Rockwell Collins has been certified by EASA to offer avionics maintenance classes — B2 type training courses — for select Rockwell Collins Pro Line avionics equipped aircraft at the company’s Reading, England, location, the company announced March 24. The first course covers Hawker Beechcraft King Air 300 series Pro Line 21 avionics.
The Department of Homeland Security has dropped the color-coded security threat chart from its homepage, and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano says she finds the system of only “marginal utility.” Though she stopped short of saying she would end the alerts completely, Napolitano told MSNBC, “I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about them.”
The Maryland state senate Finance Committee has approved a bill that may put the brakes on the state’s plan to buy more medevac helicopters. Under the bill, which still has to pass the full state senate, the Maryland Health Care Commission, working with the Maryland Institute of Emergency Medical Systems Services, would be required to study the state’s helicopter emergency medical services before moving with any helicopter purchase.
I have a small, Hong Kong-based company that sells pre-owned aircraft, and crews and manages them in Southeast Asia. Now, I’m trying to start an FAR Part 135 operation in Florida, but I am having a difficult time financially, like many other pilots. We need some verbal help from the president. We are not asking for financial help . . . even though many of us could use it since his words have been spoken. I believe the president should retract or revise what he is saying. My father said one should take care of business at home before you criticize your neighbor. The U.S.
Sometimes simpler is better. Amidst the torrent of ongoing research, claims and announcements of various alternative aviation fuels — almost universally bio-engineered — Teledyne Continental Motors has made the first flight of a certificated aircraft, a G36 Beechcraft Bonanza, using unleaded aviation gasoline. The 94 octane gasoline is a true avgas, identical to 100LL, but without the lead (tetraethyl). The initial tests are being conducted in collaboration with Hawker Beechcraft as part of that company’s sustainability program.
Robert Holleran, Jeppesen’s chief technical pilot, recently completed the flight validation training course for Satellite-Based Performance Based Navigation (PBN) and Special Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) Instrument Flight Procedures (IFP) — making Jeppesen the first and only third-party vendor authorized to flight check PBN procedures.
Marcel Dassault is considering producing the MD-15 pressurized twin turboprop as a business airplane. The Bastan-powered aircraft would carry eight passengers, cruise at 290 mph at 19,500 feet and have a 1,250-mile range. Ramjets at rotor tips power the Dutch-built Kolbrie. The simple, low-cost rotorcraft is highly maneuverable with good stability and deemed ideal for agricultural work.
Garmin Synthetic Vision Technology (SVT) received FAA-certification on a range of G1000-equipped aircraft in April. Cessna announced at the Friedrichshafen, Germany, air show that the new SVT certification applies to all G1000-equipped 172 Skyhawks, 182 Skylanes, 206 Stationairs and Caravans. The day before the Cessna announcement, Daher-Socata announced SVT certification of its TBM 850. The system also received an STC on the King Air 200/B200. And Cessna expects FAA certification on the Citation Mustang, 350 Corvalis and 400 Corvalis TT in the coming weeks.
Pakistan’s Air Force took delivery of the first of four government personnel transport Phenom 100s at Embraer’s headquarters in São José dos Campos, Brazil, on March 24. Embraer says not only is this is the first Embraer aircraft delivered to a Pakistani customer, it is also the first Phenom 100 to be operated by any government.
Blackhawk Modifications, the Waco, Texas-based provider of turboprop engine upgrades, has launched a program to install the 850-shp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-42A powerplant in the Cessna 208 Caravan. This latest entry into the Blackhawk family of XP engine upgrades is expected to win certification by the end of this year. Jim Allmon, president and CEO of Blackhawk Modifications, said, “Caravan operators fly in remote and sometimes dangerous situations. They need the extra power that our XP42A brings them to get in and out of the most challenging places.”
General Electric signed an agreement to purchase Teleflex Inc.’s 51-percent share of Airfoil Technologies International-Singapore Pte. Ltd. (ATI-Singapore), a joint venture between GE and Teleflex, for $300 million in cash, the company announced March 2. GE currently holds a 49-percent share in ATI-Singapore. The purchase will be completed upon receipt of various regulatory approvals and customary closing conditions. ATI-Singapore started operations in 1998 and has become a major source of repair of compressor airfoils.
