Ulan-Ude Aviation Plant, part of the rotorcraft industry holdings managed by Russian Helicopters, delivered three cargo and one passenger Mi-171 helicopters to International Handling Co. Ltd. of Azerbaijan. The helicopters are equipped for oil and gas operations — carrying loads, apparatus, passengers and shift teams to land and offshore rigs — and can perform "surveillance and integrity" missions. They are equipped with modern navigation and landing systems, satellite navigation, radio beacons and emergency water landing systems. Thirty countries operate the Mi-171.
The European Union’s effort to strengthen its air accident investigation process faced its first major hurdle March 11, when proposed legislation was put before the transport ministers of member states. European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas will present the plan in Brussels before the Transport Council. If well received, the European Commission says the proposal could be put to parliament for a first reading in July with the potential for the directive becoming law by year-end.
Customers of FlightSafety International can request that the company transmit electronically the flight crew training information used by CharterX/Wyvern and ARGUS in their Pilot & Aircraft Safety Survey (PASS) and Charter Evaluation and Qualification (CHEQ) systems, which automatically audit a flight to ensure the crew’s standing is current and legal. By automating the transfer of information directly to PASS and CHEQ, customers are relieved of the cost and risk of data errors and save the time it used to take to enter the information manually.
North American Jet Charter Group, of Charleston, S.C., and Chicago, is the first charter operator to receive FAA approval for single-pilot FAR Part 135 charters in appropriately configured Eclipse 500 VLJs. In June 2007, NAJet became the first charter operator to operate the Eclipse 500. Single-pilot approval applies for Eclipse Aerospace-upgraded 500s with FIKI and AvioNG avionics.
“During the last recovery, it became clear that aviation was going global. Emerging nations were largely responsible for taking aviation to record highs,” declared Publisher Fletcher Aldredge in the first quarter edition of his Vref Market Leader newsletter. “The current recovery, if you agree there is one, is being driven mostly by exports.” Buyers from the BRIC countries — Brazil, Russia, India and China — are concentrating on buying new or like-new airplanes, he explained, and this activity has helped prices stabilize.
NetJets proved to be “the major problem for Berkshire last year,” according to Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffett, who told shareholders in his annual letter Feb. 27 that the fractional ownership provider suffered a “staggering loss” of $711 million in 2009. While optimistic about the future of NetJets, Buffett said that since Berkshire Hathaway acquired the company 11 years ago, NetJets has logged an aggregate pretax loss of $157 million. More troubling though, the company’s debt soared from $102 million at the time of purchase to $1.9 billion in April.
Spring is here and with this year’s El Niño conditions, some of the most extreme weather hazards could develop now and this summer, including massive thunderstorms and severe icing. Warmer weather fires up nature’s atmospheric heat engine, the solar-powered machine that uses water vapor, lift, differential temperature and instability to create potentially the largest and most violent storms of the year.
After an extensive development effort, some of it involving an advisory board made up of trip support customers, Universal Weather & Aviation of Houston has been demonstrating new functionality to its online UVTriplink Trip Status that speeds access to trip details. The company’s Trip Support Teams are cutting response time to requests or changes so customers can see results sooner. Vendor confirmations are also easily retrieved, and schedulers and dispatchers can easily distribute selectable trip information to appropriate parties in their organizations.
Sears’ aviation department ceased flight operations after 64 accident-free years and closed on Jan. 31. The department was established at Chicago Midway Airport (MDW) in 1946 flying two DC-3s. Over the years, Sears operated several different types of aircraft with zero accidents. The department moved to Dupage County Airport (DPA) in 2002 and in the end operated two Learjet 60s. A source told BCA the company decided to use commercial airline service and charter for its travel needs.
Announcing the expansion of its business airplane program, Beech said it will build about 1,200 executive airplanes this year, against about 800 last year.
Advance the thrust levers of the Hawker 900XP and you’d be hard pressed to recognize it as the 19th iteration of the venerable DH-125, first produced in 1964 by Britain's Hawker Siddeley. With the 900XP, fill the tanks and the seats and depart from a 5,000-foot runway. No other midsize aircraft has such range/payload flexibility. At MTOW, it will climb directly to FL 410 in 25 minutes, fly eight passengers more than 2,700 nm and land with NBAA IFR reserves.
Cessna has named Metrojet, located at Hong Kong International Airport, its authorized service facility in Hong Kong for the Citation XLS and XLS+. Metrojet, which provides a range of maintenance services, will work with Cessna in the coming months to expand its support services to include the remaining Citation product line.
