THE LAW GOVERNING carriage of candidates is changing again. For most people, flying with politicians sounds even less appealing than flying with small children. But with the airlines running cartoon ads claiming that private aircraft are slowing down airline travel, now is a good time to give office seekers a real-world education about general aviation.
The Air Transport Association claims a report by the DOT Inspector General (IG) on National Airspace System (NAS) usage concludes that business jets (referred to as non-air carriers) are not fully paying for their proportional use of air traffic control services and contribute to air traffic congestion at TRACON facilities. However, NBAA President Ed Bolen said, "our understanding of what it says is very much at odds with some of the assertions that have been made about it" and set up a meeting with the IG for clarification.
Citing a need to increase and maintain the accuracy of data in the Civil Aviation Registry, the FAA wants to institute new procedures, including reregistration of all current active aircraft and renewal of all registration certificates every three years. The FAA claims that the extra paperwork would not impose significant costs on owners. However, several general aviation groups take issue with aspects of the proposal. The AOPA says the plan could increase the cost of registering an aircraft to $130 from the current $5.
Another new rollout at the Savannah convention was FlightView's Dispatch version 4.7, scheduled to ship in mid-March. The software's Bulletin Board tool will upload and track user-selected flights on the ground or en route and also save tracked flights for continued tracking. Improved weather data are aimed at better forecasting of likely weather-related delays. Users can also customize and streamline views to as little as a tail number up to complete aircraft data. Dispatch 4.7 will be sold direct, says FlightView.
Year-end sales statistics compiled by AMSTAT and distributed by the National Aircraft Resale Association (NARA) indicate that 2007 was another outstanding year for sales of previously owned turbine-powered aircraft. For the full year, retail jet sales increased 14.0 percent to 2,307 transactions, while turboprop sales climbed 10.5 percent to 1,670 transactions. The number of jets on the market declined 156 units to 1,554 aircraft, a 9.1- percent drop. The number of turboprops available for purchase dropped 75 units, an 8.0-percent decline.
FlightSafety International announced March 14 that the company's first Gulfstream G450/550 interchangeable flight simulator has received FAA Level D qualification. Located at FlightSafety's Learning Center in Long Beach, Calif., the simulator is equipped with the company's electric motion and control loading technology and a Vital visual system. The Gulfstream G450/550 training program in Long Beach also features a new interchangeable Graphical Flight-deck Simulator, a key component of MATRIX, FlightSafety's integrated training system.
Outsourcing heavy inspections has become the norm, NBAA Director, Technical Operations Eli Cotti observed recently. "It seems to me that the majority of single-aircraft operators that do not have a maintenance department are having to outsource everything," Cotti said. "So who do they have as a resource or someone with the experience to help them go through a major inspection without fumbling and potentially losing a lot of money?"
If you have established a reputation, you will become widely known to qualified cabin crewmembers, and you won't have to find them; they will come to you. That's what executives from the top firms told Business & Commercial Aviation during our recent survey of the field. This is a closely knit community, experts say, and everybody in it knows everybody else. They compete and yet help each other out.
"Contrary to the report from Chicken Little, the sky is not falling," declared Carl Janssens, editor of the Aircraft Bluebook Price Digest, in the first-quarter edition of his company's quarterly Marketline newsletter. "For aircraft sales, business is good, and the sky is blue."
A Cessna 210, N968CC, was destroyed upon impact with terrain following a loss of control while in cruise flight near Baytown, Texas. The non-instrument-rated pilot was fatally injured. The 197-mile cross-country flight originated from Acadiana Regional Airport (ARA), New Iberia, La., with West Houston Airport, Houston, Texas, as its intended destination. A preliminary review of the airplane's radar track shows it approached from the east. At about 1830, the airplane initiated a descent from 6,500 feet.
AN AIRSHIP PUSHES AIR IN FRONT of it as if riding a river of molasses, which makes it an excellent surveillance platform, and which is why we were bobbing off the south Florida beaches a couple of decades ago in one of Goodyear's blimps. Rather than the night sign's electrical generator perched in the davits, we had a Litton APS-502, a lightweight, medium-range radar optimized for maritime patrol.
