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.
“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.
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.
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.
While the most recent of the studies cited in “Double Standards” is several years old, the problems delineated continue to this very moment. We have received credible reports about federal public aircraft being routinely operated past mandatory inspection and overhaul limits; outside weight, altitude and temperature limitations; into known icing condition without anti-ice or de-icing equipment; and being fitted with non-approved transparencies and automotive-grade ball bearings in prop governors.
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.
The Presidential Flight of Abu Dhabi has recently introduced into its fleet a second BAE Systems Avro Business Jet, a late model Avro RJ100, which joins the operator’s existing VIP RJ70. The RJ100 was converted into a VIP aircraft by Inflite Engineering Ltd. at London Stansted Airport. Over the past 12 months, three Avro Business Jets have been placed with operators, and approximately 25 of the four-engine VIP aircraft are now either in service or in the process of being converted.
The sixth-generation head-up display from Rockwell Collins’ Portland, Ore.-based HGS division (nee Flight Dynamics) is an active-matrix LCD-based system using LED illumination. As a result, it offers far higher resolution than earlier CRT projection systems, the brightest imagery and the widest field of view of any commercial available HUD, according to Rockwell Collins. HGS-6000 systems are considerably more compact than CRT-based systems, affording 50 percent more headroom below the projector assembly.
OK, pop quiz: What is the name of the person who heads the federal Transportation Security Administration? What? You don’t know who’s in charge of all those TSA people digging through your luggage at the airport? Well, that’s all right, it was a trick question. There is no TSA administrator, a vacancy that has persisted since Edmund (Kip) Hawley resigned at the end of the Bush administration in January 2009.
The NBAA has developed an online registry for companies willing to donate their aircraft and flight crews to disaster relief efforts like the Haitian airlift and for individuals who wish to volunteer their services. The business aviation advocacy group is partnered with Corporate Aviation Responding to Emergencies (C.A.R.E.), which coordinates airborne relief missions, connecting operators with representatives in disaster areas or non-government organizations (NGOs) active there.
I think you are right. UAVs are the way of the future. We started out with a few hundred in Iraq and now there are many thousands. In fact, I'd say that if you could fly a private airplane in that country you'd stand a good chance of hitting one on landing or takeoff.
BLR Aerospace has received approval from Brazilian aviation authorities for the Everett, Wash., company’s winglet systems for King Air C90A, C90GT and C90GTi airplanes. FAA certification of the airfoils on those models was received earlier. BLR expects to eventually certify the system on King Air C90 and C90E models. BLR has delivered about 200 of its winglet systems, which originally were developed for use on King Air 200s and 300s. The systems improve the twin-engine airplane’s stability, cruise speed and rate of climb.
When ARFF teams respond to an aircraft mishap, the incident commander has a lot of quick decisions to make. Priorities will include concern for life, exposure, confinement and extinguishment. Proper “size-up” also will affect the application of the fire-extinguishing agent, the approach of equipment to the scene, lighting the scene, positioning of equipment relative to wind and escape slides, running hoses, isolating and cooling the fuselage, and securing the scene against re-ignition.
The FAA issued an emergency order suspending Darby Aviation’s air carrier certificate for a second time. The Muscle Shoals, Ala. company’s operating certificate was temporarily suspended in 2005 after a Challenger 600 departing from Teterboro Airport failed to lift off, ran off the end of the runway, crossed a highway and rammed into a building. In the investigation that followed, the FAA determined that the aircraft’s operator, Platinum Jet Management of Fort Lauderdale, did not hold an FAR Part 135 certificate and wrongly “piggybacked” on Darby’s ticket.
