Deliveries of new business jets rose 40.8 percent in the first quarter, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association reported at the beginning of May, continuing a trend that will probably result in another record year for business jet shipments and billings. Original equipment manufacturers delivered 297 new business jets in the first three months of 2008, compared with 211 in the same period last year. During all of 2007, aircraft manufacturers delivered 1,138 business jets, a 28.4 percent increase over the 886 shipped in 2006.
Labelmaster has introduced a new line of Premium Laser Litho and Dura-Vinyl drum labels to meet stringent regulatory and compliance requirements. The company now offers completely printed drum labels ready to apply "out of the box" or labels that the customer imprints via laser or thermal printer. Some features include: UV inks, auto-grade pigments and extreme service temperature ranges. Price: Start at $2.70 for 250 labels Labelmaster 5724 N. Pulaski Rd. Chicago, IL (800) 621-5808
Embraer, São José dos Campos, Brazil, has selected Humberto Lobo de la Garza, CEO, Grupo Lomex and Lomex Aeronautica, as an authorized sales representative in Mexico for the company's executive jets.
DayJet on May 6 announced it was scaling back its per-seat, on-demand VLJ air-taxi operation after failing to secure $40 million in additional operating capital to finance its planned expansion. The Boca Raton, Fla.-based company "has reduced its employee base across most areas of its business," CEO Ed Iacobucci said in a statement. The changes "were caused by external economic factors and are not a reflection of a weakness in the underlying DayJet business model," he said, adding that "given the state of U.S.
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.
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.
Gradient Lens Corp. (GLC) is offering manufacturers an easy way to capture, share and store borescope inspection images. The Luxxor Video System connects to any rigid or flexible Hawkeye Precision Borescope, as well as to most other borescope brands. According to GLC, some of the benefits include: easy documentation of inspections and storage of video or still images on a computer hard drive; ability to share and display inspection images for group reviews.
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.
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.
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.
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.
*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.
*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?
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.
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.
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.
West Star Aviation is working with Avidyne to win by mid-year RVSM approval for customers with the Avidyne Envision/Alliant retrofit. The flight deck can be integrated on the Cessna 441 Conquest II, which can operate above 29,000 feet. The two companies have developed an Alliant package for the Conquest II that includes dual-redundant Avidyne EXP5000 10.4-inch primary flight displays, an Avidyne EX500 or EX5000 multifunction display, the S-TEC IntelliFlight 2100 digital autopilot and Mid-Continent two-inch standby instruments.
I thoroughly enjoy my monthly issue of Business & Commercial Aviation. As a commercial pilot and resident of Planet Earth, I must comment on "The Greening of Business Aviation" (May, page 72). One does not need to read very far into the article to understand the dilemma promulgated by David Esler. He is rightly concerned that global warming "fear mongering" is going to present a problem for our beloved industry.
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.
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.
