Embraer has launched a new maintenance support program, Tool on Time (ToT), to expand the company's customer services in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Under TOT, an inventory of more than 130 maintenance tools and ground support equipment will be available to customers. The new service builds upon Embraer's spare parts pooling program to ensure access to the most critical tools and ground support equipment necessary to complete repairs or other maintenance work.
It is a pleasure to read Business & Commercial Aviation each month. It is wonderfully put together and provides the aviation community with very useful and practical information. In May's issue, I particularly enjoyed reading Fred George's "Garmin's New SVS for the G1000" (page 60). This is amazing technology.
The PW305 was the first of a new series of small, fuel-efficient turbofan engines introduced by Pratt & Whitney Canada in the early 1990s having higher bypass ratios than earlier engines in the 4,500- to 7,000-pound-thrust class. These engines also were among the first general aviation turbine powerplants to be fitted with FADECs, computer controls that slash pilot workload, set thrust precisely for ambient conditions and provide full envelope protection to help prevent damage from malfunctions.
Eurocopter will reengine an EC120 light helicopter with an advanced diesel engine under the European Union's Clean Sky joint technology initiative. The goal is to reduce specific fuel consumption (SFC) by 30 percent, and emissions of carbon dioxide by 40 percent and nitrogen oxides by 53 percent, says American Eurocopter CEO Marc Paganini. An improved turboshaft-powered helicopter demonstrator is also planned, with the goal of reducing SFC by 10 percent, CO 2 by 26 percent and NO x by 67 percent.
CAE has signed agreements to identify, recruit and train more than 600 candidate pilots for Jazeera Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and Wizz Air over a four-year period. The contracts were awarded over the last few months during CAE's 2008 fiscal year. Jeff Roberts, CAE group president, civil training & services and innovation, said, "Over the past 12 months, CAE has already recruited and trained more than 700 pilots through its pilot supply programs.
CFM (Corporate Flight Management), Smyrna, Tenn., announced that former naval aviator and senior airline captain Bill Minkoff has joined the CFM team as vice president of marketing.
Aerion Corp. reported in April that it has received more than 30 $150,000 deposits for delivery positions on its supersonic business jets and hopes to announce a manufacturing partner by year-end. Backed by Robert Bass, the Texas financier, the $80 million aircraft is being sold by Execujet of Zurich, Switzerland, and the Aero Toy Store of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., as well as by Aerion itself. At this point, customer deposits are refundable.
Gulfstream Aerospace won an STC for the installation of a muffler on the Gulfstream G200 auxiliary power unit. The muffler is designed to reduce noise from the surge-control valve by 10-12 decibels, which cuts the noise by more than half the current level, the company said.
A Cessna Citation 560XL, N590AK, was substantially damaged when it veered off the runway at Port Heiden, Alaska. The captain reported to the NTSB that his approach to Runway 23 required a correction for a right crosswind, and that the initial touchdown on the 5,000-by- 100-foot-wide gravel runway was uneventful. He said he continued to apply a small amount of left rudder to correct for the crosswind as the nosewheel touched down. As soon as it did, the airplane veered sharply to the left and went off the left side of the runway.
THE FIRST NIGHT OF a three-day layover in Hong Kong, I headed downstairs for a glass of wine and a quiet dinner. As I perused the menu, one in a lively group of Brits -- a Virgin A340 crew, it turned out -- said I shouldn't drink alone and invited me into their fold. I readily accepted, and was immediately swallowed up by them.
*May 27-June 1: Berlin International Air Show (ILA2008), Berlin, Germany. Managed by Messe Berlin. (609) 987-1202. www.ila-NA.com *June 7: Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association 18th Annual AOPA Fly-In and Open House, Frederick, Md. (800) 872-2672 www.aopa.org *June 8-11: American Association of Airport Executives 80th Annual Conference and Expo, New Orleans. (703) 824-0500. www.aaae.org *June 9-11: Florida Aviation Trades Association 62nd Annual Meeting & Trade Show, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (407) 383-8619.
