Millennium Concepts, Inc., a Wichita-based aircraft design and completions firm, has launched a new Web site to provide its growing list of customers, potential clients and the media information and comprehensive data about the company's services. The new site also includes photos of Millennium's employees and facilities, details its services and products, and has interactive pages that allow potential clients and prospective employees to fill out informational surveys or job applications. Millennium Concepts Wichita, KS
"For much of the aircraft resale market, a slowdown is apparent," declared publisher Fletcher Aldredge in the first-quarter edition of VREF's Market Leader newsletter. "For more than a year, pundits have been saying that a downturn in the economy and aviation is imminent. It is possible that an economic stimulus package or burgeoning global economies will forestall any U.S. hardship, but we think not."
James Raisbeck has received the Lifetime Aviation Entrepreneur award in honor of his 50 years of contributions to the field of aviation and aeronautics. The honor was bestowed at the Living Legends of Aviation's annual dinner and awards banquet in Los Angeles on Jan. 24.
*NetJets Aviation, Columbus, Ohio, announced that Mark Bianchi has been named executive vice president of aircraft maintenance. Eric Lampert has been named vice president and director of operations for the Flight Operations Department at NetJets Aviation.
Historically one of the major medical areas of concern regarding older pilots was their higher likelihood of sudden or subtle cardiovascular incapacitation. In fact, the risk of sudden death caused by cardiovascular disease was the reason stated for the initial adoption of the highly debated "Age 60" rule in FAR Part 121 operations. The original justification implied that the characteristics of the general population of white males in the United States also applied to the population of air carrier pilots.
At February's Heli-Expo in Houston, MD Helicopters CEO Lynn Tilton told the aviation press that she is "probably going to buy a very light jet" -- not just an airplane, but a VLJ company. Tilton added that she has been negotiating with a composites production firm in Italy. MD Helicopters is also believed to be eyeing Adam Aircraft, which had been hoping to bring the all-composite Adam A700 VLJ to market, but declared Chapter 7 bankruptcy (liquidation) on Feb. 15.
*JetCorp Technical Services, St. Louis, named Anthony Sanchez to the newly created position of national vice president of customer service and business development. He will be supported by Burton Schriber and Sam Mansolino, who were named regional sales managers.
*Embraer, Sao Jose dos Campos, Brazil, named Herve Tilloy as press officer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Fernando Lacerda, Gustavo Teixeira and Rafael Mugnaini have been hired as sales managers to handle the recent growing demand in Latin America.
Virgin Charter (www.VirginCharter.com) has named Travelocity Business as the digital marketplace's exclusive launch business travel agency in the Travel Management Company space. Virgin Charter will provide charter solutions for Travelocity Business clients who want to fly private charter.
Eclipse Aviation and European Technology and Investment Research Center (ETIRC) Aviation have announced progress toward establishing an Eclipse 500 manufacturing facility outside of the United States. Eclipse Aviation President and CEO Vern Raburn and ETIRC Aviation Chairman Roel Pieper traveled to Russia to meet in Ulyanovsk with federal officials and local administrators to discuss the steps necessary to establish a factory in that area.
The second most common cause of pilot incapacitation in the Australian Transport Safety Bureau study was exposure to toxic smoke and fumes on board the aircraft (12 percent). One-quarter of these incidents were due to carbon monoxide exposure, which highlights the obvious importance of detection devices that can warn a pilot of this insidious, colorless and tasteless threat.
The NTSB issued a Safety Recommendation on Jan. 7 advising aircraft operators to "establish a process to ensure wider, highly visible and continuous dissemination of guidance and information to the air-traveling public, including flight crews" about the safe carriage of rechargeable lithium batteries. The compact, lightweight and powerful energy cells can, and have, set fire to themselves and adjacent combustible materials.
*Bell 206 helicopters - Ensure that the tailboom attachment bolt is installed correctly. *Bell 222, 230 and 430 helicopters - Rewire and test the fuel valve switch on each engine and test the ignitor system. *Dassault Falcon 50 airplanes - Inspect the electrical feeder bundle, repair any damaged wires found and change the routing of the wires under the circuit breaker panel.
Aviation Research Group/U.S. (ARG/US), Cincinnati, has added four employees to its organization. Steve Witowski is the new ASOS program manager; John R. (JR) Neefe is CHEQ program manager; Janine Leddy is Western Region sales manager; and Naveena Tripurana is market research assistant.
Swift Aviation Group was the official FBO of the Super Bowl Host Committee this year. At Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport over Super Bowl weekend (Thursday, Jan. 31 through Monday, Feb. 4) Swift handled 455 aircraft and pumped over 280,000 gallons of Jet-A. Additionally, Swift filled up all of the available parking space at its terminal as well as a special overflow area secured specifically for the game traffic.
Any shortage invariably leads to conflict, as is demonstrated every Christmas, when crazed parents storm retail outlets to get their kids the latest hard-to-find doll or video game. And you are seeing it now at the large, commercial airports where airliners form conga lines stretching to the horizon while trying -- and failing -- to depart during overcrowded time slots.
Business Jet Access, Love Field, Dallas, appointed Casey Barr as executive Flight Solutions representation for the aircraft charter and management divisions.
ARG/US auditors and data analysts have noted that "the same problems keep coming up again" in operator audits conducted by the consultancy. Here is a selection: *Lack of standalone safety management system (SMS) aligned with AC120-92. *Safety officer not formally trained. *No internal-evaluation program referenced to AC120-59A. *Emergency-response program manual not a controlled document. *No training and practice for emergency-response program.
By the end of 2007, the Vref Turboprop Index reached a new all-time high (1209.17), which indicates that the benchmark twin-engine airplanes included in the index continue to grow in value, even though they were built more than 20 years ago. The Vref Turboprop Index is a compilation of the average retail prices for 1985 models of the Beech King Air C90A, King Air B200, Cessna Conquest I and II, as well as the 1980 Piper Cheyenne II and 1978 Twin Commander 690B.
