Sierra Industries (Uvalde, Texas) — David M. Welch, a 21-year aviation sales veteran, has joined the sales and marketing staff for this provider of performance enhancement modifications for Cessna Citations. Welch began his career as an aviation researcher for Gantt Aviation and served in aircraft sales posts with West Air and Texas Piper before launching his own start-up aviation sales company and an aircraft sales division for an aero-medical firm.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, of Daytona Beach, Fla., has ordered 10 Diamond DA42 L360 twin-engine aircraft. Deliveries will begin in the spring, with the full fleet in service before the 2009-2010 academic year begins.
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.
Bombardier has delivered the first of two CL 415MP Maritime Patrol aircraft to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). Ordered in June 2008, the 415MP is a variant of Bombardier’s amphibious fire-fighting water bomber. Malaysia’s aircraft remain equipped for that mission, but also carry two side-looking airborne radars, a forward-looking infrared radar and an airborne maritime surveillance system. The second 415MP is to be delivered by June 2010.
In a draft version 8.5 Advisory Circular dated Nov. 28, 2005, the FAA’s Air Carrier Training and 142 Training Branch, or AFS-210, presents guidance for “Alternatives to Classroom Training,” offering “a structured process for developing alternative training as a substitute for instructor-led classroom ground training.”
Jet Aviation , Zurich, announced the restructuring of its U.S. executive management. Jim Ziegler, who had been chief operating officer of U.S. operations, has left the company and will become an advisor to Jet Aviation. Gary Dempsey, Jet Aviation’s president of flight services for the Americas, and Kurt Sutterer, president, MRO and completions of Midcoast Aviation, will be responsible for U.S. operations. They will report to Peter G. Edwards, president of the Jet Aviation Group.
Century CRM , Peachtree City, Ga., announced that Gary Rower, founder and senior partner, has been elected to the board of directors of the International Council of Air Shows (ICAS) for a three-year term.
Northern Jet Management , Grand Rapids, Mich., has promoted Rick Hansen to chief pilot. John Snyder was promoted to captain and Kip Catlin has been given IOE responsibilities with the flight crew team in additional to his captain duties.
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.
Piper 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.
Name withheld by request (Universal Avionics Systems Corp.)
I read with interest your January Viewpoint on the negative spin placed on business aircraft by the Congress, and of course the lapdog media with its pile-on mentality, during the hearings on the automotive industry bailout proposal (“Without Apology,” page 7). 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.
— At 0200 EST, a Cessna 550 (N815MA) was substantially damaged when it impacted the runway during a forced landing, with the landing gear retracted, at the Wilmington International Airport (KILM), Wilmington, N. C. The airplane departed the La Isabela Airport (MDJB), Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, on Jan. 3 about 2300. The certificated airline transport pilot captain, certificated commercial pilot first officer and five passengers received no injuries. It was IFR at the time and the crew had filed an IFR flight plan for the international flight.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association estimates more than one million people are employed manufacturing, servicing, flying and managing business aircraft, and in the doing contribute $150 billion to the U.S. economy annually. In addition to keeping legions at work in top-paying jobs, business aircraft facilitate and expand commerce for their users, and contribute mightily to reducing America’s trade imbalance.
“There were no serious runway incursions in the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 — not a single Category A or B event during 12.8 million aircraft operations,” testified Lynne Osmus, acting FAA Administrator before the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure’s Subcommittee on Aviation. Category A and B runway incursions are the most serious, in which a collision was narrowly avoided or where there is a significant potential for a collision. Category C and D incidents present no immediate safety consequences to the public.
