Piaggio Aero, West Pam Beach, Fla., announced that Tom Mahoney is the new sales director for the Northeastern United States and Eastern Canada; Ernie Santiago has been appointed sales director for the U.S. West Coast and Western Canada. They join sales directors Shane Ellis and Michael Hissam, who will pursue more focused and defined sales management roles within Piaggio.
Conklin & de Decker’s latest Aircraft Performance Comparator is now available. According to the company it is the most comprehensive and easy to use performance comparison tool and now includes some of the latest aircraft that are still in development. The Aircraft Performance Comparator allows the user to overlay and compare aircraft interiors and exteriors with critical performance data that comes directly from the manufacturer’s approved flight and performance manuals. Price (CD only): Jets, $695; Turboprops, $595; Helicopters, $595; Pistons, $450
The helicopter EMS industry has questions about several of the NTSB’s 19 proposed safety recommendations aimed at minimizing the risks of HEMS operations issued at a Sept. 1 Safety Board meeting in Washington, D.C. While helicopter industry leaders found few surprises in the recommendations regarding civil medevac operations, they questioned the time frames of many of them. Some were taken aback by one directed to federal Medicare and Medicaid services’ payment practices.
The National Air Transportation Association’s Safety 1st division has developed an excellent suite of interactive training software for professional line service technicians that sets the standard for the FBO community. Operators who avail themselves of the package will reap immediate rewards in a safer and more productive ramp. The content is useful for both initial and recurrent training, and there is a six-month window for completion by a given student.
Mark Radosevich (Standard Alcohol Company of America, Inc.)
You made some interesting points in “Growing Our Own” (Viewpoint, August, page 7); however, green algae are not the answer regarding new biofuels! Agri-oils harvested from jathropa, or palm, sunflower seeds, green algae or hemp repel water just like petroleum-derived oils do. None completely combust in a jet turbine, industrial boiler or a piston-powered engine. And the unburned oils exiting the tailpipe then phase separate in the water vapor making up this blue planet’s atmosphere and we see and breathe it as brown, urban smog.
College Park (Md.) Airport, the country’s oldest continually running airport, turns 100 on Oct. 8. The airport was created in 1909 when the Wright brothers, who had been contracted to provide training for U.S. Army officers to fly their military flyer, selected as their training field a site near College Park, home of the Maryland Agricultural College, now the University of Maryland, in College Park.
The Phenom 300’s flight deck continues Embraer’s philosophy of reducing workload by automating systems and slashing the size of checklists. Much the same as does the Phenom 100, the Phenom 300 reflects Embraer’s experience in designing airliners for a broad range of pilot experience levels. Less is more in this cockpit. Dedicated controls are installed for frequently operated systems, such as engines and airframe systems. Occasionally operated systems, such as weather radar and TCAS, have software-driven interfaces accessible through the MFD.
But there are notable differences between the Chinese and Western systems and some weak points operators need to know before heading to the PRC. “First,” Kuehnl pointed out, “they operate in metric. In terms of altimetry, usually everything is QNH at the big places, but they will default to QFE at the more remote locations. It should be standardized, as it would make life easier, since you would know what to expect. In terms of flight planning, they like you to follow airways; there are very few direct routings.
Comtran International, Inc., the Texas-based aviation company known best for its Boeing MD-80 hush kits and head-of-state aircraft completions, has received European Aviation Safety Agency certification of its Revolution Series 328, a 12-passenger VIP conversion of the Dornier 328JET. This approval will enable Comtran to sell the aircraft to operators in Europe and other regions where EASA certification is required.
Cessna has set up a new Internet site to guide operators of Citations with a takeoff weight of more than 12,566 pounds (5,700 kg) who plan to regularly fly in the European Union through the process of registering their aircraft with the EU’s aviation Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS). The scheme requires emission reporting in 2010 and mandatory use in 2012 of carbon allocations for all flights in EU airspace.
What does “current” mean when you are dealing with aircraft maintenance? There’s more than one definition, since the correct response depends on whether you are maintaining an aircraft under FAR Part 91, 121 or 135.
The FAA has published its NPRM amending Part 23 jet certification standards. In a nutshell, since Part 23 was written around light piston-powered aircraft, every jet certified under current Part 23 standards has required time-consuming exemptions, special certification conditions and “equivalent level of safety” findings. The FAA has put up with the situation for decades, due to the low rate of new jet certifications. But the recent high volume of jet certifications associated with with the advent of VLJs, entry level jets, light jets, etc.
Rotor-Lift Aviation of Tasmania, Australia, has purchased two helicopter flight simulators from Carlsbad, Calif.-based FLYIT Simulators. They will be installed in a mobile self-contained trailer/classroom. One is a FLYIT Professional Helicopter Simulator with six flight model capability. The other is a custom model AS355 Twin Star (also Twin Squirrel) with a full-function autopilot and dual Garmin 430Ws.
General Dynamics, Savannah, Ga., named Richard McMillion general manager of the General Dymanics Aviation Services facility at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, replacing Brian Waymire, who has returned to Gulfstream headquarters in Savannah.
The third quarter edition of Vref’s Market Leader newsletter, which noted that sales activity is up marginally in nearly every segment of the pre-owned aircraft market, asked, “Can the worst recession in history be fading in less than a year?”
Denver International Airport (DIA) is jumping on the green bandwagon with a plan to build a solar electricity system to power its fuel farm. The airport is asking the Denver City Council for approval to build the $7 million photovoltaic project. The system would sit on nine acres north of the airfield and would generate 1.6 megawatts of power, enough to provide 100 percent of the airport’s fuel farm electricity consumption.
AgustaWestland and UI International have been awarded a contract to supply the Korea National Police Agency with an eight-seat, single-engine AW119Ke enhanced Koala law enforcement helicopter.
The advisory commission for Scottsdale Airport has recommended that the facility adjust its business plan to increase the aircraft weight limit from 75,000 pounds to 100,000 pounds to support its long-term growth.
The NTSB Bar Association in Washington, D.C., has established the Joseph T. Nall Award to recognize individuals who make significant contributions to aviation and transportation safety. The first award will be presented at the group’s annual meeting in Washington, Nov. 12. The award is named after Joseph Nall, a member of the NTSB from 1986 through 1989 when he died in an aircraft accident in Caracas on official NTSB business. See NTSBbar.org.
