The NTSB has begun to release all accident investigation public dockets to the NTSB public Web site in accordance with the NTSB Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) Improvement Plan. This effort serves to further bring the Safety Board into compliance with a number of legislative and executive mandates aimed at improving the U.S. government’s use of electronic media to foster a more open and transparent government.
Richard Schuller was presented with the Charles Taylor Master Mechanic Award at the Arizona Business Aviation Association’s meeting in Scottsdale on May 12. Schuller’s aviation maintenance career spans over 50 years and he prides himself on having aviation maintenance and customer support as the sole focus of his career in aviation. The award is named in honor of Charles Taylor, the first aviation mechanic who worked for the Wright brothers.
Raytheon will lead a team of five companies to study how NextGen architecture will affect the National Airspace System from 2018 to 2025. “The next generation of airspace management must support a broad array of capabilities — from classic aircraft with minimal automation to highly integrated, multi-sensor aircraft, including unmanned aerial systems,” a Raytheon official told Avionics magazine.
The actions by a group of protestors calling themselves Plane Stupid, who chained themselves to the wheel of a private jet parked at London City Airport on June 10 were called “misguided” and “politically driven” by the British Business & General Aviation Association (BBGA). The protesters were arrested and charged with criminal damage, along with breaking and entering. Plane Stupid activists have a record of pulling aviation-related publicity stunts to highlight their concerns about climate change, says the BBGA.
Lufthansa Technik has added several new features to its Inflight Entertainment and Cabin Management System — nice (networked integrated cabin equipment). The features focus on new ways to control different systems in the cabin. Improvements have been made to the wireless system controller and this handheld touchscreen device now features a colored graphical user interface that can be mounted in four different cradles while recharging.
Mike Ellis, Hawker Beechcraft’s vice president of pre-owned aircraft, characterizes today’s market for previously owned business aircraft as “tentative.”
The Dornier 328’s type certificate holder, 328 Support Services GmbH, has enlisted the help of two new suppliers on its latest project to convert twin-engine regional jets into 12-seat VIP transports.
The FAA has awarded Northrop Grumman Corp. a contract for the first U.S. installation of its Low-Cost Ground Surveillance (LCGS) program to help manage airport surface traffic. The contract is for an initial LCGS system at the Reno, Nev., airport and includes options for additional airports. Northrop Grumman’s solution is based on the NOVA 9000 developed by Northrop Grumman Park Air Systems. The NOVA 9000 processes and integrates radar and related data to give graphical views of aircraft and vehicles in the airport movement area on display screens to controllers.
AircraftLogs has released upgrades that automate the calculations for tax reporting for companies with an internal flight department. The upgraded “Tax Manager” feature works with existing flight records and passenger data that are held in the AircraftLogs system. It updates aircraft tax compliance information immediately after each flight and will calculate fringe benefit income as required, following the use of the aircraft by executives, according to AircraftLogs. This feature allows tax personnel to monitor compliance on a real-time basis.
Jet Advisors, Broomfield, Colo., announced that former Flight Options vice president of sales and marketing James Dauterman has joined the company as a technical consultant focusing on the contractual aspects of private jet ownership and operation.
The fight over user fees to fund the aviation system may just be a “smoke screen,” according to one industry executive, who warned that even bigger worries may lay ahead. Speaking during the National Air Transportation Association Air Charter Summit, Jet Aviation Senior Vice President Dick Van Gemert warned, “It can get very easy to focus on the wrong battle.” While the battle over user fees is important, Washington leaders are beginning to look for other sources of revenues to pay for the growing expenditures.
Chicago Jet Group of Aurora, Ill., has received an FAA STC for installation of dual Universal Avionics UNS-1Fw or UNS-1Lw units in a Dassault Falcon 50. The FMSes are capable of performing GPS navigation via the Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) Satellite-Based Augmentation System (SBAS). This Falcon 50 STC, which included a Lateral Precision performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) capability, also includes approval for 3-D coupled WAAS GPS (RNAV) LPV procedures.
