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.
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt agrees that the aviation excise tax system has worked well in the past (see above), but questions whether it can sustain the agency in the long run. “We need a revenue stream that’s sustainable,” he said during the AOPA’s Aviation Summit in November in Tampa, Fla. “I don’t have the answer. But we’re going to have to look at a lot of things.” He acknowledged that the collection of the aviation excises taxes — the fuel tax, passenger ticket tax and cargo tax — has been efficient.
The NBAA and AOPA considered the first Light Business Aircraft Conference held in conjunction with October’s NBAA Convention in Orlando so successful that, even before the event ended, they signed a Memorandum of Understanding to co-host and collaborate on future LBA Conferences beginning next year in conjunction with each of the two organizations’ major annual events. The first LBA Conference offered education sessions, a “Concept Buyers Program” and a “Single-Pilot Safety Standdown” — all specifically designed for owners and operators of light business airplanes.
If anyone had taken notice, which is most unlikely, they would have seen a slight, clean-cut young man, an economics undergrad, enter the university library and with a casualness that comes with familiarity, make his way to a remote, uncrowded section and stop. There, some of the shelves were laden with blue-jacketed, 8.5-by-11-inch stapled government reports. He selected several, slid down to the floor, and began to read. He did it many times over the course of his years at the University of South Carolina.
The fleet percentage of used business jets for sale in October reached 15.7 percent, down from its peak of 16.2 percent in August, according to a Credit Suisse report, but brokers aren’t ready to declare an end to the down market. “I can see light at the end of the tunnel, but I don’t know how many miles away it is,” said one dealer in the Southwestern United States.
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.
Edward W. Stimpson is one of America’s civic heroes. His long service in furthering the cause of aviation safety was capped by his most recent post as chairman of the Flight Safety Foundation in Washington, D.C., where he worked to improve airline operations even beyond the near-perfect record they’ve compiled.
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.
Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that its NetJets subsidiary suffered a 42 percent or $1.5-billion decline in revenues during the first nine months of 2009 compared to the same period a year earlier, according to the latest form 10-Q filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. This, mainly due to a 79 percent decline in fractional ownership sales and 24 percent lower flight operations. With further downsizing and more aircraft sold off, Berkshire Hathaway now believes that NetJets is “likely to operate at a modest profit in 2010,” but that assumes the U.S.
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.
Sikorsky Global Helicopters announced Nov. 4 that it delivered a new VIP S-76C++ helicopter in September to the Royal Travel Office for use by the Royal Household of the United Kingdom. Sikorsky has provided helicopters to support the Royal Family since the early 1950s, including the R4, S-51, S-55, S-58, S-58T, S-76B and S-76C+.
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.
The FAA rejected an application of the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority (BGPAA) to impose a nighttime ban on nearly all flights at Bob Hope Airport (BUR) in California. The agency deemed the application unreasonable because the BGPAA failed to prove that other alternatives would be less cost-effective or infeasible. The agency also determined that the BGPAA failed to provide substantial evidence to back its contention that the restriction would not create an undue burden on interstate or foreign commerce.
Also, if traffic is heavy at the destination airport and there are delays, don’t expect to be stacked into holding, Parke emphasized. “Russian controllers do not use holding patterns and vector everyone around if there are delays. This increases their workload considerably and contributes to the delays. During this maneuvering, it behooves you to keep your head up, as most of their aircraft are not equipped with TCAS for separation. They also maintain larger separation intervals than we do, which helps to string things out and adds to the delays.”
At the recent NBAA Convention, Stevens Aviation displayed the first example of its Learjet 60 Business Liner, a 1997 model of the Bombardier midsize jet that had undergone an extensive makeover.
Cessna Aircraft has qualified its Citation Sovereign for an exemption from FAA Extended Operations (ETOPS) requirements when flown between Los Angeles and Hawaii under FAR Part 135. To qualify for the ETOPS exemption, Cessna demonstrated the aircraft could remain within 180 minutes of a suitable airport when flying with an engine out. Cessna conducted an analysis to determine that the Sovereign was able to travel 1,022 nm within 180 minutes after an engine failure. That distance is just more than halfway between Los Angeles and Hawaii.
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).
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.
Looking to brush up on turbine engine technology? Don’t know your P3 from your T5? Pick up a copy of Aircraft Gas Turbine Engine Technology by Irwin Treager. Written for technicians, instead of engineers, the text is easy to understand, and even pilots will find it helpful. The paperback book has been updated since its first release and includes information on electronic fuel controls.
Abu Dhabi plans to build a business jet by 2018 to mark the emergence of the Middle East as a major player in the global aerospace industry. The first steps were celebrated Nov. 14, just prior to the Dubai Air Show, as the Mubadala Development investment arm of the Abu Dhabi government and Western partners reviewed progress in building the Strata Manufacturing composites facility that will begin supplying parts for the Airbus A380, ATR and other airliners in the second half of 2010. Strata will open with initial contracts worth more than $2 billion.
NBAA and GAMA are offering a new online resource to help businesses of all types and sizes calculate and explain the value a business aircraft brings to support a company’s business objectives. Presented as part of the associations’ joint No Plane No Gain advocacy campaign, the new Business Aircraft E-Valuation Toolkit identifies five basic resources every company in business aviation should have for measuring an aircraft’s value — regardless of the size or type of the business involved. The toolkit is at the No Plane No Gain Web site: www.noplanenogain.org.
Rockwell Collins recently announced several upgrade programs for Dassault Falcon business jets, including five new updates to its Pro Line 21 avionics retrofit package for Falcon 50s. Separately, the avionics maker is offering a Pro Line 4 to Pro Line 21 display upgrade for Falcon 2000s.
In the waning months of the Cold War, after decades of suspicion, distrust and secrecy between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the West, watershed events in aviation history unfolded at European-hosted international air shows.
