“This year is EBACE’s 10th anniversary and I wish we could celebrate this important milestone in a more positive industry environment,” lamented Charles Edelstenne, chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation. He noted that Dassault, like other business jet manufacturers, benefited from a “buying frenzy” from 2005 to 2008 during which it racked up 600 orders — double the number of previous all-time-best years. This situation was not sustainable.
Eurocopter teamed with Mercedes-Benz to develop a special edition of the EC145 twin-engine turbine helicopter with a high-end interior, which was unveiled at EBACE 2010 in Geneva. The EC145 “Mercedes-Benz Style” was conceived in a design project led by the Mercedes-Benz Advanced Design Studio in Como, Italy, and Eurocopter says it, “bears all the hallmarks and passion of Mercedes-Benz design.” The EC145’s spacious cabin enabled Mercedes-Benz designers to take a modular approach to the high-end interior, inspired by the automaker’s new R-Class line.
Sikorsky Global Helicopters has introduced its first aircraft with a new state-of-the-art Emergency Medical Services interior. Sikorsky Global Helicopters is the commercial business operation of Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. Sikorsky’s Engineering Division in Coatesville, Pa., teamed with Air Methods and started work on the project in May 2009.
The Senate passed the NTSB Reauthorization Act of 2010 on May 14 to increase the board’s funding and preserve accident investigative authority through Fiscal 2012. The safety board requested increased funding levels over the next four years: $117.4 million in Fiscal 2011, $120.1 million in FY2012, $122.2 million in FY2013 and $124.2 million in FY2014. The funding will enable the NTSB to add 66 staff members for a total of 477 full-time equivalent positions.
NetJets marked a dramatic turnaround in its first-quarter results, posting pre-tax earnings of $57 million, compared with a pre-tax loss of $96 million in 2009.
Hawker Beechcraft Chairman and CEO Bill Boisture was encouraged that EBACE 2010 in Geneva not only drew an expected level of European interest, but also moderate traffic from prospects outside Europe. Potential buyers from Africa, the Middle East and Russia also showed interest at the convention, Boisture told analysts. But even with increased international demand, the market for business and general aviation remains “depressed,” Boisture says. “We continue to expect 2010 to be challenging, and it feels at this point a lot like a continuation of 2009.”
Attention regional airlines who mistreat their pilots! FltOps.com, a career and financial planner for pilots, is forecasting that U.S. major airline pilot hiring will exceed 1,500 during the next 12 months and continue at an accelerated pace for several years. As a result, the feeder airlines (with 24,000 pilots) will experience the long-predicted exodus of qualified flight crew and will hire thousands to replace the defections to the majors.
Herb Knight, senior vice president of aircraft sales and acquisitions for Gama Aviation, Inc., says that the continuing large inventory of previously owned aircraft “continues to have a significant impact on pricing across the board. Except for maybe the very-long-range, high-end, late-model airplanes, I have not seen any bounce in price.” “There are two markets now,” explains Knight. “The airplanes that are the most viable and in the most demand are current-production airplanes,” particularly ultra-long-range airplanes such as the Gulfstream G550.
The DHS now requires aircraft operators to check no-fly lists within two hours of being electronically notified of additions or changes. Previously, operators had 24 hours to re-check the list after a change notification.
Chevron announced a major restructuring of its aviation business that will result in the withdrawal of Chevron- and Texaco-branded aviation fuels from approximately 200 locations It may be the same fuel, but sold under another brand. “After an extensive review of our general aviation business, we are changing our business model,” said general aviation General Manager Keith Sawyer in a statement.
US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker is unwilling to invest in NextGen cockpit technology, if he has to pay for it. At the US Airways media day in Phoenix on March 28, Parker said, “There is not a capacity issue in the United States right now as it relates to air traffic control, so putting in place NextGen ATC isn’t going to save the airlines dramatic amounts. . . . So our position is so long as we have to pay for [flight deck equipment], we prefer not to have it.” US Airways estimated its investment would total $950 million.
The private owner of a Dornier 328 turbo–prop based in Milan, Italy, has selected Germany’s 328 Support Services, the type certificate holder for the aircraft, to complete a VIP conversion of its airplane. The support company, which is based at Oberpfaffenhofen Airport near Munich, already has completed eight 328JET conversions over the last five years and has three more in the pipeline. This will be the first turboprop conversion the company has undertaken.
