UK VIP charter specialist Titan Airways has added an all-business-class Boeing 737-300QC to its London-Stansted-based fleet. The airplane has been refurbished with 44 seats, upholstered in yellow and black leather. There are two club-four seat arrangements, each with a coffee table that can convert to a full working/dining table, separated by a fixed divider from the forward cabin, which offers 36 forward-facing, 62-inch-pitch seats. Titan says the new $1 million interior affords plenty of personal space and leg room.
Aerion Corp., Reno, Nev., has elected James Stewart to the company's board of directors. John Holding was named as special advisor to the company and will lead the next stage of development for the Aerion supersonic jet.
From liftoff at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to touchdown at Downtown Manhattan Heliport (JRB) takes about 10 minutes. In one fluid motion, a US Helicopter Sikorsky S-76B sweeps its eight passengers across New York Harbor like a flying carpet.
Jet Works Air Center, Denton, Texas, announced that Gary Freeman and Chris Hicks have joined the company as regional sales managers responsible for maintenance, avionics, paint and interior services.
(Wichita) - Drew McEwen has been appointed vice president of domestic executive Beechcraft sales, which will handle marketing of the King Air C90GTi, Baron G58 and Bonanza G36. Brad Stancil, the former vice president of domestic Beechcraft sales, now serves as vice president of domestic corporate Beechcraft sales and will deal with the Premier II, Premier IA, King Air 350 and King Air B200GT.
Northrop Grumman is looking at more applications, including border surveillance, for its pod-mounted active electronically scanned array radar designed to be carried under the wing of an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to detect and track vehicles and individuals using synthetic-aperture radar imagery and ground moving-target indication. The Vehicle and Dismount Exploitation Radar (VADER) is now being flight tested under a U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency program.
Raisbeck Engineering, Seattle, has added Davud Kasparov as a design engineer and Aaron Jo-Nes as technical support manager. Anne Lockemy has been promoted to advertising and public relations manager.
Pratt & Whitney Canada created the PT6A-67P using its well-proven, parts-bin engineering philosophy. The powerplant uses the -67A's core, including its high-temperature-tolerant single-crystal turbine blades, to boost maximum takeoff ITT to 850°C, a 30°C increase. Maximum continuous ITT is increased to 820°C, a 60°C improvement. This enables the engine to produce 1,200 shp continuously, or 200 shp more than the -67B that powered older PC-12 models. The -67P also has a special pad on the accessory gearbox that accommodates the second 300-amp generator.
Trindigo, a provider of Web-based aviation operations management software, announced Aug. 6 that its software is now fully integrated with the aircraft availability, trip request and quoting functions of CharterX, the online air charter marketplace. Trindigo provides charter aviation organizations with a Web-based platform that allows scheduling, operations, financial reporting and aircraft maintenance recordkeeping in real time from anywhere in the world The new partnership integrates the CharterX network and the Trindigo platform.
At 1457 EST, a Socata TBM 700, N484RJ, was substantially damaged when it rolled inverted and collided with trees short of Runway 9, at Cobb County-McCollum Field (RYY), Kennesaw, Ga. It was VFR at the time of the accident, however and an IFR flight plan was filed for the flight from Southwest Georgia Regional Airport (ABY), Albany, Ga., to RYY. The airplane was registered to Flying Max LLC, and operated by the private pilot under 14 CFR Part 91. Witnesses at Cobb County Field stated that they saw the airplane on short final for Runway 9.
In a statement, Experimental Aircraft Association President Tom Poberezny exulted, "The concern was that 2008 would be less than a banner year [for AirVenture 2008] because of questions and challenges in areas such as fuel prices and the economy, but it turned out to be an overwhelming week." Held July 28-Aug. 3, the show attracted 540,000 visitors, only a slight decrease from 2007, from 71 countries.
Grob Aerospace's Peter Weger, head of flight operations, has been named a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots in recognition of attaining a position of distinction in the field of experimental flight testing. Weger has had a continuous flying career of 43 years -- 28 of them as a test pilot -- accumulating more then 10,000 flight hours in 49 different airplanes. Experimental aircraft programs he has flown include the British/Italian/German EAP X program, the German F-104 CCV and the Swedish/German Viggen.
