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.
A self-contained underwater breathing apparatus, or SCUBA, allows sport divers to spend minutes on end exploring the world beneath the water’s surface, but for Bryan Doxey, the maximum depth for recreational diving — around 130 feet — just isn’t deep enough. An AirMed Beechjet captain, he started diving in San Diego 30 years ago but was away from it for about 20 years before getting back into it a few years ago.
Regional fractional aircraft operator Executive AirShare, based in Kansas City, Mo., announced Jan. 8 that the company will base a Beechcraft King Air C90B at Atlantic Aviation at Wiley Post Airport (PWA) in Bethany, Okla., to serve the Oklahoma City area. Executive AirShare has shareowners in Tulsa, Dallas, Fort Worth, Wichita and Kansas City.
Baynan Air Service, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., appointed Alvie Barron as director North American Sales. He will be responsible for promoting avionics and maintenance departments.
As an integral part of its business and general aviation division reorganization in 2008, General Electric Aviation added a business jet component to its existing customer operations center at its Cincinnati headquarters.
— At about 1607 CST, a Cessna 150F was destroyed upon impact with trees near Palestine, Texas. The airplane was on the ramp area of Palestine Municipal Airport (PSN). The pilot’s statement to the FAA inspector said that he planned on giving his six-year-old granddaughter a flight in the airplane. After the second failed attempt to start the engine, the pilot turned off the ignition and master switches.
— At 1206 EST, an Ercoupe 415-D (N99154) was destroyed during an inflight breakup near Sebring, Fla. VMC prevailed, and no flight plan was filed for the local flight, which departed Avon Park Executive Airport (AVO), Avon Park, Fla., about 1115. According to a friend of the accident pilot, who was also a certificated aircraft mechanic, he and the pilot flew together in the accident airplane immediately prior to the accident flight.
The White House named Lynne Osmus FAA acting administrator effective Jan. 16. Osmus succeeds acting Administrator Robert Sturgell, who tendered his resignation, as expected, in advance of the change in administrations. Osmus is a veteran FAA executive who was senior adviser to Sturgell when he was FAA deputy administrator and served as the FAA liaison with the Obama transition team.
In White Plains, NBAA President and CEO Ed Bolen kicked off testimony saying, “It is important that we get this right. Overly broad or unnecessary regulations that do not take into account the unique attributes of business aviation will needlessly destroy companies and the jobs they create.” He recommended the creation of a government/industry Aviation Rulemaking Committee similar to that used to create the FAR Part 91K fractional ownership regulations.
The U.S. business turbine fleet experienced a considerable increase in the number of accidents, fatal accidents and fatalities during 2008 over those experienced in 2007. The combined business jet and turboprop fleet experienced 69 accidents including 24 that resulted in 64 passenger and crew fatalities during routine business operational flights, according to Robert E. Breiling Associates of Boca Raton, Fla. In 2007, the combined fleet experienced 55 accidents, 17 of them fatal, and 51 fatalities, the company reported.
“The Liz” was an attractive, converted Lodestar that flew Elizabeth Taylor and Mike Todd “Round the World in Eighty Days.” The Hollywood power couple were leasing a Lodestar and expected to buy one.
The European Parliament voted in December to omit aviation from a revised Emissions Trading “Mother” Directive that would have cost European airlines an estimated €555 million per year.
Brent Wouters becomes CEO of Cirrus Design Corp. in addition to president and chief operating officer effective Feb. 1. Alan Klapmeier, who founded the company in Duluth, Minn. in 1984 with his brother Dae, will continue as chairman of the board of directors with Dale as vice chairman. Wouters joined Cirrus in early 2002 as executive vice president and chief financial officer, and was promoted to president and COO in March 2008.
Dallas Airmotive, BBA Aviation engine repair and overhaul subsidiary, has relocated its Phoenix area Regional Turbine Center from Scottsdale Airpark to a new, larger facility adjacent to Deer Valley Airport in North Phoenix. At 7,500 square feet, the new facility has twice the space of the old one. The Phoenix facility performs OEM-authorized repairs including hot section inspections on Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A and JT15D turbines and repairs and overhauls on Rolls-Royce Model 250 turboshaft engines.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) introduced a bill to exempt airport bonds and other private activity bonds from the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) penalty, a move the airport industry has long supported. The bill, S. 139, is co-sponsored by Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) and Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.). The bill would repeal the AMT from interest earned on more than 60 percent of airport bonds.
