I read “Without Apology” (Viewpoint, January, page 7) with interest because of the negative spin placed on business aircraft by Congress, and of course the lapdog media with its pile-on mentality, during the hearings on the automotive industry bailout proposal. The fat, stupid cats running Detroit deserve an Oscar for sheer arrogance. However, you raise a very interesting issue once again — business aircraft as a sign of noblesse oblige.
With the latest proposal to limit the operational freedom of aircraft weighing over 12,500 pounds, I am surprised by how limited and guarded the responses have been from the aviation community. It seems that with every passing quarter, the TSA has issued some new restriction on our civil liberties. I don’t think I am alone in believing that the TSA is continuing to expand its sphere of influence, control and restrictions at a rate faster than it can effectively manage, or measure, its own effectiveness.
AAR Corp., Wood Dale, Ill., announced that Danny Martinez, former vice president of line maintenance for American Airlines, has joined the company as vice president and general manager of AAR Aircraft Services — Indianapolis. Averitt Air, Nashville, announced that Kevin Whitmore has joined the company as service manager and will provide in-house technical support for all Bombardier Learjet aircraft. AWAS, Dublin, Ireland, appointed Alan Stewart to the position of chief financial officer.
Stevens Aviation has received Parts Manufacturing Approval (PMA) for its avionics upgrade to the Learjet 60. Stevens owns an STC that covers installation of the Universal Avionics EFI-890R multifunction display with the application server unit and the optional Vision-1 Synthetic Vision System in the Learjet 60. Stevens Aviation is negotiating with several partners for distribution and installation of the Learjet 60 kit worldwide.
The U.S. Fiscal Year 2010 budget proposal uses the current financing system, waiting until 2011 before making any changes to the mechanism. Approximately 75 percent ($11.7 billion) of the FAA’s funding will continue to come from fuel and ticket taxes during 2010, with the remaining 25 percent ($4.3 billion) coming from the general tax fund. But beginning in 2011, the administration anticipates replacing $9.6 billion in tax revenues to fund the FAA with the same amount from user fees.
Cessna announced the 200th Citation Mustang delivery when Maritime Air Charters picked up its new aircraft at Cessna’s Independence, Kan., facility. Although based in Honolulu, Maritime Air Charters will operate the new Mustang in charter service from its facility in Newnan, Ga., outside Atlanta. Maritime intends to offer its services including aircraft management, flight crew service and charter management to other Mustang owners.
The upside of the current depressed market for business jets is that aircraft values have dropped so precipitously that many older, once-proud, long-range aircraft can be acquired and upgraded at a fraction of the cost of brand-new airframes. Capital Aviation, located at Wiley Post Airport in Bethany, Okla., is helping operators take advantage of such opportunities through its “Reflections” program, under which older large-cabin business aircraft are getting tip-to-tail makeovers.
ARINC Direct is offering a new Web-based package of flight support services for VLJs, plus other general aviation aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds at takeoff. The subscription price of only $1,500 per year, includes flight planning, complete weather information, aircraft tracking, runway analysis and weight and balance calculations. It also includes participation in ARINC’s discount fuel service. Dispatchers and crews can access the service from anywhere using any Internet device or smartphone.
The NTSB determined the probable cause of a midair collision between two EMS helicopters last year was both pilots’ failure to see and avoid the other helicopter on approach to the helipad. Contributing to the accident were the failure of one of the pilots to follow arrival and noise abatement guidelines and the failure of the other pilot to follow communications guidelines. On June 29, 2008, about 3:47 p.m. MST, two Bell 407 EMS helicopters, operated by Air Methods Corp.
June 15-21: International Paris Air Show, Le Bourget Exhibition Centre, Le Bourget, France. www.paris-air-show.com June 24: NBAA Regional Forum, Signature Flight Support, St. Paul Downtown Airport, Minn. www.nbaa.org June 25-27: 14th Annual Flight Attendants Conference, Doubletree Hotel, New Orleans. www.nbaa.org July 16: Demonstrating & Quantifying the Value of Business Aviation, McGraw-Hill Corporate Headquarters, 1221 Avenue of the Americas, New York, N.Y. (800) 240-7645. www.aviationweek.com/conferences
The ninth European Business Aviation Convention & Exhibition (EBACE) drew to a close May 14. Event organizers cheered the show as the third-largest EBACE ever, with 10,917 registered attendees. The three-day event opened May 12 in Geneva, Switzerland with 9,300 pre-registered attendees, 411 exhibitors and 65 aircraft on static display — five more aircraft than in 2008. BCA had our Show News staff on site, where they published an issue each day and posted it to the AviationWeek.com free Web site, where they’re still available.
