FlightSafety International, La Guardia Airport, N.Y., named Eric P. Hinson executive vice president. Prior to joining FSI, Hinson was president and CEO of Piaggio America. He has held positions at Honeywell Aerospace and Gulfstream Aerospace.
The business aviation community received a real scare on Jan. 9, when Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee, moved to prohibit — even retroactively — all companies receiving financial aid under the federal Troubled Asset Relief Plan (TARP) from owning or leasing private aircraft.
Beech and Aerojet-General have received approval to equip Super 18s with two Junior Jatos, the first commercial application of standby rocket power in a business aircraft under 10,000 pounds. The rockets add a total of 200 hp at climb speed in 15-second bursts. First delivery is to Weyerhaeuser Timber Co. President Dwight Eisenhower wants Congress to increase the aviation fuel tax from two cents per gallon to 4.5 cents.
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Washington, D.C., has named Juliana P. Blackwell as the new director of it’s Office of National Geodetic Survey where she will oversee NOAA’s responsibilities for the nation’s spatial reference system. She is the first woman to head the nation’s oldest federal science agency, which was established by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807 as the Survey of the Coast.
— About 0435 EST a Beech 36, N7472N, registered to TFB Aviation LLC and operated by an individual, crashed in an open field within a golfing community in Louisville, Ky., during an IFR flight from Chicago Midway International Airport (MDW to Bowman Field Airport (LOU), Louisville. It was IFR at the time of the accident and an IFR flight plan was filed for the personal flight. The airplane incurred substantial damage and the pilot was killed. Information obtained from family members and local authorities revealed that the pilot was on a return IFR flight from MDW.
— At approximately 1205 MST, a Piper PA-46-310P (N46SB) was destroyed when it collided with terrain following a loss of control during an instrument landing approach to the Yamp Valley Airport (HDN), Hayden, Colo. IMC prevailed at the time of the accident. The personal flight was being conducted under the provisions of Title 14 CFR Part 91, and an instrument flight plan had been filed. The private pilot and commercial pilot on board the airplane were fatally injured. The cross-country flight originated at Hutchison, Kansas (HUT) at 1013 CST, and was en route to HDN.
Bombardier Aerospace, Montreal, appointed Wassim Saheb as sales director for Bombardier Business Aircraft, responsible for all Learjet, Challenger and Global aircraft sales in the Middle East.
— At 1505 CST, a Hawker Beechcraft Model 390 Premier I (N20NL) sustained substantial damage after landing and departing the runway surface at the Sharpe Farms Airport in Lewistown, Mo. The two pilots and two passengers were not injured. The airplane was registered to CNS Corp. and operated by the pilot. An IFR flight plan was filed for the FAR Part 91 cross-country flight. The flight originated from Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport, Kansas City, Mo., with Lewistown as its intended destination.
— A Hughes 369A helicopter (N104BN) impacted ocean water and sank following a loss of control on takeoff from a fishing vessel in the Pacific Ocean’s Solomon Sea, about 350 miles west of Honiara, Solomon Islands. The pilot, a Philippine national, was not found and is presumed dead, and the passenger, a Chinese national, sustained serious injuries. The helicopter, which was registered to Oceanside Helicopters Inc. of Port Vila, Vanuatu, was not recovered and is presumed destroyed. It was VFR and no flight plan was filed.
That’s Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game to you and me, but to Jaime Kourmoulis, director of human resources at AirMed, it’s a doorway to virtual world of incredible vistas, warriors, witches, monsters, weapons and spells. If you’re one of the thousands of people around the world who play Warhammer, one of the newer online multiplayer games out there of the dozens available, you may run into a sorceress “toon” name Khloe (yep, that’s with a K) of the guild Midnight Sun who’s been moving up there into the higher levels. That would be Jaime.
American Eurocopter delivered an EC145 to the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) at a Dec. 5 ceremony — the first EC145 for the department whose fleet already includes 13 Eurocopter AS350 AStars. Powered by two Turbomeca ARRIEL engines, the Texas DPS multi-mission EC145 features a MEGHAS glass cockpit with digital autopilot for both single- or dual-pilot missions. The avionics integration and completion were performed by Metro Aviation, which also operates a variety of Eurocopter helicopters including the EC145.