GE Honda Aero Engines progresses toward certification of the HF120 engine, though deliveries of production HondaJets are delayed until 2012. Testing has included operation to 46,000 feet and at high Mach numbers, as well as performance, transients, air starts, and extreme hot and cold conditions. Other component tests including operation in crosswind and hail ingestion have been conducted at GE’s Peebles, Ohio, facility.
I am a CPA and long-time subscriber to BCA, and read the Point of Law column regularly. I am also a CFI and work exclusively with piston singles and twins, typically Beech products and twin Cessnas. Questions frequently arise regarding whether a particular flight will be viewed by the FAA as an illegal charter, resulting in action against the pilot.
Citing April data on the used business jet market, the financial analysts at JPMorgan say the numbers are “consistent with the trends of a gradual march downward for inventories.” However, they add there is “continued pressure on prices.” During April, the used business jet inventory fell 20 basis points, while prices dropped 1.2 percent, year over year. “While this recovery has been under way for several months, it has unfolded slowly, and we expect it to continue,” concludes JPMorgan.
London Oxford Airport increased its visiting jet movements, year on year by 31.6 percent and saw its overall business aviation movements increase 12 percent from April 2009 to March 2010. Jet fuel sales at its oxfordjet business aviation facility during the period were up 47 percent. The airport is now handling an average of 20 business aircraft movements a day. “This will equate to approximately 6,000 business aviation movements a year, assuming continuation of the current rate — an achievement we are very pleased with,” commented Managing Director Steve Jones.
On Aug. 1, 1999, a 1968 Cherokee Six crashed shortly after takeoff from an airport in Ohio, killing the pilot and three passengers and seriously injuring a fourth passenger. The NTSB version of the crash is straightforward. The airplane had landed to refuel and once its main tanks were filled, the five people got back on board. After takeoff, the Piper appeared to have a hard time climbing out and was “hanging on the prop.”
Are airplane pilots destined for the same fate as flight navigators and engineers? Will they be replaced by lines of code, electrons and data-linked commands from faceless controllers beyond the horizon? However unlikely that scenario, the trend is worth noting. As is being demonstrated daily in thousands of operations around the world, the black boxes on a growing number of aircraft are so “smart,” they obviate the need to have a human operator on board to complete a given mission.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. has launched the Select Pre-Owned Program, which is designed to limit the cost of operation for buyers of qualifying used turbine-powered aircraft during the first year or initial 150 hours of service. The Select Pre-Owned Program covers all scheduled and unscheduled airframe, engine and avionics maintenance, including parts and labor. The plan also includes initial flight-crew training at FlightSafety International, as well as the first-year subscription to the computerized maintenance-tracking program.
Early in my aviation career I was eager for adventure. So, after six weeks of battling bugs and weeds with an AGtruck out of Hardistry, Alberta, I headed north — way, way north to Yellowknife, in Canada's Northwest Territories. For those unfamiliar with the geography, Yellowknife is a town of 20,000 hearty souls planted beside icy Great Slave Lake in the wide-open plains 1,000 nm east and 1,000 nm north of Anchorage, Alaska, and Grand Forks, N.D., respectively. It's pretty much the last paved place south of the Arctic Circle.
T he Phenom 100, Embraer’s first purpose-built business aircraft, is winning strong endorsements from operators, in spite of experiencing its share of entry-into-service snags. Operators laud its ramp presence, cabin comfort, baggage capacity, fuel efficiency and cockpit layout. They appreciate its modern, clean-sheet design, jetliner DNA, 12-month/600-hour maintenance intervals and its low price tag.
Many of us remember how difficult it was to get that first job. With the ink still wet on our A&P license, we thought we had a magic ticket to a good paying job. Unfortunately, while your license got you in the door, experience was what every employer wanted, even if you had a military background. Almost every employer wants civil aircraft experience on its particular model.
Regarding “A Medevac Ends in Disaster” (Cause & Circumstance, May 2010, page 79), I have a theory that most helicopter pilots received their basic training in the U.S. Army or one of the military flight schools. In those schools the mindset is “the mission, the mission, the mission.” At their age, they are “going to live forever” and the mission — that is, to deliver the weapon, rescue the wounded, deliver the freight under fire, etc. — must be accomplished at all costs.
Russia’s Avia Group is about to start construction on a new business aviation terminal at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport (SVO). The 2,700 square-meter facility, dubbed Terminal A, is expected to open within the next 12 months.
