Like the Chinese (see “Ding Hao! Operating in China,” October 2009, page 36), the Russians prefer that aircraft fly the published airways. “You can ask for a direct routing, but you can’t take it for granted that you’ll receive the clearance,” Pahl said. “We take the conservative approach and put them on the airways, and most of our clients fly what we file for them. ATC is getting better at accommodating general aviation, though.
Another new requirement is that crewmembers must now have visas, as has been required of passengers. “On arrival the immigration officer will check for visas, and anyone not holding one will be required to leave the country immediately,” Pahl warned. That is, the authorities won’t necessarily require the aircraft to depart, just the offending passenger. However, if it’s a crewmember without a visa, then the aircraft may be required to reposition out of the country.
The most popular destination in Russia for business aviation is, of course, the capital, Moscow, with St. Petersburg the second most popular. At Moscow, most business aviation traffic uses Vnukovo Airport (UUWW), the least congested of the city’s three fields, due to its lack of commercial operations. Accordingly, Vnukovo has evolved to support business aviation with several executive-level FBOs; it also offers relatively easy access to the city (“relatively,” because Moscow’s surface traffic is very congested).
The board of directors of the Geneeral Aviation Manufacturers Association has elected Robert Wilson, president of Honeywell Business and General Aviation, as the association’s chairman for 2010. Wilson was previously GAMA’s vice chairman and chairman of its Technical Policy Committee. John Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon Jet, was voted in as GAMA’s vice chairman. He also will continue to serve as chairman of GAMA’s Security Issues Committee.
The NBAA has tapped ARGUS as a vendor partner for the association’s new Safety Management Systems (SMS) training classes. The training program will include two workshops: Introduction to SMS, designed to cover the basics of aviation safety and SMS concepts, and The SMS Toolkit, designed to address the SMS implementation and development process.
A Senior Office of Management and Budget (OMB) official agrees with business aviation advocates that aviation fuel taxes have been an efficient mechanism for collecting revenues from general aviation operators. Xavier de Souza Briggs, associate director for general government programs at OMB, assured attendees of November’s National Air Transportation Aviation Business Roundtable that the Obama administration was not seeking to add a layer of bureaucracy to bring in tax revenues. But Briggs also stated concerns that the fuel taxes will be inadequate over time.
Calls from your college kid can bring joy or worry. One last spring delivered both — grades were strong and friendships formed, but there was a rooming problem: He couldn’t have one.
The heart of any machine is its engine. The engine is the most complex and expensive piece of machinery on any airplane and for most business aircraft, there are at least two. Most maintenance technicians have a love/hate relationship with engines: love when they are running smoothly, and hate when they start to act up. Kind of like being married, except engines have manuals. They can be particularly difficult to diagnose when they are having a bad day, and when they have a bad day, your entire operation will feel the pain.
Piper Chief Executive Kevin J. Gould will add the president’s title and responsibilities to his current position as CEO upon Piper President John D. Becker’s resignation on Dec. 1. Becker announced that he is leaving Piper to pursue other career goals.
Dassault Falcon recently delivered the 100th Falcon 900EX EASy aircraft into service. As of Sept. 30, the 4,500-nm Falcon 900EX EASy fleet had made over 80,000 takeoffs and landings and accrued 157,000 flight hours. Powered by three Honeywell TFE731-60 engines, the 900EX EASy was certified in December 2003, the first model with the EASy flight deck. Today, more than 320 Falcon jets of several models are equipped with the EASy flight deck.
Prototype of the Lockheed Azcarate (Mexico City) Model 60 utility aircraft is being flight tested at Marietta, Ga. The all-metal six-seater, which is powered by Continental engines with fuel injection and reportedly will sell for under $25,000, performs like the de Havilland Beaver.
Clifford Development and Stevens Aviation are partnering to market and support Clifford’s Citation 550 and the S550 engine conversions. Besides being outfitted with Williams International FJ44-3A engines, the reworked Citations feature nearly three dozen improvements, including an Ametek digital engine display, heavy-duty BF Goodrich brakes and a dual full-authority digital engine control system.
Famed NASA aerodynamic engineer Richard Whitcomb died of pneumonia on Oct. 13 at age 88. AVIATIONWEEK’s Graham Warwick noted that during his government career, Whitcomb developed three of the most important post-war innovations in aeronautics: the transonic area rule (Coke-bottle fuselage shape), the supercritical airfoil and winglets — often called Whitcomb Winglets. Born in Illinois, Whitcomb studied engineering at Worcester Polytechnic Institute and in 1943 joined what is now NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, where he worked until retiring in 1980.
Citation CJ3 resale prices have fallen 30 to 50 percent during the current recession and that’s great news for business aircraft operators looking for one of the most versatile light jets yet to enter the market. This is an aircraft that can depart a 3,180-foot runway, climb directly to FL 450, cruise at 400-plus KTAS and fly three passengers 1,700 nm. Upon arrival, it needs less than 2,500 feet of runway for landing.
In this, the 15th anniversary of the General Aviation Revitalization Act (GARA) of 1994, the traditional aluminum airframe is still outlasting anything we can stuff into it. But before President Clinton signed that law, durability was considered a problem: It created an interminable liability tail for manufacturers. GARA capped that period at 18 years.
Piaggio Aero is proceeding largely unscathed while other aircraft manufacturers are struggling mightily to weather the recession and credit crisis. Speaking at the NBAA Convention, CEO Alberto Galassi said, “Despite the Honeywell forecast that 2010 will be worse than 2009, we plan to build 27 to 30 aircraft next year, the same as this year.” And, he added, “We have no white tails [new, unsold airplanes]. Not a single one.” That’s not to say the P-180 Avanti builder has been unaffected by the recession.
The Citation Mustang isn’t the biggest, fastest or most fuel-efficient very light jet to be introduced, but it’s a solid market success, and it, along with Embraer’s Phenom 100, has matured into full-scale production programs. The smallest and least-expensive Citation, the Mustang was designed from the onset to be the easiest handling member of a family noted for docility. As such, the Mustang was intended to be an easy step up for operators upgrading from piston-engine and turboprop aircraft.
CAE’s first Simfinity-equipped classroom for maintenance training has gone operational at the Honeywell Aerospace Academy in Phoenix, one year after CAE and Honeywell announced their alliance to combine CAE training technology and Honeywell product expertise.
Embraer’s Luis Carlos Affonso noted that the company’s new Melbourne site (see above) will house a dedicated customer center where purchasers of any model of Embraer business jet can go to make selections regarding cabin designs and appointments. He noted that the 40-year-old Brazilian company has had facilities in the United States for 30 of those years and recently opened a service center in Mesa, Ariz.
And, yes, operating in Russia is expensive, or as Mrocka put it after dropping $8.40 on a cup of coffee at his Moscow hotel, “outrageously expensive.” Carry cash for basic transactions, he advised, “as most places on the ground do not accept credit cards. It’s a cash-oriented society.” Williams at Universal Weather noted that rooms in Western-style hotels in larger cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg range from $300 to $600 a night; in remote locations, standards and prices will be lower (see sidebar on travel in Eastern Russia).
While airline passengers have grown accustomed to snaking their way through TSA lines at hub airports, general aviation operators based at Hyde Field, Potomac Airport and College Park Airport, a trio of small airfields near Washington, D.C., have struggled to cope with the restrictions imposed on them since the Sept. 11 attacks more than eight years ago. Perhaps the most notable of the affected facilities is College Park (CGS), which earlier this year became the world’s first centennial airfield, having been in continuous operation for 100 years.