SimCom has begun operating a TBM 850 FTD at its Orlando training center. The FTD, equipped with a high-resolution visual system, is configured with the TBM 850’s Garmin G1000 avionics suite. The SimCom facility provides a central location within the largest geographic market for the TBM 850 spanning the Southeast. The center also will support TBM customers from Latin and Central America.
Under a 10-year, $437 million contract, Raytheon Technical Services Co. will lead a team of companies and colleges to plan new training programs for the FAA’s air traffic controllers. Booz Allen Hamilton, Dynamic Sciences, The Fortier Group, CNI Information Technology, Interim Solutions for Government, Chenega Technology Services, the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, and Minneapolis Community and Technical College are among the other members of the Raytheon team, the company announced June 9.
Sales have slowed. Warehouses have filled. Profits are down. Analysts are tsk-tsking, reporters are snooping and stockholders are angry. It’s crunch time, that anxious period when every asset, every department undergoes excruciating cost/benefit scrutiny. The worry increases with each business unit’s distance from the company’s core activity — that is, producing, selling or supporting its main products or services.
May 29 — The Charlotte Douglas International Airport (CLT) tower local controller was on position for 29 minutes working nine aircraft with no previous operational errors or operational deviations. The controller cleared PSA Airlines (JIA) Flight 390, a Bombardier CRJ-200, for takeoff on Runway 18L. N409DR, a Pilatus PC-12, was waiting to depart Runway 18L at Intersection A.
In its explanation of business aviation’s significance to the United States, the NBAA, GAMA and others are focusing on the 1.2 million jobs it comprises, the $150 billion in economic activity it generates, its positive trade balance and its humanitarian work, by rushing human organs for transplant, transporting cancer victims to treatment centers and reuniting wounded veterans with their families and friends, among other things. Everyone can appreciate those attributes.
When word came earlier this year that the FAA had granted an STC to Carson Helicopter Services for installation of a Sagem Avionics integrated cockpit display system in its Sikorsky S-61, casual observers might have been surprised. After all, why would a commercial operator spend the time and money to install a glass panel in a helicopter that first flew a half century ago?
“Justifying business aircraft can be a complex endeavor, but it should not be feared,” said David Almy, the driver behind the NBAA’s Travel$ense and now part of the General Aero Co. consultancy.
The New York state legislature is mulling a measure that would make the current five-year general aviation tax exemption permanent, even as the state struggles to fill a $17.9 billion budget deficit in fiscal 2010. Since the sales tax exemption for the maintenance, repair, overhaul or rebuilding of aircraft was enacted, New York has attracted significant investment in aviation services, said a spokeswoman for Assemblyman Robin Schimminger (D) who sponsored the 2004 legislation.
Precision Aviation Group, Atlanta, announced that Phillip Fienen has joined PAG as the new regional sales manager. Sherwin-Williams Aerospace Coatings, Andover, Kan., appointed James W. Havers-Strong sales manager.
Dassault Falcon hosted the 23rd annual awards ceremony June 3, for the Teterboro Airport Community Benefit Fund that has provided more than $124,000 in scholarship awards to nearly 150 individual students since 1986. This year, nine scholarships of $1,500 each were awarded to students representing 14 towns in the surrounding area. Dassault Falcon has hosted the Teterboro Airport Community Benefit Fund awards ceremony for three consecutive years and has been a major contributor since 2001.
Corporate Angel Network received a $50,000 gift from Hawker Beechcraft in continuing support of the charity’s efforts arranging free flights to and from treatment centers for cancer patients using empty seats in business aircraft. “Corporate aircraft owners help Corporate Angel Network brighten the lives of those touched by cancer,” said W.W. (Bill) Boisture Jr., Hawker Beechcraft’s chairman and CEO.
“How can we hide the jet?” This question has been posed too frequently for way too long now. Some flying “off the balance sheet” has always occurred at the fringes of our industry, but now it is becoming mainstream. It shouldn’t be. You can block N-numbers on tracking software and create a leasing labyrinth to hide aircraft ownership, but you can’t prevent someone from snapping a picture of the boss stepping out of the jet.