A Predator B unmanned air vehicle (UAV) will be based at a special operations center at Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D., about 13 miles from Grand Forks International Airport, where the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) maintains an air branch with manned rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft. The latest Predator, CBP’s fourth, is to patrol the U.S.-Canadian border. The aircraft, which has a 64-foot wingspan, was to begin operations late this month, but as of mid-December, there had been no agreement with the FAA on restrictions to be imposed when the UAV is flying.
After succumbing under the load of more than $1 billion in liabilities, forcing it to seek protection from creditors in accordance with Chapter 11 of Title 11 — Bankruptcy — of the U.S. Code on Nov. 25, 2008, Eclipse Aviation seems likely to sell substantially all of its assets to EclipseJet Aviation International in the next few weeks.
Sierra Industries, the Uvalde, Texas-based Cessna Citation re-engining specialist, delivered its first Super II in late November 2008. The modified Citation II — which features 2,820-pound-thrust Williams International FJ44-3A engines — flew nonstop from San Antonio to Northern California.
The FAA’s Civil Aerospace Medical Institute (CAMI) believes that pilots who are knowledgeable about physiological phenomena encountered in the aviation environment are better prepared to deal with potential fatal inflight events such as loss of cabin pressure, hypoxia, trapped gas problems and decompression sickness. FAR Part 61.31 (g)(2)(i) requires high-altitude physiology training for the PIC of a pressurized airplane that has a service ceiling or maximum operating altitude above 25,000 feet.
It was no coincidence that the keynote address at the G-20 meeting of representatives of the world’s largest economies in Washington, D.C., last November was delivered by Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Iridium Satellite subscribers grew 37 percent to 309,000 for third quarter 2008, adding subscribers at a 47-percent rate of increase in the first nine months year on year. CEO Matt Desch said Iridium continues to be “the fastest-growing voice and data mobile satellite services company.” OpenPort, initially developed for the maritime market to provide greater bandwidth and higher data transfer speeds, will be adapted for aviation.
Less than 5 percent of the “loss of pressurization” reports indicated any symptoms of hypoxia. However, given that an encounter with hypoxia can quickly turn fatal, any discussion of loss of pressurization would be incomplete without mentioning the early warning signs and symptoms of this quick and deadly killer.
As Washington gears up for Barack Obama’s inauguration, aviation leaders should join ranks to ensure at least one Bush administration vestige is embraced by the new administration. We’re referring to “Managing Risks in Civil Aviation: A Review of the FAA’s Approach to Safety.” This insightful report was produced by a top-notch Independent Review Team (IRT) of safety and regulatory experts at the request of DOT Secretary Mary Peters in the wake of an air transportation fiasco in early 2008.
A history major at Georgetown University, O’Brien reported news at several local TV stations before applying for the science correspondent’s job at CNN. Interviewed by CNN’s chief science producer, a molecular biologist, it was quickly apparent O’Brien “didn’t know squat about science.” He brashly argued that his ignorance combined with his natural curiosity and interviewing skills made him the perfect candidate for the job — and he got it.
For the second time in three years, the DOT Inspector General has determined that FAA officials at Dallas-Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW) have misclassified or underreported errors. The report was requested by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, which protects government whistle-blowers.
An airline client of MedAire’s MedLink Global Response Center was five hours into a 10-hour flight high over Kazakhstan when a 20-year-old passenger who was eight months pregnant suddenly went into premature labor. Volunteer medical personnel onboard helped deliver a healthy baby girl who apparently wasted no time making her entrance. A member of the flight crew contacted Medlink doctors for post-delivery advisories on monitoring mother and baby for any indicators for a precautionary landing.
The fourth quarter edition of Market Leader newsletter called the present market for previously owned aircraft “unprecedented,” adding that current conditions may be among the worst in recent memory. “Never before have we seen such a surplus of inventory coupled with a scarcity of buyers due to a global economic malaise,” declared Vref editor Fletcher Aldredge.
