Matthew Huff, chief operating officer of O'Gara Aviation, the Atlanta-based aircraft acquisition and sales company, began noticing a drop in the pace of aircraft inquiries this spring. The decline occurred at about the same time that jet fuel prices climbed above $5 per gallon. Now, he sees softening in virtually all market segments, a situation he expects will continue through first quarter 2009.
The NBAA has made several presentations from the June Annual Flight Attendants Conference available to everyone as podcasts. Especially valuable is "Smoke, Fire and Fumes," presented by Capt. H.G. Bombardi. The recorded session, attended by 276 people, discusses how flight attendants play a crucial part in helping the cockpit crew determine the proper solution to a smoke, fire or fume event. To download this podcast and others, visit http://web.nbaa.org/public/cs/fltatt/2008. Price: No charge NBAA www.nbaa.org
The National Air Transportation Association believes that varying interpretation of FARs by FAA Regional Offices, Aircraft Certification Offices (ACOs) and Flight Standards District Offices (FSDOs) cost general aviation businesses hundreds of millions of dollars annually when previously approved actions are subject to re-interpretation.
Shockwaves from the federal indictment of Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) are being felt throughout the aviation, defense and space sectors. The seven-term Republican, a strong advocate of general aviation known for his mastery of delivering federal dollars to Alaska, a state where one out of every 58 people is a pilot, has had to step down as the senior Republican on the Senate Commerce Committee -- which oversees NASA, the FAA and the TSA -- as well as the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.
Hawker Beechcraft, Wichita, appointed Lance Crawford as HBC vice president and chief information officer. Bob Blouin, vice president, Flight Operations, now has full responsibility for global flight operations for HBC, including production test, demonstration, transportation and experimental flight. Drew McEwen is vice president, Domestic Executive Beechcraft Sales, responsible for the King Air C90GTi, Baron G58 and Bonanza G36. Brad Stancil is vice president, Domestic Corporate Beechcraft Sales handling the Premier II, and IA, King Air 350 and King Air B200GT.
Landmark Aviation acquired Jimsair Aviation Services at San Diego International Airport on July 18, expanding its FBO network to 42 locations in the United States, Canada and Western Europe. Headquartered in Houston, Landmark Aviation (www.landmarkaviation.com) is a portfolio company of GTCR Golder Rauner, a private equity firm based in Chicago, and Platform Partners, LLC, a private holding company based in Houston.
Epic Aircraft, Bend, Ore., named Fred Breidenbach to its board of advisors. Breidenbach formerly was president and chief operating officer at Gulfstream Aerospace Corp.
The FAA has issued an STC to Chelton for its air data and attitude heading reference system (ADAHRS) with software Version 6.0B for the Eurocopter EC120B helicopter. The software and ADAHRS will provide for either Class A or B Helicopter TAWS capability with an enhanced terrain database, and will support WSI Weather Radar, expand hover vector coverage and support ADS-B datalink functions.
AgustaWestland hopes to formally launch the so-called XX9 before year-end, according to company CEO Giuseppe Orsi. The XX9 is a light twin-engine, four-metric-ton rotorcraft, but other details are closely guarded. The product expansion plans come as the company is in the midst of a significant production rate increase, with the goal of reaching an output of 260 helicopters in 2010, up from 128 in 2005. The Finmeccanica company also is further growing its global footprint, signing an agreement with Russia's Oboronprom Corp.
Avidyne is developing new synthetic vision system (SVS) and enhanced vision system (EVS) upgrades for its Entegra product line. The SVS depicts 3-D terrain out to the horizon, based on aircraft altitude above the ground. The system also depicts obstacles, traffic and "Highway-in-the-Sky" (HITS) on the primary flight display. The EVS uses a Max-Viz EVS-100 infrared camera, which provides a daytime view at night, allowing pilots to see up to 10 times farther in marginal VFR conditions.
