a firm order for four ultra long-range Global Express XRS jets, including two with the Global Vision flight deck. The total value of the order is approximately $213 million US, based on the 2010 list price for typically equipped aircraft Bombardier announced July 15. “Our clientele is increasingly traveling to overseas destinations, including Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and now is the right time to add ultra-long-range jets to our fleet,” said Tim Roberts, AVWest Principal.
Dan Burkhart (Director, Regional Programs, NBAAEscondido, CA)
Very nice job on “Grassroots Business Aviation Associations” (April 2010, page 28). I have had favorable comments from all around. Additionally, this article will be helpful in both starting new and supporting existing groups. Thanks for taking the time to do this right.
The FAA announced June 29 that Metron Aviation, Inc., of Dulles, Va., and Booz Allen Hamilton, Inc., of McLean, Va., received contracts, to perform engineering work supporting the transition to NextGen. The 10-year $1.15-billion contract awarded to Metron Aviation is one of the largest ever awarded by the FAA to a small business. The two contracts are the last of six awarded under an umbrella portfolio termed System Engineering 2020 (SE-2020).
