J.A. Air Center is moving to Aurora, Ill., after 33 years at West Chicago. The move is slated for Dec. 1. Aurora Municipal Airport (KAAR) is just outside the Chicago Class B airspace and has direct tollway access (no stoplights to the Chicago Loop). J.A. Air's new four-building campus will feature a 20,000-square-foot arrival/departure canopy big enough to handle large-cabin corporate aircraft, more than 90,000 square feet of hangar space, 60,000 square feet of offices and a separate VIP arrival terminal.
John Hopkinson, president and CEO of the largest aircraft broker in Canada, is quick to note that the Canadian market for business aircraft is different than the U.S. market. Business jets are utilized to travel the long distances between the maritime provinces and western Canada, while turboprops often are used to fly from the southern part of Canada northward in support of utility operations. Helicopters also are flown extensively in Canada.
*Oct. 6-8: NBAA 61st Annual Meeting & Convention (NBAA2008), Orlando. www.nbaa.org *Oct. 16-18: Chevron Global Aviation Advanced Safety Training, Richmond, Calif. Contact: Chevron Customer Service at (866) 557-3456 or e-mail to [email protected] *Oct. 22-24: International Aviation Womens Association (IAWA) 20th Anniversary and the Accomplishments of Women in the Aviation and Aerospace Industries, Chicago. Contact: Karen Griggs at [email protected]
I am showing my age here, but I really enjoyed your Howard 500 and Beech 18 stories in the July issue. I realize that the nostalgia pieces are probably targeted at guys in my age group, but they are a nice change from the typical product analysis. My first ever (non-airline) airplane ride was in a Howard 350 owned by my father's employer, Husky Oil . . . it was from Cody, Wyo. to Calgary. I still remember the highly sophisticated (for its time) aftermarket engine analyzer that had been installed behind the pilot's seats.
The FAA requested information and documentation from about one dozen executives at Sentient Flight Group in August, just prior to the company's reorganization. Some of the requested information involved questions about ownership, and many of the requests were sent to former TAG Aviation executives. The requests came out of the agency's Eastern Region, which was involved in the investigation and certificate revocation of TAG affiliate AMI Jet Charter. Sentient says it will fully comply with the request.
Macquarie Global Opportunities Partners (MGOP), which purchased the non-flying businesses of Sentient Flight Group (SFG), has also grown rapidly through a series of acquisitions of FBOs and other aviation businesses. It had been in discussions with Sentient since the beginning of the year about potentially investing in the company.
Signature Flight Support has further expanded its European base with the acquisition of Southern Aero Services Ltd., the parent of Interflight Executive Aircraft Services, the sole FBO at London Gatwick Airport. Signature also provides services at London Heathrow and Luton. The Interflight transaction was valued at £4.5 million.
Flight Display Systems has received FAA Parts Manufacturing Approval (PMA) for two popular cabin entertainment products. The flight View Camera is mounted on the cockpit lare shield and allows passengers to see taxi, takeoff and lading from a pilot's perspective. The Satellite Radio Amplifier allows multiple passengers to have a personal XM or Sirius satellite radio receiver at their seat. Both products are in stock. Price: Flight View Camera, $1,250; Satellite Radio Amplifier, $1,875 Flight Display Systems 1765 Grassland Pkwy.
Fuel suppliers and experts gathered with airline representatives, Sept. 8-9, at the U.S. Department of Commerce to discuss pending certification of synthetic Jet-A fuel for commercial aircraft. Commercial certification of a Fischer-Tropsch coal or natural gas-to-liquid synthetic is possible as early as December if it can meet standards established by the American Society for Testing and Materials.
A five-hour House Aviation subcommittee hearing Sept. 17 on FAA processes for type certification (TC) and production certification (PC) focused on possible agency errors in certifying the Eclipse EA500.The legislators had requested an investigation by DOT Inspector General Calvin L.