Aviation supplies, materials and gear are available from the newly launched store founded by the makers of the ArmBoard, a company called 2H Innovations in Orlando. The store carries a full line of merchandise and guarantees for one full year to “fix or replace” anything it sells. Browse www.redproppilotstore.com and tell them S&D Report sent you.
It’s called Signature Status, and it’s a new customer loyalty and relationship program for customers of Signature Flight Support of Orlando. The program was announced at the recent NBAA Schedulers & Dispatchers conference in San Antonio. Signature Status comprises three tiers: silver, gold and platinum. Operators, flight departments and owners will receive an expanding list of benefits as their visits to one of the company’s FBOs increase on a percentage basis.
No, really. Nick Verdea has run in almost a dozen marathons even though he only started running from scratch in January 2007. As the director of aviation for the Midland Financial Co. in Oklahoma City, he oversees four pilots, two techs, a Challenger 601 and a Citation X. He says he started running because of two promises he made to himself back in college: “I promised myself I’d never marry a girl I met in a bar, and I didn’t; I married my best friend’s sister, Tina. And then I said if I ever hit 200 pounds, I’d change my lifestyle.” On Jan.
A third Sikorsky S-76D prototype is joining two predecessors in flight trials. With customer deliveries scheduled for this year, Tim Fox, S-76D helicopter program manager, says the company is accelerating the test program. Production S-76D airframes began taking shape at Aero Vodochody (Aero) in the Czech Republic in late 2009. The first fuselage is scheduled for delivery this month to the Sikorsky Global Helicopters’ S-76D final assembly and completion facility in Coatesville, Pa., which will receive S-76D fuselages at an initial rate of one per month.
U.S. business jet departures have steadily increased since the middle of 2009, wrote Jefferies & Co. analyst Howard Rubel. “In February 2009, departures declined 29 percent year-over-year, the largest drop since we started tracking the data in 2001,” Rubel said. November and December marked the first signs of improvement in the business jet market, with departures increasing 0.5 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively. Jefferies & Co. believes the market has stabilized, and volumes are increasing. “Aftermarket sales should see a pickup in the back half of 2010.
Proposed Rules Bombardier Challenger 600, 601, 601-3A, 601-3R and 604 airplanes — Visually inspect certain selector valves of the nose landing gear and nose landing gear door to ensure proper installation of the lock wire of the end cap. If not properly installed, take corrective actions. Bombardier CL-600, CL-601, CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R, CL-604 and CL-605 airplanes — Replace certain hydraulic accumulators.
In mid-February, the Shreveport, La., Airport Authority reopened its 8,350-foot Runway 14/32 following an extensive resurfacing project that closed the ILS-equipped runway in the late summer of 2009. Shreveport’s shorter 6,200-foot Runway 5/23, served by an LOC/DME approach, remained open throughout. The airport averages about 155 operations daily and is served by one FBO, TAC Air.
Step into a Hawker 4000 this year and it would be all but impossible to tell that this aircraft was lucky to survive a 12-year, $1 billion-plus gestation, one of the longest and costliest in business aircraft history. Hawker Beechcraft's largest and most sophisticated offering ever, the super-midsize business jet is key to the company's future, but its cumulative problems once put that future in doubt. Questions about the program are being answered by the product itself, along with the people behind it.
A free online aviation wire-strike safety awareness video, “Surviving the Wires Environment,” produced by the Helicopter Association International (HAI), in cooperation with Southern California Edison (SCE) and AEGIS Insurance Services, to remind pilots of the hazards of low-level flying in the “wires environment,” is available at the HAI home page (www.rotor.com) and will soon be posted on other aviation Web sites.
The venerable JetRanger 206B could get a new lease on life if airframe manufacturer Bell Helicopter and engine maker Rolls-Royce proceed with a plan to retrofit the single-engine helicopter with the RR500 turboshaft.
Some operators wait until they’re ready to sell an aircraft before they give it a good paint job. Then once they see it looking all shiny and new, they change their minds about selling it. There’s something about a slick, glossy electro-pearlescent skin on even a senior company shuttle that makes it look young again. And it’s written somewhere that a professionally designed and applied livery featuring lots of speed stripes can add five knots — or maybe it just feels that way.
Advanced short-runway airliners and large commercial tiltrotors could boost the capacity of the U.S. air transport system without impacting conventional aircraft operations once the FAA’s NextGen airspace system is fully implemented. That’s the conclusion of a NASA-funded study into the integration of advanced vehicles into NextGen completed by air-traffic management specialist Sensis. A team led by Raytheon completed a similar 18-month study.
