- launching a new initiative “to address misinformation on the business use of general aviation aircraft and to provide a more accurate picture of the value of business aircraft. We think it’s time the other side of the story be told, and that support be given to those businesses with the good judgment and courage to use business aviation to not only help their businesses survive the current financial crisis, but more quickly forge a path toward an economic upturn,” said Cessna Chairman, President and CEO Jack J. Pelton. Cessna is a Textron company.
iper Aircraft PA-46-350P and PA-46R-350T airplanes — Conduct an inspection to verify that the 35-amp and 250-amp current limiters are installed in the proper locations. If the limiters are not installed in the appropriate spots, then reinstall them in the proper locations. In addition, limit operation of the aircraft to daytime VFR conditions until the limiter installations are inspected and corrected.
What should flight crews headed into foreign countries’ airspace know in order to protect themselves from criminalization in the event of an accident or incident? Business aviation flight crews tend to be more exposed than their airline counterparts because they fly just about everywhere and tend not to have the luxury of large infrastructures like major airlines, pilot unions, the Air Transport Association and International Air Transport Association supporting them.
At 16, Brandon Gordon is into gaming with his XBox 360, likes hanging with his buddies in his hometown of DeWitt, Mich., and is an unabashed hockey fanatic — he not only talks the game nonstop, but he’s a whiz on blades. In fact, he was the St. John Area Skating Association’s star goalie, and wears his #22 jersey with pride, but not aboard the company jet, which he rides often.
The FAA has been on a kind of enforcement rampage during the past two years, one that singles out FAR Part 91 and Part 135 operators for certificate suspension or revocation while merely giving Part 121 air carriers a relative “slap on the wrist.” At least that’s the view of many operators and general aviation trade associations.
Jet Works Air Center , Denton, Texas, has added Chad Mansfield as a new regional sales manager focusing on maintenance, avionics, paint and interiors service for turbine business aircraft. Jet Works was recently recognized as one of the top 100 fastest growing, privately held companies in the Dallas area.
The U.S. Department of Justice last month indicted five Platinum Jet Management executives and a pilot on 23 criminal counts related to what it says are illegal practices that led to the 2005 Challenger 600 runway overrun and crash at Teterboro Airport in New Jersey.
Bombardier Aerospace recently established its first line maintenance facility in Finland and increased capabilities in China and the United States — expanding its global network of authorized service and maintenance facilities for the 12th time in the last 12 months. Jetflite in Helsinki provides AOG assistance to customers throughout Scandinavia.
Maintenance technicians are even more susceptible to criminalization following aviation accidents because, as Brian Finnegan points out, “the signoff [for a maintenance assignment] lasts forever, so liability follows the mechanic for years afterward.”
The New Year ushered in unprecedented turbulence for the business aviation industry. The market disintegrated in a fashion not experienced since the Great Depression, and National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne contends that the industry has entered a depression. Textron Chairman Lewis Campbell believes that 2009 is staged to become the most challenging year ever for manufacturers.
A team from the Georgia Institute of Technology has developed algorithms for an en route traffic optimization project that it maintains has the potential to reduce airline fuel consumption by more than one billion gallons a year and provide environmental benefits. The FAA will test the new procedure this year at an Air Route Traffic Control Center, yet to be determined.
The TSA says it will revise its classified “playbook” for airport Federal Security Directors (FSDs) after unspecified current guidance in the document led two of them to attempt to conduct unauthorized surprise general aviation passenger and pilot screenings at FBOs at Bradley International Airport in Conn. and at Nashville. The plan to conduct passenger, pilot and hangar screenings at Bradley was nipped in the bud when NBAA contacted TSA headquarters, which aborted the attempt.
Vociferously unfavorable feedback to the LASP proposal seems to have captured the attention of new Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. In one of her first meetings with TSA officials, Napolitano reportedly mentioned the LASP rulemaking and said the department must balance the need for a secure transportation system with “the legitimate impact on consumers.” She stressed that the department must “continue to work and improve.” Stay tuned.