At last count, among all of its diverse operating companies, NetJets, Inc., had 734 business jets in its worldwide stable. NetJets Aviation, the conglomerate's higher-profile fractional ownership division, accounted for 440 of them in its North American operation. So it knows about maintenance management.
THIS YEAR, MY TWINS head off for college. That simple sentence gives me pause. Aside from the economics closeted within it like that proverbial 800-pound gorilla -- Senior Editor George Larson, also the father of twins, once described the situation as "God's version of a practical joke" -- there's the looming sense of time passed, opportunities missed, roles ending, chapters closing and a generation moving on. Home life will never be the same again.
*Cessna Citation 525, 525A and 525B airplanes - Inspect the lower wing skin structure, forward wing spar, lower fuselage skin, fairings and the external fairing frames for corrosion. Repair any damage found and apply a corrosion-inhibiting sealant to the fuselage fairings before reinstalling them. Also, disable the cockpit-mounted pilot relief tube. *Dassault Falcon 10, 50, 200, 900, 900EX, 2000 and 2000EX airplanes - Conduct repetitive tests and inspections to detect interference between the emergency exit and interior components.
an aircraft register for high quality private and corporate aircraft. Our aim is to attract worldwide professionally flown jets from blue-chip companies by providing a rare ingredient from a regulator: a business focused service! The formula has been an immediate success as we have already registered 38 aircraft in the first nine months of operation.
ARINC Direct has added an automatic Dosimetry Report capability to its standard portfolio of flight support services for business aviation. The new capability allows operators to track the exposure of flight crews to potential radiation. Customers may choose to have their flight plans and crew names automatically forwarded each week for dosimetry monitoring. ARINC has arranged with radiation monitoring specialist IASON of Graz, Austria, to archive and forward the data for customers who wish to use their service.
THERE ARE FEW THINGS SCARIER in the dead of night at FL 310 then a faint whiff of smoke in the cockpit. "It smells like burning wood," thought the UPS DC-8-72 flight engineer as he turned to alert the captain and first officer. He had been aware of the smoky odor for a few minutes and wanted to know if his mates smelled it too. The captain and first officer sniffed the air and within a minute detected the same "burning wood" smell. It was faint, but unquestionably growing stronger.
*Landmark Aviation/Standard Aero, Winnipeg, Canada, announced the appointment of Mike Woodward to the post of turboprop sales manager for the Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A and PW100 and Honeywell TPE331, with all of Canada as his territory.
Airports operator BAA has added biometric technology to control access to its international lounge in London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 1. In the past, domestic and international passengers had been segregated for border control purposes, said a spokesman. "The introduction of biometrics technology means that all passengers can enjoy the same facilities," he said. Passengers are asked to provide biometric data in the form of a fingerprint before they proceed through security, said the spokesman. "They also have their photograph taken with a digital camera.
Thank you for your note, and for the respect you've shown your female colleagues. As the proud father of a talented and aspiring daughter, I hope her professional and personal life is populated by men and women willing to give her a fair shot. Meanwhile, please pass my regards on to the women in your life, and particularly to your hard-working wife.
A Eurocopter AS350B2, N911VA, registered to Harlingen Community Emergency Care Foundation, Inc., doing business as Valley Air Care, and operated by Metro Aviation, Inc. as an FAR Part 91 positioning flight, crashed into water while maneuvering for approach near South Padre Island, Texas. The flight was en route to pick up a patient at a temporary landing zone at South Padre Island. A review of recorded ATC radar data shows that the helicopter flew eastbound to its intended destination at altitudes ranging from 700 feet to 1,100 feet msl.
As we go to press, the FAA is conducting a safety self-exam prior to an April 3 U.S. House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee hearing on the agency's oversight and airline noncompliance with safety regulations. That oversight system came into sharp focus in March when the FAA slammed Southwest Airlines with a proposed $10.2 million civil penalty for continuing to operate 46 of its Boeing 737s for 1,451 flights involving 200,000 passengers without first inspecting them for fatigue cracks mandated by a September 2004 Airworthiness Directive.
