A 50 percent-plus decline in Learjet’s backlog during the past year is unsettling but not dire, Bombardier Aerospace President and Chief Operating Officer Guy Hachey said. Bombardier reported that a wave of cancellations in 2009 shrank Learjet’s order book to six months’ worth of production on Jan. 31, the end of the company’s fiscal year, down from 17 months a year earlier. Hachey says that Learjet’s backlog had been inflated to unsustainable levels during the business jet order frenzy of 2007-08.
Very seldom do writers get South Africa right. “Business Aviation in South Africa” (March 2010, page 38) certainly nailed it. I hope you were well treated back home as you did your research.
Thanks for the March issue given out at the International Operators Conference. Good magazine. I enjoyed the Global Express XRS and South Africa articles, but I especially liked Richard Aarons’ Cause and Circumstance. That column is far better than what I've seen elsewhere.
Rockwell Collins’ RTA-4100 weather radar is a breakthrough technology that provides pilots with hands-free weather threat detection. This 17-pound wonder automatically scans hundreds of cubic miles of airspace ahead of the aircraft to detect storms as far away as 320 nm. With Fusion systems equipped with an 18-inch radar, such as Global Vision, the weather avoidance range is greater than 320 miles. The RTA-4100 also has a Doppler turbulence detection mode that has a 40-mile maximum range.
Seconds after touching down on Quincy, Ill., Regional Airport’s Runway 13, United Express Flight 5925, a Beechcraft 1900C, collided with a King Air A90 taking off from Runway 4. Flames quickly engulfed both aircraft, trapping passengers and crews within. Bystanders rushed forward and tried to open up the 1900C’s air stair door but the flames and heat from the growing inferno forced them to retreat. All 12 people aboard the United Express flight and the two A90 pilots died in the conflagration. The accident occurred just after 5 p.m. on Nov. 19, 1996.
Last year witnessed one of the most precipitous declines in new general aviation aircraft deliveries in the history of the industry, according to GAMA. There were only 2,276 unit deliveries, a drop of more than 42 percent compared to 2008. Billings slumped to $19.5 billion, a decline of more than one-fifth from the year earlier.
North American Jet Charter Group (NAJet) is the first aircraft charter operator to receive FAA approval to operate appropriately equipped Eclipse 500s single-pilot in charter operations. The fully upgraded Eclipse 500 aircraft from the new Eclipse Aerospace, Inc. are now certified for flight into known icing conditions. In addition, the AvioNG system provides centralized control of virtually all Eclipse 500 systems and avionics functions. AvioNG includes ILS and GPS-coupled autopilot functions that significantly reduce pilot workload.
SESAR is the European equivalent of the FAA's NextGen system of air traffic control. It consists of 15 member groups representing 18 nations and more than 70 companies.
-When it comes to buying parts, always know who you are buying from. Modern day pirates are still out there trying to pass off unapproved copies or timed out parts. High-resolution scanners and publishing software can make up fake paperwork and few will be able to tell the difference. To help fight fakes, many manufacturers provide a service that tracks part history. Catching these crooks is very difficult and law enforcement often is not really interested in pursuing this type of crime.
Hawker Beechcraft Services has won FAA certification of a Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) on Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21-equipped King Air C90GTi aircraft. The WAAS installation offers operational flexibility and cost savings associated with direct area-navigation routes, which enable improved access to special-use airspace or high-traffic or terrain-challenged airports.
A new stand-alone Attitude Heading Reference System (AHRS) was announced by Tucson, Ariz.-based Universal Avionics Corp. on April 15. The AHS-525 is solid-state system provides aircraft analog and digital pitch, roll and heading data and can directly replace increasingly difficult-to-maintain mechanical gyros. The system integrates with flight deck displays, flight control systems, flight management systems, weather radar, terrain awareness and warning system, flight data recorders and multiple other avionics systems and subsystems.
I was negatively impacted by the very unique word utilization in the Global Express XRS Operators Survey (March 2010, page 46). To maximize the excellence of BCA's content, you might want to strategize a new editorial policy to disallow a word like "summited," irregardless of what is submitted by your writers. Ouch! We deserved that. But, “irregardless?” You’re testing us, I know. — Ed.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano provided another sign that the political sport of bashing private jets may have run its course in Washington. “This is a tough job . . . but there are some things that come with it, and one of them is a plane,” Napolitano told a National Press Club audience last week.