Diamond Aircraft completed the first flight of the serial number 003 D-JET April 14 from the company's London, Ontario, facility. The aircraft will be used for performance and handling quality refinement as well as to develop key systems, including avionics, fuel, autopilot and anti-ice. Later this year s.n. 003 will be fitted with the Williams FJ33-19 engine for testing with the production configuration powerplant.
PlaneSmart! Aviation, Dallas, has appointed Michael A. Brosler as president and CEO. He replaces Jeffrey A. Cullen, who is stepping down to pursue other strategic aviation opportunities.
Cessna Aircraft's new Citation CJ4 flew for the first time May 4. The two-hour, 22-minute flight departed McConnell Air Force Base in Wichita just after 11:30 a.m. and included flight maneuvers evaluating stability and control along with initial systems evaluations.
At a time when many in the market for a used aircraft are clamoring for a current-production model, Volo Aviation, LLC has found that at least one venerable transport - the Gulfstream I - still meets the needs of a variety of customers. In late 2007, Volo acquired a GI on behalf of an anonymous private owner, who said he had always wanted to acquire one of the turboprop-powered aircraft ever since his earliest involvement with business aviation.
Bob Rockwood believes in the pursuit of happiness, in his case aboard a "spec racer" in Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) competition. As a managing director for Washington, D.C., aircraft brokerage firm Bristol Associates, he has been equally relentless in preserving the fun in his work as well. Rockwood found himself in a management position at Xerox in the mid-1970s and was watching from the sidelines as business aviation took off.
FOR THOSE CURIOUS -- and harboring either a sense of trepidation or giddy relief -- about the cost of a college education today, let me try to satisfy. Recently indoctrinated to the fiscal firmament of higher education today, I offer this.
*The federal government is considering a recommendation by Bill Lear that all aircraft use fluorescent paint and quarter-million-candle-power condenser-discharge lights to be developed by Lear and General Electric. *First positive-control, all-weather airways have been set up by the CAB, with prompt CAA and military agreement. Airways are 40 miles wide between New York and Los Angeles and went into effect June 15. One goes via Chicago; the other via St. Louis with spurs to San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
"Next-Gen Radars From Collins and Honeywell" (April, page 70) was excellent. Jeez, I wish our company would get the new stuff like that! I just have one teensy, weensy observation. On page 76, middle column, the article says that "at jet cruise speed, or 10 nm per minute . . ." The F-4D/E cruised at 0.87 Mach or so and the F-16 at 0.92 -- neither of which was 10 nm per minute. Now, maybe with a good tailwind you can bust 600 knots in a 0.75 or 0.80 Mach corporate bird. Was he flying in an F-100 at full grunt or something?
Honda Aircraft Co. is expanding its HondaJet sales operation to Europe, with the official kickoff of the move announced at EBACE in Geneva, Switzerland, in May. The sales expansion came as Honda Aircraft finalized its U.S. distribution network with the selection of Albany, N.Y., as the last of its five sales and service facilities across the United States.
THREE DECADES AFTER OPPONENTS of a jet ban at the Santa Monica, Calif., Municipal Airport (SMO) won a key victory in federal court, the City of Santa Monica is again attempting to disrupt interstate commerce -- at least some of that commerce -- by restricting business jet traffic at the popular Southern California airport.
Embraer signed the declaration on climate change generated during the third Aviation & Environment Summit (www.enviro.aero) held April 22-23 in Geneva, Switzerland. Frederico Fleury Curado, Embraer's president & CEO, stressed the need of a common vision and approach, and emphasized the company's commitment to the environment.
Gulfstream Aerospace has received STC approval for the installation of a muffler on the Gulfstream G200 auxiliary power unit. The muffler is designed to reduce noise from the surge-control valve by 10 to 12 decibels, which cuts the noise by more than half the current level, the company said. Gulfstream Service Engineering developed, flight-tested and certified the muffler based on input from a G200 Customer Advisory Board. M-Dot Aerospace in Phoenix completed the muffler design and will build the units for Gulfstream.