After months of negotiations, Michael Jaffe, the insolvency administrator for Grob Aerospace, has named H3 Aerospace as the buyer of the company’s training aircraft and support businesses. Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany-based H-3 Aerospace is making the purchase through Fortius Mittelstandskapital. Around 100 employees were expected to resume work at Grob’s Tussenhausen-Mattsies, Germany, facility in February. The insolvency administrator said he expects further growth, with the initial 100 returnees just a starting point. The SPn program is expected to survive separately.
March 6-7: PAMA 2009 Aviation Maintenance & Management Symposium, American Airlines Training and Conference Center, Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas. www.pama.org March 10-12: AS3, Aviation Industry Expo, Las Vegas Convention Center, Las Vegas. www.aviationindustryexpo.com March 10-15: Australia International Air Show and Aerospace & Defence Exposition, Victoria, Australia. www.airshow.net.au/avalon2009 March 16-18: 21st Annual European Aviation Safety Seminar (EASS), Hilton Cyprus Hotel, Nicosia, Cyprus. www.flightsafety.org
I’d been yelling at the television and pounding on the newspapers day after day. The business jet had suddenly become the whipping boy for all the world’s ills, and the righteous blather emanating from Washington, talking heads, columnists and editorial pages around the country was myopic, one sided and unchallenged. I was fed up with the quick, thoughtless castigation, the posturing pols hoping for sound bites on CNN, and the rampant hypocrisy that was doing real damage to good people in a vital transportation segment. This was madness. It was fight back.
Starlink Aviation, Inc. , Montreal, announced that Luc Masse has joined the company as vice president and chief operating officer. Zoran Bratuijavic has been promoted to vice president of sales and will oversee the sales team and direct overall sales initiative for FBOs, aircraft charter and aircraft maintenance. Dan Paquet has been promoted to vice president, business development, responsible for the overall development of new routes for the company’s regional airline service.
The Air Transportation Association’s SmartBrief e-mail the last week in January said the Commercial Aviation Alternative Fuels Initiative is one of the key drivers in the search for commercially viable new fuels. The ATA’s environmental chief, Nancy Young, stated the association’s position in a letter to Biodiesel magazine. A CAAFI-developed timeline calls for the certification of a 50-percent synthetic jet fuel by the middle of this year, and a 50-percent biofuel in 2010. “With jet fuel as our No.
Dassault Falcon , Saint-Cloud, France, recently named Jean Kayanakis vice president, Falcon Worldwide Spares. He replaces Frank Youngkin, who was promoted to vice president, Western Hemisphere Customer Service.
Since the earliest days of aviation, pilots have been staring at gauges to help ascertain the condition of their machines and the world around them. Orville and Wilbur had three instruments on their first Flyer: a stopwatch, an anemometer for measuring wind speed and a tachometer. Subsequently and especially since the introduction of instrument flight and the development of the standard T cluster, engineers managed to cover every available inch of cockpit real estate with some type of instrument, button or switch.
— At about 1215 PST, a Beech 95-A55 (N9694Y) departed the runway during takeoff and collided with two parked airplanes and a hangar at Corona Municipal Airport (AJO), Corona, Calif. The certificated private pilot was not injured but the airplane sustained substantial damage. The personal flight was departing Corona with a planned destination of Phoenix. It was VFR and no flight plan was filed.
Piaggio Aero Industries is finalizing the sale of its industrial plant in Liguria, Northern Italy, to raise cash to invest in a new plant in nearby Villanova d’Albenga. Company officials maintain that Piaggio plans to launch the development of a new business jet, a $1 billion venture, but say they will not rush into a launch decision. According to preliminary data, Piaggio closed 2008 with revenues up 27 percent to €218 million, with an aircraft order backlog of about €460 million.
Pilatus Aircraft has designated Pro-Star Aviation of Londonderry, N.H., as its dealer for the Northeast U.S. Pro-Star will be responsible for PC-12 NG sales, marketing and service in New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine, Massachusetts and Michigan. Pro-Star operates several facilities throughout the Northeast, including ones in Caldwell, N.J., and Portland, Maine.
A drop in business jet orders will force some 1,000 layoffs at Pratt & Whitney Canada, the company announced Feb. 11. Spokesman Pierre Boisseau said the layoffs, which will start in a few months, represent about 10 percent of the company’s global workforce. Pratt & Whitney Canada, based in Longueuil, Quebec, outside Montreal, is a subsidiary of United Technologies Corp.
