"Think Before Speaking, Please" (July, page 102) was a great article -- right on the money! Shut up and fly!!! Leave the talking to the radio stations.
EADS Socata has named Ken Dono, TBM sales manager at Columbia Air Services in Groton, Conn., as the "2008 Most Valuable Player of EADS Socata's Worldwide Sales Network," which acknowledges the best sales performance during the last 12 months.
A Skyship 600 blimp is patrolling the Florida Straits for the U.S. Coast Guard and Navy as part of a six-week joint evaluation of the airship's effectiveness in the patrol mission. The lighter-than-air (LTA) craft and its crew of three pilots, two mechanics and 15 ground crew members began operating from Boca Chica Naval Air Station on June 30. The airship, which is owned and operated by Airship Management Services (AMS) Inc., Greenwich, Conn., is leased to the government. The contract, including mission equipment, is valued at approximately $1 million.
*Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga., announced that Mark Burns has become president of Gulfstream Product Support and General Dynamics Aviation Services, replacing Larry Flynn, who's moving on to take over sales and marketing.
"The much anticipated change in the marketplace has arrived," declared Fletcher Aldredge in the second-quarter edition of Vref's Market Leader newsletter. "With the exception of a handful of late-model, long-range jets, the used aircraft market is loading up, and all eight Vref Market Indices are down." However, Aldredge was quick to add, "This downturn does not appear to be as severe as many expected . . . so far."
The epoxy tape application process developed by Airwolf Aerospace LLC to help prevent debonding of the stainless steel rotor blades on Robinson Helicopter R22 and R44 models has been purchased by some 300 Robinson operators, officials say. They believe that number is likely to increase in the wake of an FAA AD early this year and a series of safety recommendations by the NTSB in June. The stainless steel blades on both Robinson models have a stated service life of 2,200 hours.
Boeing has teamed with a Canadian company to develop a commercial heavy-lift aircraft that combines helicopter rotor systems with a neutrally buoyant airship. Calgary, Alberta-based SkyHook International has contracted Boeing's Integrated Defense Systems Rotorcraft Division outside Philadelphia to design the JHL-40 and build two production prototypes for certification in Canada and the United States. The aircraft is expected to fly in 2012.
MJET -- providers of integrated engineering, completion, customization and maintenance services for commercial and business aircraft -- has begun its first corporate conversion of a Bombardier CRJ200 regional jet at the company's facility at Trudeau International Airport in Montreal. The reconfigured aircraft, which will be operated by Corpac Canada Ltd. of Calgary, Alberta, is scheduled for delivery in January 2009.
ONE OF THE MANY "assurances" that airports give in order to receive federal funds is that the facility will be available for public use on "reasonable conditions" and without "unjust discrimination." In other words, an airport can set conditions for users and even discriminate against some users, as long as the discrimination is "just."
In the May issue of your magazine I read with great interest John Wiley's "ASAP's Getting Zapped" (page 64). I would like to congratulate him on a superb article. Well done!
Sentient Flight Group has been engaged in a massive effort to integrate its aircraft operations/regulatory requirements and its "back office" accounting and billing functions ever since the merger that created the company. Simultaneously, Sentient has continued to add new acquisitions to the mix.
ERA Training Center has begun operating its facility at the Lake Charles, La., Regional Airport, near the headquarters of ERA Helicopters. The 7,600-square-foot facility houses two FAA-approved Flight Training Devices for the Eurocopter AS350B2 and EC 135, and will be dedicated to training personnel involved in EMS, airborne law enforcement and business aviation rotorcraft operations.
Associated Air Center (AAC) is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year. The company, which specializes in conversions and modifications of large business jets and airliners for VIP use, began business in Dallas in 1948 installing surplus radio equipment in former military aircraft that were being operated by individuals and corporations.
Anyone can get lucky and gain the undeserved. Once. The odds go way down when hoping for a repeat. And when the contest isn't a lottery, but rather an evaluation by your peers, the luck factor pretty much disappears. That reality made the announcements at the Aerospace Journalist of the Year banquet in London on July 13th particularly satisfying.
Editor's note: Archie Trammell was editor-in-chief of Business & Commercial Aviation from 1972 to 1978, a period of great technical, regulatory and economic transition within the community. Here he recalls those times, their themes and issues, many of which continue to this day.
Although its manufacturing and administrative facilities were located away from the flood plain and "largely unaffected" by the disastrous June floods in Iowa, a spokesperson for Cedar Rapids-based Rockwell Collins says the company has established a fund to help employees who have suffered losses from the high water. In addition, the avionics maker contributed $2 million to local recovery efforts. The company also mobilized teams of employees to assist cleanup and recovery efforts as the flood waters subsided.
How to Use the Operating Costs Guide Aircraft operating costs are presented in a format that separates the data into seven separate areas: Mission Costs, Variable Costs, Fixed Annual Costs, Periodic Costs, Personnel Costs, Training Costs and Facilities Costs. Aircraft Category
*Dassault Falcon 10 airplanes --- Replace the flexible hoses installed in the slat anti-icing systems. *EADS Socata TBM 700 airplanes -- Check the vapor-cycle cooling system pulley drive assembly for leakage, remove the compressor drive belt from the assembly and deactivate the air-conditioning system until the original pulley drive assembly can be replaced by a new, improved assembly.
General aviation groups called the FAA's proposal to reduce the number of GA slots into New York La Guardia Airport (LGA) discriminatory, saying the restriction would unjustifiably diminish access to the New York City area. The FAA in April released a supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to introduce a slot auction system for FAR Part 121 carriers and reduce hourly slots at LGA from six per hour to three for Part 91 and Part 135 on-demand and public charters.
At 1515 CDT, Beechcraft A36, N28HN, was substantially damage when it made a forced landing shortly after it took off from Runway 18 at the Johnson County Executive Airport (OJC), in Olathe, Kan. The private pilot sustained minor injuries. The airplane was registered to and operated by the pilot. In a telephone interview, the pilot stated that he had not flown the airplane for six weeks and was planning to stay in the local traffic pattern and practice takeoffs and landings. After a thorough preflight, he attempted to start the engine.
