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 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.
B/CA And as promised to all with perfect answers, Capt. Syed M. Husain of Mississauga, Ontario will be receiving a 50th anniversary Business & Commercial Aviation picture frame. Thanks for following our Golden Anniversary coverage, and for your continuing support.
Col. Michael R. Gallagher, USAF (ret) (Hillsboro, OR)
Great analysis of an accident that never should have happened (“Warm Airplane; Cold, Snowy Ramp,” Cause & Circumstance, January 2009, page 72). You’d think we’d get tired of proving that contaminated airfoils just don’t work as well as clean ones.
One Saturday morning while John Alter was attending the Navy’s flight school in Pensacola, Fla., he was driving his Triumph TR3 with the top down when he spied “two young ladies all dressed up and on their way to a sorority tea and their car had conked out. They saw this naval aviator and somehow knew I could fix their car.” Alter got it started, but when he declined payment, they invited him and two buddies to a homemade spaghetti dinner. A year later, in June 1962, Alter was awarded his wings and he and one of those young ladies got married.
Jet Works Air Center of Denton, Texas, has obtained two new supplemental type certificates (STCs)—one for a Rockwell Collins AHS-3000S upgrade for the Learjet 31A, and another that covers installation of a Rockwell Collins data link system in the Piaggio Avanti II.
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.
— 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.
Also in trouble is the Single European Sky ATM Research (SESAR) program, jointly funded by the European Commission and Eurocontrol’s 39 member countries. Officially launched Dec. 8 with 15 aviation industry companies standing ready to join, the undertaking’s goal is to squeeze more aircraft into existing airspace. But it’s been abruptly derailed because apparently nobody consulted with Europe’s military entities and the ATC controllers. Europe’s military forces doubt the project’s merits and value. The controller community has multiple concerns.
There are so many helicopters in Brazil’s largest city, São Paulo, that The Guardian newspaper in Manchester, England, has termed it “the real-life South American episode of the ‘Jetsons,’” the 1960s animated send-up of future life.
Analysts at financial services company UBS Securities LLC estimate that the number of business aircraft available for sale—used airplanes plus new aircraft delivery positions—is equivalent to 16 percent of in-service fleet. Significantly, that inventory increase “continues to be led by ‘young aircraft’ (those less than 10 years in age).” At 16 percent of the in-service fleet, UBS experts say aircraft inventories “are approaching the 17-percent peak of late 2002, with young inventories already well above prior peak levels.”
The FAA is extending the 75-per-hour flight cap at New York La Guardia through Oct. 24, 2009, according to an amendment to the current rule filed in the Federal Register. The rule was set to expire last year, to be replaced by the controversial plan to auction slots at the airport, the “Congestion Management Rule for La Guardia Airport.” The amendments to the “Operating Limitations at New York La Guardia Airport” released Jan. 7 also include a provision to allow carriers to trade or lease operating authorities at the airport.
In the roughly four decades since oil was discovered there, helicopter operations to service oil and gas exploration and development have proliferated throughout what is now the six countries comprising the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), namely Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the U.A.E.
If you are a corporate pilot, that raise you had been hoping for probably isn’t going to materialize. If you sell aircraft for a living, those “prime prospects” you anticipated signing up . . . six months ago probably are no closer to making a commitment than they were then. If you operate an FBO, you’ve noticed a significant drop in the number of aircraft taxiing across your ramp. If (God forbid) you work for an aircraft manufacturer, you’re probably in the midst of an extended, multiweek, no-pay “vacation.”
— At 1204 UTC, a Piper PA-46T (N403HP) crashed in a wooded area during a visual approach into the Voslau Aerodrome (LOAV), Baden, Austria. The pilot and passenger were killed and the airplane was destroyed. VMC prevailed at the time of the accident. The pilot had cancelled his IFR clearance prior to entering the pattern at LOAV. The airplane was on an IFR flight plan from Shoreham-by-Sea Airport, Sussex, England, to LOAV.
Flight Display Systems, Alpharetta, Ga., has hired David Oblinger as general manager. He will oversee the daily manufacturing processes and system of the company. Hillary Davis has been appointed production coordinator, responsible for production scheduling including work order development, and Chris Cayia has been named operations manager, responsible for production work-flow, technical and customer support, and purchasing.
To Chet Fuller, GE Aviation’s chief marketing officer, the recent decline in fuel prices is temporary because pressures from global warming and energy demands from growing economies will eventually push them up again. “That’s why we are working hard on open-rotor technologies for narrowbody applications that will be based on the eCore [GE’s next-gen gas generator for business jets, regional jets and single-aisle 130-to 150-passenger jetliners now powered by the GE/Snecma CFM56 and IAE V2500 turbofans],” Fuller said in an interview late last year.
The number of previously owned business jets on the market rose to 12.7 percent of the active fleet in December, the third consecutive month that inventories rose to their highest levels since the financial analysts at JPMorgan began tracking such data in December 1995.
Hawker Beechcraft Services opened the initial phase of its newest aircraft maintenance facility at Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport (IWA) in Mesa, Ariz., Jan. 5. The Mesa facility will serve as the Southwest regional service center for HBS, replacing the Van Nuys, Calif., location that will close March 31. The phase one, newly built 26,000-square-foot hangar was acquired by HBS to accommodate maintenance work. A second 26,000-square-foot hangar plus a 22,000-square-foot shop area will include a lobby and administrative offices.
The 16th annual Aircraft Registry Forum, which will feature sessions on FAA Registry practices and the Cape Town Convention, will take place on Monday, February 9 and Tuesday, February 10 at The Ritz-Carlton Golf Resort in Naples, Florida. Co-chaired by Frank L. Polk of McAfee & Taft PC and Michael T. Amalfitano, Sr. of Banc of America Leasing, the forum offers presentations by noted experts in aviation law and financing. Besides exploring the key considerations of FAA and Cape Town rules, other sessions offered during the two-day conference include:
Baynan Air Service, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., appointed Alvie Barron as director North American Sales. He will be responsible for promoting avionics and maintenance departments.
