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.
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.
CRS Jet Spares, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., welcomes Stephanie Wilson to its team in the role of marketing coordinator. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Fla., announced that Dr. Frank Ayers has been selected as executive vice president for its Prescott, Ariz., campus replacing Dan Carrell, who is retiring after 23 years in campus leadership at Embry-Riddle Prescott.
At NBAA, Embraer unveiled its new Legacy 650, an improved version of the popular super mid-sized Legacy 600 that can fly 3,900 nm, some 500 nm farther than the Legacy 600 with the same payload and better performance, or that can carry another 2,500 pounds of payload over the same 3,400-nm range of the 600.
Most people in the aviation community know Rick Longlott as the president of Steamboat Jets, a charter brokerage and management company in Colorado. What they don’t know is that he’s one of an elite corps of skiing instructors in the United States certified to instruct disabled people in the unique techniques of adaptive skiing. For someone who didn’t even start skiing until he enrolled in a class in college, he’s come a long way.
The Phenom 300 is fitted with two 3,360-pound-thrust, FADEC-equipped PW535E engines that provide competitive takeoff field performance and the capability to climb directly to FL 450 at MTOW. The engine is a close relative of the PW535 fitted to the Citation Encore/Encore+, so it has been well proven in line service.
As NASA prepares to shut down and raze wind tunnels used to test aircraft and space capsules for nearly eight decades, some are questioning whether the space agency is abdicating its role in the development of aeronautics, according to Aviation eBrief. The pending demolition is the latest in a series at Langley Research Center, Va., one of three NASA facilities with wind tunnels. At its height, notes the Hampton, Va. Daily Press, Langley had more than 50.
It’s ironic that 25 years ago BCA editor Arnold Lewis called a young corporate pilot — me — in his first corporate gig for an article on flight department budgets. I went back and read the article in the August 1984 issue and was amazed at how uninformed I really was.
The People’s Republic of China may own Hong Kong and its associated island of Macao, but whenever any of Chris Buchholz’s Metrojet pilots file for a flight to the mainland, they are treated like any other “foreign” operator.
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 CEO and the chief financial officer of Honeywell Aerospace have left the company for greener pastures. Honeywell Aerospace CEO Rob Gillette left to head First Solar, an Arizona-based manufacturer of solar and photovoltaic modules, Honeywell said in a statement. CFO Bob Hau is leaving to be CFO of Lennox International, a Texas-based heating and cooling equipment manufacturer, that company announced. Honeywell has appointed Tim Mahoney to lead its aerospace division. Mahoney was formerly chief technology officer of Honeywell Aerospace.
That photograph on your driver’s license is probably your least favorite likeness, but the chances are it never affected you the way Joshua Doyle’s did. His driver’s license portrait changed his life.
Universal Aviation China’s Jimmy Young provided the following country data for operators headed to the Peoples Republic of China. Commonly Used International Entry and Exit Points for China Northeast Region: ARGUK POLHO INTIK NIXAL AGAVO Southeast Region: LAMEN SADLI BEKOL TAMOT SIERRA SICOU Southwest Region: TEBAK KATBO SAGAG LINSO Northwest Region: PURPA REVKI SARIN GOPTO MORIT Popular Tourist Airports Not Open to Foreign-registered Aircraft ZULS Lasa Gongga Airport
Amid a round of layoffs at Cirrus Aircraft, the company confirmed that co-founder Alan Klapmeier was no longer involved with the company. Klapmeier had not come to terms with Cirrus on a plan to acquire the Cirrus Vision Jet program, and he left when his contract as board chairman expired in August.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Peter Smales, a former executive director of group sales and managing director (Europe) for ExecuJet, has returned to the United Kingdom to head a new business sales and services company, Indigo Lyon, which is headquartered in Windsor, Berkshire, England. The privately owned, limited liability company will specialize in international sales of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft and also be involved in spare parts brokerage, consultancy, program planning and execution management.
Are executive/VIP-configured turboprop transports a trend? ATR announced that the Royal Thai Air Force took delivery of its first VIP-configured ATR turboprop transport yesterday (Sept. 9), ATR announced. The ATR 72-500 is the first of four VIP ATR’s ordered in 2007 with a VIP cabin interior and optional front passenger door. The RTAF VIP fleet mission is to transport the Thai royal family and government and military officials.