Swiss-based RUAG Business Aviation is teaming with Rockwell Collins to offer a Pro Line 21 Integrated Display System (IDS) retrofit for legacy Piaggio P180 Avantis. RUAG Business Aviation — which provides comprehensive maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, modifications and upgrades for business aircraft from three facilities in Switzerland and one in Germany — is taking pre-orders for the flight deck makeover and is seeking a launch customer for the retrofit, which is expected to be available in the fourth quarter.
Dassault has earned EASA and the FAA for a new autobrake feature on the Falcon 2000 series. Designed for use on short runways, the feature reduces landing distances by as much as 150 feet on normal approaches and 300 feet on steep approaches, which were recently approved by EASA. Dassault says passengers will feel the same deceleration (0.4 g) as a conventional high-performance landing.
Mike Ellis, Hawker Beechcraft’s vice president of pre-owned aircraft, characterizes today’s market for previously owned business aircraft as “tentative.”
Hawker Beechcraft is the newest broker/dealer member of the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA). In addition, three new associate members — Avtrak, LLC, the Law Offices of Christopher B. Younger and Rolland Vincent Asso-ciates, LLC — recently joined the organization. NARA now has a total of 32 broker/dealer members and 48 associate members.
Eurocopter will introduce a new rotor blade shape into some new products following completion of full-scale flight tests on board an EC155, an upgrade of the venerable Dauphin. The shape, dubbed Blue Edge Blade, features a double-swept configuration intended to sharply reduce noise — a major concern in urban operations. It was developed by Eurocopter and French defense research agency Onera and based on a patented Erato configuration devised by Onera and German aerospace center DLR.
Belgian charter operator Philippe Bodson has become the first European operator to place Hawker Beechcraft’s King Air 350i twin turboprop into service. Hawker Beechcraft obtained EASA type approval for the 350i in December 2009. Bodson founded and manages Antwerp-based charter ASL, which operates 14 aircraft throughout Europe and North Africa.
CAE announced June 2 that it acquired an equity interest in the China Southern West Australian Flying College (CSWAFC), which operates on two airfields near Perth, Australia, and will manage the pilot training school as part of the CAE Global Academy network. CSWAFC now operates as a joint venture owned 53 percent by China Southern Airlines and 47 percent by CAE. Established in 1993, the school specializes in training ab initio students to become multiengine instrument-rated airline first officers.
GE Aviation has appointed two Service Centers for its Czech-made M601 and H80 turboprop engines. Cascade Aircraft Conversions in Washington state and Winnipeg River Aircraft, a full-service aircraft maintenance facility near Pine Falls, Manitoba, Canada, will offer comprehensive line maintenance, removals and re-installations of engines and LRUs and engine spares for the M601 and H80 engine families. GE Aviation will provide material support and training.
Editor's Note: Cause & Circumstance examined this accident in our February 2007 issue, before the NTSB had issued a probable cause. That has now occurred, and the findings offer a familiar, but important, lesson.
According to NASA Ames Research Center, pilot distractions are an accident category that is difficult to measure. As such, assembling data about distraction events is the only way to understand the risk fully so as to create strategies to defeat the problem. If you have a cockpit distraction that leads to a miscue, do make use of the NASA Aviation Safety Reporting System (ASRS). It captures confidential reports, analyzes the resulting aviation safety data and disseminates this critical information to the aviation community. Go to asrs.arc.nasa.gov for more information.
Hawker Beechcraft Services (HBS) has selected the Thrane & Thrane Aviator 200 system to provide broadband connectivity for in-service King Air 90, 200, 300 and 350 aircraft. Certification of the system on the twin turboprops is expected in the fourth quarter. In 2009, the high-speed Internet equipment was certificated on Hawker Beechcraft’s Hawker business jets.
Lufthansa Bombardier Aviation Services (LBAS), the Berlin-based specialist in Bombardier business aircraft, will set up a line maintenance station in Riga, Latvia, this summer. Working with its local partner, Baltic Business Aviation Center Ltd. (BBAC) / FBO Riga Ltd. and Lufthansa Technik’s VIP & Executive Jet Solutions division, LBAS will offer line maintenance support for Bombardier Learjet, Challenger and Global business jets, as well as Airbus ACJs and Boeing BBJs.
