Citing “a built-in conflict of interest” in the Brazilian military’s accident investigation report for the 2006 collision of a Boeing 737 airliner and an Embraer Legacy 600, one of the attorneys representing the business jet pilots against manslaughter charges claims the document “manufactures and exaggerates liability on the part of the pilots.”
Diamond Aircraft Industries has received a European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) type certificate for its turbo-diesel AE300 engine to power its DA42 NG, DA40 and DA50 models. Diamond created its own subsidiary — Austro Engine — after Thielert Aircraft Engines went into insolvency in April 2008. Diamond said it invested $61.4 million in the project. “The complete program developed into one that was significantly more complex than originally anticipated,” CEO Christian Dries said.
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.
Baldwin Aviation and CAP Aviation Consulting Group have teamed to offer the “Power of Plus,” a complete Safety Management and Flight Data Monitoring package that combines Baldwin’s SMSplus, a Web-based safety management and monitoring program, and CAP’s FDMplus, a program that monitors pilot performance by measuring adherence to standard operating procedures and aircraft limitations. According to the companies, the new offering will improve the overall efficiency and safety level of flight organizations while reducing fuel consumption, maintenance and insurance costs.
Before the NTSB HEMS hearings the GAO said, “FAA cannot measure basic industry trends, such as accident rate changes.” “Measuring these trends requires actual flight-hour data, which the FAA does not currently collect. Without this data, the FAA cannot know if its efforts are achieving their intended results.” That all changed with the first testimony before the panel. Dr. Ira Blumen, M.D.
Dallas Airmotive , Dallas, announced that Andrew Woodworth has joined BBA Aviation Engine Repair and Overhaul as regional sales manager for Australasia.
Piaggio Aero , Genoa, Italy, has appointed a new board of directors that represents the three major shareholders: the Ferrari and Di Mase families, Mubadala Development Co. and Tata Ltd. Each of the joint majority shareholders has appointed three of the nine members comprising the new board. The board confirmed Piero Ferrari as chairman of Piaggio Aero Industries S.p.A and appointed Alberto Galassi as the company’s new CEO.
Fundamental to survival during night or IMC operations in mountainous terrain is knowing precisely your location and precisely the location of the rocks — in short, maintaining situational awareness becomes the primary job. All other concerns must be subordinate. This month, we’ll examine an accident that brings that point into sharp focus — the loss of an Eagle Air Med King Air C90A on Oct. 4, 2007.
Paul H. Wiater , Director of Operations of the FAA’s “Hangar 6” at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., died on Jan. 29. His combat and non-combat aviation career in the U.S. Air Force and later with the Federal Aviation Administration was marked with distinction, many honors and a flying record of over 10,000 military and civilian hours.
PremiAir has begun London Heliport Shuttle to offer dedicated flights to meet private jet arrivals from the United Kingdom’s main business aviation airports and fly passengers to the London Heliport in Battersea. The shuttle service, available from 0700 to 2100 Monday to Friday, will use a four-passenger Eurocopter AS355 Twin Squirrel and a nine-seat Sikorsky S-76. The fixed price service is based on a one-way trip to or from the London Heliport. PremiAir flies approximately 4,000 charter hours per year with 17 helicopters. PremiAir
Most glass cockpit upgrades require an STC and before you choose a system and installer, you need to understand how the process works. Many modification installers are FAA-certified Designated Alteration Stations (DAS), which are approved to create and apply for approval of STCs. Many DAS’s are authorized to approve their own STCs, depending on the level of equipment complexity. The FAA is phasing out the DAS toward a new organization called the Organization Delegation Authorization (ODA), which will have more capability to self-approve STCs and alterations.
Was January’s bird-strike-induced ditching of an Airbus 320 into the Hudson River a one-in-a-million fluke? “This was an accident waiting to happen,” said Richard Dolbeer, a recently retired U.S. Department of Agriculture ornithologist who has been studying bird-aircraft strike hazards (BASH) for more than 30 years. He suspects it was a flight of Canada geese that brought down the airliner.
ETIRC’s Eclipse Aviation acquisition may have hit a snag. Sources close to the auction process say the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an interagency entity chaired by the U.S. Treasury Department, is investigating the acquisition of Eclipse assets by Netherlands-based ETIRC and its chief executive, Roel Piper.
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.
