As you wrote in your July Viewpoint (“A Matter of Perception,” page 9), public perception of business jets may be different from the reality, and that is especially so in Europe where we see a lot of aircraft whose owners hide under exotic registrations or companies.
Mighty Mite, P&WA’s PT-6 turbine engine, will deliver 500 eshp and weighs 225 pounds. By contrast, the larger P&WA R1340 Wasp (shown) delivers 600 hp and weighs more than three times as much. Bell Iroquois utility helicopter features twin-turbine safety. Now in Army version, the aircraft has high civil potential and is undergoing first flight test.
Mr. Obama, the people of Wichita are still awaiting your response. After three auto executives failed to defend their use of company aircraft before Congress on a disastrous day in November 2008, the business jet became the favorite whipping boy on Capitol Hill where suddenly self-righteous solons inveighed against the sinful thing. And then things got worse.
StandardAero has completed its first aftermarket installation of Aviation Partners Inc.’s high-Mach blended winglets on a Falcon 2000 business jet at its Springfield, Ill., facility. The new winglets increase range by up to 260 nm, reduce emissions and are expected to enhance resale value, according to company officials, who note the winglets are production standard on the new Falcon 2000LX.
The worldwide inventory of used business jets for sale decreased from 18 percent to 17.2 percent of the fleet in September, according to a market update report released by AMSTAT, a provider of corporate aviation fleet and operator information.
Cutter Aviation has expanded its on-demand charter operations to the Dallas/Fort Worth market through its new base at Collin County Regional Airport in McKinney, Texas. The company offers on-demand charter on a Hawker Beechcraft 400XP from the McKinney location. Cutter also offers charter from locations in Phoenix and Albuquerque.
More than 30 industry groups and unions — including most general aviation groups — recently joined in signing a letter to senators stressing “the importance of passing a comprehensive, multiyear [FAA] reauthorization.” While associations have individually lobbied for passage of the reauthorization bill, the September letter marks the most significant joint appeal. The House has passed its version of the reauthorization bill, but the Senate has yet to follow.
Brian Delauter, named in September as the TSA’s permanent general manager for general aviation, said his top-three priorities are to improve communications with stakeholders, come to a resolution on the Large Aircraft Security Proposal and to remove waiver requirements for international arrivals. Strengthening outreach, communication and stakeholder involvement with the general aviation community are also among Delauter”s goals to improve relations with the GA community, said TSA spokesman Jon Allen.
Hawker Beechcraft Services (HBS) has begun taking “pre-orders” for installation of the Rockwell Collins Pro Line 21 Integrated Display System (IDS) in the Beechcraft 1900D. The upgrade is expected to be available in third quarter 2010. Christi Tannahill, vice president of Hawker Beechcraft Global Customer Service and Support, said, “Driven by operator input, the system was designed with an emphasis on improving reliability and lowering operating costs.”
The FAA’s inconsistent interpretation of FARs between the agency’s Regional Offices, Aircraft Certification Offices (ACOs) and Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) has caused aviation businesses to suffer high, unnecessary costs, delays and obstacles, says a National Air Transportation Association member survey released Oct. 2. NATA intends to share the survey data with the GAO to support a review of the issues.
Pratt & Whitney Canada said it will reduce its global workforce by approximately 250 employees by year-end to align with a projected decline in customer demand and weakness in the global aerospace market with no signs of a near-term recovery. P&WC also will close its Auvergne Street facility in Longueuil, Quebec, by the end of 2010 and transfer its activities to other Montreal facilities. That closure will result in an additional workforce reduction of 160 employees across the company’s Quebec operations, starting early next year.
Cessna Aircraft has delivered the first Citation X to be retrofitted with elliptical winglets. The performance-enhancing airfoils were installed at the Wichita Cessna Service Center under Winglet Technology LLC’s STC.
Cincinnati-based Aviation Research Group/US reports that business aircraft activity in September 2009, buoyed by turboprop operations, was at its highest level since a year ago. Data from ARG/US TRAQPak, which presents serial-number specific aircraft arrival and departure information on all IFR flights in the United States (including Alaska and Hawaii), indicates September business aircraft activity increased 2.7 percent from August. And when compared to operations in September 2008, activity was up 0.4 percent.