Cirrus wants to raise $64 million to accelerate development of its SF50 Vision single-jet. Cirrus CEO Brent Wouters provided an update on the program’s status in June, saying the company is on a strong enough foundation to pursue the financing. If financing is secured, Cirrus would build a conforming prototype in 2011. The company in the interim has moved forward with testing and formally applying for type certification. Cirrus has been conducting flight into known icing tests.
Air Transport Association President Jim May said new FAA rules requiring the installation and use of Automatic Dependent Surveillance — Broadcast (ADS-B) equipment and the considerable expense that the requirements would impose on carriers “must be based on a solid business case.” The regulation calls for operators to upgrade to ADS-B on all aircraft flying in A, B and C airspace and above 10,000 feet within 10 years.
Concerned about a recent spate of incidents in which airline pilots failed to activate the Pilot Controlled Lighting (PCL) systems at uncontrolled airports, the FAA has issued SAFO 10008, which recommends that manuals and training programs be reviewed for clarity regarding PCLs. The agency says flight crews need to demonstrate knowledge and proficiency during training and checking events in the use of the Common Traffic Advisory Frequency (CTAF) and PCL systems. Although aimed at airlines, the SAFO also applies to general aviation operations.
Hard on the heels of Delta Air Lines’ launch of its airline-to-jet Delta AirElite fusion, British Airways and CitationAir in mid-July announced PrivateConnect, a new service enabling BA customers to fly on a private jet to begin a journey or to complete one. For a simple per-hour rate, customers have access to CitationAir’s entire fleet, which numbers around 80 aircraft. The service is available to BA’s Executive Club, to those who have flown BA within the previous year and to holders of corporate accounts.
Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. received Type Certificate Validation from the United Arab Emirates General Civil Aviation Authority for the Gulfstream G550 and G500, the company announced June 9. The approvals allow operators to register the business jets in the Emirates. The two aircraft join the large-cabin, long-range G450, which was approved for UAE certification in March 2008.
The FAA is disbanding the RTCA ATM Advisory Committee (ATMAC) as the first step to forming a new panel that will represent a broader cross section of the industry. The agency sent a letter to the RTCA on May 28, requesting that the ATMAC be wound up with its June 3 meeting to be its last.
Brian Delauter, head of the TSA’s General Aviation branch, said TSA leaders plan to meet with stakeholders to discuss possibilities for changing the security procedures into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) to make it more accessible to business aviation operators. Speaking at the NATA’s Air Charter Summit June 9, Delauter acknowledged that the current security plan — the DCA Access Standard Security Program (DASSP) — is too onerous for most operators to practically use DCA. “I have an open goal of increasing flights into DCA,” he says.
According to a NASA study, distractions and interruptions while taxiing to the active are legion and have caused numerous flight crews to improperly configure their aircraft for takeoff. The study demonstrates that these events are more frequent than previously thought, because often the flight crews recover before something terrible happens. Consider the following:
I am disappointed with Patrick Veillette’s “Double Standard” (June 2010, page 53), a misleading article about public safety operations, which is more remarkable by what it does not say than what it does. It is noteworthy that most of the data the author cites are 10 to more than 20 years old, and create a false picture of the current state of public safety aviation. From January 1999 through December 2008, law enforcement helicopter accidents went down by 80 percent.
ExxonMobil Aviation has expanded its Avitat network as Chevron Texaco contracts its branded avfuel business. Five new Jet Aviation Avitats are located in Dubai, UAE; Dusseldorf, Germany; Geneva; London Biggin Hill; and Zurich. Jet Aviation currently operates four FBOs under the ExxonMobil Aviation Avitat brand in North America at Bedford, Mass.; Dallas; Palm Beach, Fla.; and Teterboro, N.J. The addition of the Jet Aviation FBOs increases the Avitat network to nearly 50 locations worldwide.