— A Piper PA-46-500TP (N535JR), departed the runway during landing at the Aspen-Pitkin County Airport, Aspen, Colo. The airplane received substantial damage. The pilot and passenger were uninjured. An IFR flight plan was filed although it was VFR at the time of the accident. The pilot stated that he made a smooth landing on the main wheels and as soon as the nosewheel touched down the airplane began veering left and right uncontrollably. The airplane exited the right side of the runway about 2,000 feet from the approach end and hit a snowbank.
I have just read your Viewpoint in the March issue and I must say business aviation and GAMA cannot find a better, more eloquent and convincing advocate. The strong case you put for business aviation in the USA scenario is what needs to be put for general aviation in Africa. Having been dismissed as “rich man’s toys,” we often find policies in terms of taxation having a strangulating effect on the industry.
Jack Pelton, Cessna’s chief executive sent another memo to employees March 13 announcing furloughs in addition to previously announced outright job eliminations saying, “Foremost on everyone’s mind of late has been the reduction in our workforce. Since the beginning of December, we have notified more than 4,600 Cessnans their jobs have been eliminated. While these steps have been painful for us all, they were necessary. “The other issue of general interest is the subject of furloughs.
General Dynamics announced Gulfstream layoffs March 5 resulting from of a deteriorating backlog, particularly during February, and continued weak demand. GD said Gulfstream Aerospace has found it necessary to cut large-cabin aircraft production and green-aircraft deliveries from a projected rate of 94 to 73 in 2009. Gulfstream also will reduce production of its midsize aircraft from a projected rate of 30 to 24 aircraft this year.
Embraer has signed its first Phenom 100 individual owner Embraer Executive Care (EEC) contract in the United States with Elizabeth and Jim Frost -- the first customers to take delivery of a Phenom 100 in December 2008. EEC is a fixed-cost-per-hour maintenance program that features access to Web-based maintenance tracking software.
Bombardier BD-700-1A10 and BD-700-1A11 airplanes — Inspect for damage and signs of seizure of the power control unit attachment joints and components, and take appropriate corrective actions, which include lubricating the system.
The TSA has re-launched Operation Playbook, this time as a voluntary program. NATA alerted its members on March 12. The Playbook document contains secret security guidelines for the Federal Security Directors at commercial airports. Operation Playbook, originally launched in late 2008, was an initiative under which local TSA officials would implement random unannounced security measures in addition to their normal procedures, including physical screening and searches of airline passengers and baggage.
ICAO has ruled that signatory nations should require safety management systems for all commercial operators, that is, airlines and charter operators. We asked Russ Lawton, director of safety and security for the National Air Transportation Association’s Air Charter Safety Foundation, to comment on the importance of a safety culture in FAR Part 135 operations.
Sierra Industries has delivered its 50th Williams International FJ44-powered Cessna Citation since the Uvalde, Texas-based company won its original FJ44 Eagle II STC to upgrade the light jet’s engines in 2002. The 50th aircraft delivered by Sierra Industries was a Sierra Stallion SP, which features FJ44-2A engines that can be installed in either a Cessna Citation 500 or 501SP.
Your excellent magazine is one of only three aviation publications that I continue to read after many years in aviation, both as a pilot and as an air traffic controller. I was also a paid proofreader of a technical catalog for some time and I’ve been noticing typos. Two examples from the March issue: “Flight Risk: The Threat of Criminalization” tells how a report was “complied” instead of compiled; Accidents in Brief tells how the banking tendency may have been “exasperated” instead of exacerbated.
Gulfstream Aerospace officially opened its APU Test Cell in March at the South Service Center. The 308-square-foot test cell qualifies Gulfstream as a “Center of Excellence” for Honeywell APU Testing and adds to service and support operations at Gulfstream. In the facility, technicians can perform overhaul testing on every APU model used on Gulfstream aircraft as well as other aircraft, including those manufactured by Bombardier, Cessna, Dassault, Hawker Beechcraft, Raytheon and Saab. If an APU repair is needed, it can be done in-house.
Gulfstream Aerospace has delivered more than 65 G150 airplanes since its entry into service in late 2005, establishing the new model as a strong contender in the midsize business jet class. Operators say that it delivers a nearly unbeatable blend of price and operating economics, runway and cruise performance, cabin comfort and reliability.
