Strap into the left seat of a Global Express XRS equipped with Bombardier’s new Global Vision cockpit and you’ll see four, 15.1-inch flat-panel displays, the largest screens installed in any new business jet. You’ll also see sharper imagery from a new generation of video systems, including a synthetic vision system that uses the highest resolution terrain database that is commercially available and an IR EVS camera with four times the sensor resolution found on current generation Bombardier aircraft.
This is the Caravan’s 25th anniversary, and Cessna will deliver the 2,000th CE208, a Grand Caravan, later this year through Africair, Inc., in Miami, Fla. The Caravan is certified in 100 countries and has amassed more than 12.5 million fleet hours
FAA SAFO 10004 warns aircraft operators of possibly contaminated halon gas in fire extinguishers and provides testing information. With pure halon supplies dwindling, civil aviation will increasingly rely on recycled gas. But contaminated halon has been discovered in some aircraft fire extinguishers, which may harm personnel and be less effective against fires than pure halon.
The International Business Aviation Council (IBAC) and the International Council of Aircraft Owner and Pilots Associations (IAOPA) called for an improvement to data collection in non-commercial aviation internationally. The recommendation came during ICAO’s High-Level Safety Conference in Montreal.
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.
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.
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.
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.
HAI’s Operator Safety Award annually recognizes operating members for safe operations during the previous year. HAI provides an engraved commemorative plaque and year-date medallion to first time recipients who qualify. Applicants are required to provide basic operational information regarding aircraft and company safety measures. Information provided by applicants will be used only to determine eligibility. HAI promises all information provided will be held in the strictest confidence. www.rotor.com.
Hawker Beechcraft is transferring its laboratories for electromagnetic compatibility, mechanical and environmental testing to the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) at Wichita State University (WSU), the Institute said April 5. The labs will be housed in two Hawker Beechcraft buildings in Wichita, and occupy about 49,000 square feet. An undetermined number of company employees currently working in the facility will be offered employment with WSU.
Jet Aviation is establishing a line maintenance and AOG service operation at the Le Bourget Business Aviation Airport near Paris in conjunction with Universal Aviation France SARL. Jet Aviation will provide line maintenance and AOG support for various aircraft types, including Airbus, Boeing Business Jets, Bombardier and Gulfstream at Universal’s Facility.
I agree with your UAV comments. I recently attended a UAS conference in San Diego. There were mostly military speakers, but even the FAA speaker acknowledged that there will be an increasing number of UAVs in the national airspace. Another speaker said that the first large aircraft UAVs will probably be transpacific freighters with a standby pilot for takeoffs and landings in populated areas. This is probably the right direction. We all need to spend our available time tending to our iPhones, our Facebook pages and our blogs.
Executive AirShare became the first operator of an Embraer Phenom 300 under FAR Part 135. The Kansas City, Mo.-based fractional aircraft ownership and management company received the charter certification March 31. The Phenom 300 is is managed by Executive AirShare’s wholly owned subsidiary, Executive Flight Services. The aircraft is based in Fort Worth.
“Avionics Simulation” (April 2010, page 37) was apparently intended to bring your readers current on the status of avionics training. While you did a good job of covering what the traditional old-line establishment companies like Boeing-owned Jeppesen and Berkshire Hathaway-owned FlightSafety are doing, you completely missed out on where the true innovation is taking place. For instance, you failed to cover both King Schools and Redbird Simulators.
FlightSafety International will offer training to customers on the full range of Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) engine products, under an agreement signed with the engine manufacturer this month. FSI will manage daily operations, develop and produce courseware material and provide Learning Management System capabilities. Flight Safety’s Learning Center in Montreal will lead the training support of Pratt customers and employees.
Cessna CEO Jack Pelton also issued a call to action to the general aviation community to take a leadership role in defining solutions to environmental issues so that responsible stewardship works in conjunction with economic considerations required for industry growth, a call similar to that issued by aviation associations at AERO Friedrichshafen (see above).
Air Partner reported April 15 that it arranged nearly 3,000 flights of all types during the first half of its current fiscal year. If that trend continues, this could equal fiscal year 2008, the company’s best ever. In fiscal 2008, the company, a London-based charter broker with offices worldwide, logged 6,071 combined flights; in fiscal 2009, the total flights declined to 4,701, a drop of more than 20 percent.
Fokker Services delivered the first Auxiliary Fuel Tank System (AFTS), installed in a VIP-configured Fokker 100, to an undisclosed customer. AFTS consists of four additional fuel tanks installed in the forward belly cargo compartment, increasing the range of the Fokker 100 to approximately 2,700 nm. Fokker Services developed the AFTS, while Fokker Aircraft Services did the installation at its Woensdrecht facility. Both companies are part of the Fokker Aerospace Group.
Embraer delivered the 1,100th Ipanema agricultural aircraft, April 7, in a ceremony at its Botucatu plant, 230 km from São Paulo, Brazil. The airplane was accepted by Foliar Aviação Agrícola Ltda., which already operates four Ipanemas in Brazil’s Tocantins state. The Ipanema is the world’s first production aircraft that leaves the factory certified to fly with hydrated ethanol automotive fuel.
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.
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.
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.
To mark the centenary of Lyon-Bron airport near Lyon, France, the airport authority is inaugurating a new business aviation facility. Authorities stated, “Lyon-Bron airport has become the third largest business aviation airport in France.
Airbus forecasts a market for around five large corporate jets a year in the Asia-Pacific region, the majority of them in greater China, to replace existing aircraft and grow the regional fleet. Large corporate jets, which Airbus defines as seating 15 or more passengers, currently number about 150. Airbus hopes to win at least half of this market.
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.
