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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The FAA convened its new Runway Safety Council, Oct. 29, a joint government-industry body whose purpose is to take a deep, systemic approach to improving runway safety and move toward a proactive management strategy that involves different segments of the aviation industry.
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.
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).
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.
THE INCIDENT INVESTIGATION WE’RE EXPLORING this month comes from the U.K.’s Air Accident Branch (AAB). No lives were lost, and damage to the aircraft was minor, but the accident turned out to be the last straw for the air carrier — Emerald Airways Ltd. Its circumstances demonstrate the importance of adhering to approach SOPs, particularly when a mismatch in crew experience exists.
CitationShares , Greenwich, Conn., appointed William B. “Woody” Harford as senior vice president, chief revenue officer responsible for the Sales and Marketing departments.
A husband and wife are the first Phenom 100 customers to have completed training and passed their FAA check ride at Alliance Airport outside Fort Worth. James Frost, the first Phenom 100 customer rated in the aircraft, along with his wife, Elizabeth, completed training conducted by Embraer CAE Training Services (ECTS), a joint venture of Embraer and CAE. Frost is a real estate and mineral executive. The Phenom 100 is certified for single-pilot operation and both Frost and his wife are rated to fly the aircraft without a copilot.
Stanley Proto has introduced two new utility carts that expand on the company’s Proto 440 and 450 series tool storage programs. The heavy duty model measures 46 inches high by 39 inches long by 23 inches wide. It is a cart, rolling toolbox and workstation. It includes a lift lid with a rigid vinyl top that serves as a 900-square-inch work surface when closed. The lid is attached to ball-bearing slides and can slide backward to reveal a two-tier tool storage compartment.
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.
Mooney Aerospace Group, Ltd. , Kerrville, Texas named Robert B. Gowens CEO of the Mooney Airplane Co. Dennis E. Ferguson remains the president of Mooney.
H3R Aviation, Inc., makers of halon and halon-alternative portable fire extinguishers, teamed with Aviall at October’s NBAA to promote a halon-alternative fire extinguisher. The H3R Aviation Model 674 is a 150-pound wheeled Halotron 1 fire extinguisher. According to the company, it is the world’s most powerful halon-alternative flight-line fire extinguisher. Also on display was the B394TS, the only Halotron 1 clean agent fire extinguisher approved by the FAA for use onboard aircraft. Both units have been tested to ANSI/UL 711 and UL 2129.
These graphs are designed to illustrate the performance of the Citation XLS+ under a variety of range, payload, speed and density altitude conditions. Do not use these data for flight planning purposes because they are gross approximations of actual aircraft performance.
When I first started traveling internationally on business, I queried an older corporate pilot about tipping protocol in various situations, and he simply responded, “Just ask yourself, ‘What would Sinatra do?’” If Frank Sinatra landed at a foreign airport, he was well known for tipping everyone in sight, including any government officials. Well, ’ol Blue Eyes could pull that off, but try that yourself in some countries, and you’ll end up in jail. Then again, in other countries, you might be delayed or detained for failing to show the courtesy of currency.
