DeCrane Aerospace , Georgetown, Del., named John A. Martin to vice president and general manager for PATS Aircraft Completions, a division of DeCrane.
In the first few days after the onset of the worldwide financial crisis, business aircraft financing activity nearly ground to a halt. In October, Nicholas Chabraja, CEO of Gulfstream’s parent company, General Dynamics, reported that the absence of credit had “seized up” demand for business jets.
— A Piper PA-24-260, N8820P, was substantially damaged when it impacted trees and terrain while being vectored for an instrument approach to Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport (CHO), Charlottesville, Va. Night VFR prevailed at the destination airport at the planned arrival time, and the pilot had filed an IFR flight plan. According to the FAA and Lockheed Martin Services (LMS) information, about 1633 the pilot telephoned LMS in order to obtain a weather briefing and file a flight plan.
While airlines are facing challenges in India, the market for luxury business jets is thriving, says a Falcon Jet official. “The business jet market in India is booming,” said J.P.H.P Chabriol, senior vice president-Dassault Aviation in an introduction to the company’s aerospace activities. Until recently, India had about a dozen of the Falcon family with the Tata group as its main customer. The company has now received 24 more Falcon orders. The business jet is now a business tool as opposed to a corporate status symbol, says a KPMG report.
Textron’s Bell Helicopter announced its 100th commercial helicopter delivery in India. ABIR Infrastructure Private Ltd. received the keys to a Bell 412 during the India Aviation air show in November. ABIR Managing Director K. Gnyandeep said, “ABIR is experiencing rapid growth with an established name in multiple business lines in India.
2009 Jan. 11-15: American Association of Airport Executives 23rd Annual Aviation Issues Conference, Kona, Hawaii. (703) 824-0500. www.aaae.org Feb. 11-12: Asian Business Aviation Conference & Exhibition (ABACE) Forum 2009, Hong Kong. www.nbaa.org Feb. 18-19: NBAA Leadership Conference, Doubletree Hotel, New Orleans. www.nbaa.org March 6-7: PAMA 2009 Aviation Maintenance & Management Symposium, American Airlines Training and Conference Center, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Texas. www.pama.org
CAE , Montreal, has appointed Sebastien Caire as vice president, Asia and Australasia and Suzanne Roy was named vice president, India. Bill Dolny has been named vice president and general manager of CAE’s Dallas training center; Michael Fedele is the new vice president and general manager of the Morristown, N.J. center. Dolny and Fedele will report to Tom Stelter, who was named vice president, CAE Training, Service and Innovation, North America.
Mike Yodice, one of the partners of Capital Jet Group, the McLean, Va.-based business aircraft brokerage firm, says activity “is slower than it has been.” Established in 1994, Capital Jet Group has sold all types of turbine-powered business airplanes, from King Airs to BBJs, to a roughly equal number of U.S. and international clients, ranging from Fortune 100 companies to privately held concerns.
Airbus has selected Honeywell’s IntuVue 3-D Weather Radar for A320s, A330s and A340s. Honeywell values the contract at $300 million over the life of the program, if forecast aftermarket sales are included. IntuVue offers flight crews the ability to detect turbulence, wind shear and dangerous storm activity so they can make more informed route decisions. “Weather-related delays and damage cost the industry over $4 billion each year,” said Garrett Mikita, president of Honeywell’s Air Transport and Regional division.
Picture a wooded hillside so steep and craggy with giant boulders that it would be an effort to climb on foot. Got it? Now picture Paul Beattie (pronounced BATE-ey) heading toward it in a four-wheel drive buggy that looks like Bigfoot the monster truck had its way with a moon rover. And he’s going fast. Racing, in fact. Welcome to the fast-growing sport of extreme rock racing, the most competitive form of off-road motor sports there is.
Rockwell Collins recently participated in a flight demonstration to fly European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System (EGNOS) Localizer Performance with Vertical guidance (LPV) approaches in Europe. The company’s FMS and GPS-4000S GPS receiver were on board an Air Nostrum-operated Bombardier CRJ-200 for the demo.
It was around 8 p.m. on March 21, 2001. We had departed Anchorage en route to the New Tokyo Airport — “Narita” to most pilots — 30 minutes earlier. The weather was clear and the setting sun washed soft light over the gorgeous Alaskan wilderness 37,000 feet below. A line check airman, I was training a new first officer on the nuances of the MD-11’s flight management computer when a call came over VHF No. 2, which was tuned to 121.5. The voice asked if anyone was on the frequency. “Aircraft calling on 121.5, this is FedEx 17,” I immediately responded.
spidertracks, a satellite tracking solutions company, announced that it has reached an agreement with Cessna Aircraft Co. to have its new product distributed through Cessna’s global aircraft support network. The system is made up of a spider-tracking device that combines satellite communication and GPS technology in one small portable device that does not require an external antenna.
Brigitte Vola says she’s just following in her family’s footsteps. Her grandfather and her father were firefighters — her dad was even the chief of his department back when Brigitte was growing up in Florida. When Vola, a registered nurse and certified EMT who works as a medical communications center representative for air ambulance operator AirMed, moved to Alabama to attend nursing school, she found that something was lacking: She missed being an EMT, a role she’d performed in Florida.
Bell Helicopter parent Textron announced that it will expand its operations in Mexico through an agreement with the state of Chihuahua to develop and build a new manufacturing facility. Textron International Mexico (TIM) is to manufacture “various minor assemblies, structural elements and wire bundles” for the Bell 429 helicopter. Once work is completed in Mexico, the parts will be shipped to Textron’s Quebec helicopter manufacturing operation at Mirabel for final assembly.
Two companies developing re-engined Citation IIs have recently achieved milestones in their efforts to retrofit early models of the Cessna light jet with William International FJ44 powerplants.
Stevens Aviation (Greenville, SC) — Dana R. Arnold has been named president of the aviation service company’s Business Jet Sales division. Arnold joins Stevens after 17 years with Learjet, where he was vice president of U.S. sales. Infinity Aviation Named Russian Sales Rep for EADS Socata
Any temporary dip in the price of jet fuel may tempt some folks to forget that a return to $7 to $10 per gallon Jet-A could follow a recovery from the record world economic slump. Should that happen, the Piaggio P180 Avanti will become even more attractive than it is today.
Universal Avionics Systems Corp. reached a settlement with Optima Technology Group, Inc. Sept. 23 in patent litigation. Universal filed the lawsuit in November 2007 against Optima, a patent holding company, after repeated threats from Optima’s CEO, Robert Adams, to sue for alleged infringements based on Universal’s sale of its Vision-1 synthetic vision product. In the lawsuit, Universal sought a declaration that the patents were invalid and not infringed.
Citing the breathtaking pace of business aircraft deliveries, West Star Aviation of Alton, Ill., just announced it is constructing a $6 million facility at Columbia, S.C., Metropolitan Airport to increase its capacity for maintenance, modifications and avionics upgrades. The Columbia facility along with the company’s site in Grand Junction, Colo., will report as one when it comes to finances. The company also has a repair and service facility in Dallas.