Honeywell launched the Bendix/King AV80R Series portable avionics system that includes a handheld multifunction display and two synthetic-vision equipped cockpit information systems. The synthetic vision systems, the AV80R Horizon 3D and AV80R Vision 3D, provide graphical renderings of the environment with a view of the aircraft position and situation outside the cockpit. The systems provide pilots with real-time satellite weather information, topographic terrain and aeronautic navigation information.
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.
USUALLY, WE SAVE THE "lessons learned" comments for the end of this column, but this month's lessons are so important they need to come at the front. This case involved a well-experienced pilot dealing with an old light-twin. But with the median age of the light-twin fleet growing older and younger pilots moving into the aging fleet, a review of the basics seems in order. ?228-137?A light twin is simply a big single with its power divided and moved from the nose to each wing.
Santa Monica Airport (SMO) has become one of the first general aviation airports to jump into the carbon trading fray, formally establishing itself as an offset facilitator. In July, the Los Angeles-area airport added a feature on its Web site that allows aircraft operators to calculate their carbon footprint and purchase carbon offsets. The calculator will estimate carbon produced by specific flight distances and number of passengers. Santa Monica said the purchases will be channeled to nonprofit organizations involved in reforestation and alternative energy projects.
less record-keeping ("Are You Ready to Go Paperless?" July, page 106) I was dumbfounded. The first company to come out with a complete paperless record-keeping system was LBO. We were the first to come out with electronic logbooks with electronic signatures, we were green before anyone thought of the word "green." Not only do we do logbooks but all record-keeping for any aircraft in a paperless format. But we were not even mentioned in the article.
L-3 Avionics Systems has added Synthetic Vision to its SmartDeck Integrated Flight Controls and Display System. It will be available as an option on new SmartDeck systems or as an add-on for existing models after certification, which is expected later this year. L-3's Synthetic Vision uses GPS location and altitude data in conjunction with SmartDeck's terrain database to depict 3-D images of land, mountains, obstacles, water and runways on the PFD. This image moves in real-time with the aircraft.
The use of celebrity endorsements is an old, familiar convention in advertising, going back way before a B-film actor named Ronald Reagan hawked Chesterfields in postwar magazine ads or a post-Beatles Ringo Starr promoted Oldsmobiles on TV. From time to time such celeb-centered ads even show up in aviation publications, but in 1958 Business & Commercial Aviation published a series of them that were unique in style, length and authorship.
In the August edition of its market research report, analysts at the Global Equity Research unit of JPMorgan declared, "July 2008 was another leg down for the business jet market, with a substantial increase in inventory and a decline in average asking price."
Dallas Airmotive, Grapevine, Texas, hired Jay Randall as regional engine manager for the Northeast United States. He will provide sales and technical assistance on P&WC PT6A, JT15D and PW500 engines.
As important as it is to get your passengers where they want to go, it is essential that, once arrived, they come to a safe stop. Braking malfunctions can have terrible consequences even before the aircraft gets airborne -- a failure to actuate, a single side brake failure or total lock-up during departure could be disastrous. Few systems are as essential to safe flight as the one that is used only on the ground. As aircraft design rapidly advanced in the early 1920s, paved runways and higher landing speeds made the drag skids obsolete.
The NBAA expressed great concern regarding the DOT's Aug. 5 announcement calling for a public auction for an unused slot pair at Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR). The association said a report submitted to the DOT in December 2007 by the New York Aviation Rulemaking Committee, on which the NBAA participated, predicted price increases and service disruptions for consumers, a loss of service to general aviation and possible violations of bilateral and multilateral aviation agreements.
It's tough to improve upon one of the most capable and versatile turboprop airplanes ever built, but that's exactly what Pilatus Aircraft has done with its next-generation PC-12. The latest iteration of the Swiss-built single, the PC-12 NG, was FAA certified in March 2008 and it incorporates some half dozen improvements, including a more robust powerplant that helps increase cruise over older models as much as 11 knots and gives it more range because of improved climb performance. The electrical, cabin pressurization and environmental control systems have been improved.