Eclipse Aerospace — which opened for business Sept. 1 after purchasing the assets of Eclipse Aviation out of Chapter 7 bankruptcy — is refurbishing 28 Eclipse 500s formerly owned by DayJet, the bankrupt Florida air taxi company. Eclipse Aerospace also plans to buy back and refurbish Eclipse jets from other owners who want to sell their aircraft.
Piedmont Aircraft Co. sold two-dozen aircraft between its official launch in February and the end of July. During that period, the company completed transactions on one Beechjet, one Premier, two Beech 1900s, 11 King Airs, two Barons and six Bonanzas. “Even in this market — which is one of the toughest we have seen in years — there are buyers out there,” says Piedmont CEO Tom Mekis, a former Beech executive. “It’s a question of matching the right buyer with the right seller — at the right price.
Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer Executive Vice President, Executive Jets, unabashedly admits that Embraer has revised its long-term business jet forecasting methodology in light of recent painful experiences, primarily by decreasing the weight of U.S. and European indicators, and adjusting delivery timelines. Affonso said that order cancellations seem to have virtually ceased and he is reasonably confident that production rates have been appropriately adjusted to match demand.
“In a sign that conditions are improving modestly in the market for used jets, inventories fell 40 basis points in August, the first material decline of this [economic] cycle,” reported the business jet industry analysts at financial services company JP Morgan in the September edition of their Business Jet Monthly report.
Honeywell’s Business Jet Outlook covers the 2009 to 2019 period, 11 years. Its unit delivery forecast predicts 10,000 to 11,000 new jets worth $200 billion during that period. Honeywell is a little less forthcoming about its methodology, but states the outlook is based on a survey of 1,200 corporate, airframe manufacturers (presumably one of which is Embraer, a major Honeywell engine and avionics customer) — and then cryptically refers to “other sources” of information.
A coalition of groups including the Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) is asking lawmakers to extend the tax waiver on private activity bonds. The appeal is to extend the waiver of the Alternative Minimum Tax penalty on private activity bonds, commonly used to raise money for airport projects. The federal stimulus bill passed earlier this year temporarily waived the AMT for private activity bonds. During the worst of the credit crisis, airports found it hard to raise money in the bond market for bonds that had the AMT penalty.
Surface Wind and Pressure — In light of the recent FedEx MD-11 crash in Narita, a review of pressure fields and isobars on the surface analysis chart is in order. It’s worth the effort to study and interpret these charts before your departure, or en route if you have the capability to download weather maps in flight.
The grim realities of the recession or near depression that has slammed business aviation — slowed or halted production lines, thousands of manufacturing and service workers suddenly made jobless, shuttered flight departments and charter operators, and a used aircraft market choked with inventory — are not only with us, but some elements are likely to worsen. However, the absolute worst — the collapse of the entire industry — has not occurred, and it looks like business aviation will climb again. Just as it did after every previous recession.
Sept. 24 — At 1843 PDT, a Eurocopter AS350 B3 (N103LN) experienced a loss of tail rotor authority and landed hard on the hospital landing pad at St. Mary’s Helistop, Tucson, Ariz. The helicopter was operated by Air Methods. The airline transport pilot, flight nurse, medic and patient were not injured but the helicopter was substantially damaged. It was VFR at the time of the accident, and a company flight plan had been filed.
EADS and Eurocopter have signed a cooperation agreement with the sovereign wealth fund SAMRUK-KAZYNA to create a public-private joint venture in Kazakhstan to develop helicopter services. The project includes both European and Kazakh partners. The signing took place during the recent official visit of French President Nicolas Sarkozy to Kazakhstan. The joint venture will transfer skills to local partners to develop an indigenous helicopter service industry in Kazakhstan.
Project Phoenix has delivered its first Phoenix CRJ to a Macau-based businessman. The delivery took place on Aug. 24 at the Flying Colours Corp. completion facility in Peterborough, Ontario, Canada.