Grob Aerospace, which has been engaged in a major expansion program as it prepared to bring its new G180 SPn business jet to market, unexpectedly filed for insolvency Aug. 18. "This unfortunate situation has arisen fairly rapidly off the back of recent delays in the SPn program, resulting in commensurately increased cash requirement to see the aircraft through to certification," explained Niall Olver, Grob's CEO.
Here's cheering news for those who observe that gas prices seem to go up quickly with the rising price of oil but fall slowly when the commodity gets cheaper. Charter operator XOJet announced an immediate cut of 9 percent in its fuel surcharge Sept.12, a move it says will save customers about $1,000 on a round-trip transcontinental flight. In making the announcement, Chief Marketing Officer Adam Komack stated, "A surcharge is a necessity to offset costs that are out of our control; it should never be confused with a revenue stream or a means of nickel and diming clients.
As a professional business pilot it's important to remember that the folks in the back are not savvy to what's happening up front, nor need they be. In their view, the food, the interior layout and the service are the most important aspects of a business aircraft flight. I have had an executive come on the airplane in Shanghai, drop his briefcase, let out a sigh and say, "Home." That's what world-class capability is all about, in my humble opinion, but for the passengers it's the cabin experience that makes a flight "world class."
*Northern Jet Management, Grand Rapids, Mich., announced that Kevin Tessmer is the new safety manager for the Flight Operations department; Scott Baragar and Rick Hansen are now team leaders for the department; and David Catterick is now a captain on the Citation Bravo. Steve Cok is the new assistant chief pilot/Bravo. James Douglas joined the company as a first officer, and Carmen Mohn is a new member of the accounting department.
THE FAA HAS EMBRACED the Safety Management System (SMS), which is essentially a quality management approach to controlling risk. Corporate lawyers tend to obsess about potential liabilities associated with aircraft, so they should love SMS.
Eurocontrol provides air traffic management for 36 European nations and issues invoices to users. Asked to provide readers with an update on European operational procedures, ATM modernization issues and the much-anticipated implementation of Single European Sky, Bo Redeborn, director of ATM strategies at Eurocontrol headquarters in Brussels, responded. What follows is a condensation of his report:
Takeoff and landing under IFR. (a) Instrument approaches to civil airports. Unless otherwise authorized by the FAA, when it is necessary to use an instrument approach to a civil airport, each person operating an aircraft must use a standard instrument approach procedure prescribed in Part 97 of this chapter for that airport. This paragraph does not apply to United States military aircraft.
Simon Wade, training and safety manager at Universal Weather & Aviation's London Stansted facility, is set to go running again. Wade completed the 2006 Jungle Marathon in Brazil (see "Off Duty," Business & Commercial Aviation, March 2007) and says he'll be running for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation in March 2009. Interested sponsors can visit his fund-raising Web page at www.justgiving.com/run-4-diabetes and help cure juvenile diabetes.
In 1977, some helicopter pilots operating in the New York metro area founded the Northeast Helicopter Operator Council, the first local organization in the eastern United States to represent rotorcraft, in order to further the cause of helicopter IFR operations. The organization incorporated in 1979 under the present name of Eastern Region Helicopter Council, Inc. and today has about 90 member operators.
At 1028 MST, a Piper Cherokee PA-28-180 (N5316L) sustained substantial damage subsequent to a collision with terrain shortly after takeoff approximately one mile north of Springerville Municipal Airport in Springerville, Ariz. It was VFR at the time of the accident and no flight plan was filed for the flight to Quemado Airport, Quemado, N.M. Witnesses reported the airplane became airborne about midfield during takeoff from Runway 03.
Meggitt Fluid Controls (MFC) and Meggitt Aircraft Braking Systems (MABS) have won multi-million-dollar contracts for Embraer's new Legacy 450 and 500 executive jet programs. MFC will develop and produce the pneumatic bleed air system, which will manage the bleed air from the engines' high- and low-pressure outputs for temperature and pressure control and maintain anti-ice systems and the aircraft's cargo, cabin and cockpit environments. The controller will manage the system's mechanical fluid control devices, ensuring system safety and integrity.
