Remember the built-for-comfort, not-for-speed C90 King Air? The King Air C90GT offers the same cabin, but cruises 35 to 60 knots faster, making it competitive in a race with the Pilatus PC-12. Consumers liked the difference and rewarded its manufacturer with a nearly three-fold increase in sales volume when the GT debuted in late 2005. One hundred-plus units were built between late 2005 and 2007 before the C90GT was succeeded by the C90GTi, a model with identical performance but having upgraded avionics.
The used jet inventory is declining, a JP Morgan analyst reported in its Business Jet Monthly update. The inventory — the number of jets for sale in proportion to the active fleet — decreased 10 basis points (bps) to 13.2 percent in November 2009. This compares with declines of 30 to 50 bps in the three preceding months, JP Morgan noted. Inventories and inventory turnover rates remain near five-year highs, and industry experts concede it will take a long time to sell off the large number of previously owned business airplanes still on the market.
Bombardier Aerospace announced that because of the current economic and airline industry environments, it will be adjusting the CRJ aircraft production rate, resulting in approximately 715 layoffs in facilities in the Montreal area, starting this month. The layoffs also include a small number of layoffs due to a decrease in the Bombardier 415 amphibious aircraft production rate. The adjustment is in addition to the 4,360 layoffs previously announced this fiscal year for Bombardier Aerospace worldwide.
Regarding “Midnight Sun” (Flight Log, November 2009, page 72), as Ernie Gann often wrote, if fate intervenes, that’s the way it goes. But if you survived, you had to have some “good luck.” I totally enjoyed Richard Van Gemert’s P5M-2 article; that was one ordeal I’m sure he’s happy to be around to write about.
Boot up your laptop computer in the cabin of some late model business aircraft and you may find you can connect with company headquarters and the outside world as easily as in your own office on the ground. That’s because there now are available a number of ground-to-airplane and satellite-to-airplane high-speed data communications links for business aircraft.
“A bottom has been reached, and for some airplanes . . . a bounce,” declared Publisher Fletcher Aldredge in the fourth quarter edition of his Vref Market Leader newsletter. “More than a year of falling prices and lowered expectations have pulled the real buyers off the sidelines and into the market,” reports Aldredge. “Activity continues to improve almost industry-wide. Low offers keep coming in. However, on most airplanes, the sellers sense the worst just might be over, and the bottom is no longer made of quicksand.”
These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Citation CJ4 under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance.
GE Aviation’s wholly owned subsidiary, GE Aviation Czech s.r.o., is beginning certification testing of its new H80 turboprop engine, which will produce up to 800 shp. The engine is targeted at utility, agricultural and, business and general aviation aircraft. Component testing of the H80 engine has been underway for several months, and GE has recently started aeromechanical and performance testing on the powerplants. Certification is expected in early 2010 with entry into service on the Thrush 510 cropduster.
Your publication is hands down top flight best on the market and all business, which I like! One question regarding the November issue: How credible is this guy Richard Van Gemert? His story about falling out of the sky into the middle of the Pacific right in the lights of a surfacing sub are a little much for me to swallow. I also searched, but nothing about ditching like the story he recounts.
Technical and operational standards for automatic dependent surveillance — broadcast (ADS-B) equipment have been approved, paving the way for April 2010 publication of the FAA’s final rule mandating ADS-B equipage in controlled airspace by 2020. Standards body RTCA has now approved the minimum operational performance standards (MOPS), and the FAA has already signed the related technical standard orders (TSO), said Vincent Capezzuto, FAA director of surveillance and broadcast services.
The recent completion of an extensive upgrade of the first of six Hawker 125-700 aircraft flown by a government agency demonstrates Hawker Beechcraft Services’ (HBS) commitment to keep this vintage jet flying, company officials say.
My first flight in the T-37, and I’d never seen things go by so fast. By the time we came back to the pattern, did a touch and go to an aggressive closed pull up, downwind and landing, I felt like I’d been through the spin cycle on a washing machine looking out through the window on the door. Primary got rid of all the unknowns. With the T-37 you did acro, spins, instruments, formation. And once done, you were ready. It wasn’t a honing machine. It cut the rough edges off.
The Gulfstream G250 completed its first flight Dec 11, a little over two months after its rollout. The 3:21 hour flight took off from Ben Gurion International Airport at 8:16 a.m. local time. Pilots explored the G250’s handling qualities and flight characteristics and performed initial checks of several aircraft systems. The large-cabin, mid-range aircraft flew to 32,000 feet achieving a speed of 253 knots. Chief test pilot Ronen Shapira called the flight “extremely smooth with no issues.” The G250 is planned for type certification and entry into service in 2011.
Cessna has delivered the 300th Citation X to one of its authorized sales representatives, Jetalliance, based in Vienna, Austria. The Citation X will be operated from Vienna by an unnamed end user. Jetalliance is Cessna’s authorized sales representative for Russia and Eastern Europe.”
Cessna Aircraft just released the final performance numbers on the $8.75 million Citation CJ4 and the results are turning heads in São José dos Campos, Brazil, as well as back home in Wichita. Compared to Cessna’s original projections, the aircraft weighs less when empty, has more thrust, needs less runway, cruises faster and flies farther.
Proposed Rules Bombardier CL-600, CL-601, CL-601-3A, CL-601-3R and CL-604 airplanes — Amend Airplane Flight Manual procedures, check the part and serial numbers of the installed wing anti-ice piccolo ducts and replace certain ducts, if necessary. EADS Socata TBM 700 airplanes — Before further flight, insert a temporary revision into the “Emergency Procedures” section and the “Limitations” section of the pilot operating handbook in order to clarify procedures for releasing onboard oxygen.
King Schools and Redbird Flight Simulations are offering Redbird products through King Schools’ marketing, sales and distribution channels worldwide. Redbird offers a line of four simulators from a fixed desktop device up through its FMX/ci, which offers full-motion, panoramic vision and force-feedback controls. “Redbird has used the latest improvements in software and video graphics technology to deliver a realistic training environment that is within the financial reach of virtually every flight school,” said Martha King, co-chair of King Schools.
Bombardier said in its third-quarter 2009 financial report that it received 26 orders for business jets in the three-month period and 24 cancellations — the first time in a year that it had more orders than cancellations. Bombardier remains in the black, though profits are substantially down compared to the same period last year.
Commenting on the used aircraft market as 2009 wound down, Carl Janssens, accredited senior appraiser at the Aircraft Bluebook, said, “Something is happening out there.”
Bob Hope Airport officials expect to lay the groundwork this year for a new Part 150 study to grapple with noise issues. The study is one step local officials are planning to take since FAA rejected the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority’s request for a nighttime ban at the Burbank, Calif.-based airport in November. The airport authority had hoped to become the first organization to successfully impose noise restrictions on Stage III and quieter aircraft under the Part 161 process.
Forecast International of Newtown, Conn. predicts that a total of 11,277 business jets, worth an estimated $197 billion, will be produced in the 10-year period from 2009 through 2018. According to the survey, announced in November, “The Market for Business Jet Aircraft,” production is expected to total approximately 825 units in 2009, followed by 738 units in 2010 and 716 in 2011.
Dennis Andersen, president of Florida Jet Sales, Inc. of West Palm Beach, Fla., feels confident enough in the market for previously owned turbine-powered airplanes that he has begun to inventory aircraft again. “I am sticking my toe back in the water,” he said in late November 2009.
