Women in Aviation, International received a bequest of approximately $203,000 from the estate of Arlene Elliott, who passed away in January. This is the single, largest bequest ever received by WAI. With her husband, Herb, Arlene Elliott founded Elliott Aviation in 1936, which today has more than 250 employees in seven states. Mrs. Elliott was inducted into WAI’s Pioneer Hall of Fame in 1999.
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.
At press time, Blackhawk Modifications’ Cessna Caravan engine upgrade was in the final stages of flight testing, and officials at the Waco, Texas, re-engining specialist were anticipating basic FAA certification of the single-engine turboprop modification by the end this month. EASA approval was expected by the end of September. The upgrade, which involves replacing the existing 675-shp Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-114A with an 850-shp PT6A-42A, will offer the following benefits:
DOT officials intend to issue an NPRM aimed at air charter brokers. Dayton Lehman, DOT’s deputy assistant general counsel in the Office of Aviation speaking at the NATA Air Charter Summit in June said the NPRM will be “quite expansive,” seeking a substantial amount of input on a proper direction for regulating charter brokers. “There are areas where we have truly not made up our minds as to what to do,” Lehman told the audience at the summit held in Chantilly, Va. The NRPM is expected later this year.
Honeywell is analyzing ash cloud residue on two TPE331 turboprop engines that powered a Dornier 228 research aircraft through the ash cloud generated by Iceland’s Eyjafjallajökull volcano. The engines were removed from the aircraft, crated and shipped to the company. Honeywell will tear down and inspect the engines, which logged 22 hours in and around the cloud.
Describing 2010 as a “pivotal year,” Jahid Fazal-Karim, a stakeholder and board member of Jetcraft Corp., told BCA earlier this spring, “What I see mainly is a two-way market. At the higher end, I can see clearly that we are in recovery mode, with fewer good aircraft available on the market and prices going up. . . . I wouldn’t be surprised if asset values [for those aircraft] go up quite fast.”
The first production T-39 Sabreliner gets its wings at North American Aviation’s Los Angeles plant. The U.S. Air Force has ordered 42 as trainers and a commercial version is being considered. New radar just installed at Orly Airport in France is CSF Model CR3. With a 300-mile range set, it’s the first to meet ICAO specs for Regional Control and Upper FIRs.
Officials at AMSTAT, the Tinton Falls, N.J.-based corporate aviation market research company, say recent sales data suggest that there may be bumps along the road to recovery in the business jet market. Retail business jet resale transactions represented 2.1 percent of the worldwide fleet in the first quarter of this year, down from 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, according to AMSTAT’s quarterly Market Update report.
The major drawback in mixing UAVs with conventional aircraft today is the former’s questionable ability to see and avoid conflicting traffic, unionized air traffic controllers maintain.
T he airplane has been sitting in the sun for more than an hour, and the cabin is getting warm enough to produce a sheen of perspiration on the faces of the execs, who are beginning to fidget. The flight attendant’s facial expression tells you all you need to know about the mood in there. But your paperwork is languishing with an airport official who has excuse after lame excuse for the delayed clearance, and he’s made it clear he’d like a sweetener. Just a taste. A pat on the back. He has a large family.
Hawker Beechcraft Services celebrated the grand opening of its expanded aircraft maintenance facility at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA) in Mesa, Ariz., April 22. This was the final phase of a $14 million project that added a second hangar and expanded customer and administrative facilities at the Mesa site, The operation is expected to generate up to 110 new jobs over five years.
Bombardier Aerospace announced that it delivered its first Learjet 60 XR aircraft to a Mexico-based customer on March 16. “This milestone delivery for the Learjet 60 XR jet confirms this aircraft’s expanding international presence,” said Fabio Rebello, regional vice president, sales, Latin America, Bombardier Business Aircraft.
Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) May 4 celebrated the March 29 delivery of its 500th PW308C turbofan engine to France’s Dassault Aviation. P&WC held a special ceremony during EBACE 2010 in Geneva to mark the milestone delivery.
Worldwide general aviation airplane deliveries totaled 390 units in the first quarter of 2010, according to GAMA. Although that represented a 15-percent drop from the same period last year, it was nonetheless an improvement over the dramatic decline experienced in first quarter 2009 deliveries compared to first quarter 2008. Meanwhile, total industry billings grew 7.1 percent in the first three months of this year to $4.64 billion due to international deliveries of large-cabin, long-range airplanes.
Bombardier Aerospace has appointed Comlux Aviation Services of Indianapolis as an authorized service facility (ASF) for its business aircraft line. Bombardier now has 41 ASFs and line maintenance facilities (LMFs) in 21 countries plus seven Bombardier-owned Service Centers.
Here are FAA headquarters’ answers to questions posed on UAV operation. 1. BCA: The deployment of civil UAVs in the NAS — when and where? FAA: Currently, there are 60 unmanned aircraft systems representing 17 aircraft types operating in the NAS under Special Airworthiness Certificate — Experimental Category. With current rulemaking under way, we are expecting small (less than 55 pounds) UAS(s) to operate starting early in 2013 under day, visual flight conditions.
Could you use a break from worrying about the slow pace of the economic recovery? Would a double shot of positive energy about the future of aviation improve your outlook on life? If so, tune in to what FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt is telling audiences about the NextGen air traffic control system.
Thus, holding or vectoring aircraft away from each other because of see-and-avoid responsibilities, as well as attempts to exempt Part 91.113, would so negatively impact controller workload, Bricker contends, that both safety and efficiency in the NAS would be compromised — in other words, the system would slow down to the point where a majority of aircraft would be denied service.
The Model 680 Citation Sovereign has earned a reputation for being a rock-solid business transportation asset since it entered serviced in 2004, with dispatch reliability exceeding 99 percent, according to operators. It has the largest cabin volume of any current production Citation, as well as the largest of any legacy midsize jet. And its blend of runway and climb performance is class leading.
Turkish Airlines pilots will be soon be training in two Citation Mustangs. Cessna announced that Turkish Airlines Flight Training Academy will base the new aircraft, which are to be delivered this month, at Istanbul Ataturk Airport. The academy also operates Cessna 172s as primary trainers.
AgustaWestland’s Full Ice Protection System (FIPS) for its AW139 medium twin helicopter has received FAA certification. The FAA certification follows EASA certification issued in February of this year. TCAA (Canada) certification is expected as we go to press. The AW139 is the first helicopter in its weight category to receive FIPS certification. With FIPS, the AW139 is equipped to fly into known icing conditions with unprecedented all-weather capabilities. AgustaWestland expects to deliver 12 FIPS-equipped AW139s this year.
It occurs to me that if you are an American born on Oct. 14, 1947, you’re eligible to receive Social Security payments, and in fact may have been collecting checks for the past half year. I find that possibility a bit disheartening — No, not that you finally got the chance to put your feet up after 40-plus years of toil, but rather that Chuck Yeager’s double Bam! marking your arrival seems to have signaled so little.
Douglas N148Z had served the United States admirably, having dropped airborne troops over Normandy on D-Day, and then being drafted to conduct airway facilities checks, and finally back to flying cargo and passengers. On a quiet June morning the DC-3 was carrying ten passengers, 3,100 pounds of cargo, and two dogs from Grangeville, Idaho to the scenic Moose Creek airstrip buried deep in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness area of Northern Idaho.
Cessna’s chief, Jack Pelton, is the sole business aviation representative on the new Future of Aviation Advisory Committee. On May 12, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the members of a new committee on the future of the U.S. aviation industry, which held its first meeting on May 25 in Washington, D.C.