ExecuJet Aviation Group, the diversified business aviation company headquartered in Zurich, Switzerland, has decided to establish a division dedicated to the sale of used airplanes. The new group, led by Nicholas McHaffey, former sales director for ExecuJet Middle East, will have representatives based in Europe, South Africa, the Middle East and the United States.
Meet Isidore Haas, an infantryman in Richard (ol' Zachary's son) Taylor's "Louisiana Tigers" brigade. And Maj. Rafael Moses, too. Maj. Moses was a commissary officer under Gen. James Longstreet's Georgia infantry. As it happens, both of the above personas are re-created from time to time by Dale Jacobs, who plies his profession - he's a CPA - as controller of Sun Air Jets of Camarillo, Calif.
Worldwide retail sales of previously owned business jets slowed in the second quarter, but used turboprop sales picked up slightly, according to figures published by the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) and compiled by AMSTAT, the Tinton Falls, N.J., market research firm.
Stratos Aircraft of Bend, Ore., flung down its gauntlet in the single-engine personal light jet category with some numbers that say its PLJ will outperform all competition by a wide margin. The Stratos 714, a composite four-place aircraft powered by a Williams FJ44-3AP, claims a range fully loaded of 1,500 nm at 400 knots. Unlike the PiperJet, Cirrus Vision SJ50 or Eclipse 400, the 714 has its engine inside the fuselage, similar to Diamond's D-Jet. The straight-wing aircraft made its U.S. debut at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in July.
Long after Richard Santulli's NetJets fractional ownership program achieved so-called "critical mass" in the United States -- the threshold beyond which the number of shareholders begins to generate a profit from associated operating contracts -- its European subsidiary was struggling for survival.
At 1655 CDT, an Eclipse EA500 (N875NA) sustained minor damage during an inflight separation of the aft, lower, left-hand side, wing to body fairing, during cruise flight near Rockford, Ill. It was VFR at the time of the accident. The FAR Part 91 flight was operating on an IFR flight plan. Neither of the two pilots, the only occupants, were injured. The flight last departed from Pinedale, Wyo., and was en route to Chicago Executive Airport, Chicago/Prospect Heights/Wheeling, Ill., where it landed without further incident.
Innovative Solutions & Support, Inc., Exton, Pa., named Chad D. Thorne as vice president of Business Development and Marketing and Farhad Daghigh as vice president of Military Business Development.
A READER RECENTLY ASKED what risks an FAR Part 91 flight department assumed when hiring a "moonlighting" mechanic, and what risks the mechanic takes on by performing such work.
-Bell Model 222, 222B, 222U, 230 and 430 helicopters - Check tail-rotor blades for cracks, and replace any cracked blade with an airworthy blade before further flight. -Dassault Falcon 10 airplanes - Either revise the airplane flight manual and install a placard in the flight deck to prohibit flight into known or forecasted icing conditions, or repetitively inspect the flexible hoses in the wing slat anti-icing system for delamination and take corrective actions. Replace the flexible hoses to end the repetitive inspections.
Cessna secured European Aviation Safety Agency certification for its Garmin G1000-equipped Caravan single-turboprop. EASA approval followed FAA certification in April. Cessna took orders for 272 Caravans in 2007 and reports that sales continue to be brisk. Cessna now offers the G1000 integrated avionics package on all of its piston models, the Caravan and the Citation Mustang business jet. The Caravan G1000 package includes three 10-inch displays and the GFC700 integrated dual-channel digital autopilot.
WSI Corp. has introduced a Web-based lightning stroke detection network that now covers the North American continent. Real-time lightning data from the North American Precision Lightning Network (NAPLN) are delivered to users via the Internet approximately 30 seconds after stroke detection. The NAPLN is a geographic expansion of the existing U. S. Precision Lightning Network (USPLN), which detects and reports lightning events in real-time for the continental United States.
