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.
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.
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?
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.
“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.
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.
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.
With only the Pacific Ocean portion to be completed, Inmarsat finally moved its third I-4 satellite into its assigned permanent geosynchronous station, thereby establishing exclusive broadband mobile communications coverage around the world. The final move completed a complex ballet of satellite movements as the three newest generation satellites entered service in stages without interruption to voice and data traffic as well as safety of flight services.
In March, the FAA reassured Eclipse EA500 operators, at least for the time being, that it is not grounding the aircraft in the wake of Eclipse Aviation’s Chapter 7 (liquidation) bankruptcy. All Eclipse operations including certification, production, service centers, training centers and dealers are shut down. Initially it was thought that ETIRC Aviation, Eclipse Aviation’s largest shareholder, would bring the OEM out of bankruptcy and restart operations, but it is evidently unable to come up with necessary financing — sparking creditors to demand liquidation.
True to its word, Bombardier is maintaining its commitment to the all-composite Learjet 85. Since announcing in September 2008 it was dropping composite-expert Grob from the program, Bombardier has brought the project completely in-house — transferring detail design, structural certification, prototype manufacture and initial production from the German firm to its own plants and even starting from scratch with a different composite lay-up process.
Michael Garvey, son of the editor of this magazine, flies a helicopter for the U.S. Coast Guard out of a base in Alaska and knows all about operations in low visibility. NVGs are a routine part of his life, and the USCG has extensive experience with the devices.
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.
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.
“Kid on a Shuttle” (March, page 48) was a terrific article! On behalf of the thousands of cancer patients we’ve helped, and the thousands more we will help in the future, thank you.
— An airline transport rated pilot was making a personal cross-country flight in a Beech 65-A90-1 (N418SP). He said when he arrived at the destination airport in Soldotna, Alaska, there was three to four inches of new snow, and that the overcast and low light condition made everything look gray. He said the VASI lights were inoperative, and the appropriate NOTAM) was issued. The pilot said he turned on the runway lights, identified what he thought was the runway surface, and lined up the runway edge lights on his left.
— At approximately 1115 MST, a Cirrus SR22 (N486CD) registered to and operated by Vector Resources LLC, Denver, was substantially damaged during an attempted go-around at Bob Adams Field (SBS), Steamboat Springs, Colo. It was VFR at the time of the accident and a flight plan had been filed. The pilot and two passengers were not injured, but one passenger did receive minor injuries. The cross-country flight originated from Centennial Airport (APA), Englewood, Colo., at about 1015, and was en route to SBS. The pilot said he landed on Runway 32.
Dassault Falcon announced Feb.25 that the Falcon 7X recently received approval for arrivals and departures at London City Airport (LCY) in London, England and can now link the heart of one of the world’s largest financial centers nonstop with the United States, Europe and the Middle East. “Flying into London City was a goal from the early development of the Falcon 7X program,” said John Rosanvallon, president and CEO of Dassault Falcon.
ExecuJet announced in January a plan to expand in Mexico with services to Latin America and the Caribbean and two new aircraft under charter management — a Global Express and Falcon 900B. The company has already been operating a fleet of Pilatus PC-12s, a Falcon 7X, a CL300 and a DA2000, but will now have two bases at Del Norte and Mariano Escobedo International in Monterrey.
Eurocopter announced that two EC135s were ordered by the Japanese Ministry of Defence for delivery before year-end to the Kanoya Naval Training School on the island of Kyushu. Eurocopter expects a follow-on order for three additional EC135s in 2010 to bring the Maritime Self Defense Forces training helicopter fleet to a total of 15 aircraft.
Price indices recently released by Vref Publishing — the Shawnee Mission, Kan.-based business aircraft market research firm — reflect how precipitously values for older, previously owned, turbine-powered business aircraft have declined in recent months. First quarter 2009 composite prices for benchmark used business turboprops and the three classes of used corporate jets have declined roughly 20 percent during the last year, the forecaster said.
K. Douglas Davis is the manager of the FAA’s Unmanned Aircraft Program Office (AIR-160) and the source of most know-how and savvy on where things stand with respect to the movement of civilian-operated unmanned aircraft into the national airspace system (NAS).
Gulfstream Aerospace is conducting a program of simulated flights of its flagship business jet, the G650, in its G650 Integration Test Facility (ITF) in Savannah. Project pilot Jake Howard and chief experimental pilot John O’Meara made the first flight Dec. 15, 2008. G650 program engineers and other pilots also have taken the controls in real-time simulation — beginning with the first flight.
Once Stevens Aviation, a Beech dealer that had been one of the leading sellers of King Airs, learned that Hawker Beechcraft would take responsibility for all sales of its popular turboprop, the Greenville, S.C.-based company hired Dana Arnold, a longtime Learjet salesman, to restructure its turbine-powered marketing efforts. The company was “looking to get into the jet business in a big way,” explained Arnold, who said that Stevens is in the first year of a five-year plan that aims to eventually sell roughly as many jets as turboprops.
In mid-afternoon on Nov. 27, 2008, yachtsmen and fishermen working the French coast between Santé Marine and Saint Cyprien looked up to watch an Air New Zealand Airbus A320, D-AXLA, as it maneuvered for approach to Perpignan-Rivesaltes Airport.
