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.
The National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) held a special, sold-out industry-wide forum at DFW Feb. 15 focusing on “Challenges and Opportunities Ahead: The Aircraft Sales Industry in the Next Six Months.” While the association anticipated 100 or so attendees, double that number of aircraft brokers, dealers and finance organizations turned out for the event. “The remarkable attendance at the NARA forum is indicative of the concern professionals have about the business aircraft resale market,” noted NARA President Susan Sheets.
The bankruptcy judge granted Eclipse Aviation’s three largest secured creditors, Kings Road Investments, HBK Services and Citadel Investment Group’s motions in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to convert the firm’s Chapter 11 reorganization into a Chapter 7 liquidation proceeding in February. Sources close to Eclipse told BCA Senior Editor Fred George that the move was hastened by ETIRC Aviation’s inability to come up with the funds necessary to close its earlier proposed asset buyout.
Cessna Aircraft has introduced its “No Worries” program for prospective purchasers of pre-owned Citations in an effort to assure them that their investment in a used light jet will be solid.
House Homeland Security Chair Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) sent a letter to the TSA in March, urging the agency to delay action on its proposed Large Aircraft Security Program until a new administrator is in place to review the proposal and “engage with Congress and industry stakeholders.” The chairman also questioned the costs associated with proposed third-party audits to measure LASP compliance, the development of a prohibited items list and other aspects of the proposal.
Thanks for “Increasing Vulnerability to Bird Strikes,” (March 2009, page 40). While we concur with your presentation about the basic dimensions of the issue, we were disappointed that you did not acknowledge a body of research demonstrating the potential of on-aircraft devices to deter avian wildlife and substantially reduce the incidence of bird strikes.
AVIATION WEEK held its 52nd Annual Laureate Awards dinner in Washington, D.C., March 3 to recognize industry leaders in seven categories — including business/general aviation — who represented leadership, innovation, operational skill and heroism in 2008. General Dynamics Chairman/CEO Nicholas Chabraja and the Gulfstream Aerospace senior management team of Joseph Lombardo, Preston (Pres) Henne and Larry Flynn won the Business Aviation Laureate for leading Gulfstream to a commanding position in the business aviation market.
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.
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.
Daher, which recently acquired a 70-percent share in business aircraft maker Socata, has finalized an €80 million ($101 million) capital increase that will permit it to undertake a five-year €585 million capital expenditure plan. The plan includes a new plant in Nantes, France, dedicated to advanced composite aerostructures. The capital injection came through the purchase of 20 percent of Daher stock by two recently created French government investment funds.
Many in our industry jeered at Brazil’s imprisonment of American ExcelAire pilots after the Sept. 29, 2006, midair collision over the Amazon that killed 154. Many of the same people cheered when the U.S. Department of Justice recently announced arrests and criminal charges in connection with the Feb. 2, 2005, crash of a Challenger at Teterboro. So, why do the same people have different reactions to these two events? Is it OK for our government to arrest people after an accident, but not OK for other governments to do the same thing?
The Learjet 24 was at FL 450, en route to McAllen, Texas, from Casper, Wyo., when the flight crew made initial contact with Albuquerque ARTCC. About one minute later, the controller called with a frequency change instruction but got no response from the crew. At about that same moment, the Lear’s transponder beacon went dark. The controller made several attempts to contact the aircraft but to no avail. The pilots never responded.
Sikorsky announced that Polish operator Aircom SP Z.O.O. is the launch customer for the first commercial S-434 helicopter, a four-blade, more-powerful upgrade version of the S-333 single-turbine rotorcraft. Aircom plans to take delivery of its S-434 in 2011.
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.
Era Systems Corp. has been on a winning streak with awards to team to install ADS-B-based surface surveillance systems at Estonia’s Tallinn Airport and three airports in Turkey: Ataturk International Airport in Istanbul, Antalya Airport and Esenboga International Airport in Ankara. The efforts will center on Era’s surface surveillance technology featuring its MSS surveillance system and Squid vehicle tracking units.” In addition, Era has been selected by Airports Fiji Ltd.
Landmark cut the ribbon on its newly renovated and expanded executive terminal at White Plains, N.Y., in December 2008, opening the doors on a 23,208-square-foot facility that features executive conference rooms and lounges, with a galley and snooze room for pilots. The company invested $5.4 million in the facility overhaul and expansion.
Two safety experts interviewed by Business & Commercial Aviation for this report provided some operational examples that can be addressed by safety management systems. Ray Rohr, director, regulatory affairs, International Business Aviation Council — “The example I like to use is fatigue. You can put down hard hours to fly, which might work for the airlines but not charter; however, with an SMS, you can have performance-based rules that provide a safety objective and a process for the operator to meet it.
Bill Hoffman, Devon Energy’s av manager, and I had flown the Falcon 2000 from Washington, D.C., home to Oklahoma City the previous night and now I was pumped. During football season, Tuttle, Okla., lives for Friday night, and today was homecoming for the Tuttle High Tigers — parades, bands, The Game. I couldn’t wait.
The Heli-Expo show in February confirmed that commercial helicopter demand is facing a down cycle, but a JPMorgan analyst predicted the market appears stronger for helicopters than for business jets. “Unlike the bizjet market, manufacturers on the helo side are not seeing massive demand destruction [yet].” JPMorgan credited market diversity with oil/gas, EMS, law and utility niches holding steady. But it also warned of “red flags. Our conversations clearly suggest to us that we could see a multiyear down cycle,” the analyst said.
AMSTAT marked the fifth anniversary of its acquisition by CAMP Systems. Tinton Falls, N.J.-based AMSTAT provides corporate aviation market and statistical information that generates revenue and delivers competitive advantage to brokers/dealers, finance companies, fractional providers, and suppliers of aircraft parts and services. Since the acquisition the company has substantially increased its range of services and capabilities, including establishing a full-time research presence in the FAA Records building in Oklahoma City. CAMP Systems International, Inc.
The NBAA has a great resource for hangar safety compliance that includes OSHA checklists and guidance for developing an effective safety program — www.nbaa.org/ops/safety/hangar. In addition to safety resources, the NBAA offers guidance for developing your procedures manual and implementing effective management programs.
A footnote on page 129 of the fiscal 2010 U.S. budget overview calls for “repealing some aviation excise taxes and replacing these taxes with direct user charges,” beginning in 2011. The budget did not provide specifics, but the charges would appear to raise about $7 billion, the same amount sought by the Bush administration user-fee proposal. This has drawn strong reactions from industry associations and congressional legislators.
“Jet sales are no longer in a cool-down mode. This industry has been pickled,” declared Carl Janssens, author of the Aircraft Bluebook’s Marketline newsletter. Values for virtually all jets and turboprops are declining or, at best, stable, according to the spring 2009 edition of the publication.
Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works also has a composite project with interesting implications for business jet makers. The Skunk Works expects to conduct the first flight of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) X-plane demonstrator by June. The ACCA is a heavily modified Dornier 328JET, which operates in both regional airliner and business jet applications, with a composite cargo fuselage and vertical tail fabricated using low-cost “out-of-autoclave” bonding techniques.
Sky Wings, a Greek charter operator and partner of Khors Air Co. of the Ukraine, has successfully completed installation of its first Aviation Fleet Solutions (AFS) QuietEagle noise-reduction system on one of its Pratt & Whitney JT8D-200-powered Boeing MD83s. The installation was accomplished during a routine maintenance check at the MNG Technic service facility in Istanbul, Turkey. Sky Wings/Khors Air Co. has ordered three QuietEagle kits.
