Pentastar Aviation, Waterford, Mich., has hired Jessica Brant as customer care representative, Stacy McFall as aircraft charter sales representative, Steve Mineck as flight operation manager and Patrick Tschudi as flight follower supervisor.
Bombardier Aerospace’s Annual forecast included a 20-year Commercial Aircraft Market outlook, 2009 to 2028, that predicts 12,400 deliveries in the 20- to 149-seat market, worth approximately $589 billion.
Air traffic controllers and weather forecasters are criticizing as “reckless” a plan to eliminate FAA-funded National Weather Service forecasting facilities located at FAA Centers, and replace them with two centralized facilities, one Maryland and one in Kansas. The National Weather Service forwarded its consolidation plan to the FAA on June 4, after that agency asked to reduce the cost of providing aviation weather forecasts to controllers.
Bombardier outlined how it will respond as a corporation to its own business jet forecast. “As the world begins to emerge from this economic crisis, demand should gradually return and future prospects remain solid,” for both commercial airliners and business jets, said Mairead Lavery, vice-president, Strategy and Business Development, Bombardier Aerospace. The company said, the fundamentals of the business jet industry are solid and are expected to remain so.
The House passed an amendment to limit the TSA’s use of security directives (SD) to bypass the regulatory approval process. The House agreed to the measure 219-211 as part of its consideration of the comprehensive TSA reauthorization legislation, H.R.2200. The TSA reauthorization bill subsequently cleared the House. Offered by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), general aviation groups endorsed the amendment as a “common-sense approach” to the use of security directives. GA lobbied for the amendment after the TSA’s airport badging SD generated an outpouring of opposition.
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.
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.
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.
Under a 10-year, $437 million contract, Raytheon Technical Services Co. will lead a team of companies and colleges to plan new training programs for the FAA’s air traffic controllers. Booz Allen Hamilton, Dynamic Sciences, The Fortier Group, CNI Information Technology, Interim Solutions for Government, Chenega Technology Services, the University of North Dakota at Grand Forks, and Minneapolis Community and Technical College are among the other members of the Raytheon team, the company announced June 9.
When word came earlier this year that the FAA had granted an STC to Carson Helicopter Services for installation of a Sagem Avionics integrated cockpit display system in its Sikorsky S-61, casual observers might have been surprised. After all, why would a commercial operator spend the time and money to install a glass panel in a helicopter that first flew a half century ago?
Lufthansa Technik has added several new features to its Inflight Entertainment and Cabin Management System — nice (networked integrated cabin equipment). The features focus on new ways to control different systems in the cabin. Improvements have been made to the wireless system controller and this handheld touchscreen device now features a colored graphical user interface that can be mounted in four different cradles while recharging.
“Justifying business aircraft can be a complex endeavor, but it should not be feared,” said David Almy, the driver behind the NBAA’s Travel$ense and now part of the General Aero Co. consultancy.
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.
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.
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.
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.
L-3 Avionics Systems, Grand Rapids, Mich., announced that Jan LaFoy has been appointed president of the company, which is part of L-3 Communications’ Aviation Products business area. He reports to Kris Ganase, president of L-3 Aviation Products.
AOPA and EAA chiefs have formed a pact to explore areas where they can collaborate to promote and protect general aviation. The AOPA’s new President and CEO Craig Fuller met with Experimental Aircraft Association Chairman Tom Poberezny June 3 at the EAA’s Aviation Center in Oshkosh, Wis., to discuss collaborative efforts. The two organizations have been friendly rivals, each with strong-willed leadership, for decades.
NextGen implementation is not moving fast enough and must be accelerated said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt in his first major speech since his June 5 confirmation. Speaking at the RTCA Symposium in Chantilly, Va., June 10, Babbitt emphasized the secret to launching NextGen is advice. “The only way we’re going to get rotation on this is by making sure the parties are at the table, making sure that their voices are heard. That’s the way I intend to keep it,” he said. “Decisions made in a vacuum will bring the system to its knees.
The first-ever Wichita Aero Club Ball raised $31,000 for the United Way of the Plains to benefit laid-off aerospace workers in the region. More than 10,000 industry workers have lost their jobs in Wichita. The event attracted 200 attendees, said club executive director Dave Franson. “The original plan was to hold a black tie ball and present the club’s trophy to a worthy individual,” he said. “But with the current economic conditions and job losses, we felt it wasn’t a good year to do that,” he said.
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.
Mike Ellis, Hawker Beechcraft’s vice president of pre-owned aircraft, characterizes today’s market for previously owned business aircraft as “tentative.”
