Aviation might be in his DNA — after all, his father was a McDonnell-Douglas engineer — but that wasn’t immediately apparent. After all, rather than being drawn to the ocean of air as a teenager, he spent all his free time in or on the Ocean Pacific. An impassioned Southern California surfer, Paul Bowen spent his free hours hangin’ ten rather than doing touch and goes. The only hint of what was to follow occurred during the freewheeling parties conducted by the Jesters, a North Hollywood High social club, for which Paul served as impromptu visual documentarian.
Sullivan Higdon & Sink , McLean, Va., announced the promotion of Adam Konowe to vice president of Public Relations and Angel Bennett to director of Client Services.
Esterline CMC Electronics formed a strategic alliance with Pentastar Aviation to sell CMC’s electronic flight bag product line and Pentastar’s articulating yoke mount in both civil and military markets. Pentastar is a CMC “Platinum Dealer” and holds several STCs for CMC PilotView EFB installations. Pentastar has a patent pending for the yoke mount, which allows pilots to adjust the EFB viewing angle to personal preference.
He was brash, self-assured, independent, anti-war and full of big ideas. The daughter of an Air Force brigadier general, she was studious, serious, well ordered and clear about her post-college future as a college professor – a plan that did not include marriage for at least another ten years. And so naturally the two Indiana University undergrads fell hard for one another early and informed their surprised, respective families that they planned to marry.
During the course of this, Business & Commercial Aviation’s 50th anniversary year, we’ve published quite a lot of information pertaining to business aviation during our first, 1958. For those readers who have been noting the historical factoids, we’d like to reward you with BCA 50th Anniversary picture frames, as long as supplies last. To obtain yours, provide answers to the questions below and e-mail them, along with your address (and any comments that come to mind) to: [email protected].
General Dynamics completed its approximately $2.18 billion acquisition of Zurich-based Jet Aviation Nov.5 from Dreamliner Lux S.a.r.l., a company controlled by the Permira Funds. The companies announced plans for the acquisition in August. The transaction gives General Dynamics a worldwide business-jet support flight-support services presence. Jet Aviation is one of the world’s leading business-aviation services companies. Approximately 5,600 Jet Aviation employees operate 25 airport facilities throughout Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North and South America.
Western Aircraft , Boise, Id., appointed Mike Slattery as vice president of Interiors and Completions. He will oversee the company’s Aircraft Interior Recompletion Center.
Cessna Conquest II operators are all aware of the halving of the airplane’s original forecast service life to 22,500 hours, and reports indicate only three airplanes operating in Australia were grounded by the action, which was taken by Cessna and not the FAA. In Australia, the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) determined that an airplane manufacturer’s withdrawal of support after a service life limit was sufficient reason to ground the aircraft and did so.
The FAA has opened a new safety Web site featuring lessons learned from airline/air transport aircraft accidents that happened as long as 40 years ago. The agency believes many of the lessons learned from these tragedies are timeless, and are relevant to today’s aviation community. By learning from the past, aviation professionals can use that knowledge to recognize key factors, and potentially prevent another accident from occurring under similar circumstances, or for similar reasons, in the future.
Back in the mid-1980s, an outbreak of counterfeit aircraft parts rocked the aviation industry. Fake aircraft components disguised as legitimate parts were installed and several fatal accidents were attributed to the substandard parts. Time-expired parts were given new paperwork and sold as serviceable, look-alikes that even trained technicians could not tell apart from the real thing were being stamped out from overseas factories hidden in shadows, and criminals were reaping millions while the flying public was at risk.
Hawker Beechcraft revealed Nov. 4 plans to lay off 5 percent of its workforce as it cuts production rates in the face of reduced demand for business and general aviation aircraft. The announcement coincided with the release of its third-quarter financial results. The manufacturer employs more than 9,700 people, the majority in Wichita. Hit by a four-week strike in August that slowed aircraft deliveries, the company saw third-quarter net sales decline 10 percent from a year earlier, to $783 million, and operating income drop 75 percent to just $15.3 million.
Think flying at 0.80 Mach is genuine jet fast? Falcon 10 and 100 operators might wonder if they left their gear down at that speed. They routinely blast past lesser marques while cruising at 480 to 490 KTAS. Only the potent Citation X flies faster. Dassault’s second business jet, the Mystère 10 or “Mini Falcon,” was designed in the late 1960s as a smaller, less expensive derivative of the Falcon 20.
Northern Jet Management , Grand Rapids, Mich., has named Rhonda Young executive assistant to the president, and Melanie Huntoon has joined the accounting department as payroll clerk. Anthony Shupe and Donald Jaeger III have been promoted to captains, and Rick Hansen has been promoted to chief pilot.
Cessna’s Caravan 208 single-engine turboprop utility hauler is also the subject of a new powerplant retrofit with the announcement this fall that StandardAero would offer a Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-135A exchange in place of the popular high-wing’s -114 engine.
It was late November 1978, and I had been cropdusting in the Sudan for about three months. While our dirt strip at El Managil, about 100 miles south of Khartoum, was the middle of nowhere, the 600-hp Thrush Commanders were rugged and well maintained, the flying non-stop VMC, the camaraderie great and the flight rules non-existent — a perfect half-year gig for a 30-year-old bachelor building hours.
Banyan Air Service , Fort Lauderdale, Fla., announced that its senior vice president, Michael O’Keeffe, has been appointed chairman of the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA).
Financial analysts at JPMorgan noted in the November edition of their Business Jet Monthly research report that the outlook for business jets “continues to deteriorate based on recent data.”
— About 0815 EDT, a Sikorsky S-76C (N552J) registered to and operated by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., experienced a hard landing at West 30th Street Heliport (JRA), New York, N.Y. It was VFR and an IFR flight plan was filed for the FAR Part 91 executive/corporate flight from Tweed-New Haven Airport (HVN), New Haven, Conn., to JRA. The helicopter was substantially damaged and there were no injuries to the pilots or the four passengers. The flight originated about 0715 from HVN.
Third quarter 2008 retail sales numbers collected by Amstat and distributed by the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) reflect the continuing slide of the used aircraft market. For the three-month period ending Sept. 30, jet resale transactions dropped 10.4 percent to 456, while the number of jets available for sale grew 14 percent to 2,136 aircraft. The number of months required to turn over the inventory climbed from 11 months as of the end of the second quarter to 14 months at the end of the third quarter.
Patrick Veillette’s article “Helicopter EMS: Urgent Compassion” (October, page 42) hits the nail on the head. Unfortunately, it’s a nail that the NTSB, the FAA and Flight Safety Foundation don’t seem to see.
— At1518 MST, an Arizona Department of Public Safety (AZ DPS) paramedic was killed after coming into contact with the main rotor blades of a Bell 407, N42AZ, while performing a mountain rescue on Doe Mountain near Sedona, Ariz. The helicopter was operated by the AZ DPS as a public-use search and rescue (SAR) flight. The pilot and two hikers were not injured and the helicopter was not damaged. The flight had departed on the SAR mission from Flagstaff Pulliam Airport (FLG), Flagstaff, Ariz., at 1440, to aid in the search and rescue of two stranded hikers.
