Jetalliance plans to add three Airbus aircraft to its growing fleet, including an ACJ and two A318 Elites in a deal valued at $185 million. But Airbus' largest order announced during EBACE came from Middle Eastern customer MAZ Aviation for six A350XWB Prestiges, valued at $1.5 billion. The order launches the A350-800 into the VIP market - one of the Prestiges will be the A350-800 and the other five will be A350-900 variants. MAZ plans to take delivery of the aircraft beginning in 2015 and sell them to private customers.
It was a ride with a barnstormer as a teenager in California that did it; after that Allen Paulson wanted to be a part of aviation. He began with wrenches, first as a mechanic for TWA in 1941 and later as a flight engineer on Lockheed Constellations. He invented a device to enhance reliability on the Connie's cantankerous engines and offered it to his employer for free, but was turned down. Sure of its value, he began selling it independently and quickly found himself overseeing a flourishing moonlight aviation parts business.
Aircraft entering the United States with food, flowers or other plants of any kind are completely purged of all those materials according to special procedures prescribed by the Department of Agriculture, and the regulations are the strictest in the world.
The NTSB issued a safety recommendation (A-08-21) essentially restating one issued in 1994 (A-94-81) regarding informing pilots about recognizing and handling a turbocharger failure in flight. The Safety Board's action followed from a fatal accident and long inaction by manufacturers. On May 28, 2004, a turbocharger-equipped Cessna T206H operated by the Drug Enforcement Agency crashed in Illinois after the pilot reported a loss of engine power while cruising at 1,150 feet agl. The airplane struck trees and crashed into the garage of a house; the pilot was killed.
With an atmosphere more in tune with the grand opening of a Manhattan Martini Bar, Waterbury/Oxford Airport FBO KeyAir, Inc., in Oxford, Conn., provided a decidedly upscale version of the regional jet show in early May. The one-day event offered a taste of luxury and the finer things that many business aviation customers are accustomed to - an oversize martini bar, fresh sushi prepared by chefs while you wait, Bugatti sports cars and a wide array of modern art and jewelry to be purchased while browsing the latest in business aircraft.
With the approach of Business & Commercial Aviation's 50th anniversary, we paged through past issues with the goal of presenting the most important of what we discovered in a manageable, memorable package. An impossible task, we discovered. Thus stymied, we chose a more representative and, yes, argumentative course.
ACM Aviation in San Jose, Calif., is adding a Boeing Business Jet and a Citation II to its managed fleet. The BBJ will be the largest aircraft in ACM's fleet, which also includes large jets such as the Bombardier Global Express, Gulfstream V and Dassault Falcon Jets. ACM also manages a range of smaller aircraft from a King Air and Piaggio Avanti II to a Learjet and a Challenger 604. "We have aggressively pursued a more diverse fleet of aircraft to serve the entire spectrum of private aviation," said Greg Johnson, vice president of business development.
Hawker Beechcraft's Hawker 4000 received both its Type and Production Certificates from the FAA and customer deliveries finally began in June. Provisional type certification was achieved in November 2006, but the aircraft couldn't be delivered to customers until now because of numerous post-certification issues. During the past seven years, projected BOW increased from 21,555 pounds to 23,500 pounds. Production aircraft slated for delivery this year probably will weigh even more.
The Equipment Leasing and Finance Association (ELFA) - which represents equipment finance companies, including those that offer leasing and other financing for commercial, corporate and general aviation aircraft - is concerned about "the risks, economic burdens and other adverse consequences" that the reregistration and triennial renewal requirements proposed by the FAA will have on aircraft financing providers.
EVAS Worldwide's Emergency Vision Assurance System (EVAS) will be standard equipment on the Gulfstream G650. EVAS allows pilots to see in continuous dense smoke in the cockpit. With EVAS as standard equipment, the G650 will be the first factory-delivered aircraft to meet FAA recommended standards for cockpit smoke. Until now aircraft manufacturers have chosen the minimum standard over the FAA's recommended standard. FAR Part 25 advisory materials recommended that aircraft be built with systems to address continuous smoke.
