Formation of a new General Aviation Caucus in the U.S. Senate was welcomed last week by a general aviation industry battered by negative perceptions on Capitol Hill, within the Obama administration and among the general public. Sens. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and Mike Johanns (R-Neb.) issued a “Dear Colleague” letter urging senators to join the new caucus, which they said will work with industry stakeholders and government agencies to ensure that a “safe and vibrant environment” remains for GA.
Sentient Jet, the Weymouth, Mass.-based private membership and charter provider, has opened new corporate offices in New York City. Sentient’s operations and command center will remain in Weymouth. The Weymouth and New York City offices will be supported by Sentient’s network of regional bases in Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Pittsburgh and Providence, along with three in California (San Francisco, Los Angeles and Orange County). Sentient said the addition comes as its membership and charter programs continue to grow.
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.
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.
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.
Honeywell’s Primus Epic avionics system has become one of the firm’s most successful technology development programs, having found a home aboard more than a dozen different aircraft models ranging from helicopters to regional airliners. The latest and most advanced versions were revealed at the 2009 NBAA Convention in October aboard Dassault Falcon Jet and Gulfstream aircraft. The two Primus Epic configurations offer several features requested by operators, such as synthetic vision, WAAS LPV and RNP approach capabilities and FANS 1/A certification.
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.
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.
On a cold, rainy IMC night in November 1993, a 13-year-old Bell 206L was en route from the rural coastal community of Ellsworth, Maine, with a 70-year-old burn victim, two medical specialists and a pilot aboard. The helicopter ran out of fuel and crashed into Casco Bay, a few miles from Portland General Hospital, its destination. The pilot survived, but the three others aboard died. Search efforts located two of the passengers four days later in the submerged, inverted helicopter.
A move by China to loosen airspace restrictions on business jets could help fuel a demand recovery in that market, a Wall Street analyst says. Morgan Stanley’s Heidi Wood says the government’s decision last month to reduce the requirement to file civil flight plans to hours — instead of days or weeks — could be the spark that finally opens China’s lucrative but long-elusive bizjet market. The change was “made so quietly its true consequences have yet to be realized,” she wrote in a research note issued Oct.
Senior FAA officials emphatically say they are committed to take account of the recent RTCA report on ATC modernization efforts and will use its findings to reshape NextGen priorities and make better use of existing technologies. The findings of an RTCA industry/government task force give the FAA “an excellent head start on the acceleration” of the modernization program, said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt at the annual Air Traffic Control Association conference.
The FAA’s Customer Service Initiative is dead. Long live the Consistency and Standardization Initiative. FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt announced a new focus on improving the agency’s response to public safety complaints and internal whistle-blowers, as well as remedying its notoriously inconsistent interpretation of agency regulations and policies. The FAA’s new Consistency and Standardization Initiative (CSI) began life as the Customer Service Initiative in 2004.
By definition, low-level wind shear is a localized meteorological event occurring below 2,000 feet of altitude when an aircraft encounters rapidly changing wind speed or direction over a particular distance or time. When the encounter occurs at very low altitude — say, at takeoff or landing — there’s a very real possibility of the pilot losing control.
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.
The U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy conduct “functional check flights” to determine whether an aircraft, engine, accessories or equipment works according to established standards. Some of the situations requiring a check flight include: After completion of aircraft rework; After the installation or reinstallation of an engine, propeller, propeller governor, major fuel system component, helicopter drive train, transmission or gearbox; When a fixed flight surface has been installed or reinstalled;
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.
ICAO members have reached agreement on environmental targets for the global aviation sector, although it is setting higher fuel efficiency standards than industry was proposing. After a high-level meeting in Montreal that ended Oct. 9, ICAO released a declaration of environmental goals for aviation, including a 2-percent annual improvement in fuel efficiency through 2020. This target is higher than the 1.5 percent proposed by the International Air Transport Association and other aviation industry groups.
In an attempt to bolster its user base, NetJets is advertising the availability of “pre-owned” fractional ownership shares in publications such as The New York Times and Wall Street Journal, explaining on its Web site, that, “When a NetJets owner upgrades from one aircraft type to another or when an owner leaves the program, a pre-owned share may become available for resale.
President Barack Obama designated NTSB member Christopher A. Hart as the agency’s vice chairman. Hart was sworn in as a member of the Safety Board on Aug. 12 to a term that ends Dec. 31, 2012. His term as vice chairman will run for two years.
Cobham Avionics, Mineral Wells, Texas, formerly S-TEC Corp., has FAA Organization Designation Authorization for STC projects. As part of ODA, the FAA delegates an organization the authority to perform its own certifications. This designation is the second such for a Cobham business unit; in 2008, Chelton Flight Systems, now also known as Cobham Avionics, was certified for ODA.
The doors reopened at the Eclipse Aviation headquarters and assembly site in Albuquerque Sept. 1, some six months after they were closed — many thought permanently. Eclipse Aerospace, Inc., a new entity founded by Eclipse 500 owners Mason Holland and Mike Press, purchased the bankrupt Eclipse Aviation’s assets at auction in August in a deal involving $20 million in cash and an equal amount in new notes to old Eclipse Aviation noteholders. The original company spent more than $1 billion to design, certify, and deliver the EA 500 very light jet before failing.
The TSA’s new general aviation manager, Brian Delauter, met with the NBAA’s Security Council in August to discuss important security issues affecting general aviation. In addition to briefing the council on the TSA Playbook and Security Directive 8F/G, Delauter also provided the group with a high-level overview of the agency’s review of the Large Aircraft Security Program. He indicated that the TSA is working hard to address comments received to the docket and from the pre- and post-comment period meetings held with the public and industry representatives.