Global Vision cockpits will feature a third-generation I-series (cryogenically cooled InSb), dual-band IR EVS camera from Esterline CMC Electronics. This offers four times the pixel density of the firm’s previous CMA-2600 EVS camera, along with considerably more powerful digital processing to clear up video images by filtering out thermal interference.
I have been an avid reader of BCA for more than three decades. In fact, I still treasure copies from most of those years. Every issue keeps me updated on technology and flight technique and has been a source of guidance, knowledge and inspiration during my flying career.
The NTSB’s probe of the Sept. 19, 2008, Learjet 60 runway excursion at Columbia, S.C. has yielded safety recommendations aimed at improving aircraft tire safety and maintenance. At its final hearing in April, the safety board determined that inadequate tire maintenance (under-inflation) and the captain’s decision to abort takeoff after the aircraft reached V1 speed as the probable cause of the accident involving the Global Exec Aviation-operated aircraft.
Space prohibits recognition of all the business aviation operators that donated their aircraft and cockpit crews to the Haitian earthquake relief effort; industry companies supporting it with donations of money, food and supplies; and volunteers who gave generously of their time and sweat. Thumbnail sketches of many others can be found on the NBAA Web site at www.nbaa.org/news/2010/haiti/business-aviation-in-action/missions.
Over 60 percent of those participating in a March UBS survey expect business conditions to improve in the next 12 months. The financial firm polled a group of U.S. and international aircraft broker/dealers, manufacturers, fractional providers, financiers and others. It received 150 responses. Four percent expect conditions to deteriorate, while 35 percent expect business conditions to stay the same over the next 12 months.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt says the agency will continue to consult closely with outside stakeholders as it works to adopt recommendations to accelerate the NextGen ATM modernization effort. Babbitt praised the work done by an RTCA taskforce last year to draft NextGen recommendations. RTCA is “the vehicle for consensus” on the NextGen plan, he said. Even with the work of the taskforce completed, the FAA will still conduct “strong outreach to the aviation stakeholders” regarding NextGen.
“Total Eclipse,” a new refurbishment and completion program for the EA500 unveiled earlier this spring by Albuquerque-based Eclipse Aerospace Inc. (EAI), looks to put more models of the very light jet on the market. Under the program, customers can fly away in a 100-percent complete EA500, including avionics and approval for flight in known icing (FIKI), for $2.15 million.
General Aviation associations gathered in Germany during April’s AERO Friedrichshafen called for programs to raise the profile of general aviation across the European Union, to forestall potentially onerous emission and environmental regulation. “It is much more effective to speak with one common voice on the issues that are affecting our industry, including airspace and airport access, aircraft manufacturing costs, the environment and security,” said Craig Fuller, president of the AOPA and the International AOPA. He referred to the U.S.
A new group of upgrades for the Sikorsky S-92, which has already received more than 60 enhancements since entering service in 2004, has been announced. The new enhancements include: A search-and-rescue automatic flight control system that enables the twin-engine aircraft to fly a pre-programmed coupled approach and reduces pilot workload in the search and rescue environment.
Avoiding the ash-laden cloud a volcano produces is the only way to guarantee that an aircraft is not damaged by the cloud’s dangerous particles, which can destroy aircraft engines and threaten flight safety. Read more about Volcanic Hazards and Aviation Safety on the Flight Safety Foundation Web site: http://flightsafety.org/fsd/fsd_may93.pdf
The first H80 turboprop engine is in certification testing since March in a test cell at the GE Aviation Czech facility in Prague. The first H80 test engine met or exceeded all power ratings targets in multiple runs, said Paul Theofan, president and managing executive of GE Aviation Czech s.r.o., a wholly owned subsidiary of GE Aviation. “Certification testing will continue this spring with endurance testing [scheduled to start in April] and EASA type certification anticipated this summer,” he said. Five development engines will take part in certification testing.
TSA’s revised Large Aircraft Security Program (LASP) has been passed from TSA to the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS), beginning the vetting process prior to being published as an NPRM, possibly this fall, says Brian Delauter, TSA’s general manager for general aviation. Delauter told a well-attended meeting of the Westchester Aviation Association Mar. 26 that the agency was seeking a less adversarial relationship with the industry.