Although well established as the largest -- by units delivered -- general aviation manufacturer, Cessna in the mid-1960s was noticeably absent a business jet. In studying the market, Chairman Dwane Wallace and his executives focused on the price and performance gap between twin turboprops and the small Learjets, thinking it posed opportunity for a simple, low-cost jet able to operate out of small fields. And thus was conceived the FanJet 500 powered by Pratt & Whitney Canada's new JT15Ds.
Van Nuys, Calif.-based Jet Aviva is one of several firms that now offer jet familiarization in the EA500 for pilots, especially aircraft owners, who intend to earn their type ratings at Eclipse's Albuquerque Double Eagle II learning center. In-aircraft flight training is available both in owner-flown and rented aircraft.
Once again we have been subjected to a Chicken Little "The sky is falling" screed disguised as journalism, on the subject of global warming and aviation's contribution to the nonexistent problem. I refer to the less than special report "The Greening of Business Aviation, Part I" (May, page 72). Oh, that part deux would find its way to the waste bin before reaching my mailbox, but I fear that isn't possible since I'm sure June's edition of Business & Commercial Aviation is already being printed.
He was an apartment kid from Brooklyn with a head for numbers. Those two facts served him well when, as a young man, he moved from teaching the subject he knew so well to applying it as an up-and-comer, first at Shell Oil in New York and then cross-town at Goldman Sachs, where he found himself specializing in helicopter leasing. From there he created his own helicopter leasing company and began to experience the challenges and trials of travel to out-of-the-way places.
What was to become one of business aviation's most significant and recognized means of propulsion began life buried deep within a jumbo, its job to get the heavyweight engines humming. The Garrett AiResearch TSCP700 functioned as the auxiliary power unit on the McDonnell Douglas DC-10, but its makers had planned double duty for the unit's core.
How many times have you sat bogged and fuming in a taxi or charter bus en route to Le Bourget or Farnborough for the big shows? Here's a time-saving and possibly mood-enhancing local transportation option from Hertz. Scooters are now available to rent in London and Paris as well as multiple locations in the south of France. The Hertz scooter collection offers adults an "exhilarating way to travel around the capital cities of the two nations," as well as in the trendy haunts of the French Riviera.
Regarding Richard Aarons' June Cause & Circumstance (page 77), I think that investigators seem to be focused on mechanical things that could have caused the rollback and unresponsiveness of the engines on the 777's approach at Heathrow.
Amid a season of concern about operational control issues, the National Air Transportation Association announced that on June 10 it would begin to offer its exclusive IC Check online service. The new flight release system for general aviation operators rivals the systems in use by FAR Part 121 operators, says NATA. IC Check is said to apply up to 300 algorithms to flight data provided by the operator and automatically confirm compliance with FARs and other regulations and rules based on government, company, customer or insurance standards.
ServiceElements, Scottsdale, Ariz., has announced that John F. Rahilly, Lisa Schmitt and Anthony Palombo have joined the company as facilitators and strategists.
2008 recipient of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Tony Bingelis Award EAA Aviation Center, Oshkosh, Wis. Bob Rockford, of Overland, Mo., has been selected as the 2008 recipient of the Experimental Aircraft Association's Tony Bingelis Award, recognizing his involvement as an active volunteer technical counselor and aircraft builder.
Carol Chamberlin says she started riding when she was just a kid on an Oregon ranch because that's what you do when you herd cattle. "It was a necessity, not a hobby," she says. The senior electronics technician at Rockwell Collins' Richardson, Texas, plant got her technical know-how in the U.S. Air Force and did a tour in England at RAF Mildenhall, which placed her within trotting distance of England's horse center at Newmarket.
ExcelAire has opened a new MacArthur Airport (ISP) facility as an international services "gateway," which also has been TSA-approved as a departure point for flights to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA). The company will provide a range of services for arriving and departing international flights, including on-site U.S. Customs clearance, fuel, maintenance, concierge services and helicopter service to the New York City metro area in association with HeliFlite. Flights into DCA require unique, comprehensive security measures.