I have an acquaintance — a light-twin business pilot — who always files IFR for any trip away from his immediate local area for two reasons: “One, I’ve got someone to talk to and help me watch for traffic; and, two, staying IFR keeps me on track for the correct airport, especially at night.” Not a bad idea, especially for a lone pilot in busy airspace.
Nearly 70 U.S. mayors sent a letter in May to President Barack Obama asking him to speak out to counter the negative press that is hurting the general aviation industry. Wichita Mayor Carl Brewer and three other mayors conducted a conference call to reporters, sponsored by the Alliance for Aviation Across America, recapping the letter, noting that jobs have been lost and an entire sector of the economy has been seriously damaged as a result of general aviation bashing.
SimCom Training Centers is offering customers a new cost-saving option for the Citation Single-Pilot Training course. The program is FAR Part 142 and insurance industry approved, and eliminates the requirements to take a check ride in the aircraft. The training is conducted at SimCom’s center in Orlando. The improved course is the result of customer feedback, according to Wally David, president and CEO. SimCom is also offering a time-saving, eight-day, one-person CJ captain Initial Training course.
Just six months prior to the Aloha Airlines, Flight 243 cabin structural failure over Hawaii on April 28, 1988, mechanics completed a repair near the section of cabin structure that later failed. Cracks were found on a lap joint during a visual inspection and repairs were made according to manufacturer’s instructions. When the section of cabin roof ripped away from the aircraft in a rapid decompression failure, one flight attendant was swept way in an instant and some of the passengers and crew were seriously injured.
It was croissants, café au lait and a larger crowd than I had expected one recent morning in Paris. I’d come to learn about aviation 2030 as seen by Thales, the French aviation electronics outfit. My curiosity sprang in part from an exchange with one of my teenage sons one winter day as he readied for a flight to Florida.
With a 117.4 foot wingspan, 110.3 feet overall length, and a tail four stories high, it’s hard to miss a BBJ sitting on an FBO ramp. It’s too large to be towed into most general aviation hangars. This is one very high-profile business jet.
Iridium says it will seek a license to provide mobile satellite services via a newly formed entity: Iridium Communications Russia. The company is pushing its total global coverage, including Polar regions, as a significant plus in the Russian market. It has partnered with Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, which owns and operates an Iridium gateway. Iridium hopes to add still more service providers in Russia.
ARG/US has compiled its 2007-2009 on-site safety audit results into a comprehensive Audit Recommendations Report that focuses on areas of Safety Management Systems (SMS) and Emergency Response Planning that were found by auditors to have the highest number of deficiencies. “Each year we audit a significant number of both FAR Part 91 and Part 135 operators and in so doing gather vast amounts of information on safety programs,” said Joseph Moeggenberg, president of ARG/US.
To learn more about NDT Technology, visit: American Society for Non-Destructive Testing www.asnt.org ASTM International www.astm.org The NDT Resource Center www.ndt-ed.org
The FAA needs to do more to ensure that controller staffing and trainee levels do not become a problem at the Southern California TRACON, Los Angeles airport tower and the Northern California TRACON, according to a new report from the DOT Inspector General. A wave of controller retirements, a nationwide issue, has brought an influx of trainees into the California ATC facilities.
Eurocopter and Thales have teamed to build the first ever Dauphin AS365 N3 simulator for delivery in 2011 to Heli-Union’s training center in Angouleme, in the Charente region of France. Since the helicopter’s launch in 1975, more than 950 AS365s have been sold in 64 countries. The simulator will be dual-certified as a Level 3 Flight Training Device and as a Level B Full Flight Simulator.
RDT Ltd. and Lufthansa Technik AG are presenting a solution for integrating the latest telemedicine equipment into private and commercial aircraft. The integrated product combines the latest technology of both parties — RDT’s Tempus IC with the Lufthansa Technik Mobile Access Router (MAR) — allowing a complete embedding of telemedicine services into the communication network of the aircraft.
